Latest / Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families / #664 Embracing Christmas - They're Only Young Once

Transcript

#664 Embracing Christmas - They're Only Young Once · Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: It's that Happy Families podcast. I love the feeling of Christmas.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: I know it's stressful, i know I'm spending money, but
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: I just love the feeling of Christmas. One of the
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: things that I've made a lot of noise about over
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: the years is, by the way, if you've got young
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: ears listening, you might want to be careful here. Okay,
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: we're just going to give you a warning. This is
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: not a podcast for little people. This is only a
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: podcast for big people. Five seconds to go until we
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: start the conversation about the big people stuff. Okay, that's
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: five seconds. You've had time to press pause and save
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: this for later. I've been pretty outspoken about conversations arout
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: honesty when it comes to mythical elements of big personalities,
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: big people who might visit on Christmas Eve, and as
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: a result, some people have said that I'm spoiling Christmas.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: So today's podcast is really about just highlighting the kids
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: around the young once and what we've save seen Kylie.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: As the kids have gotten older, once they've moved into
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: their later teen years and even into adulthood and eventually
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: moved out of home, they still love coming home for Christmas,
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: but it's not quite the same. It's a totally different vibe.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: Like the teenagers, they don't really care about waking up
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: at five o'clock to find out what's under the tree.
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: It's blissful.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: We do get to sleep in a little bit more
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: because our youngest is now eight, and she wakes up
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: at a reasonable hour about seven o'clock, so that we
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: can die.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: I'll be saying that, but we're not sitting at Christmas
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: Eve yet, so it could be a totally different scenario
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: come Christmas morning.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: Okay. My point though, is it changes as the kids
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: get older. So we wanted to just share with you
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: three quick tips to help you to absolutely get the
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: very best, the very most out of embracing Christmas while
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: they're young. Number One, Kylie, you've got an idea that
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: you've been looking forward to sharing. I've got one right
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: after you.
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: So I've been really open and acknowledging that we haven't
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: been great at creating traditions in our home. We've done
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: a lot of traveling over the years between in laws
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: for Christmas, and so our time has pretty much been
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: spent in a car and in someone else's house.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: We've done it for years, driving in a state.
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: So all of the things that I thought I would
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: love for our children to experience never actually happened the
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: way I imagined that it would. But what I have
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: come to recognize is that we can be really intentional
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: about creating some traditions, but often it's the traditions that
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: actually just happen because of circumstance that have the most
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: lasting impact on our children. And so one of the
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: ones that we started way back when, when our kids
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: were younger and you were a student, we didn't have
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: a lot of money, and I didn't want them eating
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: a holy ber junk food in the morning. So they
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: loved ginger beer. But we didn't have ginger beer very
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: often because we couldn't afford it, so we'd share like
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: one bottle between all of them. So on Christmas morning,
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: they would wake up and their stocking would have a
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: ginger beer bottle completely all to themselves and go. Because
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: we didn't buy mangoes very often, I was so expensive.
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: But one of the reasons I did that was because
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: we couldn't afford it, firstly, but secondly, it filled up
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: the space and the stocking, so it felt like they
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: got a lot in their stocking that today is still
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: their favorite tradition. It never meant to be a tradition.
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: It was just something that we did to kind of
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: make it feel like they were getting something on Christmas morning.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: I didn't tell you this, but just the other day,
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: our fifteen year old said, I'm really looking forward to
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: Christmas Day so i can have my ginger beer and
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: my mango.
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: And the funny thing is we can have a ginger
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: beer and a mango whenever we want these days.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but we don't. That's the thing, like it, ed
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: really has become something that's mostly reserved for Christmas, and
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: the kids really look forward to it. And so traditions,
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: even the accidental ones, you carry them forward. You do
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: them year in, year out, and it makes Christmas magical.
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: The second thing, the main point that I was going
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: to highlight, is well, I'm not a huge fan of
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: that mythical character. What I am a huge fan of
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: is getting excited about everything that Christmas is going to be.
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: So keeping the kids up late on Christmas Eve, letting
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: them wrap presents, getting them excited about going shopping for
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: Mummy or daddy or their brother or their sister, so
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: they can decide who's going to get what like, the
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: kids just love to give. They love to get, but
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: they also love to give. So my big tip to
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: bring the magic Christmas in is to really look at
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: the things that make them come alive. The gift giving,
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: the staying up late, the treats, the waking up in
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: the morning and jumping in your bed and being allowed
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: to open up presents first thing in the morning instead
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: of making them wait until after lunch or until all
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: the relows arrive, let them have the opportunity to savor
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: every moment. That's my number one tip for that.
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: My third one is actually just a bit of an
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: extension of the traditions that we create as our family
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: has grown. Obviously we have recognized that something's work and
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: some things don't. And the energy that is in the
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: house often on Christmas Eve means that for time parents
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: who was trying to do Santa's job at the very end,
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: last minute, it can mean getting the children to bed
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: at nighttime really really hard, and then it ends up
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: being really late night for mom and dad, and then
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: you're exhausted on Christmas and you can't enjoy it. So
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: we actually brought in a Finland tradition a handful of
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: years ago, and our kids love it. So in order
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: for Christmas to actually come together, they get given a
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: new book to read on Christmas Eve, so it's gift
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: wrapped and it's ready to go. And on Christmas Eve
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: they all anticipate being able to open up and read
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: a book till the very early hours of the morning
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: if they want to. There is no time limit. They
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: can read that book all night long if that's what
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: they want to do, but they have to go to bed.
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: And what I have loved about it, number one is
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: it has fostered continue to foster a love of reading.
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: But it was also created the calm that I needed
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: in the house so that the next morning things could
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: actually be as energetic and fun as they need it
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: to be.
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: So it's Iceland. It's called Jola Boca Flood, which basically
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: means the Christmas book flood, and that's been a tradition
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: that we've been doing for years and they just love it.
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: I'm so glad.
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: I love it because it does come with chocolate.
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: It but they're still reading. We really hope that these
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: ideas are going to help you to maximize the merry
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: in your Christmas. They're only young ones embrace it. That's
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: it for today's Happy Families podcast. We'll be back again
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: tomorrow