Merry CHRISmas

is my year to have them for Christmas. So they'll be with Lauren and I. We kind of still go the on and off, even though they are adult kids and technically they're above eighteen, they could choose somehow we have them brainwashed that they still just go back, and you know, we go back and forth every year, and so the way we do it, they're with us Christmas

through New Year's this year. So the kids are with us here at the house and everything just feels right, and you know, I will dive a little bit deep when the kids aren't with me. Those holidays are tough. They're never not weird, They're never not difficult to get through. You know, you have to realize that a holiday is also just a day, and that whenever you celebrate. For example, Taylor, you guys may have just seen on social media she

just turned twenty years old. Happy birthday day. She wasn't with me for her birthday, and that's never not weird. She was out in LA with her mom celebrating, which is wonderful. And we'll celebrate, you know, when she comes here. So, you know, a holiday, a birthday, all that. It can also just be the day you choose. You make the best of it when you can. But I am so

grateful for the family that I have, LZ. The kids are here and we'll have our beautiful traditional We got the Christmas tree up, and Elz and I put the tree up, and I still have decorations from when I was a kid. It's funny, LZ, and we play this game every year we get the tree up. I used to be a real tree guy. Now I'm a fake tree guy because it's so easy and it's lit and it's good to go, and man, whoever invented that maybe

the greatest invention since slice bread. But we start pulling out the ornaments and l Z will hold up an ornament. I know the year and a lot of my ornaments I have years written on them, or there's maybe something in there that says the year, and I'm like, yep, nineteen eighty one. That was from my grandmother nineteen seventy nine. So I have some that are just decades decades old. And so our tree is you're one of two people,

you know, there are those that have that. I call it the Nieman Marcus tree where it is perfect and you have a you know, certain look and decor and everything matches perfectly, and maybe it's gold ornaments or all they're all white or whatever, and it's just perfect. That's not our tree. And Elz and I we got, of course,

we have Harry Potter ornaments. Yes, there's a lot of soccer ornaments because I was obviously in a big soccer phase when I was growing up and then playing in college, and so there was that phase where I was buying, you know, every year we go buy ornaments. So I got the soccer ones. And I had a raccoon phase too. Laurence still makes fun of me, but there's raccoon ornaments.

So there's we have all these different ornaments, and we've started to build our own of pictures of the kids and us when we were in Sydney celebrating New Year's a few years ago and some other you know, the kids going to TCU and so it's great and I love I like the mishmashed tree. There's the Nieman Marcus tree, or there's the mutt. Let's call it the mutt. It's just built of a lot of things. And that's our tree.

And we watch our Christmas movies, Elf and Home Alone, our go tos and listen to little Christmas music and we enjoy. And then our Christmas you know, Mom will be here and we'll cook a nice dinner and have a great time and just be together. You know, I reflect on the kids when they were young and coming in and just tearing open the presence and staying up all night and building the bikes and the Barbie doll houses and all these things, and you know, those days

are gone. Now it's you know, you're buying them clothes and underwearing jeans and things they need for college, or giving them money that they'll need for college. And it's funny that, you know it kind of transitions and the presence and the ripping open to the presence. It's still fun on Christmas morning, but we sleep in. You know, no one's getting up at six o'clock in the morning

and jumping on your bed. We kind of sleep in and maybe we'll even eat first or have our coffee, and then we kind of mosey over and do the presence. So wherever you are in that phase of life, I enjoy it. And if you are at the they wake up at five in the morning and you're up dads, you know, building that bike or a weight bench, and you know your your blood your knuckles are bloody because you've stripped all these screws and you are just going

crazy trying to get everything done. Enjoy it, man, Breathe it in because it will soon be gone, and you know, the kids will be coming home from college and pretty soon they'll have kids, and they'll be deciding where you're going to spend Christmas. And so I try to take each level in and each season that comes. As the kids have gotten older, and now twenty two and now twenty years old, I love this season as much as I've loved any of them, and just having them here

is a blessing. And I don't have any huge traditions because of maybe the world I was living in and probably because of the divorces. Every other year, we were trying to make it work. And you know, a kudos to my ex because, you know, if the kids were with her, and back when we were living in LA I would spend the morning with them just so I could see them. And because the kids were younger, you know, they were still nine and eleven years old when we

got divorced, and then vice versa. You know, she was allowed to come up and hang at our house and have the morning and we used to do that for a while, and then, you know, we've kind of grown out of that because the kids are older, and we'll just kind of celebrate Christmas whenever I see them. But however you're celebrating, and whatever phase you're in, I feel you, and I'm with you, and I hope it's a wonderful one. And you know the meaning of the season. I know

not everybody listening celebrates Christmas. I know not everybody believes, but the meaning of the season is, you know, even if you don't believe in Jesus, even if you don't believe in that story, you can believe in the hope, and you can believe in the love, and you can believe in what it means. Even if you're not celebrating the birth of Jesus, you can believe in what it

stands for. The good in all of us, and peace and peace on earth some things we should all lean into in this day and age and things going on in the world. So if nothing else, maybe it just gives us all two seconds to take a deep breath, call a time out, find a little peace in our heart, find a little love, put down our swords, and just enjoy each other for just a moment and head into what will hopefully be a prosperous, beautiful, healthy, wonderful new year.

Lauren and I send our love to all of you. Wherever this finds you, however this finds you, just know that you are loved, know that you are appreciated, You are very much worthwhile. If you are alone on this Christmas Day, just know that we're thinking about you, and you're not alone, and we're with you, if not in person, in spirit. So happy holidays, Love you all, and thank you for being with us this year. It's been a

wonderful year. It's meant so much to be able to talk to all of you, have these discussions and share these holidays. Wish you all the very best, Marry Christmas, Happy New Year, and we'll talk to you again soon because we have a lot more to talk about. Thanks for listening. Follow us on Instagram at the most Dramatic pod Ever, and make sure to write us a review and leave us five stars. I'll talk to you next time.