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How to have a stress free holiday season with Christie Weichsel Interiors · The Bubble Lounge (Highland Park & University Park Texas)

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: This episode brought to you by Kathy L Wall.
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: State Farm Agency.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Learn more at kathylwallcom and stewarderango.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Oral surgery Learn more at saoralsurgeonscom and kidbiz and the biz.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: To learn more, visit kidbizusacom.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Bubble Lounge.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: I'm Martha Jackson and I don't know about the rest of you, but it is holiday season and I am behind and I'm very stressed out.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: I feel like most of the women in our neighborhood really have their act together.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: They're these type A women that probably have had their shopping done for weeks and are just literally sitting back with a glass of wine next to the fire enjoying the holidays.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: Well, that's not me.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: So I invited one of my best friends in who fits that mold Kristy Weitzel.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: Kristy, welcome to the show.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: Thanks for having me so excited to be here, of course.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: Well, we have known each other for a really long time and we have kind of a funny story of how we met, and Kristy tells it best.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: I share that with them.
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: It is a fun story.
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: So we were.
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: It was freshman, no, I'm sorry, it was summer before senior year in high school and my mother and Martha's father were set up on a blind date and they introduced us.
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: And then we both went to college together, we were pledge sisters together and we've just been best friends ever since.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: Since 1987.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: Oh Lord, don't take that out.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah, take that out, sean.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: So it was funny.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: But our parents became friends.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: They were not really romantically involved, which is probably good, because can you imagine if we were step sisters?
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: No, I feel like I would be Cinderella and you'd be Griselda.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: I was thinking the opposite.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: You'd have me scrubbing those floors and you know you would Absolutely Okay.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: Well, enough of that, but let's talk about you, because you have your act together so well all the time, but especially for the holidays.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: Like I was joking with you before we even started recording that, I bet you have every gift completed, all checked off, all perfectly wrapped, with the most beautiful bows under the tree right.
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: I hate to admit it but it's true.
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: And it's only because I have not only Christmas to contend with but I have December birthdays.
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: Both of my girls are December birthdays, so I have to get it done early.
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: So I usually start Christmas shopping, slash birthday shopping.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: I would say probably August right, are you kidding me?
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: No, I'm not kidding.
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: I start with a spreadsheet and I do.
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: Are you saying that to me?
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: This is what I need.
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: Well, I do.
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: I start with a spreadsheet and I make sure I have the same amount of gifts about the same Price for each daughter, and and then I put every family member in their own little column and as it helps me stay organized, and then it also helps me stay on budget too, because I can see how much I'm spending, sure, and so my goal is always to be done by Thanksgiving.
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: Doesn't always happen, but that way I can enter into Christmas hall, you know the season, and be relaxed and not feel stressed.
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: So that's my little secret there was one year in my whole history of being on this earth that I had it done by Thanksgiving.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: It was the best feeling.
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: It's never happened again.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: I'm kind of a fly by my seat pants, fly by the seat of my pants, kind of a girl which drives me crazy because I am not enjoying the holidays right now, and so I think that's very unfortunate and I love the idea of a spreadsheet.
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: Yes, it's, it's hard to get it done, but also we have a family tradition of setting up our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving, and so we get the house completely decked during that weekend right afterwards.
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: And and that's another thing too is is Managing all the holiday decorations and all the stuff that you collect over the years.
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: You know in that that can be stressful as well and I, like I would love to talk about that for a second.
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: I try to declutter twice during the season once when I'm putting out all of my ornaments and all my decorations and Really thinking about what I love and what I'm just holding on to because I feel like I have to, and I get rid of all that, and then invariably there's always something broken or something I'm just not crazy about and I get rid of that when I'm packing it away.
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: So I try to manage it.
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: And then I also try to use as much fresh as I possibly can.
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: So I love to go on nature hikes and pick up pine cones and and even tree branches, and sometimes I'll spray the branches gold.
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: But as much stuff that I don't really have to store, that I can use from nature and then Trash it.
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: I think that's a really good idea because, also, you're not spending money on extra stuff that you're probably not gonna like in one or two Years.
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: That's right.
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: You know, you and I change our mind a lot about what we like in regards to our house, so I mean I do that, I think that's a really good idea, definitely so.
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: You and I were talking the other day and you were Mentioned that you had had dinner with your husband in Highland Park Village and you said just, you know, you were admiring how beautiful it was.
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: That's my absolute favorite thing to do is to walk around Highland Park Village and look at all the beautiful trees and and More and more they're starting to decorate the store windows with fun Christmas themes and it's just so magical.
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: I love being up there.
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: Everybody feels festive and I just I love it.
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: I also love the Christmas tree lightings.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree, we were talking about that with Jackie Converse this week earlier and yeah, it's so fun to go to those tree lightings.
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: It's just such a special community event, a fun time to bring all the neighbors together, absolutely Well, I am planning on driving around and hopefully, by the time this episode comes out, I'm going to post some videos of my favorite decorations around the neighborhood.
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: But I think that the Park City is.
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: We do such a good job I shouldn't say we other people to really good job of decorating and making their home so festive and beautiful.
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: So when you're driving around you just really have an opportunity to feel that holiday spirit.
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, and I'm as well.
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: I'm starting to get more request for helping people with their holiday decor, and so that's been really fun, and I love to look at their personalities and the personality of the home and you know, and also just even little things like the age of their children, and that helps me with decking their halls.
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: Well, no, it's so true because if when they're younger you tend to decorate it kind of a little bit more juvenile, I guess, and as they get older you just become a little bit more sophisticated.
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: Yes, but I am curious, martha, do you still have merman on your Christmas tree?
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: I do.
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: In fact, we were we're about to get to that.
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: I think what I love the most about your Christmas tree and my Christmas tree is it's not what's become so popular, those designer trees where they're absolutely beautiful and they're perfectly the colors coordinated and all that.
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: But we have special ornaments that we've collected over the years, and those are some of my special ones.
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: I love coming to your house and seeing your Christmas tree because it cracks me up there's.
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: it's very eclectic to say the least it really is and it does.
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: It makes me laugh and I had so much fun this year decorating the tree for the first time my kids wanted to help and just pulling out each ornament and laughing about it, especially the merman.
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: I don't think my kids think they're as funny as I do, but I love them.
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: I should post a picture of those guys.
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: I think you should.
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: They're really funny.
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: I have three now.
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: I bought a new one in New York last year.
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: Oh, that's awesome.
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: So what she's talking about is there.
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: Do you want to describe them?
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: You could probably do it better there.
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: Well it's it's.
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: Instead of a mermaid, it's a merman, and they're half naked.
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: If it wasn't for the, the fin, the fish tail, it wasn't for the fish tail and they're all you know.
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: they have a nice physique and they're hanging on your tree.
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: They're in really good shape.
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: They work out hard all year to look good on the tree.
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: Absolutely yeah, I agree.
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: I love the beautiful themed Christmas trees, but for for me, I love pulling out all the ornaments and just the memories they have and seeing all the little handmade ornaments my girls made me when they were little and and then you know I try to tie it all together with just like beautiful Christmas ribbon and that makes it look a little less homemade.
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: I would love to have a beautiful tree like that, but my girls and my husband are so sentimental that they would never go for it.
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: I don't know if I ever have the opportunity or the home to accommodate another tree.
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: Maybe I'll do a fancy designer one, but for now, every time I walk up the stairs I'll see a new ornament that makes me giggle.
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: So, yes, especially the merman.
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: Well, like, just driving around the neighborhood I've noticed it seems to be have become a trend to do multiple inflatables in your front yard.
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: What do you feel about that?
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: I am personally not a fan of all the big inflatables.
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: I think you know one is is fine.
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: All these multiples, I really tend to just love natural, just more natural decorations, more natural decor, like like beautiful garland around the front door that's lit with beautiful clothes.
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: But.
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: But you know, there's a place, time and a place for that, for everyone to each their own.
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm noticing a trend where there's multiple out there.
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: Again, I guess age appropriate.
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: If you have younger kids, maybe that makes them happy.
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: So exactly, do you?
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: Exactly?
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: Well, I was laughing the other day because I was driving home by myself at night and there was this one block where obviously they were trying to have a candy cane tree theme going on the whole box.
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: So, yeah, so the trees are all wrapped in like red and white lights.
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: But then there was this one particular house that I could really relate to, whose lights were more blue than yellow, so it really stood out.
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: It's like they didn't quite get it right.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: And what I was picturing, you know, because I feel like that would happen to me, is they send out a link of here's the exact lights to get, and then I give it to Sean, because I'm in a hurry, and ask him to order the things, and then we put them on the tree and they're the wrong color and I'm like what happened?
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: He's like, well, well, these were a lot cheaper than the ones you gave me, you know.
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: And so now we're like the holes that stand out on the block and we're not uniform.
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: Yes, even though we tried to do the trend.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: That's funny.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: And then a lot of people are doing the snowflakes and stars and things like that.
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: I think those are fun.
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, those are pretty, but it's a lot of work.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: We did it last year.
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: One.
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: One other thing I do just as far as trying to keep things organized and on task, because I usually will get two different wrapping papers and each person has their own wrapping paper.
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: So all their gifts are in that one, so it just makes it easier, more streamlined on Christmas day.
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: You know that that's your gift because you have your own wrapping paper, you don't have to read the tag, you don't have to Now what happens if you happen to run out of that wrapping paper before you're done wrapping that person's gifts.
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: That's a good question I has that happened?
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: It has definitely happened, but I find something very similar.
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: So, like one person might have all blue background, one person might have all green background, one person might have all red or white or so, forth.
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: So Okay, well, that's really taking it to the next level.
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: That might be my OCD coming out.
• 11:35
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• 11:44
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• 11:54
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• 11:56
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• 11:59
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• 12:03
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• 12:06
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• 12:11
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• 12:18
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• 12:24
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• 12:29
  Speaker 1: Here's to a holiday brimming with cheer from KidBiz and the Biz where the wonder never ends.
• 12:34
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• 12:35
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• 12:38
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• 12:40
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• 12:43
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• 12:49
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• 12:52
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• 12:54
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• 13:01
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• 13:05
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• 13:06
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• 13:10
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• 13:14
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• 13:17
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• 13:26
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• 13:32
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• 13:37
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• 13:44
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• 13:53
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• 14:10
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• 14:14
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• 14:22
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• 14:24
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• 14:27
  Speaker 1: Let's talk about Christmas cards.
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: I know you and I have historically always done them, but I have not done them in a few years just because the last time we tried my kids hated their pictures and we spent money on a professional photographer and then they didn't like the picture.
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: So I just kind of shut down.
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: I was going to say the older they get, the harder it is to send a Christmas card out, because your children have very definite opinions about the photograph, and so it's not like when they were little and you can send out anything because I don't care.
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: They're oblivious.
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: So I know that before I post anything I have to have permission for my oral for sure.
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, I have honest.
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: If I'm completely honest, I have not gotten my Christmas cards together this year.
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: Well, you can take a break from a year.
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: Well, it might be the very first time in 25 years that I have not sent a Christmas card, and it's kind of killing me, but it's also I'm kind of at the mindset.
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: If it doesn't bring you joy and it stresses you out, then take a break.
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah.
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: Well, I just feel like that the ideal of striving for perfection has kind of taken over the holidays having the perfect card, the perfect decorations, the perfect gifts, all that and I feel like it's kind of taken the joy out of the holidays.
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, because nothing is perfect.
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: So that's when I find a lot of humor and laughter in those moments of having a burned meal or, as I like to say, a Pinterest fail.
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: We have a lot of Pinterest fails in my house, aw, but we all Google and laugh.
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: You know, everybody at my house rolls our eyes and just says, oh gosh, there's another Pinterest fail.
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: Well, it makes for good memories.
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: I know one year Sean and I had this really elaborate menu that we were cooking and we just worked our butts off making it and all the family was supposed to come from Fort Worth and then there was a horrible freeze overnight and of course no one wanted to drive all the way to Dallas.
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: So we're stuck with all this very fancy, amazing food and there's noよ Gov.
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: It was really disappointing.
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: At least the chip, you got to enjoy it but that is such a bummer.
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: It was a bummer, I think it's even before we had kids.
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it was, it was before we had kids, so that was even so you couldn't even feed it to the kids?
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: There was no one to eat it.
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: Well, years ago we used to do that tried out ornament exchange party that you started, which was brilliant and amazing and something that brought us all together Everyone that lives in the area at least once a year.
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: And then one of our friends dropped the ball and we haven't done it since.
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: We won't name names, but we know, we know who you are.
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: She happens to live in the neighborhood, ironically.
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: But I think that's such a fun tradition to start with a group of friends like what we did.
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: It was so much fun and I'll never forget that first year.
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: And I will not name names again, but some of our friends misunderstood the concept and they thought that I just wanted everybody to bring me ornaments.
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: So this particular person went to Walmart and bought the ugliest ornament ever, not knowing that it was going to be a gift exchange.
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: Oh so, yes, I loved that we showed the personality of every person of the ornament they picked, and then I loved that we got to steal each other's and I just love that.
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: And I still have all those ornaments, me too.
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: I think it's so much fun.
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: But then I also think we should up our game and do our favorite beauty product.
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: Oh, that could be fun, maybe a little gift exchange that way, or I have another friend Sorry, martha, you're not my only one oh no, but they do a $100 limit from Target and so it's really cute.
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: One year one of the girls bought a loosite tray that they had and then all these different colored Christmas trees, and then the fake snow and they put together this whole little coffee table arrangement and it was so cute.
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: Darling, darling, darling.
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: So it just kind of makes you get creative and I thought that was really fun.
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: I like that too.
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: That's a really good idea.
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: So, christy, you are a designer and you do some amazing homes.
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: I follow you on Instagram and, of course, I've been to all of your home and you always do an amazing job decorating during the holidays, and I want to know if you can share any tips with your secrets, because at Tablescape, for example, it takes talent to place things and make them look pretty, and it's talent that I don't have.
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: That is my absolute favorite thing to do.
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: I love making beautiful tables.
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: I don't like the cooking, I hate that part, but I love a beautiful table and I love to just walk around my house and pull from every room.
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: So if I don't have a tablecloth, I'll use a quilt, or if I don't have the right placemats, I'll find chargers, or I mix china patterns or crystal, but I love doing that.
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: And then, as far as the middle or the centerpieces, I love going out into my garden and clipping fresh flowers or clipping greenery, or again, I do a ton of nature walks and just pick up beautiful leaves or just anything that's interesting, that catches my eye, and I incorporate all that.
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: I love using feathers in my flower arrangements and I just try to use things in an unusual way.
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: I love that.
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: I think that that makes total sense.
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: What other ideas can you share about decorating the house?
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: It's pretty easy for the average show like myself.
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: Well, one thing I love to do is have children decorate their own tree, because we all get those precious little ornaments that maybe you don't want in your formal living room so you can proudly display those items on a precious little tree from your kids, and I always think that's very fun.
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: And then I also love to switch out photographs.
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: So every year when they were little as you and I would always do they'd go have their pictures taken with Santa North Park Santa specifically.
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: Oh, I love North Park Santa and I especially love the ones where they're screaming, crying because they're terrified.
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: Those are the best, but they just make me giggle and so every year I put those pictures out and it's so much fun to see the progression from when they were babies to teenagers and that's just an easy, quick little fix and I think that's always fun.
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: OK, I have mine in a photo album, so now that's a great idea.
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: I think I'm going to pull them out and put them around, because each kid has a screaming picture with Santa.
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: Well, one other thing that I love to do a friend of mine started this for me is we would send her Christmas card out and she would have those Christmas cards made into ornaments like a photo ornament that they'd back them on plastic and then, they laser cut around the family photo, and so I have a whole tree full of these Christmas cards from when they were really little till current day.
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: I think that's super fun.
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: That is a really good idea.
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: I love that.
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: I've never seen anyone do that.
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: Yes, see, that's why I asked you to be here.
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: You're just super creative.
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: Have all the best ideas.
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: So one thing we haven't touched on yet is sometimes the holidays can be stressful in regards to family.
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: You have a much larger family than I do and a lot of different personalities to juggle.
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: What kind of tips do you have for having a happy?
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: holiday.
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: I think it's all about waking up in the morning and making that decision that you're not going to be irritated or bothered and that you're just going to find humor in other people's behavior, because if you don't, it's going to really ruin your day.
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: So I love to just try to sit back and find the humor.
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: It is a lot of different personalities to manage and you will be Inconvenienced or irritated at times, but just just learning to let it go.
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: And you know, I think it's fun to have Games for the kids to play and for the adults to play as well, rather than just sitting around and eating and drinking all day or watching TV.
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: And so we, we play a lot of games.
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: We try to, I try to find things that will promote laughter.
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: You know yeah, I think that you know.
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: If you can get people to laugh, that's usually you know they're gonna have a good time at your house, and then a little wine helps too.
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: I'm not gonna lie to you.
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: But we just try to have fun and find humor and everything I think that that's really good advice, but I just think when, when you come together and you can laugh together, that's the memories that everyone will have at the end of the day, not who irritated who and all that kind of thing.
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, absolutely and you know it's it's it's it's special.
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: I mean, my father is no longer here, just like yours and and my in-laws, sadly, or no longer with us either.
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: And so life is.
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: You know, time is short and it's important to build, continue building Memories and being together and finding the good in one another.
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: And just you know, like you said, laugh Right.
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: Ours has definitely changed a lot too.
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: There's not as many coming to join us, so I think that's that's really smart.
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: What you said is just focus on the positive, because everyone has something positive, exactly, and then we all have something not so positive.
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: So, exactly on what's good about them.
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: I'm sure that there are plenty of things I do that irritate others.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: No, absolutely not.
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: Well, we all tend to have a family member that sometimes comes in on the holidays with just kind of Negative vibes and like likes to kind of stir things up and talk about things that maybe we shouldn't be talking about, like politics and things Like that.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: How would you, as a hostess, handle something like that?
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: Oh gosh.
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: That is a really good question, martha.
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: I think that I think you have to set those expectations Upfront.
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and let your guests know that you're not going to talk about Race, religion or politics at the dinner table or even the whole time that they're in your house, because this is the holidays and the focus is on Christmas and the meaning of Christmas and being together, and anything that is going to cause somebody else to be a little salty should just be taboo.
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: And you know.
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: Also, if you find your relative going down that road, call them out politely and just Let them know that that's not okay because, they are in your house and and they need to abide by your rules.
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: Sure, fortunately, um, that hasn't happened too often, but we do have a friend who has a crazy uncle that likes to get drunk and talk politics and really inappropriate things in front of the kids and I know that this girlfriend of ours just has fallen apart at times and such, but she had to learn how, how to set those boundaries and, yeah, her stories are a little crazy.
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: Well, I don't have anything that's happened on the holidays specifically, but I've found in recent years, with all the political things that are such hot topics, that even if we just go out to dinner with some friends, you're having a norm, what I would consider normal conversation, and then poof One of them just like all of a sudden segues without any reason and just something controversial, and I don't understand why people want to do that these days.
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: I mean, you have to know Someone's going to end up irritated with you at the table, absolutely.
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: I I am not sure I avoid that.
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: I avoid that topic of conversation at any cost, unless it's with my husband or Someone that I really trust.
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: Well, at the end of the day, when you get together with friends or family, it's all about spending time together and celebrating the season and being together, and I just we should avoid some of those topics.
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, and to you know, I think we talk about how stressed out we get and and how we always feel like we're lagging behind and trying to find the perfect present and and really just Taking a step back and thinking about the true meaning of Christmas.
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: Why are we celebrating it to begin with and not losing focus?
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: That we are celebrating christ's birth?
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: So I think you're absolutely right, martha, just really focusing on being happy, enjoying each other, celebrating our relationships with our family.
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: Well, what about any special traditions?
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: I think every family has their own set of traditions.
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: Is there anything that you all do?
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: We, we do a really fancy dinner on Christmas Eve and I've always loved that.
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: My mother-in-law Started that and she always set the most beautiful table and she's the one that really taught me how to Dress a table, and so I have just the most special memories of these very formal dinner parties and and we have tried to continue that.
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: And then we always go to the Christmas symphony every year and that's that's always look forward to that with with our entire family when we're all together.
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: So that's fun.
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: This year we will go to the Christmas symphony in London, so I'm at the Royal.
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: Albert Hall, so I'm very excited about that Gosh.
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: That is going to be some great memories.
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: Yes, so we do that, and then we open Christmas gifts first thing On Christmas morning, although now I have to wake up my kids.
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: Isn't that funny how things have changed exactly.
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: And then we have a big Christmas breakfast and it's just, uh just, we just celebrate, we have fun.
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: Well, I mean speaking of fun and waking up your kids now that they're older.
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: Last year, sean and I came up with the brilliant idea of waking up like six am and they'd stayed up really late and everything and running in the room, turning all the lights on and jumping on their bed and we were so obnoxious waking them up and they were so mad at us and we're like no Payback.
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: You know what goes around comes around.
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: You got to know what this feels like.
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: That is the best thing I've heard.
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: I'm so gonna do that.
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, let me know how that turns out, because, yeah, the teenagers don't really, you know.
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: I think one child will think it's funny and the other one will probably hate us.
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: I think I know who's who in that equation Exactly.
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: That's so funny.
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: Well, this has been so much fun and tell people how they can find you.
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: Well, they can find me on instagram Um christie underscore weiksel and I'll put the link in so you don't have to remember that, because also her last name Is hard to spell if you don't know how to spell it.
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: So, I'll include that in the show notes for you.
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: Absolutely Well.
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: Thank you for being here today.
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: I really appreciate it.
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much for having me.
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: It was super fun.
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: Of course, we'll have to do this again sometime.
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: Absolutely Well, that's been another episode of the bevel lounge.
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: I'm Martha Jackson and we'll catch you next time.