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Speaker 1: This is the Ben and Ashley I almost famous podcast

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Speaker 1: with iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 2: It's the almost famous podcast. It's been here and Ashley

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Speaker 2: and we wanted to share with you our best holiday wishes.

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Speaker 2: We want to wish you the most very merry Christmas

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Speaker 2: and happy holidays. Ashley, you've been up to a little

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Speaker 2: bit right now. A few weeks ago you got back

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Speaker 2: from Universal. Was that a part of a holiday like fun?

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Speaker 2: Or is that just random?

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Speaker 3: You know? As Jared asked me, he goes. After we

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Speaker 3: wrapped up the trip and we were driving home, he

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Speaker 3: was like, Sally, how much did you get for the

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Speaker 3: kids yet? And I was like, not too much, like

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Speaker 3: quality over quantity for sure. And I was like, and

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Speaker 3: after this week, this week, I think they're good with

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Speaker 3: the toys. I don't think these kids need anymore. I

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Speaker 3: love giving them experiences. And when we went down there,

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Speaker 3: it was definitely kind of just like, let's not think

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Speaker 3: about how much we're spending on that dinner or how

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Speaker 3: much we're spending at that Universal or Disney store. Let's

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Speaker 3: just enjoy ringing now. And now that it's over, I'm like, yeah,

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Speaker 3: So that was part of their Christmas gift for sure,

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Speaker 3: And it was part of the Christmas gift for our nieces,

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Speaker 3: and it was just kind of like a nice way

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Speaker 3: of celebrating with our closest family and friends in Rhode Island.

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Speaker 3: It's kind of like Jared's side of the family. Some

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Speaker 3: of them would be like Jared's cousins and the friends

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Speaker 3: of the whole group. But it was really really fantastic.

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Speaker 3: It was so great. We had at one point seventeen

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Speaker 3: people staying at this villa. It's at the villa. If

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Speaker 3: we say at the villa.

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Speaker 2: TL, oh you love that place.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it's awesome. It was. It's this complex basically of

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Speaker 3: all of these apartments and I guess like little mini mansions.

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Speaker 3: They're all like AIRBNBD, but like the I don't have

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Speaker 3: to deal with the independence of Airbnb. You kind of

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Speaker 3: get a house without having to do it like independently,

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Speaker 3: you know what I mean, So that you have the

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Speaker 3: accommodations and the service that you get with a hotel,

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Speaker 3: but you have your own apartment or house and it's perfect.

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Speaker 3: And really, when you break it down, if you go

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Speaker 3: with a huge group like that, it's very affordable, like

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Speaker 3: one hundred dollars a night per person.

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Speaker 2: How many villains did you need for seventeen one one?

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Speaker 3: So they kind of cram these houses with bedrooms, so

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Speaker 3: you be shocked at how many bedrooms they have, because

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Speaker 3: you know, like a lot of like if you walk

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Speaker 3: into a house, you can have a dining orm, you

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Speaker 3: have a living room, you have you know, an office whatever.

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Speaker 3: They kind of like overload the design of these houses

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Speaker 3: with bedrooms. But we do have a family, but they

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Speaker 3: also have the common areas. I don't know how that

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Speaker 3: these houses must actually be just gigantic, and because they're

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Speaker 3: so bedrooms off, you don't even realize how giant they are.

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Speaker 3: But this house at the Villa tele has you have

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Speaker 3: a pool in the back, which actually freaked me out.

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Speaker 3: With the kids, I was like everyone was getting a spiel.

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Speaker 3: Make sure the door is triple locked, make sure the

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Speaker 3: fence for the pool is you know, I just couldn't

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Speaker 3: really have relocks in that component. We need to get

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Speaker 3: them swimming lessons asapay. But that's a whole other conversation.

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Speaker 3: So it's like nine bedrooms. Some bedrooms have double beds,

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Speaker 3: some even have four beds. Because the kids rooms, which

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Speaker 3: are all decorated with themes, have like Queen beds that

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Speaker 3: are bunked, and like multiple twin beds that are bunked.

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Speaker 3: It was really really cute. Then there's a game room

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Speaker 3: and a theater. Dawson, Oh my gosh. We could never

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Speaker 3: get him a really even a Nintendo sixty four or

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Speaker 3: anything like I know that's totally antiquated, but like a

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Speaker 3: Mario cart, Like he can't have a Mario car at all,

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Speaker 3: because this kid was addicted to the driving games, which

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Speaker 3: I love driving games at an arcade and my sister

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Speaker 3: she was the queen of them when we were kids.

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Speaker 3: But they have it hooked up so that like there's

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Speaker 3: a driving game and you can just keep going and

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Speaker 3: going and going. You don't have to pay anything for it.

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Speaker 3: And this kid three years old getting I'm not even

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Speaker 3: joking first place often on Mario Kart. He's a good

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Speaker 3: driver and I like watch him. And it wasn't like

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Speaker 3: he was of course he's taking the easy route, but

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Speaker 3: like even on the easy route, he was placing first.

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Speaker 3: It was so bananas. Everything was just so great and

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Speaker 3: sorry to keep saying, so we went to Universal Studios

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Speaker 3: two days. We have been insane and now since for

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Speaker 3: Dawson's approaching Dawson's second birthday, we went to Disney for

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Speaker 3: the first time and that was again with Jared's extended

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Speaker 3: family family extended family, and we learned a lot through

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Speaker 3: that one. We were like, oh good Lord, like that

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Speaker 3: was a very stressful trip. And I will said that

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Speaker 3: I think that two is too young to go to

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Speaker 3: Disney now. When we took him when he just turned

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Speaker 3: three with Jaden Tanner, it was much more fun. And

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Speaker 3: Hayden was such a baby at seven eight months that

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Speaker 3: he was just like so content in the stroller and

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Speaker 3: just like blob, you know, so the blob. And now

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Speaker 3: Hayden loved it at you know, a little less than

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Speaker 3: a year and a half because of just like all

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Speaker 3: the visual stimulation. And he really liked the little rides too,

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Speaker 3: but he wasn't like trying to really walk too much.

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Speaker 3: He was just like he was also at a really

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Speaker 3: good age, and Dawson is at a great age. So

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Speaker 3: I will say that if you're wanting to take your

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Speaker 3: kids to Orlando to do the parks, definitely wait till

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Speaker 3: almost four because now at forty inches, he's riding a

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Speaker 3: lot of things and he's brave. Not most not even

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Speaker 3: four year olds can handle the rides that he went on.

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Speaker 3: He went on the drop on the Jurassic rop water ride.

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Speaker 1: You know that he.

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Speaker 3: Was scared. He was like scared but not scared at

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Speaker 3: the same time. Like he didn't cry or wasn't like

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Speaker 3: upset like that, but he was like, I'm covering my face.

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Speaker 3: I'm covering my face. And then when when he dropped

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Speaker 3: and it was over, he was like, oh, I like that,

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Speaker 3: Let's do it again. We didn't end up doing again,

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Speaker 3: but he did do a number of the roller coasters,

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Speaker 3: like the Akida roller coasters, you know, like the forty

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Speaker 3: inch roller coasters, over and over, and he was so

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Speaker 3: annoyed that he had to like get off the coaster

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Speaker 3: and then go back in the line. Jared and I

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Speaker 3: love Universal Studios. That was one of the things that

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Speaker 3: we've learned from our previous two trips. It was like

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Speaker 3: we are Universal people over Disney. I just think that

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Speaker 3: it's a calmer way, it's a calmer park. I think

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Speaker 3: the rides are better. I think that the way that

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Speaker 3: the speed passes are designed so much better. But we

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Speaker 3: had a great day at Hollywood Studios as well. Really

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Speaker 3: nailed had a nap to Gate that Park.

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Speaker 2: So now, I mean, with this trip happening, what are

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Speaker 2: your plans for the like, for the holidays.

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Speaker 3: We are staying in Rhode Island. Yeah, I mean it's

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Speaker 3: it should be pretty chill. His sister lives in Rochester now,

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Speaker 3: but she's getting a house for the week because she

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Speaker 3: doesn't want to stay at my in laws for an

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Speaker 3: entire week. Small house and with the four kids, including

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Speaker 3: two kid baby to whatever. My sister in law is

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Speaker 3: actually runting a house like right down the street from us,

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Speaker 3: and they're gonna come over Christmas in the morning. We're

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Speaker 3: gonna do the whole opening of presents with their cousins,

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Speaker 3: you know, their cousins cousins, and we're excited about that.

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Speaker 3: It'd be really cute and cozy, and I think it'll

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Speaker 3: just be like kind of a chill day. I am

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Speaker 3: disappointed that I probably won't be seeing my family, but

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Speaker 3: like I told you at Thanksgiving time, we kind of

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Speaker 3: like half a negotiate it, especially since my dad always

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Speaker 3: works the day before Christmas and the day after Christmas

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Speaker 3: and it makes it things difficult. Anyway, what are you

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Speaker 3: doing for your Christmas? I know you you were in

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Speaker 3: Rhode Island and we did not cross paths, which is

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Speaker 3: super unfortunate. Did you you went to the Breakers That

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Speaker 3: is one of the Vanderbilt mansions, guys, and it is

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Speaker 3: always it's always beautiful, but it's even more beautiful at

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Speaker 3: Christmas time and they do like a big Christmas decor festival.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, we brought Winnie there so that she could see

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Speaker 2: the lights. We went last year was awesome, but Jessica

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Speaker 2: was pregnant, so we wanted to bring her back to

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Speaker 2: Sea Lights. This is Jessica's family gets together though. All

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Speaker 2: the Italians come together in Rhode Island and we have

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Speaker 2: a blast. It's a great celebration. And then for Christmas,

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Speaker 2: we're going to Nashville, which is awesome. My my in

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Speaker 2: Laar's a hosting this year because we've traditionally gone someplace warm.

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Speaker 2: My sister in law is pregnant right now and going

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Speaker 2: to be very near her due date on Christmas and

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Speaker 2: so they can't travel. So my in laws are nice

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Speaker 2: enough to invite all of us, including my parents, to

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Speaker 2: their house for Christmas. So we're just going to hang

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Speaker 2: out in Nashville for a few days for Christmas, which

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Speaker 2: will be fantastic. We will have a great time so

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Speaker 2: we'll be going back, but we'll make it a quick trip.

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Speaker 2: This will not be an extended trip. This will kind

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Speaker 2: of be a fly in, spend the day kind of

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Speaker 2: fly out kind of thing.

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Speaker 3: What are you getting Whennie, are you like shopping for her?

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Speaker 3: Because Dawson's first birthday, he's just about the same, born

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Speaker 3: in the same part of the year, so very not

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Speaker 3: knowing what Christmas is and all of that. What are

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Speaker 3: you planning on doing for her gifts?

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Speaker 2: Not a lot quite honestly. I mean it feels, especially

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Speaker 2: for a first Christmas, it's cooler that she's we're just

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Speaker 2: going to get to celebrate her first Christmas with her. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: gift wise, that girl has more things than she'll ever

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Speaker 2: be able to open up in this house, just based

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Speaker 2: on just you know, getting stuff sent to us or grandparents,

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Speaker 2: great grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles. I mean, there's so many

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Speaker 2: things that we can We will overload her with like

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Speaker 2: one year old toys and then she won't play with

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Speaker 2: half of them. So I doubt Jess can I just

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Speaker 2: talked about it. I doubt we really get much more

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Speaker 2: than like maybe one or two things. She's really into

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Speaker 2: books right now and so that's kind of fun. We'll

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Speaker 2: get her some books that we'll read to her, but

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Speaker 2: she'll get enough gifts. She'll get enough gifts, like one

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Speaker 2: hundred percent. I'm not worried about.

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Speaker 3: That's what I'm thinking. That's why I was like, why

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Speaker 3: should I get so much more for them when I

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Speaker 3: know your parents and my parents and my sister are

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Speaker 3: going to life and our house is already just so

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Speaker 3: over loaded with toys, and especially for it with Hayden,

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Speaker 3: it's just like everything's a hand me down toy, Like

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Speaker 3: you don't need new toys that like Dawson never had.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, there's I think there's like a mindset where some

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Speaker 2: will hear them be like that's crazy, how could you not.

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Speaker 2: I I hear that and say, hey, a lot of

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Speaker 2: the toys that we get we already just like donate

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Speaker 2: brand new.

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Speaker 3: Or do that have that too? Yeah, I have a

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Speaker 3: good time.

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Speaker 2: So we're trying to like consolidate to the toys she

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Speaker 2: loves and uses. I already got her a it's called

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Speaker 2: Make It Cute. It's a really fun cardboard dollhouse that

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Speaker 2: you just pop up. She already has that and she

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Speaker 2: loves it, and I got it for her for Christmas.

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Speaker 2: So yeah, we'll be good. We'll be good there. I

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Speaker 2: actually I grew up in a household that gifts were

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Speaker 2: not ever expect the.

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Speaker 3: Balls, yeah, actual balls, yeah.

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Speaker 2: Like sports things and like those would happen when my

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Speaker 2: ball would run, like get beat up. And so Christmas

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Speaker 2: or Birthdays were never like a big day to get

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Speaker 2: gifts because I already had what I wanted. And I

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Speaker 2: have this mindset for Winona. It's well, you know, she's

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Speaker 2: she's already spoiled just by this stuff she has at

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Speaker 2: eight or ten months old. I am always pushing against

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Speaker 2: more physically.

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Speaker 3: I just I just really want to experience gifts from

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Speaker 3: my kids. It was so fantastic last year my sister

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Speaker 3: in law got us passes for the zoo as a family,

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Speaker 3: and that's in perfect. We went to the zoo four

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Speaker 3: times and in the year and then I just like

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Speaker 3: would love for somebody to instead of giving me my

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Speaker 3: kids a toy, to like get them one of the

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Speaker 3: like yearly passes chuck E Cheese because they love Chucky's

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Speaker 3: and that'll make him spec Dawson particularly like way happier

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Speaker 3: than any toy that he'll probably play with her for

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Speaker 3: like five minutes, maybe like Rediscovered down the road, play

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Speaker 3: for five minutes and then whatever. It's so funny that

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Speaker 3: you told me years ago that you were like, I

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Speaker 3: didn't have toys. I just like got balls in my house.

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Speaker 3: The balls and like the hockey sticks and the baseball

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Speaker 3: bats and stuff like that are really the only that

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Speaker 3: that is what's used ninety it's seventy percent of the

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Speaker 3: time that is what the boys, both of them prefer

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Speaker 3: to play with over anything.

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Speaker 2: So you see what I was saying. You were shocked

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Speaker 2: back then. I'm like, I'm like, no, I really didn't,

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Speaker 2: because I think my parents after a few years were like,

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Speaker 2: I'm not buying him another game system or whatever because

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Speaker 2: he doesn't play with it. He wants to be hitting

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Speaker 2: a ball against the wall.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it is. It's what it's always played with most

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Speaker 3: and that's great. It's a great, great thing. And it's

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Speaker 3: funny that even hated now at not even seventeen months

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Speaker 3: is picking up the baseball and trying to hit the

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Speaker 3: ball and.

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Speaker 2: So much more fun, so much better. Ashley. A couple

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Speaker 2: of final questions for you. You've obviously gone through a

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Speaker 2: few holidays now being a mom. What does it mean

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Speaker 2: to you this time of year. Has it changed it all?

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Speaker 3: It's definitely more. It's obviously more special. I think everybody

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Speaker 3: was like, wonder we gonna like feel the Christmas spirit

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Speaker 3: and the Christmas magic that was like our nineties Christmases.

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Speaker 3: That's what a lot of millennials will say, and I

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Speaker 3: think you get way more of a touch of that

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Speaker 3: when you are experiencing Christmas through your child's eyes. Again,

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Speaker 3: doing anything, just baking gets Dawson hyped, like he is

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Speaker 3: so cute and you're like, you want to make a

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Speaker 3: cake and he's like, make cake cake. It's so adorable.

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Speaker 3: I haven't done Elf on a shelf or anything like that,

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Speaker 3: but just going to see Santa, doing anything Christmasy he

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Speaker 3: loves and it is just like a warmer part of

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Speaker 3: the year again. I feel like, definitely just it's more

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Speaker 3: of a thing.

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Speaker 2: Do you take your kids to see Santa.

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Speaker 3: I don't like, do it with intention. We just happened

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Speaker 3: to kind of do it. So we go to this

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Speaker 3: Christmas tree lighting and the cutest little town. And this

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Speaker 3: has been a tradition that I didn't even think we

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Speaker 3: were making. We didn't purposely make a tradition. We just

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Speaker 3: happened to have done it now three years in a row,

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Speaker 3: and now I want to make it a tradition. It's

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Speaker 3: the cutest little town. It's called Wickford, and they have

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Speaker 3: a Christmas tree lighting, and then there are little shops

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Speaker 3: are open later that day, and these are like the

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Speaker 3: cute little craftsman shops, you know, where they have handmade

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Speaker 3: ornaments and such. So I always go into this one

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Speaker 3: store and we buy a couple handmade ornaments. So I'm

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Speaker 3: going to make it so that the boys pick out

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Speaker 3: an ornament each year from that store. And then Santa

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Speaker 3: comes on a fire truck and all the kids freak

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Speaker 3: out when he pulls up on the side of the

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Speaker 3: fire truck, and Dawson has been eager to meet him

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Speaker 3: the past two years. And then whenever where we're at

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Speaker 3: the mall, and Jared's a big mall guy, loves Christmas

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Speaker 3: shopping at the mall. I am all about the online shopping,

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Speaker 3: and I try to make everything like so very specific

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Speaker 3: to the person. And Jared's thought of a personal gift

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Speaker 3: is different, and I respect it. Both both ways are great.

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Speaker 3: I am more of like, I'm going to look up

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Speaker 3: this person's interest and find like the most niche thing,

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Speaker 3: and he is like, I'm going to go with my

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Speaker 3: hands and pick out something that I feel that they

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Speaker 3: really like. Like he really wants to do it in person.

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Speaker 3: So he's all about the mall. So he'll take Dawson

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Speaker 3: to the mall sometimes and I like to go like

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Speaker 3: once or twice, but he'll take Dawson to the mall.

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Speaker 3: We will all go, and then he might sit on

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Speaker 3: Santa's lap there. Santa comes to Audrey's every year. That's

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Speaker 3: a nice little tradition. Now he came last week and

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Speaker 3: it's adorable to see all the kids just up against

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Speaker 3: the glass like waiting for him to come in. And

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Speaker 3: he did lap time and there you go.

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Speaker 2: Is it hard to book? Sannah Like, I mean, I'm

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Speaker 2: assuming it. What do you do? You call the Elves?

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Speaker 3: So the shopping center that we're in, they do a

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Speaker 3: whole breakfast with Santa. So he's there from eight to eleven,

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Speaker 3: and then they distribute where he's gonna be a time wise,

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Speaker 3: so he was at Audrey's from ten to eleven or

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Speaker 3: something like that.

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Speaker 2: It's gotta be so tired this time of year. We

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Speaker 2: have something we're really excited to do. Is that I

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Speaker 2: don't know if you've seen on TikTok, but it's the

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Speaker 2: thing where you spray the magic spray on the little

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Speaker 2: Christmas tree and then when the kid wakes up the

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Speaker 2: next morning, it's a big tree. Like you start out

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Speaker 2: with like a small little like like plan yeah, and

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Speaker 2: you like tell the kids spray it, and they like

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Speaker 2: spray it with water. Oh, it's magic water, and it

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Speaker 2: blows up. The next morning they're like, oh my gosh,

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Speaker 2: I made the tree grow.

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Speaker 3: No way, that's so cute.

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Speaker 2: Isn't that cute? Yeah, I'm gonna do that. We're really

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Speaker 2: pumped for that. That'll be a good one. We took

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Speaker 2: Winnie to bass pro Shop. Do you know Bass pro

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Speaker 2: Shop does free pictures with Santa.

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Speaker 3: Oh that's nice.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it was awesome. It was fantastic. I have it

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Speaker 2: sitting here on my desk and he was he was happy.

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Speaker 2: He had a good singing voice when he was confused.

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Speaker 2: She was, Yeah, it was great. The holidays are such

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Speaker 2: a special time for so many and in such a

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Speaker 2: difficult time. You know, in most households, especially as we

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Speaker 2: get to be my age, in Ashley's age, there's people

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Speaker 2: we miss, people we wish could be there. We fully

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Speaker 2: understand that the holidays, for as much joy and magic

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Speaker 2: and tradition there is around them, they're also ones of

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Speaker 2: deep pain. And so if you're out there and you're

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Speaker 2: somebody that relates more to that than the celebration, no,

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Speaker 2: you're not alone. Also, with all that being said, I hope,

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Speaker 2: Ashley hopes, we all hope here at iHeart that your

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Speaker 2: holiday season can be one where joy is found, where

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Speaker 2: love is found, and where connection with a community around

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Speaker 2: you is found. It's not about the gifts, it's not

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Speaker 2: about the luxuries, it's not about the food on the table.

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Speaker 2: It's about being around the table, and it's about being

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Speaker 2: around people that have been there for you and that

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Speaker 2: you love. That could be family, or that could be

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Speaker 2: a chosen family. But we wish you the best this

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Speaker 2: holiday season. We hope you celebrate well, and we'll be

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Speaker 2: back talking about more things that matter, like what's happening

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Speaker 2: in Bachelor Nation when we return from the holidays.

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Speaker 3: Well said pastor Ben. Until next time, I've been Ashley.

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Speaker 2: And I've been Ben. We'll talk to you soon.

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Speaker 1: Follow the Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous podcasts on

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Speaker 1: iHeartRadio or subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts,