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Speaker 1: It's the Happy Families Podcast.

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Speaker 2: It's the podcast for the time poor parent who just

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Speaker 2: once answers.

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Speaker 1: Now today I'm a Happy Families podcast. As we count

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Speaker 1: down to Christmas, only two weeks to go, Kylie, two

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Speaker 1: weeks to Christmas Eve. Today's a tenth twenty fourth is

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Speaker 1: Christmas Eve? You've asked for the rains. See what I

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Speaker 1: did that because Reindeer and Santa Claus. You've asked for

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Speaker 1: the rain?

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Speaker 2: Ha ha.

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Speaker 1: Come on, where's your Christmas spirit? I'm looking for a

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Speaker 1: lot more enthusied. I love it. That almost sounded like

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Speaker 1: a recording, that sounded like Jay Ip put something in there.

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Speaker 1: Well done. I like it. You've asked the rains. Today

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Speaker 1: you want to talk about five ways to make Christmas awesome?

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Speaker 1: I'm just here for the comedic relief.

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Speaker 2: Well, I'm curious, what are you planning on doing to

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Speaker 2: make Christmas awesome?

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Speaker 1: I'm planning on being fully present. Believe you're lost.

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Speaker 2: That is such a cop out. Have you done the Christmas.

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Speaker 1: Shopping as per not so this year. We've decided that

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Speaker 1: we're not going to do give but as per usual.

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Speaker 1: I would imagine that maybe two or three days prior

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Speaker 1: to Christmas I'm going to have a great, big brain

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Speaker 1: explosion and go on max out the credit card like

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Speaker 1: I did last year and the year before and the

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Speaker 1: year before, and by gifts for everybody. Even though we're

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Speaker 1: not doing gifts, it's still kind of in the back

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Speaker 1: of my mind that that's going to happen.

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Speaker 2: And Apple Watch would be fine and our right.

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Speaker 1: Max up both credit cards. By the sounds of things now,

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Speaker 1: other than that, I'm just I'm going to be hit

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Speaker 1: a help. I'm going to be playing with the kids,

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Speaker 1: swimming in the pool, preparing food, cleaning up food, and

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Speaker 1: just being present, making sure that the air conditioners working.

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Speaker 1: The windows are all closed so that we can stay nice.

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Speaker 2: And you said the windows are all clean.

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Speaker 1: Close Five ways to make Christmas awesome. You're in charge

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Speaker 1: of this one.

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Speaker 2: Tip Number one, Focus on time together, not st there

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Speaker 2: we go, Yes to drag mats, the credit card out.

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Speaker 1: Okay, but I said that I was going to focus

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Speaker 1: on just being present. I had that one right. I

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Speaker 1: had that one right. Just like dollars of the currency

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Speaker 1: of the economy, connection is the currency of our relationships.

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Speaker 2: I've watched so many times in families there is so

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Speaker 2: much emphasis on making sure the decorations are right, and

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Speaker 2: all the food and festivities that go with it, and

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Speaker 2: by the end of it all Mum is exhausted. She's

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Speaker 2: been in the kitchen for days, she's been decorating and

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Speaker 2: wrapping in all the bits and pieces, and she doesn't

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Speaker 2: get to enjoy it, and therefore no one gets to

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Speaker 2: enjoy it, really because there's just so much angst and

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Speaker 2: exhaustion wrapped around it.

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Speaker 1: So I'm a really big believer in all in. This

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Speaker 1: is something that we talk about from time to time

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Speaker 1: on the pod, probably not enough quite honestly. And all

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Speaker 1: in is literally this thing where at the end of

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Speaker 1: dinner or at the end of a meal, I say,

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Speaker 1: all right, everyone, it's all in, and literally everyone comes

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Speaker 1: into the kitchen and we all work together on getting

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Speaker 1: stuff done. When we work together as a team, we

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Speaker 1: enjoy it more, we get we're more productive, more efficient,

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Speaker 1: and we just get to be in each other's presence.

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Speaker 1: So when it comes to the rigmarole of the cooking

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Speaker 1: and cleaning and the hassle sort of stuff, I would

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Speaker 1: encourage an all in approach. I think that's going to

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Speaker 1: work better for everybody. And back to your point, can

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Speaker 1: spell love time? Connection. Connection is about feeling seen, hurd

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Speaker 1: and valued, and so if you can make yourself available

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Speaker 1: for that and spend less time on I don't know,

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Speaker 1: individual and selfish pursuits, you're going to have a great day.

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Speaker 1: I love it. That's number one.

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Speaker 2: Number two. Instead of focusing on gifts and spending lots

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Speaker 2: of money that we don't all really have.

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Speaker 1: Right absolutely, that's why we use credit cards.

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Speaker 2: Why not make a game out of the gift giving process.

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Speaker 2: Everybody enjoys giving a gift, yeah yeah, but let's have

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Speaker 2: some fun with it. Over the years, we've done a

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Speaker 2: whole heap of different ways of doing things.

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Speaker 1: Are you going to share some of the fun games.

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Speaker 2: But the one that we love the most is the

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Speaker 2: White Elephant.

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Speaker 1: One love this.

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Speaker 2: You can do this in so many different ways. We've

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Speaker 2: done it where it's a two dollar gift from the

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Speaker 2: junk stop and everybody's got to try and find the

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Speaker 2: best gift to give a two dollars. It could be

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Speaker 2: that you're not actually allowed to spend any money at.

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Speaker 1: All, so it's going to be a homemade sort of thing.

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Speaker 2: It could be a homemade US, but it could be

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Speaker 2: something from home.

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Speaker 1: How many people have every gifting.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, how many people have things in their cupboard that

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Speaker 2: they've been gifted or they've brought to give to someone

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Speaker 2: and haven't done it. You've spent the money, but it's

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Speaker 2: sitting there being completely underutilized.

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Speaker 1: And on the weekend just gone, we had a fifty

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Speaker 1: dollars limit and so everyone showed up with some really

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Speaker 1: cool gifts. And so for people who are not familiar

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Speaker 1: with what we're describing here, you sit down with the

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Speaker 1: family whoever's involved.

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Speaker 2: So sometimes everybody only brings one gift.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, you bring one gift each. So with my extended

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Speaker 1: family for our big family Christmas weekend that we've just had,

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Speaker 1: how many people that they're like, I know, twenty eight

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Speaker 1: people in the circle? Like it was a little bit excessive,

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Speaker 1: it was probably a little bit too big. But essentially

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Speaker 1: you pull something out of the sack. You don't know

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Speaker 1: what it is.

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Speaker 2: Everybody gets a number first. You have to pick a

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Speaker 2: number out of a hat. Yes, and whoever gets number one,

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Speaker 2: they get first choice. But essentially you're looking blindly out

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Speaker 2: of a sack, reach twenty eight present.

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Speaker 1: Pull a gift out, you own a side, and then

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Speaker 1: the next that's it. You're number one. But then number

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Speaker 1: two they reach in and when they open theirs, they've

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Speaker 1: got the choice of either keeping what they've opened, or

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Speaker 1: they look at what you've got and they say, actually,

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Speaker 1: I want that one, and you've got to swap.

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Speaker 2: So with twenty eight people, there are a lot of gifts,

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Speaker 2: and the only rule you need to remember is that

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Speaker 2: when you open your gift, that is the only time

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Speaker 2: you get to exchange. You get to steal from somebody else.

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Speaker 1: And it makes it really fun. If you've got a

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Speaker 1: gift that you think other people are going to want,

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Speaker 1: you just don't let everyone see it. Like you open it,

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Speaker 1: everyone gets to see it, but then you hide it

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Speaker 1: behind your back or whatever, and so that way, by

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Speaker 1: the time if the next couple of people don't ask

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Speaker 1: for it, by the time you get to like number

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Speaker 1: twelve and number fourteen, it's been completely forgot. They've forgotten

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Speaker 1: about it, so you get to keep that one. And

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Speaker 1: so it's just it's lots of fun. There's lots and

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Speaker 1: lots of laughter. And it works just as well with

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Speaker 1: like a block of chocolate and a four dollars or

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Speaker 1: five dollars spending limit as it does with a a

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Speaker 1: slightly more expensive spending limit, like it's a really cheap.

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Speaker 2: The very top. First time I played this, yeah, I

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Speaker 2: would have been about eighteen, and it literally was a

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Speaker 2: no spend find something around the house. We had people

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Speaker 2: who brought like an old rugby football with the bladder

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Speaker 2: had been completely popped inside it, and yet that was

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Speaker 2: the thing that everyone wanted. Or one of those sun

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Speaker 2: visors that literally goes around the whole of your head.

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Speaker 2: But it's just a visor, like bright pink thing, and

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Speaker 2: again they wanted to fight over that. Like just these

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Speaker 2: it's just fun crazy things.

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Speaker 1: It's just fun.

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Speaker 2: But it's taking the emphasis off the gift and just

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Speaker 2: the concept of spending time together and with an element

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Speaker 2: of fun.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so number one, it's all about time and presence.

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Speaker 2: Number two, take away the emphasis of gifts, expensive gifts

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Speaker 2: and just have a game associated with gift giving.

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Speaker 1: Well, I just remembered. One of our other favorite games

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Speaker 1: is the one where everyone has a gift and you

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Speaker 1: roll the dice and if you roll a seven or

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Speaker 1: an eleven, so you've got to die. If you roll

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Speaker 1: with seven or eleven, you get to swap gifts with

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Speaker 1: somebody else. I can't remember how that one ends.

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Speaker 2: The only way you're allowed to swap a gift is

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Speaker 2: if you remember who has what gift. So you roll

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Speaker 2: a seven or an eleven because there's two dice being rolled,

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Speaker 2: and I say, justin, I want your boost bar for instance, right,

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Speaker 2: and you don't have the boost bar, so why don't

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Speaker 2: get the boost bar?

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Speaker 1: Okay? Then you keep on going around. Everyone rolls there

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Speaker 1: seven to elevens until all the gifts given in the

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Speaker 1: middle of gone. Yes, yeah, okay, So that's fun one

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Speaker 1: as well. What's number three?

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Speaker 2: Number three is creating Christmas Eve traditions. I was actually

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Speaker 2: reading my journal from the very early days and I

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Speaker 2: found a tradition that we've stopped doing that we did

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Speaker 2: in the early days together. It actually came out of

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Speaker 2: a necessity because you and I were really impatient and

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Speaker 2: we couldn't wait to open our gifts. But you and

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Speaker 2: I would open our gifts on Christmas Eve. And the

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Speaker 2: reason part of the reason we started it was because

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Speaker 2: we were impatient. We were so excited to share our

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Speaker 2: gifts with each other, as opposed to not being patient

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Speaker 2: in waiting to receive your gift. It was that we

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Speaker 2: were so excited to give our gifts to each other.

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Speaker 2: But number two. It meant that we number one had

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Speaker 2: time to ourselves to do that uninterrupted time. But secondly,

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Speaker 2: on Christmas Day, we could focus on the joy that

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Speaker 2: the kids were experiencing instead of having the additional of us.

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Speaker 2: So that was a tradition that we did that we

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Speaker 2: might pick that up again.

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Speaker 1: I think, yeah, that sounds fun, except we're not doing

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Speaker 1: gifts this year.

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Speaker 2: There are plenty of ways to do gifts, okay, just

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Speaker 2: saying all right, but the one that we've done for

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Speaker 2: years now and is just hands down an absolute treat

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Speaker 2: because this affords us to have that time together as

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Speaker 2: a couple, is that we give the kids a new

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Speaker 2: book for Christmas on Christmas Eve with a block of chocolate,

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Speaker 2: their favorite chocolate, and we send them off to bed early.

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Speaker 2: This is their favorite thing to do because for the

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Speaker 2: very first time all year, they are given free reign.

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Speaker 2: They can eat that chocolate all up if they want,

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Speaker 2: and they can read for as long as they want.

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Speaker 2: The only rule is that are allowed to come out

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Speaker 2: of their own Yeah.

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Speaker 1: So we got that idea from the Icelandic tradition that's

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Speaker 1: known as jola boca flood, which means I'm sure it's

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Speaker 1: not how you say I reckon, they said, Joel Block.

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Speaker 1: I'm sorry if I just got the accent all wrong there,

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Speaker 1: which basically means the book flood. And that's an Icelandic

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Speaker 1: tradition on Christmas Eve. The books come out, the chocolate

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Speaker 1: comes out, and everyone retires to their room and reads,

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Speaker 1: which I really love. But it's kind of a bit

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Speaker 1: anti social. But the point here is Christmas Eve traditions.

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Speaker 1: Christmas Eve traditions will make Christmas awesome, is what you're saying.

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Speaker 1: There are five ways to make Christmas awesome. Our time

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Speaker 1: is almost up. You've got another two for us. What's

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Speaker 1: number four?

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Speaker 2: Find people who are less fortunate that you can serve.

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Speaker 2: This can be so many different ways. A family that's

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Speaker 2: struggling and inviting them over for Christmas dinner maybe, Or

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Speaker 2: maybe it's joining the local toy drive and the kids

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Speaker 2: donate some of their old toys, or they work extra

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Speaker 2: jobs around the house so that they can save money

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Speaker 2: so that they can purchase toys for children less fortunate.

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Speaker 2: Maybe it's doing food pantry donations. Maybe it's I don't know.

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Speaker 2: There's so many different things you can do. Maybe it's

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Speaker 2: finding a local giving machine where you can donate to

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Speaker 2: local charities. There are so many different things that you

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Speaker 2: can do it.

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Speaker 1: I'm an ambassador for the giving machines as well, just saying.

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Speaker 2: That takes the focus away from receiving and puts the

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Speaker 2: focus on giving to those who are in there.

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Speaker 1: And we've done this over the years and it's always delightful.

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Speaker 1: What is your fifth and final way to make Christmas

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Speaker 1: awesome in twenty twenty four?

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Speaker 2: Number five? This can be as complicated or as easy

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Speaker 2: as you want it to be. But host a neighborhood

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Speaker 2: pop in. Whether it's doing a early morning breakfast, or

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Speaker 2: whether they just come over for a cold drink at

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Speaker 2: the end of the day, or you go ahead and

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Speaker 2: put a barbecue on and everybody a potlark. I think

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Speaker 2: there is so much joy that can be had when

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Speaker 2: we bring the community together.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, we did it last year and I just loved it.

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Speaker 1: I know we haven't even talked about it for this year,

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Speaker 1: but you're saying it is making me want to do

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Speaker 1: it again this year.

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Speaker 2: And if that all seems way too much, you just

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Speaker 2: don't think you can you can do that. Don't even

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Speaker 2: have it in your home close the street of have

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Speaker 2: it on your front front lawn.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, if you're lucky enough to be in their cul

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Speaker 1: de sac or something like that. But I mean, it's

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Speaker 1: not that hard to throw some buns in the oven

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Speaker 1: and chuck some bacon and eggs on the grill and.

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Speaker 2: Give the neighbors an assignment to do.

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Speaker 1: A brunch, tell someone to bring the coffee machine and

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Speaker 1: they can look after the coffees or whatever. It's fun.

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Speaker 1: It's fun to get together with your neighbors. I reckon

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Speaker 1: we should do it this year. You're looking at me

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Speaker 1: like we still need to discuss that. I shouldn't have

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Speaker 1: brought that up on the podcast. I'm sorry if any

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Speaker 1: of our neighbors are listening.

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Speaker 2: If you can't do that, go caroling. We went caroling

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Speaker 2: last year as well, and I was blown away at

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Speaker 2: how many people Number one couldn't remember the last time

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Speaker 2: they'd been caroled too, if ever, or number two, just

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Speaker 2: the joy that our very imperfectly sung songs brought to

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Speaker 2: people's eyes and hearts as we shared our love and

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Speaker 2: joy of Christmas.

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Speaker 1: Well, you've suck an extra one in. That's six ways

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Speaker 1: to make Christmas awesome. We will jop those down in

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Speaker 1: the show notes in case you would like to have

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Speaker 1: the list and talk to your family about how you

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Speaker 1: could do some of that stuff. It really does make

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Speaker 1: Christmas meaningful when you create these traditions and spend the

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Speaker 1: time and effort to become involved and build those relationships. Kylie,

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Speaker 1: thanks for taking over the podcast today. The Happy Family's

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Speaker 1: podcast is produced by Justin Rouland from Bridge Media. Only

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Speaker 1: a couple more episodes of Happy Families podcasts for the

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Speaker 1: year to go. Tomorrow on the pod, I'm sharing with

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Speaker 1: you the best Christmas story, well, well the one that

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Speaker 1: I love just so very much. I can't wait to

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Speaker 1: share that with you tomorrow. And on Thursday, we have

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Speaker 1: a look at our favorite books of the year. In

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Speaker 1: case you're looking for a last minute gift idea for someone,

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Speaker 1: it'll be our book Club Chrismus edition on the Happy

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Speaker 1: Families podcast. If you like more info about making your

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Speaker 1: family happy, you can get it all on Happy families

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Speaker 1: dot com dot a You