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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.

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Speaker 1: This is Laura, Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

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Speaker 1: tip is to make little moments festive. Getting in the

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Speaker 1: holiday spirit doesn't need to involve big, showy decorations. Oh

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Speaker 1: obviously it can. There are lots of little moments through

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Speaker 1: the day where tiny changes can make a big difference.

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Speaker 1: Every year, I make a holiday fund list and plot

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Speaker 1: out when my family will be doing things like visiting

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Speaker 1: holiday train displays or seeing the Nutcracker. These events tend

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Speaker 1: to involve times and tickets, which isn't a bad thing.

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Speaker 1: When something is on the schedule and I pay for tickets,

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Speaker 1: I tend to do it. But some items on the

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Speaker 1: holiday fun list are more about little moments. For instance,

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Speaker 1: I decided to set this serious XM radio channel in

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Speaker 1: my car to seventy nine, which is holly. I might

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Speaker 1: get sick of the holiday music eventually, but it's as

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Speaker 1: fun as listening to random pop music for a few weeks,

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Speaker 1: and it makes carpool runs feel more festive. I've been

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Speaker 1: listening to Box Christmas oratorio while doing my daily stretches.

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Speaker 1: I am practicing for my twenty twenty four project of

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Speaker 1: listening to all the works of Bach. So in the meantime,

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Speaker 1: why not listen to his famous Christmas masterpiece. A few

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Speaker 1: weeks ago I pulled out my stash of Christmas puzzles.

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Speaker 1: I like to work on one thousand piece puzzles at

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Speaker 1: night because it's relaxing and keeps me off my phone.

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Speaker 1: When I'm on my phone, I tend to look at

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Speaker 1: the news, and that is of course far less relaxing.

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Speaker 1: So one thousand piece puzzles it is. I could any

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Speaker 1: sort of puzzle, so why not do ones with rustic

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Speaker 1: Christmas scenes or pictures of carollers or of Santa sitting

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Speaker 1: by a fire. I have dug into my stash of

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Speaker 1: old holiday magazines. I love old magazines in general, especially

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Speaker 1: those from a long time ago, as they show what

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Speaker 1: life was like for normal people in times past. I

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Speaker 1: have collected some vintage December issues of women's magazines, but

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Speaker 1: I have also kept some that I have subscribed to

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Speaker 1: years of Martha Stuart, Living, Better Homes and Gardens, Good Housekeeping, Oh,

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Speaker 1: the Oprah Magazine, and so forth. Some of these titles

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Speaker 1: have stopped publishing, which makes me happy that I saved

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Speaker 1: the old ones. I don't really remember flipping through the

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Speaker 1: December twenty thirteen Martha Stuart Living issue back in twenty thirteen,

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Speaker 1: even though I'm sure I did so. It's like reading

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Speaker 1: a new magazine, and it turns downtime into something more festive.

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Speaker 1: In any case, we have some discretion over how we

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Speaker 1: spend our leisure time, and especially the little choices like

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Speaker 1: music and reading material that are definitely within our control.

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Speaker 1: We also have some discretion over small things in our homes,

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Speaker 1: like using holiday soaps or lighting candles. It is as

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Speaker 1: easy to use evergreen scented soap as lavender scented soap

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Speaker 1: for a few weeks, and one probably feels more festive.

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Speaker 1: If you are reading to kids, why not read a

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Speaker 1: holiday story instead of stories you read the rest of

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Speaker 1: the year. We can go overboard on this, of course,

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Speaker 1: but every year, as the weather gets bleak in December,

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Speaker 1: I remember the wisdom of ancient humans holding solstice festivals,

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Speaker 1: and then of the Christian tradition putting this holiday of

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Speaker 1: light during the darkest days of the year. As the

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Speaker 1: song goes, we need a little Christmas. Write this very minute,

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Speaker 1: even if you don't celebrate Christmas or simply celebrate the

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Speaker 1: secular version of it. A little festivity amid bleakness can

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Speaker 1: be welcome. Indeed, in the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks

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Speaker 1: for listening, and here's to making the most of our times.

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Speaker 2: Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas,

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Speaker 2: or feedback, you can reach me at Laura at Laura

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Speaker 2: vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia.

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