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What does Christmas Mean to Me · The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson

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  3, 10, 1, 0, ignition, liftoff, Ending small business failure.
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  Welcome to the Small Biz Chat podcast with a number 1 small business expert Melinda Emerson.
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  Belinda's goal is to end small business failure, and she'll give you the information
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  you need to succeed and live the life you've dream of.
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  Now here's the small biz lady herself.
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  Melinda Emerson.
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  Hi, everybody.
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  This is Melinda Emerson, the small biz lady, and am so pleased to be joining you on the
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  small biz chat podcast today.
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  It is Christmas Day.
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  This is a special episode of the small biz chat podcast, and I just thought The fact that we
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  were gonna have an opportunity to do a fresh podcast on Christmas Day really gets me excited
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  because, you know, Christ is the reason why we celebrate Christmas.
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  And, you know, Jesus is the reason for the season.
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  We Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ today.
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  And, you know, god sent his only son to live among us.
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  He lived and died to save us all for this on this day, the virgin Mary brought forth a son a
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  wonderful child.
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  There was no room in the end.
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  And so She and her husband, Joseph, were sent to the barn, to the manger.
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  And that's where Jesus was born in the little town of Bethlehem and you know, when I think
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  about Christmas, there's so many things that come to mind for me.
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  So many things that I'm grateful for.
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  So The first thing that Christmas conjures up in me is is gratefulness because for,
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  obviously, without Jesus you know, we would have no way to get to heaven.
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  We would have no way to repent for our sins.
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  We would not know the power of prayer and and You know, these are things that help us when we
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  when all hope is lost, we have to put our hope in Jesus.
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  And so I am grateful to have the opportunity as a as a bible toad and church going, Christian,
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  to tell you about what Jesus is and who he is and what he means.
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  And it's not just about presence under the tree, even though presence are nice, but it's
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  also about family and how wonderful it is to spend time with your family and be a part of a
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  great family.
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  And, you know, family has all kinds of different definitions.
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  You know, I'm very blessed.
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  And, you know, I grew up in a wonderful family with a mom and a dad, and and I have 3 brothers
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  and you know, they are my world.
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  My father left us a long time ago.
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  He passed away, but, you know, being part of a a family, a great family is such a precious
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  gift, but there's all kinds of families.
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  Right?
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  You know, so there are, you know, people that are family by blood, and then there are people
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  who are family who we choose.
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  And, you know, good close friends that are like family, good good girlfriends that are more
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  like sisters than friends.
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  And That is really important.
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  And certainly if you are someone who goes to church on any kind of regular basis, you might
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  even have church family and you know, those people feel like they're real family too.
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  So we can't leave out a a shout out to to church family.
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  And, you know, in the last few years, You know, my family has has gotten into a tradition of
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  wearing the the the those matching Christmas pajamas and sitting around all day in our
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  pajamas and laughing and joking and open up the gifts and eating the good food.
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  And we have a tradition in our family.
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  We like to clear the tissues quickly so we can get down to our family spades tournament.
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  And it's pretty serious business in our house.
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  So I was a kid coming up My mom and dad would always be partners.
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  And later on, years later, I found out that they would cheat us.
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  I mean, actually, my mom and dad would cheat us They were such good play space players that we
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  didn't catch on, but we were always trying to break them up from being a team because they
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  would just beat the pants off of us.
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  But you know, I got to be pretty good.
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  And that and when I got to college, I was able to take a few people's money sometimes because
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  of how good of a spades player I became and and sitting at the feet of my parents learning.
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  But, you know, Christmas is so much about just sharing and creating traditions.
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  And, you know, one of the funny things, one of one of my favorite Christmas stories that I
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  have is actually about my dad My dad's birthday was the day after Christmas.
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  And so, you know, he's always tells these awful stories about how, you know, he would get 2 for
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  one gifts and know, people would, like, skip over his birthday and all the stuff.
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  And, you know, later on in my life, when I when I finally got married and This was long before
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  my son was born, but my dad actually made me promise that if I ever had a child, and and
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  that if he was born in December, and my father always referred to my yet to be unborn child as
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  a he.
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  I mean, he actually stood up in my wedding and made a toast to his first grandson.
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  And he, unfortunately, never met my son, but he made me promise to become basically a birthday
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  monster, which which I have done.
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  My son's birthday is actually December 14th.
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  So you know, he Jojo is Mister Christmas.
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  We celebrate Christmas literally the entire month, and we celebrate him.
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  And so That is something that my father instilled in me.
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  He said, make sure his birthday is always special and doesn't get wrapped up into
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  Christmas.
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  And so We have done that.
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  My child has been celebrated beyond celebrated, and, you know, my mom is always teasing me
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  Well, how are you gonna top it next year?
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  What are you gonna do?
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  I was like, I don't know.
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  I am very creative, however.
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  So we were very honored and blessed that this year, this the the Star Wars folks decided to
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  bring out their last movie just before his birthday.
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  So we got a chance to see it the day before it came out, some My son felt very thrilled that I
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  was on top of my game this year and and got a chance to get him and his buddies some tickets
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  so they got a chance to see it.
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  So you know, that is one of the special things that that we did for Christmas.
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  But, you know, as a small business owner, I really do hope that you actually had an
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  opportunity to rest this Christmas.
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  I know those of you in retail, those of you that are e commerce guys, I know that the the
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  holiday season is super bowl for you, but I do hope that you actually had an opportunity to
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  rest and enjoy and sit around and laugh with your family today because that's so important.
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  Right?
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  They are the reason why we work so hard.
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  It is such an honor to be able to be around family and to share things with your children
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  and to watching their wonder as they open up their gifts or, you know, when your kids get to
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  be a little bit bigger, you know, all they want is cash.
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  Right?
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  So It takes the wonderment out of it, but it's still a special time to sit around with family
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  and enjoy and why work so hard if you cannot have an opportunity to spend time with your
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  family.
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  And So this is a special day, a day I hope you are enjoying and celebrating, but please always
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  remember that Jesus Christ is the reason for the season.
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  And so with that, I want to just leave you with a thought for the New Year.
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  You know, Christmas day is an opportunity for you you need to experience this year.
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  And that's good, bad, or ugly.
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  You know, I I am a big believer in thanking god for the hard days because We wouldn't even know
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  good days if it wasn't for bad days.
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  So take this time to sit back and reflect on all the things you had an opportunity to learn
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  this year and the struggles are important because, you know, struggles make you stronger.
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  You can't have a testimony without a test.
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  And so is I hope that you take the time to sit back and and make a list.
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  I mean, I'm a big person that I'd I like to make lists I like to make pros and cons list,
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  but I I like to make reflection lists because I don't want you to rush into the next year, into
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  this new year, into this new century, without really taking the time to be grateful for what
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  you have, for what you learn, for for the opportunities to come because the one thing
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  that is so awesome about Jesus is that he has the power to make your next day your best day.
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  Your next year, your best year.
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  So, however, this year has shaken out for you, just know that god wants you to win, and he
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  wants something better for you.
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  And better might be to have you take two steps back before you can take five steps forward.
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  So just know that every man's rejection is god's protection.
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  So just know that he's got something amazing for you coming and just know that I believe in
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  you and I believe in the magic of Christmas, and god's love and his light.
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  And what an amazing day to celebrate him and to celebrate you and to have you sit back and
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  think on all the things that went right and a couple of things that went wrong so that you
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  can make sure that you take note of all of the lessons.
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  But just know that I love you all.
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  Merry Christmas, and I hope that you all have an amazing 2020.
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  Thank you for listening to the Small Biz Chat podcast with Melinda Emerson.
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  For more resources and small business success strategies, visit succeed as your own boss.com.
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  Subscribe to this podcast wherever you listen to podcast and join us next Wednesday.