Do you struggle with finding the best types of Christmas gifts to buy? In this episode, Jimmy and Lori share stories, gift ideas, and their most important approaches to changing the lives of those you love.
Episode Keys
- Why it is important to create and continue to share holiday traditions with your loved ones.
- How you can give a gift that is priceless and can’t be found in any stores
- Lori’s favorite Christmas meal and how it came to be a family favorite
- Celebrating Christmas in your own unique way helps your family understand the true meaning of the holiday
- Who you share Christmas with is more important than what you receive from under the tree.
Podcast Transcript
JW: Good morning! Oh, this is my favorite time of year, and what better way to spend it than with the greatest people, the subscribers and listeners to the Live a Life by Design podcast. But even more important, today I have a special gift for all of you listening today, that special person that just lights up the airwaves here at Live a Life by Design, my co-host with the most, Lori Few is joining us. Welcome, Lori.
LF: Good morning, everybody. It’s Christmas week, and we’re Christmas and we’re caffeinated.
JW: I got to tell you though, Lori, there’s some bad things that’s happened. As you know, this year’s been tough. I wouldn’t say bad things, just difficult things have happened. You know, this COVID thing that we can’t seem to get it to leave. It seems like bad fish, you know? After so long, you need to get rid of it. But hey, it is here, but you know what, that doesn’t change how we celebrate and why it’s important to celebrate this time of year. Don’t you agree?
LF: I agree. Totally agree with you.
JW: So, I’d like to run a few questions up the old Lori few flagpole today about Christmas, folks. We’re going to get her feedback on why things are so important about Christmas to bring about normalcy in life. And hey, that’s the term, right, Lori? We haven’t had any normalcy, seems like, since March.
LF: I think in the future when they look up the word normalcy in the dictionary, you’re going to find multiple versions of that definition based on the year.
JW: I think you’re absolutely right.
LF: Especially this year.
JW: Well, since we’re here then, so tell me, why is it so important to enjoy a great holiday to bring about normalcy?
LF: I just think that, you know, that’s the one kind of commonality that we have, you know, the holidays. They stand for something through generational time, and from generation to generation, it’s always the same, it’s the holidays. I mean, that’s what we come to know growing up. And we’re used to those traditions and stories and activities. And this year, it’s just so important to remember to embrace those. Even though we’re having to do it a little bit differently, it just means that we’re going to have to be a little bit more creative.
JW: You know, that’s the whole key, I think. We’ve got to be creative no matter what the situation to give our families – and hey, let’s just face it, ourselves – a little sense that life is back to some normalcy. So, I’ve got a kind of a personal question. Is there any type of clothing perhaps you wear that’s traditional for Christmas?
LF: Ha ha, clothing. You know, in Oklahoma, you never know how to prepare. I mean, one Christmas you’d be wearing shorts and flip flops, and one Christmas you could be wearing your polar bear suit. I don’t have any traditional clothing that I wear, as of yet. But of course, we’re new. I kind of consider us newer parents. Our son is 11, so we’re just kind of getting into establishing some of those traditions. But I have a funny story about a tradition when I was a kid and it has carried on my entire life, and it’s my dad and he has been wearing the same pair of Christmas shoes since 1978. They are red and green and they are obnoxious, but my brother and I absolutely expect that on Christmas morning. It’s not Christmas if we don’t have the shoes. And so it’s a funny thing that just kind of started on a whim. And it’s just year, after year, after year, it’s our running family joke and we love it. And it’s definitely one of our top, I would say, three Christmas traditions.
JW: You know, I hate to brag, I’ve got some Christmas undergarments, Lori.
LF: Oh no, no. What now? Come on, Jimmy. We’re keeping it G-rated for the audience this morning.
JW: Oh, yes, yes, yes. I’ve got some Christmas… socks.
LF: Okay.
JW: Socks, see? You’ve got to watch your mind.Yes, where your mind went. No, so I’ve got Christmas socks. I’ve got some with reindeer on them. I’ve got some with Christmas trees on them. Even got one that has a Santa on the socks. So I celebrate that whole week by wearing Christmas socks. And, you know, it’s kind of an undergarment, right? It’s under your pants leg, so undergarment, right?
LF: You’re skirting that a little, but I’ll allow it.
JW: Well, if the truth be known… Hey, we’re truthful if nothing else here on Live a Life By Design, folks. We’re going to be truthful for you. I do have a pair of Christmas men’s boxer shorts that are just the perfect thing for opening gifts on Christmas morning. It just gives you that sense of warmness that you’re close to Santa during that time of opening gifts.
LF: I do not have any Santa undergarments that I am aware of. If my husband is listening, that is not an option for Christmas this year.
JW: I suggest I’ll be talking to him. You will have some under the tree. If nothing else, folks, we start traditions on this podcast. We are going to start traditions for Lori’s family.
LF: It’s happening.
JW: Hey, Lori, tell me something, how about the Christmas dinosaur? What’s up with that?
LF: Oh goodness, so this tradition actually started when our son was very young. He, at 18 months old, he was throwing a fit one day in Walmart in the grocery cart. We were desperate trying to get through the store, and we happened to roll by a bin of just giant plastic dinosaurs. And so without thinking anything, we were just desperate to not be those parents that everyone was staring at while their child was having a meltdown, my husband reached into the bin and handed Noah a plastic dinosaur, and the rest is history. And so we have dinosaur everything, Christmas ornaments, Christmas wrapping paper. But I will never forget the year Noah was four years old and we decided to get him an inflatable dinosaur to decorate the front yard for Christmas. And we thought how unique that would be and how fun. And we could implement his love for dinosaurs and let the whole neighborhood get involved and think, “Oh, those are those weird neighbor people that have the inflatable T-Rex in their yard.” And with social media being what it is, I thought this is so great, I will take a picture and I will post it on social media to announce that now we have a dinosaur in our yard. Well, I put on the caption, “And then there were two.” And the picture is of Noah and the T-Rex. And unbeknownst to me, that started a social media firestorm that people thought we were announcing a baby. So, every year when we put up that dinosaur now we laugh because we know we’re not having any more children, but “then there were two.”
JW: “And then there were two.” That’s a great story. I got to tell you, the one I love as the best, we have this tradition, we love to watch the Christmas Vacation movie with Chevy Chase. This guy, I can’t quit laughing, Lori, so as soon as he even just looks on camera or that face of his, I just start laughing. But the one I love is where he’s putting the lights on the home. And he’s got the staple gun and he’s got his long sleeve flannel shirt, and he staples his sleeve to the side of the house. Then he falls down. That’s me. That’s why I don’t put up lights, Lori.
LF: Well, we all have our limitations. We all know when we need to call in a professional, so I’m glad that you are willing to admit that, that you have that fault. Maybe next year we’ll see, if you get brave, we’ll see the Jimmy National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation Part Two and it’ll be you doing that, stapling and falling.
JW: I’ll be dressed as Cousin Eddie out in the parking lot probably somewhere, that’s what I’ll be doing. Well, tell me this, what is your favorite Christmas food? What is it you got to have or it’s just not Christmas day if you don’t eat this particular food?
LF: Okay, you’re going to think I’m weird. The audience is probably going to turn this off after this and think, “No, I’m done. I’m never going to listen to that again. He keeps bringing this weird lady on to talk about things.”
JW: Oh boy.
LF: It was actually a tradition that was started by my grandmother, who we call Nana, and I have no idea how it started. I just remember that it was at every Christmas meal and it was my favorite dessert, and I still make it until this day. Even though she has passed, I still eat it every Christmas in honor of her, and we call it pineapple-banana salad. And it’s literally chunks of pineapple, pineapple from a can. You drain the pineapple juice and you cut up fresh bananas, and you use a cup of shredded cheddar cheese, and that’s it. And it’s pineapple-banana salad. And it’s amazing and it’s my favorite. And my Nana always used to say that the secret ingredient was love, and so that is my Christmas meal. It is not Christmas, regardless of where I am, if I’m traveling, if I’m home or I’m on vacation or wherever on Christmas, it’s not Christmas without pineapple banana salad.
JW: I’m making a note about that to make sure my wife never fixes it, okay. That doesn’t appeal to me. I don’t know if I can do that.
LF: I know. It’s a very acquired taste.
JW: I’m thinking you’re going to say something like, oh, chocolate fudge bars with walnuts on them or something like that. She comes up, folks, with this pineapple salad. I mean, come on. Okay.
LF: I know. I know it’s quirky. I know. But Jimmy-
JW: Well, I’ve got one just as quirky. Yeah, go ahead.
LF: Oh, do tell. No, no, no, do tell.
JW: No, you’re going to laugh.
LF: I can’t be the only one.
JW: I was raised by my grandmother, Minnie Williams. When we were at her house for Christmas, we had chocolate gravy.
LF: Oh, I love chocolate gravy. It’s so good.
JW: Yeah, so think of this, folks. Think of a syrup with some flour in it. It’s that sweet. I mean, it just sweet. You pour it over hot biscuits with butter and you just go to town. And I mean, it is awesome stuff. That’s our meal. It’s not Christmas without chocolate gravy.
LF: Oh, yes, chocolate gravy. And the sad thing is, is I’m the only one in my household that will eat it, so will you have an extra chair at your house?
JW: You bring it on over. And don’t laugh, we celebrate with Christmas plates that have Santa characters on the plates and glasses that are Christmassy. We just do the whole Christmas thing that morning and it’s really kind of a tradition now. Our girls are 24 and 19, and they still expect to have chocolate gravy and they still expect to have all those kinds of corny looking plates and stuff we use. But we just love it.
LF: Well, okay, so speaking of traditions and having two daughters, give me some perspective about what it’s like to have two daughters at Christmas. Because I only have one son and I don’t know what that’s like, so tell me a little bit about a Christmas tradition that you have with the girls.
JW: Well, let me just explain this in typical description. Christmas morning is more like a WWE tag team match around the Christmas tree, and that was just last year! No.
LF: Now, come on.
JW: You’re going to laugh. As you probably can guess, we are just so blessed, and our kids have never had a need that wasn’t fulfilled and probably half of their wants, and so we just have the best time. We love seeing the kids opening their gifts on Christmas. But what we do, as you know, being the old financial planner with all the detailed and methodical approach to things, we have them open them one at a time so that we can observe the smile on their face or what it’s going to say when the child says, “Oh, that color looks great on me,” or whatever. And so it takes us, literally, Lori, I’m not exaggerating, probably an hour and a half to get through all the gift opening by the time each of us take our turn. And so Gabrielle will do her part and try it on, but then she doesn’t just have to say, “Oh, that’s great. Now it’s your turn.” She has to go try it on. I mean, whatever it is she’s got to put it on-
LF: Literally.
JW: Yeah, we do a modeling show at Christmas.
LF: Oh, I would love that.
JW: It’s crazy. Now this year we’re adding the grand-kitty and she’s got gifts, so this could stretch to two hours. I don’t know, man, this is getting crazy.
LF: So you’re saying that you’re going to need to take brunch in the middle.
JW: I’m saying the chocolate gravy better be bigger portions this year to get through this.
LF: I love it. I love it. It’s amazing. I would love to have a Christmas fashion show. I always get the hurry up unwrap it; okay, cool, it’s a shirt; toss it behind you and move on.
JW: Well, as you all know listening as subscribers that Santa is real, at least in my house. And I will tell you, he always eats a partial cookie and leaves crumbs on our end tables, and he spills milk a lot and he misses the tray. The guy apparently is just really, really nerve stricken and just tired, and very much in a hurry, I’d say, Lori.
LF: Oh yeah.
JW: And so, last year he did something that I never thought he would do, but he took a bite the cookie, he left some of it on the tray. He apparently dropped some chocolate chip on the floor and mashed it with his boot when he went back up the chimney, and so I had things to clean up. And it looked like reindeer poop, so what I did, I left it out. You know what reindeer poop looks like? it’s just regular poop but reindeer. And so I had the girls, before I picked it up, I go, “Look, look, proof! Santa had reindeer in the house!” And so anyway, they’re 24 and 19. They didn’t buy that very well, but it went over great when they were kids.
LF: Yeah. Well, we have a saying that “In order to receive, you have to be believe.”
JW: That’s good. I like that.
LF: We use that a lot at our house. I feel like I’m not ready… I have that inner struggle. He’s 11 now, and I have that whole conversation with myself, “Okay, is this the year?” And I get prepared. And I think about what I’m going to say and how, you know, we teach that the spirit of Christmas is within each one of us and it’s what we do with it that keeps that sense of Santa alive. I hope that this is not the year. He very much believes this year still, I hope. But if he has doubt, he’s not letting us know that, and I love that and I savor that. And I say to all the parents out there, let them continue to be little and believe because I feel like that time is fleeting and it’s going to be gone before I know it. And so, I just encourage everybody to just hold on to it just a little bit longer.
JW: Oh, I agree. I agree. I got to tell you though, I’m 55 and I still believe folks.
LF: Yes.
JW: Because I mean, I’ll tell you what, what is good about Christmas is the magical feeling you get that just for a short period of time I can separate myself from the whole world and just live in this fantasy land of everything’s good, every child in the world is going to have a great day, get a gift, get a hot meal, get a hot bed that’s a safe place to stay. This is what I asked Santa for every year when we took the kids. And to me, that’s just that time, Lori, to sit down and just be thankful for those intangible gifts that we get, right?
LF: Yes. Yes, absolutely.
JW: So let’s talk a little bit. What is the worst tangible gift you’ve ever received for Christmas and who did it come from?
LF: Oh gosh, the worst? Oh, that’s a tough one. Hmm, worst? Well, I’m sure it came from my husband. I don’t know what it was, but I’m sure it came from my husband. He is not good at gift giving. He does everything well, but gift-giving is not his strong suit.
JW: Not his forte, huh?
LF: It was probably a sweater or a robe or something random like that. But bless him, 16 years of marriage and he’s getting there. He’s definitely better, but oh, gift giving… not his strong suit. He’s that dad that wakes up on Christmas morning and watches everyone open their gifts from him. And he’s just shocked about how, “Oh, well…” And I always tell him, I’m like, “Yeah, you remember when we got that,” or “Remember?” And he’s like, “Y-y-yeah?”
JW: That is funny. So, my worst gift, and I hate to even say it on this podcast, but we’re all about the truth here. I was very small. I can remember this day. I was maybe six, seven years of age, and younger than your son, and I had a new skateboard that I had gotten from Santa so it wasn’t wrapped. But my brother, just older than me, had taken some fake dog poop – it looked like Rusty, our dog, had pooped on my gift – and he put it on my gift. I was distraught. My mother had to say, “Pick it up and it’ll be okay.” And I go, “I’m not touching it. Rusty’s already pooped on it.”
LF: Ladies and gentlemen, we had no idea that this morning’s podcast was going to reference the word poop so much. Just saying it out there in the universe.
JW: We’re all about transparency here on Live a Life By Design. That’s about as transparent as it can get.
LF: Yes. Yes.
JW: But yeah, so finally my dad took me over there because I didn’t want to touch it. And it looked like the real stuff, Lori. I mean, it looked gross and then it was on my skateboard. But my dad had me convinced pretty quickly, and I was at on the patio very quickly, and falling down and busted my elbow, and all that stuff. It worked out. It worked out very well. But hey, don’t put dog poop on your gifts, come on.
LF: Yeah, please don’t. That’s no go for no one.
JW: Let me ask you this, have you ever experienced a white Christmas that you recall?
LF: Oh yes. Oh goodness. Now, I probably did experience a white Christmas as a child and I just don’t remember, or I was too enthralled with whatever Santa brought me for it to stick in my memory, but I do remember Noah’s first Christmas, first white Christmas. It was 2009, the year he was born, and it was absolutely beautiful and breathtaking. And we were, of course, stuck at home because we couldn’t travel to see my family because the roads weren’t great. But I remember literally dressing him up in the biggest… I don’t even remember. I’m sure it was a baby shower gift that we were given, but it was a bear suit, and it was just-
JW: Oh boy.
LF: I mean, it looked like a giant bear, like parka, zip-up onesie, and we stuffed him down in there. I mean, he just couldn’t even hardly breathe. The pictures are hilarious because he’s so stiff inside this parka-looking thing. And we were so excited, we dressed up and we stood outside and we took turns taking pictures of each other holding Noah. Because of course in 2009, we didn’t know what a selfie was. Nor would we have known how to do that. But that is the white Christmas that I remember, and I don’t know that we’ve had one since then.
JW: You’re going to laugh. One of my favorite Christmases was I was probably about five, if I recall, my first white Christmas. In Oklahoma sometimes… Our people listening in other countries that are far North may say, “Well, that’s just every Christmas we get a white Christmas.” It’s really rare for us.
LF: Very rare.
JW: Our snow gets here in January or February perhaps. So anyway, I was about five I remember because I was in Head Start and that’s a precursor to kindergarten, for everyone that doesn’t know, when you’re an old man like me. But so, it was snowing, and I’ll never forget I didn’t want to go back inside, so I just had this parka on like that kid on Red Ryder Christmas. You couldn’t even bend my arms. And when I fell down, you’re just like a turtle stranded on your back. You can’t get flipped over. And I’ll never forget, my brother took me by the foot and he put a little rope around me and attached it to the end of a riding lawnmower, and dragged me around the yard while I’m screaming my head off. And you know, I’m sure the neighbors thought, “Oh, it’s just the Williams kids. It’s no big deal.”
LF: I’m pretty sure that if someone saw that today, Child Protective Services would be called.
JW: Yeah, yeah. It was so funny, though. And now let me tell you one of my most fun though. We had an ice storm hit when I was about 13 or 14 and we found – now, folks, this really goes back – but we found an old car hood, waxed it so that’d be nice and slick, flipped it over on its top, and the four of us boys could get on there and hang on while someone pulled us on the tractor for a while, then they pulled us in a four-wheel drive pickup. We went all over the little community where we lived on these icy roads just having the best time. Hey, man, memories like that just can’t be forgotten. That was one of my favorite. How about you though? What was your favorite Christmas of childhood?
LF: Oh goodness, you know, we’ve talked about this before. But the fact that I was raised in the foster care system and so Christmases before foster care were complicated, the best that my parents could do. But my first Christmas that I absolutely remember was my first year with my parents, who I call my parents. I was 15 and I had been in foster care and I hadn’t been with them very long. And I didn’t realize that Christmas could be what they had created it to be. I remember opening one gift and thinking, “Okay, this is great.” I got Doc Marten boots. Those were the thing back then. And that was way overwhelming to me that that was my gift and I was completely fine with it. And my mom kept bringing more boxes. And I just remember thinking, “Those are for me?” I was kind of taken aback by it. And to them, that was a typical Christmas. I mean, it went for quite some time and there were multiple packages and bows, and taking a break for breakfast and then coming back and opening more gifts. And I will never forget thinking how incredibly different things were, and I really have carried that with me for the rest of my life. Knowing that Christmas had multiple packages and excitement, and being in a room full of people that loved you regardless. And they are your family and they take care of you, and that’s just what you do. And so really setting that example for me then has carried with me for the rest of my life, that Christmas is this magical season where it’s not just one day. You carry it with you and you love on the people that are part of your family every year. And then you’re blessed to be able to get together every time the calendar pages turn and to be able to recreate that magic. And so it was life changing for me, and I will never forget my 15-year-old Christmas.
JW: Man, that almost brings a tear to my eyes. Not because it was so special because you mentioned Doc Martens. I hadn’t heard that in forever.
LF: They’re vintage now, did you know that, like where to find me. Yes, vintage Doc Martens.
JW: Vintage another word for very old and past time, but anyway. No, I’m just kidding.
LF: I think I was probably 30 before I gave those shoes up, by the way.
JW: Oh, I’ll bet. I’ll bet. Oh my goodness. Well, this is the moment of the show, Lori, that I want to bring it back to something even deeper and more important than the fun stuff we’ve had, is I want to talk about these intangible gifts of Christmas, the ones that lasts far beyond the midnight of the 25th of December. They last all year round, just like you were saying about our loved ones. And the first gift that I would love to pass along to our subscribers is the gift of gratitude. This is something, not just because you got to give, but I want to receive not just the gift of gratitude, I want to give the gift of gratitude to all those we meet. So for example, we had an experiment this year during COVID. We wanted to help support some of the families that have had struggles this year with losses of jobs and so forth in our community, so we started a COVID Christmas angel tree. And so we thought, Lori, that we’d do this with cooperation, our local Lions Club and the local newspaper got together. And we thought, “Hey, we could do maybe a hundred kids because we’re late starting and so forth.” Well, guess what, we ended up with over 300 kids getting gifts and it just really bloomed. And to me, I am very grateful for all the people that chipped in and helped make these Christmases for these kids, that are in a much greater need than most, a wonderful, wonderful Christmas. So to me, the first intangible gift, I say, Lori, is gratitude. What is your gift?
LF: Well, I think that’s a great one and that kind of segues into mine. And I was, when you were telling that story, community. Community to me is an intangible gift. Those are the things and the people and the places that you rely on in times of need, in times of joy, in times of sorrow. I mean, those are the people that you share all of those things with. And some people are part of a small community and that may just be your family and your close, extended family, and then some people are part of a town or a greater community, or you find yourself in an organization and that’s your community. Those are the things that don’t cost anything to participate in. And those people are the people that you love and you work with and you volunteer with and you share with, and you celebrate with and you cry with, so community would be an intangible gift for me.
JW: That’s a big one too. And my other intangible gift I have, I’m just going to say this, and I mean this with all sincerity to our subscribers, is the gift of hope. When my dad got sick earlier in the summer from this COVID and was in isolation in the COVID unit in one of the large hospitals in a major city here in Oklahoma, and you couldn’t see him and so forth, I was just praying and hoping that he would get better to get to come home. So I believe the best gift that we can give to anyone listening that’s going through a difficult time is that there is always hope that you can rely on. You’ve got to hope for a better day. There are good days coming. Vaccines will be here. Your health will be improving, if it’s your health. Your financial situation can be improved if it’s that. So I give to everyone listening today, from Lori and me, the gift of hope.
LF: Oh, I love that gift and I think that’s a gift that keeps on giving every year, regardless of whatever situation that we’re in. And we have to keep having that positive perspective of, this too shall pass. We are going to get through COVID. We are going to get through 2020. It just is all about perspective, and we have to be patient and we have to continue to strive to be positive. There’s so much negativity in the world. And if there’s ever a time to be positive, it’s right now during this holiday season. And you can be positive through your actions. You can be positive through your communication. You can be positive through your mindset. Some of us are wearing masks all day long, but we’ve talked about that before that you can still be smiling under that mask and smile with your eyes. And you can smile with your heart and be open and loving and accepting of other people for whatever the reason. Right now we just all could use a little bit of positivity.
JW: That’s a great gift. And I’ll tell you what, that’s one I claim all year round though, Lori.
LF: Yes, you do. Yes, you do.
JW: That’s one of my favorite gifts. How about this, the gift of compassion? Our Angel Tree Project really did one thing for me, Lori. It allowed me to give a sense of compassion to our fellow man in our community that are going through some very difficult times. And so I encourage all of us to look around, look for the need and feed it, or feel it, or give it. Whatever’s necessary to meet that need. I highly encourage everyone to take a large dose of compassion and share with those that have less than you, for example, or have it far worse than some of us. So compassion is one of my favorite other gifts. What’s another one of your intangible gifts?
LF: Oh goodness, intangible? Oh, well, everyone knows that my tangible gift is coffee. Not to change the subject, however-
JW: She has to put that in every episode. It’s part of her contract.
LF: I do. Well, I mean it’s Monday morning and it’s super stressful, and my brain is just trying to wrap around intangible gifts. You know, hope and compassion and positivity are all incredible things that we can give and give freely. I think those are all great. And honestly, I don’t know that I have a different one other than what you have, Jimmy. To piggyback off what you said, it really is, especially in 2020, if you’re not doing something outside of yourself to help someone else, really what are we doing? Because that is something that when we can’t go out and we can’t go to the movies or we can’t take a vacation or we can’t do some of the things that we would normally do, it’s really time to be reflective. I guess maybe being reflective is an intangible gift. Really looking inside yourself and saying, “What can I do for myself, but what can I do for others to get through this time?” Because I know at some point it’s cliche to say that, but we’ve heard it all year, we’re better together. But it’s the absolute truth. It is nothing to drive by your neighbors house and honk and wave at them if you see them outside. I mean, some people are lacking that communication and contact with other people. We sat down and we had a conversation with our son about what could we do to help those that live in a nursing home and may not have very much family. And so we wrote cards and we drew pictures. And some of them were silly and some of them were fun, but it was just the simple fact of doing something to help those other people that are right here shoulder to shoulder. We’re living side by side and we’re all going through this together. And the struggle is the same, but it’s different.
JW: That is excellent. I’m going to leave us with these two final gifts, Lori, and I give these to your family, to all the subscribers and listeners. These two gifts will empower you to have a bigger, better, and bolder life all year long, not just at Christmas. And these are the two biggies under that tree. They are faith and love. With those two items, we can conquer COVID. We can conquer anything that comes along if we have faith in our fellow man, faith in what our deep beliefs are, of what we hold still to during those rough days that gives us that sense of security. And then if we show love, not just to our family but to those in our community, faith and love will see us a long ways through COVID or anything else that may surface in the next few years. These are my last of intangibles. Lori, do you have anything else you’d like to add on intangibles?
LF: No. I think love is probably the best way to end the intangible gift list.
JW: So, I would like to say, as we close out this episode of Live a Life By Design, that this Christmas may be affected by COVID. It may seem different to you. It’s not typical, but it can be a lasting, a rewarding, and a very, very gracious Christmas if we just remember that the tangible gifts are not what makes the season, but the intangible gifts of gratitude, community, hope, faith, positivity, compassion, and above all, love or charity. Folks, I got to tell you that’s what makes my Christmas worthwhile. Lori, I just got to ask, where do we go from here? Christmas is just a few days away.
LF: Well, we probably are going to go put on some stretchy pants. I mean, let’s be real. It’s coming. We all know it. It’s the Christmas food coma of 2020.
JW: That’s funny. Oh man, folks, thank you so much for joining Lori and me today. I’m going to leave on stretchy pants. It reminds me of that show with Jack Black. What was that show? It’s Nacho Libre.
LF: Yes.
JW: Nacho Libre. “Sometimes men wear stretchy pants.” But anyway…
LF: Yes, that’s what he said.
JW: This Christmas is special to all of us. To all of our listeners: Happy Hanukkah, Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas to everyone. And from Lori and me on this episode, all we ask is that you don’t sit at home, even though COVID may have us there, reach out on the phone, talk to the loved ones, talk to your family, talk to everyone that might need just a neighbor’s call, reach out. This week, make this Christmas truly special from the intangible gifts that you can give them. And with that, Lori, I think we’d want to wish our listeners one thing. Are you ready?
LF: Okay.
JW: One, two, three. Merry Christmas.
LF: Merry Christmas.
JW: Hey, I hope we wrap gifts better than we wrap this song here.
LF: Yeah, I think so.
JW: Ho, ho, ho, we’ve got to go.
