Speaker 1: This is the most traumatic podcast ever and iHeartRadio podcast.
Speaker 1: Merry Christmas, everybody, Merry Christmas, Happy holidays, whatever you celebrate.
Speaker 1: If you had a wonderful Honukah, Merry Christmas to you.
Speaker 1: This is the holiday season we celebrate Christmas, so I'll
Speaker 1: wish you a merry Christmas. We are fired up, all set.
Speaker 1: The kids are in town. You know, for those of
Speaker 1: you who are divorced with children, I feel you. This
Speaker 1: is my year to have them for Christmas. So they'll
Speaker 1: be with Lauren and I. We kind of still go
Speaker 1: the on and off, even though they are adult kids
Speaker 1: and technically they're above eighteen, they could choose somehow we
Speaker 1: have them brainwashed that they still just go back, and
Speaker 1: you know, we go back and forth every year, and
Speaker 1: so the way we do it, they're with us Christmas
Speaker 1: through New Year's this year. So the kids are with
Speaker 1: us here at the house and everything just feels right,
Speaker 1: and you know, I will dive a little bit deep
Speaker 1: when the kids aren't with me. Those holidays are tough.
Speaker 1: They're never not weird, They're never not difficult to get through.
Speaker 1: You know, you have to realize that a holiday is
Speaker 1: also just a day, and that whenever you celebrate. For example, Taylor,
Speaker 1: you guys may have just seen on social media she
Speaker 1: just turned twenty years old. Happy birthday day. She wasn't
Speaker 1: with me for her birthday, and that's never not weird.
Speaker 1: She was out in LA with her mom celebrating, which
Speaker 1: is wonderful. And we'll celebrate, you know, when she comes here. So,
Speaker 1: you know, a holiday, a birthday, all that. It can
Speaker 1: also just be the day you choose. You make the
Speaker 1: best of it when you can. But I am so
Speaker 1: grateful for the family that I have, LZ. The kids
Speaker 1: are here and we'll have our beautiful traditional We got
Speaker 1: the Christmas tree up, and Elz and I put the
Speaker 1: tree up, and I still have decorations from when I
Speaker 1: was a kid. It's funny, LZ, and we play this
Speaker 1: game every year we get the tree up. I used
Speaker 1: to be a real tree guy. Now I'm a fake
Speaker 1: tree guy because it's so easy and it's lit and
Speaker 1: it's good to go, and man, whoever invented that maybe
Speaker 1: the greatest invention since slice bread. But we start pulling
Speaker 1: out the ornaments and l Z will hold up an ornament.
Speaker 1: I know the year and a lot of my ornaments
Speaker 1: I have years written on them, or there's maybe something
Speaker 1: in there that says the year, and I'm like, yep,
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty one. That was from my grandmother nineteen seventy nine.
Speaker 1: So I have some that are just decades decades old.
Speaker 1: And so our tree is you're one of two people,
Speaker 1: you know, there are those that have that. I call
Speaker 1: it the Nieman Marcus tree where it is perfect and
Speaker 1: you have a you know, certain look and decor and
Speaker 1: everything matches perfectly, and maybe it's gold ornaments or all
Speaker 1: they're all white or whatever, and it's just perfect. That's
Speaker 1: not our tree. And Elz and I we got, of course,
Speaker 1: we have Harry Potter ornaments. Yes, there's a lot of
Speaker 1: soccer ornaments because I was obviously in a big soccer
Speaker 1: phase when I was growing up and then playing in college,
Speaker 1: and so there was that phase where I was buying,
Speaker 1: you know, every year we go buy ornaments. So I
Speaker 1: got the soccer ones. And I had a raccoon phase too.
Speaker 1: Laurence still makes fun of me, but there's raccoon ornaments.
Speaker 1: So there's we have all these different ornaments, and we've
Speaker 1: started to build our own of pictures of the kids
Speaker 1: and us when we were in Sydney celebrating New Year's
Speaker 1: a few years ago and some other you know, the
Speaker 1: kids going to TCU and so it's great and I
Speaker 1: love I like the mishmashed tree. There's the Nieman Marcus tree,
Speaker 1: or there's the mutt. Let's call it the mutt. It's
Speaker 1: just built of a lot of things. And that's our tree.
Speaker 1: And we watch our Christmas movies, Elf and Home Alone,
Speaker 1: our go tos and listen to little Christmas music and
Speaker 1: we enjoy. And then our Christmas you know, Mom will
Speaker 1: be here and we'll cook a nice dinner and have
Speaker 1: a great time and just be together. You know, I
Speaker 1: reflect on the kids when they were young and coming
Speaker 1: in and just tearing open the presence and staying up
Speaker 1: all night and building the bikes and the Barbie doll
Speaker 1: houses and all these things, and you know, those days
Speaker 1: are gone. Now it's you know, you're buying them clothes
Speaker 1: and underwearing jeans and things they need for college, or
Speaker 1: giving them money that they'll need for college. And it's
Speaker 1: funny that, you know it kind of transitions and the
Speaker 1: presence and the ripping open to the presence. It's still
Speaker 1: fun on Christmas morning, but we sleep in. You know,
Speaker 1: no one's getting up at six o'clock in the morning
Speaker 1: and jumping on your bed. We kind of sleep in
Speaker 1: and maybe we'll even eat first or have our coffee,
Speaker 1: and then we kind of mosey over and do the presence.
Speaker 1: So wherever you are in that phase of life, I
Speaker 1: enjoy it. And if you are at the they wake
Speaker 1: up at five in the morning and you're up dads,
Speaker 1: you know, building that bike or a weight bench, and
Speaker 1: you know your your blood your knuckles are bloody because
Speaker 1: you've stripped all these screws and you are just going
Speaker 1: crazy trying to get everything done. Enjoy it, man, Breathe
Speaker 1: it in because it will soon be gone, and you know,
Speaker 1: the kids will be coming home from college and pretty
Speaker 1: soon they'll have kids, and they'll be deciding where you're
Speaker 1: going to spend Christmas. And so I try to take
Speaker 1: each level in and each season that comes. As the
Speaker 1: kids have gotten older, and now twenty two and now
Speaker 1: twenty years old, I love this season as much as
Speaker 1: I've loved any of them, and just having them here
Speaker 1: is a blessing. And I don't have any huge traditions
Speaker 1: because of maybe the world I was living in and
Speaker 1: probably because of the divorces. Every other year, we were
Speaker 1: trying to make it work. And you know, a kudos
Speaker 1: to my ex because, you know, if the kids were
Speaker 1: with her, and back when we were living in LA
Speaker 1: I would spend the morning with them just so I
Speaker 1: could see them. And because the kids were younger, you know,
Speaker 1: they were still nine and eleven years old when we
Speaker 1: got divorced, and then vice versa. You know, she was
Speaker 1: allowed to come up and hang at our house and
Speaker 1: have the morning and we used to do that for
Speaker 1: a while, and then, you know, we've kind of grown
Speaker 1: out of that because the kids are older, and we'll
Speaker 1: just kind of celebrate Christmas whenever I see them. But
Speaker 1: however you're celebrating, and whatever phase you're in, I feel you,
Speaker 1: and I'm with you, and I hope it's a wonderful one.
Speaker 1: And you know the meaning of the season. I know
Speaker 1: not everybody listening celebrates Christmas. I know not everybody believes,
Speaker 1: but the meaning of the season is, you know, even
Speaker 1: if you don't believe in Jesus, even if you don't
Speaker 1: believe in that story, you can believe in the hope,
Speaker 1: and you can believe in the love, and you can
Speaker 1: believe in what it means. Even if you're not celebrating
Speaker 1: the birth of Jesus, you can believe in what it
Speaker 1: stands for. The good in all of us, and peace
Speaker 1: and peace on earth some things we should all lean
Speaker 1: into in this day and age and things going on
Speaker 1: in the world. So if nothing else, maybe it just
Speaker 1: gives us all two seconds to take a deep breath,
Speaker 1: call a time out, find a little peace in our heart,
Speaker 1: find a little love, put down our swords, and just
Speaker 1: enjoy each other for just a moment and head into
Speaker 1: what will hopefully be a prosperous, beautiful, healthy, wonderful new year.
Speaker 1: Lauren and I send our love to all of you.
Speaker 1: Wherever this finds you, however this finds you, just know
Speaker 1: that you are loved, know that you are appreciated, You
Speaker 1: are very much worthwhile. If you are alone on this
Speaker 1: Christmas Day, just know that we're thinking about you, and
Speaker 1: you're not alone, and we're with you, if not in person,
Speaker 1: in spirit. So happy holidays, Love you all, and thank
Speaker 1: you for being with us this year. It's been a
Speaker 1: wonderful year. It's meant so much to be able to
Speaker 1: talk to all of you, have these discussions and share
Speaker 1: these holidays. Wish you all the very best, Marry Christmas,
Speaker 1: Happy New Year, and we'll talk to you again soon
Speaker 1: because we have a lot more to talk about. Thanks
Speaker 1: for listening. Follow us on Instagram at the most Dramatic
Speaker 1: pod Ever, and make sure to write us a review
Speaker 1: and leave us five stars. I'll talk to you next time.