WEBVTT
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No, no, no, we wait for dad. He's still got
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the camera, but I can see mine.
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It's right there.
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It's six point forty seven in the morning, Christmas morning,
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and I'm standing in our kitchen watching chaos unfold in
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slow motion. One kid's already ripped into something, another one's
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crying because someone touched their present. The dog is eating
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wrapping paper, and my husband he's laughing because what else
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can you do? This is Christmas, real, messy, beautiful. Welcome
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to We are the Hansens. If this is your first
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time here, buckle up. You just walked into a house
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with more kids than bedrooms, more noise than sense, and
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more love than we know what to do with. And
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if you've been writing with us, you already know you
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know that we don't do perfect. We don't do silent
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nights or matching pajamas in every photo.
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We do real.
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Today's episode is different. Christmas is two days away, and
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in true handsome fashion, the house is loud, the to
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do list is long, someone is definitely missing a shoe,
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and there's wrapping paper stuck to Honestly, I don't even
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know anymore, but today we slow it all down because
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Christmas isn't a checklist, it's not a Pinterest forward. It's
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a feeling, a memory, a moment we can't.
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Afford to rush past.
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So grab your coffee, grab your cocoa, grab so whatever's
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left after the kids rated the fridge. Sit with me.
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This is a handsome family Christmas. All right, let's set
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the scene. It's December in the Hansen House, which means
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the calendar has officially exploded. Christmas programs, school parties, cookie exchanges,
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secret Sanna White Elephant gifts something called elf on the
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shelf that I still don't fully understand. And can I
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be honest, I forget to move that thing all the time.
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I forgot twice last week had to tell the kids
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that the elf was resting. Mom elves don't rest. Listen, kid,
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this elf does. She's exhausted, she's got bills. And then
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there's the shopping, the wrapping, the hiding of presents in
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increasingly creative locations because we ran out of normal spots
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three kids ago. Last year, we found presents in the
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garage attic in March. In my defense, they were very
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well hidden. But here's the thing, as chaotic as it gets,
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as tired as we are, as many times as we
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say next year we're doing it differently. We wouldn't trade it,
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not for anything, because somewhere between the chaos and the coffee,
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between the meltdowns and the magic, something beautiful happens. Life
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shows up, love shows up, and we remember why we
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do this. Christmas in our house has never been quiet.
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We don't do silent nights. We do chaotic nights. Laughter
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echoing down hallways, kids arguing over who gets to put
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the star on the tree, at least one Christmas movie
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playing that nobody is actually watching.
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And every year it's different.
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Some years we had more money, some years we had less.
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Some years were full of pure joy, some years were
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just trying to survive. But every single year we showed up.
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One of my favorite things about Christmas and our family,
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It's never been about perfection. It's about presence. We've had
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Christmas trees that leaned, like aggressively leaned. One year, we
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had to tie it to the wall with fishing line,
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and the kids thought it was hilarious. They named it
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the Leaning Tower of Christmas. We've had lights that only
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worked halfway, ornaments made from popsicle sticks in school, glue presents,
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wrapped in grocery bags because life happened and the wrapping
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paper didn't make it home.
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And yet those are.
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The years we remember most. We remembered the year someone
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shook every single present to guess what was inside. The
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year the kids woke up at four point thirty in
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the morning and we all just gave up and started early.
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The year the batteries weren't included and the tears came fast.
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But we also remember the cuddles on the couch, the
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prayer said quietly, with little hands folded, the way lights
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looked reflecting in their eyes, the realization that what mattered
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most was already sitting in the room all right, story
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time three years ago, Christmas Eve, we got all the
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kids down finally, Jeremy and I were up until midnight
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wrapping presents, building something that said some assembly required but
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really meant you'll need an engineering degree and a miracle.
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We finish. We're exhausted.
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We go to bed. Two hours later.
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I hear footsteps, little footsteps coming down the hall. I
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open my eyes and there's one of our kids standing
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at the side of the bed, just staring like a tiny,
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adorable ghost. I almost screamed, Jeremy had to cover my
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mouth and this kid whispers, is Sana here yet? At
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two forty seven in the morning, I said, young lady,
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Santa's been and gone, but you've got to go back
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to bed or he might take something back. Fastest I've
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ever seen that little girl move. Those moments, That's what
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Christmas is made of, Not perfection, not Instagram, just life
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happening in real time, with all of its chaos and
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beauty mixed together. You know what, We can't talk about
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Christmas memories without talking about food, specifically the hands and
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Christmas Morning cinnamon rolls. These are legendary in our family,
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and there's a story here. When Jeremy and I first
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got married, we realized pretty quickly that we wanted to
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build our own traditions, not just do what families did
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growing up, but create something that was uniquely ours, something
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our kids would remember, something that would say this is
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Christmas in the Hanson house. And for some reason we
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landed on cinnamon rolls. I don't even remember whose idea
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it was anymore, but the first Christmas morning as parents,
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we woke up early before the kid and we made
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cinnamon rolls together. They were not great the dough didn't
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rise properly, the filling was too runny, and we may
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have burned the first batch, but the kids didn't care.
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They came downstairs to that smell cinnamon, brown sugar, something
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sweet and warm baking in the oven, and their faces
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just lit up. So we did it again the next
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year and the year after that, and every year we
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got a little better at it. Now it's non negotiable.
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The kids wake up on Christmas Morning expecting those cinnamon rolls.
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They come running down the stairs and the first thing
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they do before they even look at presents, is check
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to see if they're baking. And when we pull them
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out of the oven, when we gather around the table,
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still in our pajamas, tree lights glowing and we break
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off that first, warm, gooey piece, that's when Christmas really begins.
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That's legacy, that's tradition, something we built, something we created
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together as a family. And years from now, when our
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kids have families of their own, I hope they make
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these rolls. I hope that smell takes them right back
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to our kitchen, to Christmas morning, where everything was warm
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and safe and loved.
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All Right, you.
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Want the recipe, I'm going to walk you through it.
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The hands and Christmas Morning cinnamon rolls. These are make ahead,
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which is key when you've got a houseful of kids.
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You make the dough the night before, let it rise
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overnight in the fridge, then bake them f rush Christmas morning.
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So here's what you'll need for the dough. Four cups
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all purpose flour, a third cup granulated sugar, one packet
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instant yeast, one teaspoonful of salt, one cup whole milk warmed,
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a quarter cup butter melted, two large eggs, one teaspoon
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vanilla extract for the filling, a half a cup of
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butter softened, always use real butter. One cup brown sugar packed,
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three tablespoon cinnamon, pinch of nutmeg. That's our secret. For
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the icing, four ounce cream cheese softened, three tablespoons butter softened,
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two cups powdered sugar, one teaspoon vanilla, two to three
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tablespoons milk. So Christmas Eve, after the kids are asleep
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and you've wrapped the last present, you make the dough.
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Mix the flour, sugar, yeast, and salt in a big bowl.
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In another bowl, whisk together the warm milk, melted butter, eggs,
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and vanilla. Pour the wet into the dry. Stir until
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it comes together, then neat it for about eight minutes
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until it's smooth and elastic. You'll know it's ready when
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it feels soft and springs back when you touch it.
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Once it's needed, put it in a greased bowl, cover
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it with plastic wrap, and stick it in the fridge overnight.
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The slow rise is what makes them so good, gives
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the dough time to develop flavor. Christmas morning, early before
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the kids wake up, you take the dough out, roll
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it into a big rectangle about sixteen by twelve inches.
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Then comes the best part. Spread that softened butter all
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over the dough all over. Don't be shy. Mix the brown, sugar, cinnamon,
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and nutmeg together in a bowl. Sprinkle it generously all
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over the butter. If you can still see dough you
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didn't use enough, then roll it up height from the longside,
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slice it into twelve rolls. Lay them in a greased
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nine by thirteen pan. Cover them with a towel, and
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let them rise for about thirty minutes while you make
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coffee and wake up. Then bake at three hundred and
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fifty degrees for twenty five to thirty minutes, and tell
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they're golden and your house smells like heaven. While they
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cool slightly and I mean slightly. You want them warm.
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Make the icy, beat the cream, cheese and butter together
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and tell fluffy. Add the powdered sugar, vanilla and milk
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mix and tell smooth. Then pour it over the rolls
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while they're still warm, so it melts into the crevices.
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And that's it. That's the Hansen's Christmas Morning cinnamon rolls,
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our tradition, built from scratch, perfected over years, and now
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we're passing it to you. Make them this year, start
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your own tradition, and years from now your kids will
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remember that smell. That's the magic of food. It doesn't
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just feed the body, It feeds the memory. Let's talk
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about parenting during Christmas, because it's you know, it's something else.
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You'll feel this pressure to make it magical, to get
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it right, to create memories your kids will carry forever.
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And that pressure, if you let it, it will steal
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the joy right out from under you. Here's the truth.
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Nobody tells you ready. Your kids won't remember every gift.
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They won't remember how perfect the decorations were. They won't
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care if the cookies were from scratch or the store.
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They'll remember how you made them feel. They'll remember that
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you sat on the floor and played with them, that
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you laughed when the cookies burned, that you hug them
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when emotions and high, theirs and yours. Christmas brings out everything, joy, exhaustion, gratitude, frustration,
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sometimes all in the same five minutes. And as parents,
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by the time Christmas morning even gets here, we're running
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on fumes held together by coffee duct tape and sheer
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will power and the knowledge that January is coming, the
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light at the end of the tunnel. But here's what
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I've learned, especially in a big family, and this might
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give you permission to breathe. You don't need to do everything.
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You don't need to do something meaningful, a moment, a tradition,
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a memory. Those small things they last forever. Last year
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we started this thing Christmas Eve, after dinner. We all
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sit in the living room, lights low tree glowing, and
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we go around.
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In the circle.
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Everyone and I mean everyone shares one thing they're grateful
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for from the year. The first time we did it,
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the kids thought it was cheesy. There was groaning, so
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much groaning. But then one of them started and they
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said something real, something from the heart, and it started
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this chain reaction, one kid after another, sharing listening. Some
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of them cried, some of them made us cry, and
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by the end, nobody wanted to stop. Now they asked
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for it. Are we doing the Grateful Circle this year?
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Every time?
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And it didn't cost anything. It didn't require planning or perfection.
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It just required showing up. So if you're feeling overwhelmed
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right now, if you're wondering if you're doing enough, if
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you're looking at other families and thinking you're falling short,
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stop breathe. You're doing better than you think. Your kids
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don't need a perfect Christmas. They need you present, engaged,
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loving them through the mess. That's the magic, not the
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stuff under the tree. You that said, if anyone tells
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you parenting during Christmas is easy, they're lying. There will
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be meltdowns, there will be sibling fights over who got
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more presents. Someone will eat too much sugar and become feral.
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It's basically guaranteed. It's basically the law, the law of
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Christmas chaos.
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Look it up.
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But that's part of it too. The chaos is the story.
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Years from now, your kids won't say, remember how perfect
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everything was. They'll say, remember when Dad tried to build
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the bike and half the pieces were missing, Or remember
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when mom accidentally wrapped the dog's toy. That did happen.
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In my defense, it was shaped like a Teddy bear.
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Give yourself grace. Parents, you're doing something extraordinary. You're building
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a life, you're building memories, you're building people, and that's
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hard work. So cut yourself some slack. Half the store
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bought cookies, skip the matching pajamas, let the dishes sit.
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One more night.
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Your kids won't remember any of that, but they'll remember
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that you were there. Christmas means something deeper toss. Yes,
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it's lights, laughter, gifts, family, but it's also about love,
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showing up quietly, without announcement, without fanfare, a baby born
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in a barn, no throne, no power, no spotlight, just
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love in a world that's loud, divided, constantly demanding more.
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Christmas reminds us that less can be holy, less noise,
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less rush, less distraction, and more gratitude, more grace, more forgiveness,