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Speaker 1: It's the Happy Families podcast. It's the podcast for the

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Speaker 1: time poor parent who just wants answers.

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Speaker 2: Now missus Happy Families. I'm starting to feel the energy

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Speaker 2: change in our family.

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Speaker 3: Are you prepped? I no, don't ask me if I it.

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Speaker 2: I was going to say, are you hello? This is

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Speaker 2: Justin and Kylie Coulson. I'm the founder of Happy Families

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Speaker 2: dot com dot you. We are your podcast hosts for

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Speaker 2: the Happy Families podcast and today a podcast with a difference.

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Speaker 2: A few months ago, we sought your feedback on how

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Speaker 2: it can make the podcast better, and one piece of

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Speaker 2: feedback came through many, many times, a surprising number of times.

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Speaker 2: We weren't quite sure what to do with it, because

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Speaker 2: we really are just here to talk parenting. But today

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Speaker 2: we're going to follow the feedback and do as so

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Speaker 2: many of our listeners have asked. Many people have included

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Speaker 2: to the fact that every now and again, Kylin and

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Speaker 2: I go to When I say every now and again,

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Speaker 2: I mean every Sunday, and we take our kids along

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Speaker 2: as well. And this is Christmas. And for the last

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Speaker 2: week or so we've been talking about the meaning of Christmas.

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Speaker 2: We've been talking about what we're looking forward to for

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Speaker 2: Christmas and how we can help our families to have

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Speaker 2: a happy Christmas. Well, today we've decided that we're going

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Speaker 2: to go a little bit further. We're going to talk

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Speaker 2: about how to make Christmas holy for your family, because

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Speaker 2: this is something that we strive to do every single

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Speaker 2: year with our kids.

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Speaker 3: We know not everybody has Christ at the center of

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Speaker 3: their Christmas. But one of the things that I've really

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Speaker 3: appreciated over the years is having the opportunity to understand

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Speaker 3: and learn how other people do things. Yea, it helps

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Speaker 3: me to be more respectful, it helps me to have

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Speaker 3: greater understanding, and it helps me to be able to

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Speaker 3: connect with other people in a much more powerful way

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Speaker 3: as a result of that knowledge. So maybe Christ isn't

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Speaker 3: a part of your Christians, but maybe some of the

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Speaker 3: things that we share today will help you understand how

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Speaker 3: it is for other people.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and if you want to have a more Christ

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Speaker 2: centered Christmas, if you want to tap into the true

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Speaker 2: historical meaning of Christmas, at least as it's been for

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Speaker 2: a very very long time, I know that there are

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Speaker 2: going to be some people who say a historically, actually

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Speaker 2: there's some intermingling of other traditions and other things in there.

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Speaker 2: We're just going to focus on the Christian aspect of

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Speaker 2: Christmas in this podcast, because we know that there's a

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Speaker 2: lot of people who have that faith background and who

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Speaker 2: probably would like to help their families to have a

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Speaker 2: holier Christmas. So let's dive into something called the three

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Speaker 2: Levels of Christmas. This is not a justin course an original.

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Speaker 2: I actually found it from a newspaper editor who wrote

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Speaker 2: about it in nineteen eighty five in a book that

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Speaker 2: I was reading, and I think that it's really really interesting.

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Speaker 2: The three Levels of Christmas. Level one. We'll call this

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Speaker 2: the Santa Claus level. It's the level of Christmas trees

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Speaker 2: and colorful gifts and candlelight and a table full of

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Speaker 2: prawns and seafood and salmon and and all of the lollies.

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Speaker 3: When you were talking about over indulging at Christmas time,

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Speaker 3: I just knew it was going to be prawns.

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Speaker 2: I can't help myself. I really want to eat I shouldn't,

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Speaker 2: but I really want to eat a lot of prawns

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Speaker 2: this Christmas.

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Speaker 3: Well you might have to share them this year, who

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Speaker 3: with maybe me?

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Speaker 2: You don't need prawns.

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Speaker 3: You I have since I started cooking them.

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Speaker 2: You have started eating prawns in the last year or so.

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Speaker 2: Are you saying that you like them.

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Speaker 3: Now when I cook them?

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Speaker 2: After all lifetime of not eating prawns, and now you

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Speaker 2: want to you want to share my Christmas. You know what,

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Speaker 2: it's Christmas. I'll share them with you.

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Speaker 3: I even started eating olives, and I've determined that I

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Speaker 3: don't like green ones.

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Speaker 2: Right. Oh my goodness, I see I've had I've had

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Speaker 2: the lines share of all those good things for the

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Speaker 2: last twenty plus years. And now you're saying that I'm

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Speaker 2: going to have to share them.

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Speaker 3: No, you can probably have all the olives.

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Speaker 2: All right, yeah, okay, Well that's that's the Santa Claus level.

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Speaker 2: That's Level one Christmas. And you know what, I don't

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Speaker 2: want to I don't want to take away from the

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Speaker 2: diminish it at all. We love level one Christmas. That's

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Speaker 2: what we've talked about all week on the podcast and

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Speaker 2: all last week because most of the world really just

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Speaker 2: loves Christmas because it's level one and it's a bit

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Speaker 2: of over indulgence and it's a bit of a relaxation.

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Speaker 2: It feels good to have a level one Christmas.

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Speaker 3: Well, it also brings everybody together. Usually, yes, yes, the

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Speaker 3: level one is all about bringing people together, yeah.

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Speaker 2: One hundred percent. Now, Level two Christmas changes things a

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Speaker 2: little bit. Level two Christmas is where we go from

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Speaker 2: the over indulgence and the Santa Claus and all that

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Speaker 2: kind of thing to the let's call it the oh

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Speaker 2: Holy night, silent night level. It's where we get involved

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Speaker 2: in not just the jingle bells Christmas carols, but the

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Speaker 2: really meaningful Christmas carols of the story that starts now

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Speaker 2: in those days there went out a decree from Caesar

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Speaker 2: Augustus that all the world should be taxed. It's the

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Speaker 2: level of the crowded in and the silent holy moment

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Speaker 2: in a dark stable where Jesus came to earth. And

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Speaker 2: I don't know about you, but when I think about that,

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Speaker 2: it starts to transcend that level one. Level one is fun.

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Speaker 2: Level one is delightful, and we can't get enough of

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Speaker 2: Level one in so many ways. But there is something

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Speaker 2: deeper about a Level two Christmas, and that's that's something

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Speaker 2: that's really really special. Level three is different though. Level

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Speaker 2: three is about saying that we can't leave Jesus in

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Speaker 2: the manger. He grows up, He becomes an adult, he

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Speaker 2: takes on the sins of the world. He dies for

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Speaker 2: the world. And unlike Level one, where you kind of

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Speaker 2: do get sick of it, you can't live that life

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Speaker 2: of over indulgence for more than a day or two,

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Speaker 2: otherwise you start to really really get sick. And even

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Speaker 2: I mean, I can't sing away in a manger for

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Speaker 2: more than a couple of weeks. Eventually I kind of

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Speaker 2: get tired on I'm like, let's put that away for

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Speaker 2: another eleven months. I'm looking forward to next Christmas so

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Speaker 2: we can do it again. But the Level three Christmas

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Speaker 2: is where we we say, I want to focus on

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Speaker 2: Jesus gifts, the joy, the peace, the hope, what the

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Speaker 2: adult Jesus brings into people's lives.

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Speaker 3: Well, and I think if you think about the way

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Speaker 3: we celebrate one another's birthdays, there's obviously an acknowledgment that

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Speaker 3: you were born. And in our house we share the

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Speaker 3: birth story as we do, yes we do, but we

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Speaker 3: celebrate the life. We celebrate the life of the ones

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Speaker 3: that we love. And so at Christmas time there's this

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Speaker 3: wonderful acknowledgment that for us, a belief that Jesus came

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Speaker 3: to earth and he lived this life that allows me

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Speaker 3: to live the life of privilege that I live and

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Speaker 3: understand who I am in relation to him and how

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Speaker 3: I want to live my life so that I can

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Speaker 3: be more like him.

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Speaker 2: That's beautiful, Kylie, that's beautiful. I've never actually thought about

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Speaker 2: that for a year. When our kids have their birthday,

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Speaker 2: we tell them their birth story, we celebrate their birth,

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Speaker 2: and then we celebrate their life. And so at Christmas,

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Speaker 2: what a perfect thing to do. That's how we can

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Speaker 2: move to a level three Christmas. We think that that's

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Speaker 2: really important, and so after the break, we're going to

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Speaker 2: talk about a few ideas we've got and some of

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Speaker 2: our listeners' ideas as well, about how to create a

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Speaker 2: Level three Christmas for your family while still enjoying Level

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Speaker 2: one and level two.

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Speaker 3: It's the Happy Families podcast, the podcast for the time

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Speaker 3: poor parent who just wants answers now, and today we're

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Speaker 3: going a little bit rogue. We're sharing our thoughts on

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Speaker 3: how to make Christmas holy.

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Speaker 2: So during the week we've been in touch with a

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Speaker 2: whole bunch of people who listen to the Happy Families

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Speaker 2: podcast and we've just asked them, how do you really

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Speaker 2: celebrate the meaning of Christmas, how do you bring that

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Speaker 2: into your family? And we had no idea what sort

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Speaker 2: of responses we were going to get, but we were

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Speaker 2: really surprised with the number of people who said, actually,

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Speaker 2: it's all about the true many Christmas is all about Jesus.

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Speaker 1: We are a Christian family, so for us, Christmas is

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Speaker 1: mainly about the birth of Jesus and celebrating that. And

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Speaker 1: on Christmas Day we ensure that we go to church

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Speaker 1: in the morning when we get to spend time reflecting

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Speaker 1: on the gift of Jesus.

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Speaker 3: The meaning of Christmas is about Jesus and about the

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Speaker 3: birth of Jesus. We do have carols at church, so

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Speaker 3: we try and get the girls and our family involved

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Speaker 3: in that.

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Speaker 4: It's actually really important to us at the commercial side

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Speaker 4: of Christmas doesn't overshadow what we're truly celebrating, which is

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Speaker 4: that Jesus is the savior.

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Speaker 3: Of the world.

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Speaker 4: And that's such a beautiful, exciting day. Yes, because of

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Speaker 4: the presents, but also because of what we're celebrating.

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Speaker 3: We focus on Jesus. While we do give gifts to

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Speaker 3: our children, we use this as a time of giving

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Speaker 3: back to others.

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Speaker 2: So let's just recap because I have talked about a

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Speaker 2: number of things we were going to say, and we

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Speaker 2: might just add to that just a little bit. First up, carols,

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Speaker 2: they get to the very heart of what Christmas is

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Speaker 2: all about.

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Speaker 3: We might not be able to sing those carols, but

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Speaker 3: one of the things that we love doing with our

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Speaker 3: kids is actually going around yes to people who are

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Speaker 3: maybe a little bit lonely they don't have family around

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Speaker 3: them at Christmas time, and just standing on their doorstep

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Speaker 3: and giving a bit of a rap rap rap and

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Speaker 3: then singing a few songs for them.

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Speaker 2: But you're going to say it was singing a rap

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Speaker 2: rap rap. So we haven't actually done that a lot lately,

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Speaker 2: but we used to do it a lot. I think

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Speaker 2: we could probably re reignite that again. There's something special

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Speaker 2: about knocking on the door of somebody and standing there

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Speaker 2: and singing. It's really personal. You're really opening yourself up

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Speaker 2: and it creates a lovely connection. The second idea that

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Speaker 2: I think is worth touching on is the Nativity. Kylie,

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Speaker 2: you love the Nativity, So.

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Speaker 3: The Nativity would hands down be my favorite Christmas decoration.

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Speaker 3: I may have a few of them.

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Speaker 2: Time I turned around, It's like, is that the same

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Speaker 2: nativity we had last year. And you say, hmm, well.

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Speaker 3: We have the main one right my willow that is.

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Speaker 2: The willow Tree Nativity is beautiful and.

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Speaker 3: That's my pride and joy when it comes to Christmas.

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Speaker 3: I just love their depiction. But we also have our

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Speaker 3: little Fisher and Price one, yeah, which we've had pretty

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Speaker 3: much since the beginning, because as soon as I realized

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Speaker 3: that babies and ceramics don't go together, I knew that

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Speaker 3: I could not could not have a Christmas without them

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Speaker 3: being able to touch and feel and be a part

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Speaker 3: of that process because it's such an important part of

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Speaker 3: what we believe and how we choose to live our lives.

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Speaker 3: And I wanted them to be able to hold and

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Speaker 3: use their imagination. And so the Fisher Price Little Nativity

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Speaker 3: is just beautiful for little fingers.

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Speaker 2: So we have some friends who have joined up with

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Speaker 2: other friends that they're not local unfortunately, so we can't

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Speaker 2: do it with them. When of some families who get

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Speaker 2: together and they actually do their own Nativity at or

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Speaker 2: on Christmas or around about Christmas, where the kids are

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Speaker 2: acting it out and everyone gets all dressed up and

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Speaker 2: they really go to town with that. That's probably taking

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Speaker 2: it to the next level that's like level fifteen Christmas.

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Speaker 2: But one thing that we absolutely do is we sit

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Speaker 2: around the Nativity on Christmas Morning, and before we dive

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Speaker 2: into gifts or anything, the satus stockings have come out,

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Speaker 2: but that's about it. We open up Matthew and we

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Speaker 2: open up Luke and we read, now the birth of Jesus.

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Speaker 2: Christ was on this wise when as his mother Mary

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Speaker 2: was a spouse to Joseph before they came together, she

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Speaker 2: was found with child of the Holy Ghost. And we

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Speaker 2: read the Nativity. We read those first couple of chapters

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Speaker 2: to really emphasize the importance of this for our children.

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Speaker 3: And as some of our listeners suggested, number three is

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Speaker 3: attending church.

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Speaker 2: What a great thing to be able to go to

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Speaker 2: church on Christmas Day and make that the centerpiece of

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Speaker 2: your Christmas, or at least an integral part of it.

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Speaker 2: The last thing that I really wanted to touch on

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Speaker 2: that sort of came from the things that we've talked

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Speaker 2: about over the last little while and from our listeners.

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Speaker 2: It's just the importance to get to a level three Christmas. Yes,

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Speaker 2: we get to spoil ourselves. Yes we sing all the

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Speaker 2: songs and remember the baby Jesus. But if we're going

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Speaker 2: to remember his life, the best way to remember his

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Speaker 2: life is to follow his example, and that's by serving others,

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Speaker 2: by helping others. And over the years we've done all

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Speaker 2: sorts of things like having people in our home Christmas dinner,

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Speaker 2: Christmas lunch, and we know many people who actually give

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Speaker 2: up their Christmas to go and knock on doors and

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Speaker 2: deliver hampers and feed the homeless and do all kinds

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Speaker 2: of meaningful service to those who are in need. And

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Speaker 2: to be able to take your kids along and to

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Speaker 2: do that kind of work I think is just extraordinary,

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Speaker 2: so powerful, so service oriented, so giving, such so big hearted.

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Speaker 3: That's my favorite part about Christmas, the opportunity to just

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Speaker 3: look outside ourselves and find those who need some Christmas chere,

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Speaker 3: who need to know that they are seen, heard and valued.

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Speaker 2: We really hope that these ideas help you to invite

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Speaker 2: the spirit of Christmas into your home over the next

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Speaker 2: week or so. The Happy Family's podcast is produced by

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Speaker 2: Justin Ruland from Bridge Media. If you'd like more information

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Speaker 2: about how to make your family flourish, you can get

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Speaker 2: all the details at Happy families dot com.

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Speaker 3: Do you