How is your Christmas Season going? You will certainly get a laugh and a smile from this episode! Lori Few and Jimmy share stories of Christmas past and a few hilarious moments from the doctor’s office experienced this year.  If you wish for a Merry Christmas, this episode is a great start to your holiday!

Episode Keys

• The little things that make Christmas so special for Lori and Jimmy.
• One thing you should never do at the doctor’s office.  A lesson Jimmy learned the hard way!
• What the most important aspects of Christmas mean.
• How you can experience the best Christmas of your life!
• Why your contributions to others returns you the greatest gift of the year.

Podcast Transcription

JW:
Santa Claus is coming town. Santa Claus is coming town, Santa.

LF:
Oh, what are you? Are you singing again?

JW:
Man, I’m gonna tell you something, Lori. This is the year I can feel

LF:
It. You’re feeling the Christmas jams this morning.

JW:
I’m telling you I’m so full of joy. I got word now. Listen, I don’t wanna brag, but Lori, I got like a direct connection to the north pole. What?

LF:
I don’t believe it.

JW:
Hey, if you don’t believe you don’t receive. And right now I am believing and receiving. This could be the year. No more coal, no more switches, no cat poop in my stocking. I mean, this is the year, Lori.

LF:
I really hope it’s your year cat. Poop’s a serious issue.

JW:
Yeah, that was a bad year. As a matter of fact, I shall tell you, I got a new stocking after that, cuz there’s just, there’s certain things that tide will not take away from a stocking that’s been damaged like that. I can assure

LF:
You. I don’t even wanna know what you did to be that bad.

JW:
Well it’s it’s not hard. I mean… Hey everybody. It is great to bring you our annual Christmas edition of Life a Life By Design podcast with the star of our show, Lori Few. Good morning!

LF:
Woo-hoo! Good morning!

JW:
This folks is a special time for Lori and me. We get to visit for just a few moments with each other and share with you our subscribers and listeners, all the wonderful things that could happen. If we’re good. Oh Lori. That’s the hard part. They always put a caveat on there. Not everybody gets the toy because not all of us are good.

LF:
Well, but you’ve seen the, that says Santa. I tried

JW:
Well, lemme tell my story does not count yet count because I have a direct line. So you know how the president of our country and the president of USSR has this red phone. You pick it up and it directly dials the other country. I’ve got a similar setup. It’s a pure white phone cuz of course, you know, snow. And so it directly dials to that great north pole where they’re working on all of the boys and girls gifts. True story. I know you don’t believe it. There’s not an at T operator needed. All I do is pick it up and I say, Hey Nick, you know, we’re that close now? We’re pretty tight. Oh

LF:
Nick, first name basis.

JW:
Now, you know a lot of people, you know, they call him Saint Nick or Santa Claus, not me, man. We’re this tight. It’s like, here’s what’s happening. And that’s what we do.

LF:
To me, you’re the coolest person I

JW:
Know. Yeah. You know, it’s not an easy life I lead, but anyway, I got a picture of me on a t-shirt this year that’s it’s got a picture of my arm around Nick and he, and I it’s just kinda like, you know, BFFs man and so

LF:
Well not to digress, but since we’re on, since you’re on a first name basis and all, I mean, absolutely. Were you happy to get an early Christmas present for OU to have a new head coach?

JW:
Yes. Yeah. The great university of Oklahoma got a new head coach and I, I will say this, you know, a lot of people got it said over that, but I was so focused on trying to be good, you know, see you’ve gotta be good until Christmas of January one till December 25th. I don’t know about you Lori, but that’s a very trying time for me. And so I really focused and didn’t get caught up in all the, the hoop law about the coach, leaving players, going to other schools, you know? So what, I’m a big supporter, but I had to focus on what’s most important right now, football season’s over it’s time for Nick and me to do some serious talking.

LF:
Oh, do tell I need to know this and I need to know what I have to do to get on a first name basis with the big man.

JW:
Well, I, I can’t reveal everything on the, on the podcast. I just can’t do that, but I will tell you this, um, I will share with you how I did this. Okay. And the way I did this was is I had an extreme amount of joy one day and I reached out to a family in need and decided that they could use a helping hand, not necessarily a hand out. And so we helped this family with some temporary housing, put ’em in a hotel. We helped this family with some gas in their car and we helped this family with some food money. Now this wasn’t Christmas time, this happened a couple of months ago, actually. But let me tell you what I think about Christmas, Lori. It is L literally every day, if you want it to be,

LF:
I love it. I, I, I agree with you a hundred percent. I think that, you know, we talk a lot about on, on this podcast. We’ve talked a lot about how it’s not necessarily a handout. It’s always a hand up and that if you always have the opportunity to give, it’s not just during the Christmas season, but it’s it all throughout the year. And it’s giving a smile. It’s giving a wave, it’s giving a note, it’s giving a cup of coffee, if you’re me. I think it’s important that we celebrate it right now a little bit more, maybe just because it’s that time of year gives you all warm and fuzzy feelings. But giving is definitely a around tradition.

JW:
The other night, we had a parade in our small city and for our city, our size, a parade of this size was like the equivalent of the Macy’s day parade in New York city. Lori, there were people packed all along the, the root of the parade. I mean, so deep, they had to keep pushing ’em back. So the parade floats could even get it down the street. That is really awesome in my book. But what we did this year on our float is we bought this giant Teddy bear, you know, the world’s best wife, my wife, Dina, she bought this giant Teddy bear and it was about four feet, maybe five feet tall. This was a big Teddy bear. And I said, sweetheart, as I was helping her unload the car as every good husband should I said, may I ask which daughter you bought that for?

JW:
She goes, oh, that’s not for one of our daughters cuz you know, they’re grown. She said that’s for some lucky child at the Christmas parade. I said, oh Ms. Williams, you little Santa El, you help her, you what’s up your sleeve. And she said, we’re gonna give some little girl or boy a big bear for Christmas. I said, well sweetheart, how, how do you know who’s gonna be the recipient? You’re gonna draw names. That’s kind of awkward. How you gonna do that with thousands of people along this parade route. She said, trust me, you’ll know the person when you see them. She’s just like that Lori. She’s that way. Yeah, she is. She is. So we go to the parade on the back of our little California Roadster and we’ve strapped in this bear and this bear has a Christmas tie on it. I mean, it’s a big bear, but we put a Christmas tie on it, just so to kind of deck out for Christmas and we’re going along the parade route and we’re handing out candy.

JW:
Our team’s tossing candy. I’m driving the Roadster down through there, waving at everybody. And one of our team says, that’s the girl. And it caught me off guard cause I was waving. And I’m like, there’s thousands of people along this RA this route. It was incredibly busy. And I stop and I look at her twice and go and she points to this little girl and I go, that is the girl and a little girl, about three, maybe four at the most didn’t have the best opportunities so far in life. I would say her family near her didn’t look like they were enjoying a very positive day until that point. And I’m saying all that to be very conscientious. The fact that they just had no, not been blessed, probably the best of times this year or so forth as my teammate from the office grabs the bear walks over, gets on one knee.

JW:
Imagine this child is less tall than this bear, Lori. I mean, it’s incredible. This bear’s big. This little girl wraps her arms around that bear. Like it was the greatest thing she’s ever seen. My heart was overflowing with joy that just, I said that’s it came home, told my wife tradition. It’s tradition. Now we’re giving away a tradition. Yeah. You know? Yeah. I love it. I love it. I think, I think there’s a book out called the go giver. You’ll find it on Jimmy’s top reads on our list. Live a life by a doc design website. And one of those books Loris is called the go giver. Now imagine what he means by that title. Do you have you read the book? I have not. Okay. The go giver is actually that person that realizes you gain far more in life by giving of yourself time, talents, treasures than what you give away. Now I didn’t say money. I don’t mean that. I mean those inward feelings, that money can’t buy that heart stirring moment that brain’s going, oh my gosh, this is a moment I should have recorded in history. Well, I journal about things, but other people take videos. Right? And I want you to know that night I came in, I wrote my journal the next morning. I’m like, this is the next game changer for me. You ever had one of those instances in your life?

LF:
I, gosh, I’ve never had one with a giant Teddy bear. Let’s just be honest. I mean that, that sets the bar pretty high. Like I love a good Teddy bear, but a giant one. Yeah. I, I have had a similar experience and it kind of goes back to, mentoring. I had a young woman that I worked with and similar kind of around, uh, to maybe the little girl that you mentioned, not very involved parents. Um, you know, just looking for somebody to just listen. Our conversations when we first started working together were guarded and very short and not a lot of detail. Right. But you just, you know, time after time, you just listen and you, and you listen and sometimes you don’t say anything at all. And sometimes that’s just all that that person needed. Um, but it turned into a beautiful relationship and we still go to each other for advice. She’s now an adult, very accomplished academic scholar, um, is working on her PhD, married, happily married. Um, it just, it’s one of those things that like you give and you don’t even realize that you’re giving. And I think that’s the beauty behind it because you’re both. So in the moment, in the moment and enjoying that experience that you don’t really realize that you’re helping each other grow and, and flourish in areas that you might not have even realized that it was happening.

JW:
you know, I tell people, I said, God, can’t fill a cup. That’s so full. That won’t hold anymore. That’s why we, that have been blessed. Need to pour some out on those that may have a less full cup.

LF:
Right. So true. Unless it’s coffee and then I’m drinking it all.

JW:
UN unstated comment. Of course. Yes. I mean, don’t even need to talk about it if it’s coffee, be honest folks, not sharing that. I mean, at the end of the day, but maybe a sip, but not much. so Lori, I’ve got a couple of personal questions I gotta ask you. Is this our Christmas episode here? It goes couple of personal questions. Oh, have you, have you ever watched the Macy’s day or Thanksgiving day parade? Always. Okay. What is your favorite float? And if you had the opportunity to, or hold one of the top lines that holds that float in the air, which one would it be?

LF:
Oh, a float. I

JW:
Dunno about there, there is a right answer. I just want you to know there is a

LF:
Right answer. well, when you said like float, I’m thinking, I don’t know about float, but like I love my dream as a child. And even as a 40 year old, I just said how old I am, 41 year old adult

JW:
She’s folks and holding.

LF:
I wanna be a Rockette. I love the Thanksgiving day parade because they always have the beautiful rockets and it’s on my bucket list to see them in New York at some point in my life. I haven’t made it there yet, but I’m gonna get there. Uh, so that’s not a float. OK. So let’s just, I digress. Um, float would have to be Snoopy.

JW:
How did you know now? Seriously? How did you know that we did not rehearse this folks? This is not scripting. Is that your pick? That’s my pick now who carry the rope for Snoopy? The road renowned pet of one guy named what? What’s the guy’s name?

LF:
Uh, Chuck, Charlie

JW:
Brown. Charlie brown, the chucker

LF:
He always calls him. Chuck.

JW:
It’s so funny. So I watch the parade every year, like you and I don’t wanna geek out on you folks, our listeners, but you kinda know me by now for nearly three years, Lori and I are kind of an open book, but here we go. I literally DVR the parade. Now don’t laugh. I know what you people go. Oh my Lord. He’s wasting valuable memory space, but listen, I really dig to see what new floats they came out with. The costumes. People are wearing the floats, the who they’ve got on them. They, a lot of times they have stars and stuff. That’s not what I’m after. Um, after those people that are normal Americans or, or are friends over the pond, whoever they may be. But I wanna see ’em doing something unique and costume or something unique in a dance, or a lot of times they’re performing while they’re going down the street. I mean, how cool is that?

LF:
I can’t walk down the street. I I, without tripping or falling or bumping into something. So the fact that they’re doing that

JW:
Kudos. Hey, to me, that just seems like an awesome time. So, so real quickly, I guess, let me ask you another personal question. Have you seen Santa this year at all? Have you talked to Nick?

LF:
I have seen him. It was socially. It was socially distanced. Oh,

JW:
Good, good, good. That’s good. Cause I don’t want Nick getting sick before he has to fly through the world. You know, that’s a

LF:
Big time for exactly, exactly. Um, I did. And uh, he asked me what was on my list and I told him this year I wanted everybody to get, to be able to together. Ooh, I know that’s a big, um, and of course he looked at me over those big glasses of his like, Hmm, that’s a tall order. But I, after last year, I just really being on zoom with your family. Opening gifts is not nearly the same as being in person in the room, wearing your matching pajamas and drinking your coffee and eating your, uh, cinnamon rolls or your donuts or whatever it is that your family eats. So I did ask Nick as you refer to him. Yes. Um, if everybody could be together for Christmas this year,

JW:
Well, I’m gonna tell you that is a wonderful gift to request for everyone. Now, folks, he’s not being selfish here. This is very a selfless act of this dear woman that just turned 29. Again, by the way for sounds like the 12 years in row, but anyway, 29 again, and she’s asking for all of us to have a wonderful time with family. Well, I’ve got news for you that is on my list. Uh I’m I’m triple VED or whatever the word is. I, I, I use Ben gay under my nose. I mean, whatever it takes, you know, I’m gonna make this work this year. Cause I wanna be with family at Christmas as well. So can you gimme a hint on the podcast? Like maybe though, is there like a tangible item Santa as in, I mean tangible, you know, earrings, diamonds or anything like that?

LF:
Tangible would be probably a new planner for 2022. Oh. Because I want to have big plans in 2022 because you know, we said we were gonna have big plans in 2021 and I feel like 20, 21 were, the plans were medium size plans because we were still dealing with so many restrictions and things. But 20, 22, um, we’re gonna sneak in quietly and we’re gonna say that, you know, 20, 22 is gonna be our year. So a planner, uh, is what I’m going, getting that’s tangible. But what does Jimmy Williams, the person who has everything have on his Christmas list. So

JW:
Literally your statement could never be more true when you marry the perfect woman, everyone , it just falls into place after that, uh, O on a serious note, you’re gonna laugh. I actually have asked for, uh, this year something that I’ve never asked for in my entire, and I simply want a home cooked breakfast from my wife. I’m talking to eggs, hash Browns, not to buy stuff. I want the homemade stuff. And I just want to have both my daughters at the table, uh, Git and Casper, the kitten and dog at the floor, not at the table, of course. And I simply just want to have a time of peace and contentment with my family, all in one room. Now you’re gonna laugh. Oh, how big of a gift is that? It that’s big. Our daughter’s in California. And with COVID all she’s been restricted on where she can go. She’s been very busy in her career. We’ve been having travel out there more than she does here. She doesn’t have as much flexibility of course, in her first, uh, her as, as we do. And so I just wished and, and prayed for that. And that’s what I’m hoping Santa’s bringing me. And I hope it’s gonna happen, cuz I think we’re picking her up at the airport really quickly. Really soon. We’re gonna celebrate Christmas and have what I think is a wonderful family time, which we didn’t have last year. Couldn’t get ’em all home.

LF:
I love it. I love it. It’s something so simple. Like for last year we kind of took for granted. Yeah. You just don’t realize that that family, I mean, we talk a lot about family. We talk about a lot, a lot about the connections that we have with people who aren’t aren’t necessarily related or blood related, but we call it FRA.

JW:
Yeah, that’s right.

LF:
That’s exactly. You know, and, and so that that’s really important and I’m, I I’m excited and Dean’s a good cook, right?

JW:
So, oh, she’s a great cook.

LF:
She’s a great cook, hash Browns and eggs and things.

JW:
Homemade gravy, homemade biscuits. I want the home cook the whole meal home cook, none of this from a can. I don’t want powder issue this or that. I want the real deal. Now don’t laugh. This is actually a very big gift I’m asking for. Cause she’s so busy at Christmas. So we’ll get up probably way before the kids. And we will have breakfast going and all that together and I’ll help her cook of course, by help cook. That means clean things up.

LF:
You have one job, don’t mess

JW:
It up. That’s I’m the permanent bus boy of the Williams family. But uh so I do, I do have another comment to say, though, I am gonna get something tangible. I am aware. Um, I have found that my wife said at some point, some of your under shorts need to go away. And so, but hang on, hold

LF:
Up. We’re not going there.

JW:
Yeah, no, you got to, you got to. So my iron man under shorts that I’ve had from my younger don’t laugh, I’m 56. I’ve had these things. I’ve had these things for about three years and my daughter bought them for me. So you gotta wear ’em if your, this is listen, it’s an unwritten rule. Lori. If your child buys you something, no matter how terrible it may look on you, you’re gonna wear it. Well, like good news is I don’t have to show the world. I mean, but here’s the one mistake I made and I’m gonna be honest with you. Cause I am honest, always with our loyal subscribers and listeners here, it goes, I wasn’t paying attention one day to my calendar and didn’t realize I had to be at a doctor’s office, uh, one day earlier this fall. And as the dermatologist, I go in for an annual didn’t even think about it. And um, would you believe what I wore that day to the doctor’s office really got a grin out of my dermatologist. She and her lovely young nurse looked at me and said, iron man. said every bit it. And I just put those muscles up in my arms and said, oh, you,

LF:
Everyone is getting a visual of you in the doctor’s office right now.

JW:
So, so, so stay with me. She says, oh, the young nurse, she says, oh yes, Mr. Williams, very strong. And that really hurt Mr. Williams. I mean, and so anyway, I came home, clean bill of health, by the way, everybody, no problems. But anyway, I have ’em check every year cuz of summer and you know, stuff like that. Well, anyway, I come home and I told my wife said, Hey, the dermatologist said, good news, good news. And she said, oh wonderful. I said, got a little side note that when you go see her next month, she may bring up a story. That’s totally fabricated. I don’t where she didn’t come up with such an asinine story. But she may say something about Ironman underwear. She looked at me, Dina did, and her eyes got real big about the size of silver dollars and her mouth pursed her lips a little bit. And she said, you didn’t. And I said, I, I may have . She just put her head in her hands and she’s like shaking her head, you know, as you ladies do, when your husband does something totally weird. And so , she went next month. You owned it. I did. She went next month. And the doctor said, saw Mr. Williams last month. And she said, I’m guessing you saw more than you cared to. And the lady said, “Iron Man.”

LF:
That’s it from now on from this day forward, you shall now be known as Iron Man.

JW:
Yeah. Iron man Williams. It’s not because I can run an Iron Man. It’s uh, anyway, I, I will tell you true, true story, but I am hoping that Santa puts something a little different this year, perhaps Spiderman, uh, spider. Yes. That would be great. The web Slinger, if you will. yeah. uh, that’s a true story. I think I, I better not Regal you with anymore. My doctor full pause as they may have a medical file on me that I can’t even go to a doctor now, after I say these things, but uh-

LF:
You’re gonna need to, they’re gonna need an additional questionnaire for you. That’s

JW:
Just it. Oh, let me tell you. And I have I HIPAA rules. I don’t know how many times at the doctor’s office, you know, so tell me, uh, before we close this episode out, tell me what are your BHAs, miss Lori?

LF:
Oh gosh, I have, I have so many.

JW:
Just your biggest one. What is it? What would it be for 20 T 22, a big, hairy, audacious goal.

LF:
I want to be, and this is gonna sound, uh, I wanna be more financially savvy. I understand. I understand financial a little, right? Not gonna lie. My husband does a majority of that because I’ve always just been very standoffish. Let him handle it. Everything’s fine. Everything’s good. I understand the premise, but with the world the way it is and trying to parent and raise a young son to understand finances and concepts and, you know, inflation and different things and all these big terms, I’ve decided that I don’t know enough. And so for 2022, I want to be on some type of program financially to get Lori A. Little bit more educated so that I have a clue when the statements come in and what, you know, you, you go around all these terms all day in your, in your work life, Mr. Williams, IRA Roth. Um, it’s kind of like what I do in the educational world. We use a lot of acronyms. And so really for 2022, that that’s been my it’s on my short list. I have, like I said, I have a few BHAs, but financial savvy is what I’m calling it. It’s a self-paced personal journey. if you will,

JW:
I clearly understand. Let me suggest this to you. I know your husband has a friend that’s an outstanding mind when it comes to financial. You might maybe take him for a free coffee once in a while and, uh, gain some of that wisdom for free. I mean, I, you know, he can be bought is what I’m saying. Oh,

LF:
Well, and I know just the thing I, I can do that I can buy cups of all day long.

JW:
That’s it? The bribery can start now and the, the outcomes will be up to you at that point. So there we go. so

LF:
Now you have to answer the same question. What’s Jimmy’s BHAG for 2022. Yeah. My,

JW:
My B a is to spend, um, two weeks in the Southern provinces of Canada from Vancouver landing over in Toronto and flying home. Why Canada? Uh, for one it’s the great white north and for all of our wonderful listeners, we have a tremendous number of you in Canada. I’m not sure how or why, but thank you. Um, I just think it’s a beautiful country, what I’ve seen of it. So I’ve only seen Toronto. I have friends in Alberta, just north of go go north of like Wyoming and keep going north. And you run into Alberta. Uh, there are some wonderful, wonderful places to see like lake Louise, Vancouver on the very far west coast, my parents have been to brought back pictures. I’ve had clients that go and they bring back pictures and I keep saying, that’s beautiful. I need to go see it for myself.

JW:
And so I want to take, and don’t laugh again, but I wanna take one of those high end, you know, trains that take you kinda like the or express, but nobody gets killed. I wanna take one of take one of those trains. If they have similar to our, I am track where can sleep on the car and stuff. I just think it sounds cool to do and take a couple of weeks and, and see Canada. I am all for any type of travel. Yeah, man, I’ve been so cooped up. And so at the end of the day, that’s just one BHAG. Let me tell you my second BHAG. You ready? Mm-hmm our second B is I want to see if we can reach out in our community and double our giving at those charities. That mean the most to us and our, our families that are in need in our community.

JW:
That’s we’re gonna double it this year. That’s a pretty big nut to cut as they say a big number. Uh, but at the end of the day, uh, we can do it. If we put our minds to it, I’ve had to say, I can accomplish anything. If I wanna work for it, hard enough, put my mind to it and stay focused and the outcome will make it. Um, so this isn’t just something right on paper. We either work on it and we get it done, or we don’t consider. It’s kind of a BHAG for me. So we’re gonna hit those two biggies this year. That’s gonna work. I love it. Yeah. So at the end of the day, folks, let’s talk about what your future looks like. We’re gonna have in January on our website, some special tools that we’re giving away for free, you know, that special price, Lori gotta love free.

JW:
Yeah. Free. I mean, how do you turn down free? Right? So we’re gonna have some special tools that’s gonna help you create. Yes. I said, create and control the U you wish to experience, are you letting the day run you or are you running the day? That’s the issue? And you only have 365 of those in one year, unless of course you, Lori, and your age stay suspended in time. But otherwise, otherwise that, that, yes, that otherwise what we wanted do is do this. We wanna wish you, your family and everyone listening, the Mart of Christmases and happy holidays and as well, a wealthy and prosperous new year. And I don’t mean money alone. I mean, true wealth, friendships, family, helping your community. That’s what it’s truly all about. Anything. Last words,

LF:
You know, I, we’re gonna have to revisit this Nick conversation. Like I’m really bothered by the fact that you have a direct line and I don’t

JW:
Gloria, sorry, but there’s just certain things I can’t divulge on in the air. And that is one of those, my direct line with Nick.

LF:
I tried.

JW:
You did, you did on the count three, Lori, what’s those magic two words at Christmas time, 1, 2, 3…

Both:
Merry Christmas everybody!

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