A Heart That Beats for Home

43. Nikki's Favorite Things - Holiday Edition

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Ever opened a gift box expecting something delightful, only to find a surprise that left you in stitches—or slightly terrified? Join me, Nikki Smith, as I recount the unforgettable Christmas when my husband decided to conquer my fear of firearms with a handgun, leading to a hilarious holiday tale of miscommunications in gift-giving. Explore the lighter side of family chaos and the lessons we can learn about communication and truly understanding what brings joy to our loved ones. It’s all about expecting the unexpected and finding humor in life's well-intentioned blunders!

From must-have gadgets to the transformative power of luxurious personal care, this episode is your ultimate guide to holiday gifting. I’ll share some of my own beloved fashion and lifestyle essentials that have brought comfort and style into my life. Discover the fashion magic of New Balance shoes and Bombas socks, or the simple pleasure of high-quality bedding from Boll & Branch that can make every night feel like a dream vacation. Whether you're shopping for others or treating yourself, these recommendations are sure to spark joy and comfort.

To wrap things up, we dive into practical tips for organizing holiday chaos and preserving precious family memories. I'll reveal how apps like Giftful and Forever can streamline your holiday planning and memory-keeping, reducing stress and focusing on what truly matters—celebrating with loved ones. Plus, get inspired with thoughtful stocking stuffer ideas and care packages that make every family member feel appreciated. Let’s make this holiday season a memorable one filled with love, laughter, and perfectly chosen gifts!

Link to Episode with Aro Co-Founder Joey Odom:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2232091/episodes/15202894

Link to Forever episode:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2232091/episodes/14598639

LINKTREE Gift List:
https://linktr.ee/NikkiSmith815

Giftful App:
https://giftful.com/

Stocking List For Her:
Book/ Magazine
Candle
Essential Oils
Wine/ Fav Beverage
Coffee/ Tea
Gift Certficates
Pajamas
Socks
Favorite Treats
Phone Accessories
Perfume
Body Lotion/Oils
Slippers
Marshalls/ HomeGoods


Stocking For Him:
Grill Supplies
Spices/rubs
Book/ Magazine (year subscription)
Wine/ Fav Beverage
Coffee/ Tea
Gift Certificates (hunting/fishing/Golf)
Golf Balls 
Fishing Lures 
Camo something 
Socks
Favorite Treats 
Phone Accessories













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Follow Along @ - https://www.instagram.com/nikkicronksmith/

Speaker 1:

Hey friends, I'm Nikki Smith, your host here at A Heart that Beats for Home, the podcast where we're ditching filters and diving headfirst into the raw beauty of all things home. Now, I am no expert when it comes to this whole parenting and marriage dance. I'm simply a gal who's been riding the mom roller coaster for 22 years and a wife still untangling the mystery of it all 25 years after saying I do. My goal is to bring you unapologetically messy and boldly genuine conversations about cultivating strong families. We're gonna laugh, possibly cry, and straight talk about the joy and chaos that comes within the four walls that we call home. No judgment and certainly no perfection, just real talk from my heart, a heart that beats for home. Let's dive in. Hello friends, welcome back to another week. Thanks for being here, excited for today's show.

Speaker 1:

This is going to be a super chill episode, something that I just kind of decided a couple of weeks ago. I thought would be a fun conversation to have. I have always been someone that loves to recommend a product that I love. It's in my DNA. I think most of us women really anyone loves to share when we find something that we love that's improved our lives. That's that piece of clothing or that household gadget that we love and as we are coming into the holidays, I thought what a fun show to just be able to talk through some of our favorite things and for those of you that are my age would remember Oprah's favorite thing shows that were always so much fun. The difference is, unfortunately, since you're not sitting here in my living room and I'm not throwing packages at you each time I talk about my favorite thing. You're just going to have to click the links and go research and decide which of these might be things that would be something that you would love to add to your home or to your wardrobe. Just some fun things that I have come to love over the years and some of them just more recently. And so today, just going to go through as we're coming into the holiday seasons.

Speaker 1:

It's really hard to believe that it's the holidays coming around the corner. It's 80 degrees here in Illinois. I just can't get over this heat wave that we're having. I'm in a tank top and I really want to be in a flannel. I want the windows open with cool air and it is humid and still and not at all feeling ready to put that Christmas tree up, although in the next week or so it might happen.

Speaker 1:

So just going to dive into some of these things that are fun gadgets and personal care items, all different lists here. I have it broken into tons of different categories that I have just come to love over the years that I thought you might also love. And this is typically the time of year that people start asking us what do you want for Christmas? And we start asking our kids what do you want for Christmas? And a lot of times, especially as adults, we have no idea. And again, I am not obsessed with material things, but this is something every year that, whether it be our birthday or Christmas, that when people ask me that I just have no idea.

Speaker 1:

And so a couple of years ago I started using an app that I've talked about before called Giftful, and it is just an app that you can set up wish list, if you will, kind of a library of things that maybe you see I don't know if you're like me, but as I sometimes scroll on social media or I'm out shopping, I find something that I think, oh, I'd love that for my house, or that's a fun new personal care product that I'd love to try, or that new pair of shoes. I really don't need them, so I'm not going to justify buying them right now, but these are great things throughout the year to start adding to this giftful app so that when you do need to come up with some ideas of things, when people in your life want to bless you with gifts or ask you for different ideas, or even just so that you have a running list and in this app they can have. Your family members, your spouse, can have access to these lists so they can at any time see things that you have added to this, and so this is an app that we have been using now I think it's been two years. I was introduced to it by one of my sisters and our kids use it. I'll talk some more as we go through here just about different ways that it's been great for me as a mom to have this kind of at my disposal on my phone at all times to be able to reference, and for kids to be able to update.

Speaker 1:

Recently I opened it because I saw an update that our middle daughter had added something new to her list and I thought I'm going to go see what she has on there and lo and behold, I opened it up and it was a wake boat. Not going to be getting that on our list, but I thought it was so funny that just casually she added a wake boat to her giftful list as if that was going to show up under the Christmas tree. I knew it was a joke but it was pretty funny. When I opened that I was going to try to go through and do a great gift giving guide for everybody in your family for yourself, for your kids, for the teens, for the little kids, for the husband, and the reality is there's too many individual personal preferences and likes and dislikes that I decided I was going to focus just on the things that I'm loving right now to maybe inspire some of you with things that you want to research and dig into and then ultimately have just a couple of things for the family and a few favorites that could kind of go to your spouse or to your children towards the end. But want to just dive into this and I have to tell you a funny story and he laughs about it, so I know he'll be okay with it.

Speaker 1:

But my husband in an attempt to try to get me an epic Christmas gift I am hard to buy for, because I do have very particular taste. As an interior designer. I have very specific taste for clothes, I wear kind of a very basic wardrobe and so I can be difficult to buy for. I will admit that, and my husband, about six, seven years ago, really wanted to try to surprise me and have the perfect gift. And came to the month of December and I was actually really surprised to see a large amount of gifts under the tree. For me this was not usual this early in the month and he had asked me the month before like hey, if I wanted to buy you something and I didn't want you to have access to see what it is like, how would I go about doing that? Because I do the bill paying, I do the checkbook stuff, I do the credit card stuff and so really he has no way to purchase anything for me without me being able to see a paper trail. And so I said to him go to the bank, just take cash out, like I'll know how much cash you took out, but you know I won't have any idea what it is. So he goes to the bank, he takes out the cash, I go in there. A couple of days later the ladies at the bank were saying oh, your husband came in. We saw him and I said I know he's trying to pull a surprise out on me.

Speaker 1:

And so Christmas Eve, when we open our gifts, comes around and there's this pile of gifts in front of where I'm sitting, and so they made it very clear the kids were all in on it and they tell me which gift I need to open first. So I go to open this first gift and I'm opening it and I open it up and I see something that says Smith and Weston. I'm like Smith and Weston, I'm thinking kitchen gear, I have no idea. Well, to my horror, I open it and it is a handgun. Horror, I open it and it is a handgun. Okay, backstory.

Speaker 1:

I am paranoid of guns. I grew up in a family where we did not have guns. There was five girls, there was no hunting. My dad was never somebody who was a hunter or an outdoorsman. I had never been around weapons like that. And so everything about guns, handguns. When I met my husband who, on the flip side, was born and raised hunting, and whether it be rifle or bow, just all outdoor nature kid grew up with it his whole life. It was so hard for me to understand how we were going to have some of those things in our home, and so I was the mom who made sure that we had the gun case and that there was another safe that had the keys to the gun safe that had a code for him to get in, and then some of the handguns in the safe were in additional safety boxes with fingerprint only. I mean, it was insane.

Speaker 1:

The ammo was stored in a different area, but my husband was gracious, and he did this because he knew that it was insane. The ammo was stored in a different area, but my husband was gracious, and he did this because he knew that it was something that I was not comfortable with. And so somewhere in my husband's brain he had this epic idea that well, the reason she's uncomfortable with them is because she's never been educated in how to use them, how to handle it, how to shoot it, how to be safe. And so he felt like, if I get her this gun, then she will have the opportunity to go to the shooting range and to get comfortable with it, so that eventually it won't be something scary. And so one of our children in particular, had maybe encouraged him that that was probably a really bad idea. But he really felt confident in this decision and so I opened up that gift and it's a handgun and literally I could hardly talk. I could hardly speak, I just sat there and then I put it on the floor and I slid it across the floor to him as tears began to roll down my eyes.

Speaker 1:

Well, I'm sure at this moment complete panic and fear overtook my husband, because what I would come to find out over the next hour as we sat in the living room and unwrapped all of the different gifts, was that he had gone all in on this thing. And so I opened protective eyewear, I opened ammunition, I opened a carrying case, I opened anything that anybody that would want to own a gun could possibly have as an accessory. And then the next morning, when I came downstairs and the stockings which my husband has always been really great at having a stocking for me in the morning, and we'll talk about that towards the end as well but came down and my stocking although it had some of the traditional things the bottle of wine, the coffee pods, a little bit of chocolate it was full of gun accessories, a cleaning kit and more ammunition, and I don't know why at some point he didn't go okay, like pull, pull this one back, hide the rest of the stuff that I got her, but it's. He had no other options and so he filled my stocking with all of the accessories. That goes down. We laugh about it now, but probably one of the worst Christmases as far as gift giving goes and I know that my husband's intentions were good I laughed and I told him a really good initiation If you wanted me to get comfortable with handguns in the stocking, maybe a single lesson or a single shooting range, you know date night or something, but to go all in with the gun.

Speaker 1:

Anyhow, that gun stayed in the safe for probably three or four years. I never once touched it, didn't touch it. We did eventually take it out and I went to a shooting range. I did actually do very well with it. I felt a little bit more comfortable still nowhere near comfort level of being okay with any of it or holding it or doing any of that on my own.

Speaker 1:

But that was kind of for me the moment when I was like I'm going to have to just be a little bit more bold in directing maybe some good ideas of things that would really bring me joy, and I know that's kind of. Some people feel like gifts should just be whatever the giver wants to be giving, and I feel like sometimes the people in our lives, they just need a little bit of direction. And so this was one where I was like he should have had the giftful app with a whole bunch of ideas. So if you're a man and you're listening to this, or a female and you're listening to this, and you feel like a birthday or Christmas is the time that you should go buy all the things that you would want your spouse to like, I'm just going to caution you probably not the best tactic. So we laugh a lot about that right now, but in the moment it was rough. He said I knew the second you opened that and the tears came down your eyes that I was screwed for the rest of the holiday because of how much more stuff I knew I had committed to still come in in your stocking and the rest of the gifts. So we can laugh about it now.

Speaker 1:

So let's dive in. I kind of have divided this into a handful of different categories to kind of work through them, and I have created a link tree that I will put in the show notes so that literally every single thing that I talk about I will have a link so that you can go look at this and research it and find it for yourself, and then, if you choose to use this Giftful app, it would be a great way for you to transfer some of these things, or any other things that you know that you would love and enjoy, from those that are looking to give you a little bit of something special for the holidays. So let's start with home gadgets. This first one on my list is something that I've only had for about six months. It's the Tinko iFloor Vacuum. It is a dry, wet vacuum, and I see it all over on Instagram.

Speaker 1:

I have had so many different vacuums for hardwood floors regular vacuums, the Dysons, all of the different things and I have never found anything that I really love for my hardwood floors and my tile that I feel like does a good job cleaning, that's not super hard to clean up after I've used it, that doesn't leave a ton of streaking, and a couple of people when this went on a big sale over the summer had posted about it, and so I decided to give it a try. It's a wet dry vac, and so you have the ability. Let's use the example of your kitchen. If you are going to be cleaning your kitchen, you turn that bad boy on, you put the cleaning solution and the water in the container that holds it and you just start vacuuming. Unlike every other system I've ever used, where you have to sweep or vacuum first and then you can use the mopping part of it or the wet vac part, this is a two-in-one, and so you are vacuuming, slash sweeping and wet vaccing and cleaning your floors at the same time. It does a phenomenal job on my wood floors, on my really thin mat rugs. I will run it over as well the tile floor. It's amazing, for it has just become the handiest little thing If you have a spill. The dog knocked an apple pie off the counter the other day and so there was sticky apple pie residue on the floor. I just went back and forth with that thing. It vacuumed up any crumbs. It also was the wet vac part and just did an awesome job. So this is finally, after 25 years of kind of being in charge of household management, have found the wet dry vac that I love. Now, again, this is not going to be like your carpet vacuum. It's not going to be something that you're using on large carpeted areas. This is primarily for a hard surface your bathrooms, your kitchen, your wood floors and I absolutely love it. It's super easy to clean.

Speaker 1:

Okay, the next one for home gadgets, this one. Two years ago my husband got me without any prompting. He redeemed himself in the Christmas gift giving. Now I will tell you. We've been married for 25 years. We dated for about eight, nine. The only bad gift I have received was the handgun. Everything else he's done great at, so I don't want him to have a bad rap. He's super thoughtful. This one I don't know if he just saw this when he was out shopping, but thought it would be a fun thing and saw this when he was out shopping, but thought it would be a fun thing, and he was right. I've actually gifted it to several people since he purchased it for me, and it's the Aero Hydro Garden.

Speaker 1:

So, specifically those of us that live in the Midwest, we don't have any fresh herbs, any of the opportunity to have those things into the winter months, and the Aero Hydro Garden is an indoor garden that takes no soil, it has all the light that it needs built in and it grows completely in a water base and you can pick whether you want fruits and vegetables, you can pick herbs, you can pick salad greens and the first one that he got me was a pack of I believe it had six little pods in it, so we had dill and basil and thyme and fresh mint and chives and it literally is the coolest thing to watch you open these pods that have seeds in them. They have little little domes over top of them and everything that needs to happen for those plants to grow is within this little counter top little garden. It's small, it's about a foot by a foot. It just sits back on the counter. It has the light built in. You give it a couple like a cap full of plant food every couple of weeks. A light comes on when it needs more water and you in your kitchen get to watch this super fun science experiment of your plants all coming to life and within about four to six weeks you have the most beautiful bounty of vegetables greens we have since the initial year that he got it for me. We've done one year where we just did all salad greens, so we had different kinds of leafy greens growing. My favorite is the herbs, and so we will go back to that this winter. I just placed my order for my six herbs and you know we love a good basil, we love a good mint and cilantro, these different things that it's nice just to have. You go over to the garden, you clip off a stem you could put right into your cooking. It's as fresh as fresh gets and it's just a fun thing to have in the winter. So I would highly recommend that you check out the Aero Hydro Garden. Okay, the last thing on the home gadgets.

Speaker 1:

I also received this as a gift, probably three or four years ago, from a dear colleague in my work, and it's the Ember Coffee Mug. If you're not familiar with the Ember Coffee Mug, this is ideal gift If you have little kids, if you run around crazy in the morning and you're constantly setting your coffee or your teacup down and you come back 30 minutes later and it's barely lukewarm, and then 30 minutes later and now you're drinking cold coffee, or you're constantly putting your coffee or tea in the microwave. The Ember coffee mug has a base that you sit it on to charge that lasts for a good several, three, four hours, and so in the morning, when you take your Ember mug off of that charging base, it has a heating element built into it. So when you pour your cup of coffee into that Ember mug for three, four or five hours, it will stay set to whatever temperature you like your drink at. So the mug comes with an app that you have on your phone and you simply set your temperatures that you like. It has some recommendations of what normal temperatures are, but maybe you like your coffee extra hot. You can up that temperature a couple degrees so that that Ember mug is going to keep your drink of choice at the temperature that you want. Until you are done with it. You're able to drink your whole cup of coffee at a hot temperature. That's enjoyable. It was just such an awesome gift. I love it. It's such a little treat just to have that piping hot coffee all morning long, as I carry that cup around with me, whether it's working at my desk or doing different chores in the house, and so the Ember Coffee Mug is a super fun gift add-on to your list this year.

Speaker 1:

Now let's move into three different personal care items that I put on here. That are just some of my very favorites. The first one is my perfume, and I have been wearing this perfume for years. I will tell you it is not a clean perfume. As much as I have tried and tried and tried to find a perfume that doesn't have any chemicals in it, I have not succeeded for myself in finding one that I love as much as my Santel 33 by Le Labo, and this is a perfume that is my signature scent. People always comment on it. It lasts on me for hours. I once put it on in the morning when I flew on a business trip and it was probably 12 or 13 hours later at the car rental place in the other state that a woman said to me are you wearing Santal 33? It's amazing how the scent just stays with you. It's so beautiful. It has a sandalwood kind of musky, yet sweet but not overpowering. It is just the best. It is a treat that I do often put on my Christmas list If you by chance have a Costco membership. It has been brought to my attention by a couple of friends that a lot of times they have this perfume at Costco. Usually I can only find it at Nordstrom's or at actually the Le Labo site, but they do occasionally have it at Costco and I did do a price check and it's about $120 cheaper at Costco. So I am watching that site like crazy. Otherwise, you can buy small vials of it. There's lots of different sizes. Has a lot of other things as well, like hand lotions and candles and other items that you can purchase in the same scent, but it is just the most amazing, amazing fragrance.

Speaker 1:

Then the other one that I have been using for about a year. I use this one more when I'm just doing things around the house, when I'm heading to the gym, when I don't necessarily feel like I want a true perfume. I don't want to waste something that's a little bit more expensive, but I still just want a little bit of a fragrant or a scent. And it is by the company called Zum Z-U-M. And I walked by actually our pastor's wife at a basketball game once and I said, oh my gosh, you smell so good. And she said, oh my gosh, basketball game once. And I said, oh my gosh, you smell so good. And she said, oh my gosh, I call it my stress spray. It kind of calms her down, but I loved it so much that I went and picked some up. It's also available on Amazon. The link is in the link tree but it is about a $13 body spray, so very, very reasonable. Last forever smells amazing and I do love just to kind of put this on as I'm just staying at the house for the day or after I've worked out. If I have to run, go get a kid. It is just a wonderful scent.

Speaker 1:

They have so many different ones. This is a clean brand. They have so many other things as well. They have laundry detergent, they have body oils, they have body lotions, they have hand soaps that I've been using, and so this is just a really great one that is a much more affordable option and great just to have on hand as well.

Speaker 1:

And then I do have to put one personal care face product on here. Those of you that know me know that I am a Arbonne user and lover, and Arbonne has a face cleansing balm. That's kind of this new rave in skincare. You open it up, it's your cleanser. It looks much more like a wax, or I hate to use the word but more like a Vaseline type texture that you use on your face. You can apply a little bit of water, or you don't need to, and it just kind of melts. It's like butter, it's like tallow kind of consistency, and as soon as it hits your body heat, it melts down to this oil and you use that to cleanse your face. It takes off all your makeup. I just absolutely love it. My skin feels so clean, it feels so moisturized. I love that. It takes care of my eye makeup and everything all at once, and so that is the DermResults facial cleansing balm that I absolutely love. So those are a couple of personal care items.

Speaker 1:

Now, moving into bedding, it has been in the last five years. I'm 46 years old, so I don't know. I hit 40 and I decided I want nice bedding, I want nice bedding, and started to slowly ask for things that I felt were like a little bit of a luxury buy for myself. I started instead of buying TJ Maxx and Marshall sheets. I ended up going to the local Macy's a couple of years ago and getting the hotel brand of sheets when they were on a great sale definitely were an upgrade for me.

Speaker 1:

A couple of years ago I talked to several friends who had these amazing sheets by the company Boil and Branch and I just thought I cannot spend that kind of money on a set of sheets. And then it dawned on me like you spend six to eight hours a night in your bed, right, like 365 nights a year, every year of your life. Like, invest in a good pair of sheets. You don't need two or three sets, you just need a good set of sheets. And so this is actually what I put on my Christmas list last year, and I did indeed get them and I absolutely love them. They are so soft. The more you wash them, the softer they get. They just wear well, they feel good against your skin. And so it kind of started this ripple effect of me just wanting to have a bed that was better than any luxury hotel bed I have ever been in.

Speaker 1:

We already had a great mattress. We've had the same mattress I guess shout out to Tempur-Pedic We've had the same mattress for 13 years and it still looks like the day we bought it. It still is the form of the day we bought it. We still absolutely love sleeping on it. We both sleep great. You don't have to rotate it and flip it and turn it. It has been the best mattress. So we already had a good foundation.

Speaker 1:

I know last week I talked about the splurge I made on my restoration hardware bed frame, my upholstered bed frame. So I had good bones and it was in this layering of really high quality linens and textiles that our bed took on a whole new life of its own. So starts with those awesome, awesome sheets by bowl and branch. So again, those are going to be linked. Then I started trying to find the best comforter and the best pillows. The best comforter and the best pillows.

Speaker 1:

And I was able to land on for my pillow shams. Both my pillow shams and my down blend comforter are both from Amazon. They were so reasonable but they made such a difference in how we slept and I did end up buying an all linen natural duvet cover to go over top of the comforter. So that's something that you can. Just I ended up getting that gosh, I think, at a clearance somewhere. It was like a $400 duvet cover that I was able to pick up for like 60 bucks or something. I totally hit a splurge there. But Bull Branch also has tons of duvet covers. Those you can go find other places. But I did just get 100% linen. It just feels nice. It's soft Duvet cover for the comforter. But the comforter and the shams and when I say shams they're just 28 by 28 down pillows that I put my own shams on just to make them super soft. They're so comfy, great for sitting in bed and reading.

Speaker 1:

And then me and my husband have different pillows. We like our pillows a little bit different. I like super, super down soft. He likes a little bit more of a form to it. So those things are more just off the shelf, kind of buying what we like. But the decorative sham pillows that we use to sit up against and read, those are Amazon and linked, as well as the down comforter. That is just awesome. I've bought a couple of them for other bedrooms and they are so, so reasonable. I think the comforter was like $68 or something very reasonable. And then the last thing in the bedding. This is new and I would encourage you to go do your own research. I feel like we're going to have to do a whole podcast here in the next year on just all the little wellness hacks that I am starting to do.

Speaker 1:

I'm becoming a little bit of a crunchy hippie person, but as I have come into this stage of my life, as I have gone through menopause and just trying to really take care of myself, take care of my family and, working with functional medicine doctors, my eyes have been open to so many things, and the one thing I wanted to put on here was the grounding pillowcase, and I don't know if you follow me on Instagram If you don't go follow me there. We talk about this kind of stuff on the daily basis, but I spent quite a bit of time talking about the new grounding pillowcases that I got. If you want to kind of school yourself a little bit on this, go watch the documentary called Earthing. It's all about how our bodies need to be grounded, that we are electrical beings and we need that barefoot to ground, we need our hands in the dirt and we just don't get that anymore and the charge the electrical charge that actually stays in our body and how it can cause inflammation and some pain issues. And so I was just not sleeping through the night. I had hit this stage, definitely contributing to menopause, perimenopause as well but was up every night at like two, three o'clock for like an hour just staring at the ceiling, trying not to grab my phone, all of the things and had been reading about how a grounding pillowcase so improved the quality of sleep. It was $25 for a king pillowcase. And again, I could probably do a whole episode just about grounding and the importance of it. What I will tell you is I have been getting the best sleep the last three weeks. It's that good that I've only had it for about three weeks and it's already.

Speaker 1:

On my favorite things. I think everybody in the family should have one. Me and my husband both have one. My children will be getting them for Christmas. Maybe this is kind of like giving me a gun is giving my children pillowcases that plug in, but you know I digress. But they need them and so they're going to get them, along with some other things. It's a great thing to throw in a stocking. Again, watch the documentary earthing and I think you will be convinced. So that is the bedding category.

Speaker 1:

Now we're going to move on to clothing, and this one I picked, like my basic favorites that everybody needs, and it boils down to shoes, socks, underwear, pajamas and a great backpack, which I know isn't really clothing, but it kind of ties in. So I am obsessed right now with New Balance. Kudos to New Balance. It's kind of like the Stanley story. Right, stanley is the water bottle that's been around since. It's probably the farthest back water bottle that we have on record, just this metal canteen more. That used to be here and some genius came and rebranded it and said let's make it bright colors, let's put a handle on it and let's watch the women of America go nuts.

Speaker 1:

I feel like New Balance had a similar experience of like. We've had the most basic shoes they were the most old person tennis shoe, I think, on the market and then all of the sudden the New Balance rage has hit the market and everybody, young and old, is sporting the cutest, the most stylish new balance tennis shoes, specifically the three 27s. The three 27s. I own two pair. I'm sure there'll be a third pair on my list this year. They're the cutest colors, they're super comfortable, they're super trendy, everybody's wearing them, and I also have a walking shoe by New Balance that I just I feel like it's the most comfortable tennis shoe I've ever had for walking for longer distance, just for really, really good foot cushion. And so both of those New Balance shoes I'm just 100% a fan of.

Speaker 1:

One is more functional, still very cute, and the other one is just a great stylish tennis shoe with a pair of jeans, the socks that I cannot go without and I am slowly getting rid of every other ankle sock, athletic sock that I have in my drawer. That is not a Bomba sock. I am obsessed with Bomba socks. They wear amazing, they have a killer warranty, they do good for the planet. They do a ton of humanitarian things. They're an expensive sock they're about $13 a pair. I know that that's expensive, but they will last me years and years. And they are so comfortable. They fit in all the right places. They have a little bit of support in the arch. They have socks that are made for different sports. They have wool, they have biking, they have running. I mean just so many different awesome socks for different activities and different sports. I love just the basic white. I just need all Bombas socks. So that is by far my favorite athletic sock.

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The next two are by the same company. I was introduced to the company Soma gosh. It's probably been six to 10 years ago and I don't know if it's because I walked into a store or if somebody told me, but the next two items from Soma are just again my favorites. It's all I need in my drawer. I finally got to the point that I literally have thrown out every other pair of underwear. It is the only pair of underwear I wear 365 days a year, and it's one that's called Vanishing Edge. Now, this is too much information. Here we are. It's a podcast. I feel like women got to help women out.

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The Vanishing Edge it has on all the edges of the back of your underwear. It has these tiny little silicone, almost like little silicone strips, so that when you put them on, they stay exactly where they are. Gone are the days of picking a wedgie, gone are the days of having to adjust your underwear. They literally just stay exactly where they are. They have very, very low profile lines, which is why it's called Vanishing Edge, and they come in all different cuts. I like the Modern Brief. There's all different ones, but the Vanishing Edge is just the best. With that silicone to keep them in place, we'll never wear anything else.

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And then also from Soma is their pajamas. They have all kinds of different pajamas. They have the cutest little sleep shirt with a little crop sleeve, a little pocket, super loose. The fabric is like butter. And so you combine that fabric like butter and you put it with your dreamy bed sheets and you are just all set up for the best night's sleep of your life. But those pajamas are my absolute favorite. I have again cleared my pajama drawer of everything but my Soma PJs.

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And then, lastly, is this travel backpack. Somebody just posted this this year, this last year this backpack that they said it's the best carry-on backpack. The way that it is organized, you can do like a weekend trip in it Super cute, has a charging station, opens up more like a carry on suitcase than a top zip backpack. And I bought this. It was so reasonable, like $30, and thought there's no way I'm going to get that much stuff in it. I was able to pack so much stuff in this travel backpack for our trip to Canada as my carry on that I do believe that you would be able to do a weekend away in it. I just love the way it looks. It's very clean and not messy. It's very simple. It comes in a ton of colors, has so many great little accessories and shoe bags and compartments Just a great, great backpack that I think is a good staple for everyone that travels a good amount. So those are my clothing items.

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Moving into electronics Electronics. I'm going to talk about three different things. The first one was a huge part of our Christmas last year. I don't know about you, but if you have a lot of people in your family, you have teens. There's a lot of people that have phones. The chargers always go missing. People are arguing about that's my charger, no, that's my charger. So we had done all the things we got. Everybody had a different color of a charger cord. Then we'd you know, you do all the different things, stuff still ends up disappearing.

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And so I had heard somebody talking about the Birkin phone accessories. They have the charger pads, they have just all kinds of things, and what really intrigued my husband and I is they also have a car mount that goes into the air vent. It has a really good connection and it plugs in so that it's a charging unit as well. So it's holding your phone. But all of the items are magnetic. So if you have an Apple phone, you already have that built-in magnetic charge to it that just clips to those things. If you don't, you can buy cases that have them in it.

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And so last year we decided we are going to make our home universally Birkin phone accessories. So every single car got the exact same charger. Every single room that we would normally have a charger. So in the kitchen, in the office, next to the couch, in my bedroom, the kids' bedrooms, we all have that Birkin docking station so that we're not taking cords and moving them around. At any time that somebody needs to plug in their phone, they just attach it to that magnetic stand and it starts charging. If they're standing in the kitchen, they just attach it to that magnetic stand and it starts charging. If they're standing in the kitchen, they can do it there. If they're in the living room, they can do it there. When they put their phones in their car, they can do it there. And then if I have to drive my daughter's car, me and my husband are between cars. We all have the same accessories and cases that work universally. Now me and my husband also have the Birkin phone cases because we're boring and basic and are great with a solid black. Our kids still all have their own decorative, cute phone cases, but because they're Apple phones, they still have that magnetic capability built into them that works with all of these. And so on the bedsides we have charging stations Again all of this is linked that have a phone charger stand, an Apple watch adapter on it and a charging base for your AirPods, and so at night, the phone, the watch, the AirPods they all can go on it.

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They're all charging at the same time. It's super easy. I even take it when I travel. It's easier for me just to throw that in my suitcase it's lightweight and have that when I get to a hotel to charge my phone, instead of bringing three different chargers always shuffle in through them. And they also have a great charging bank that I love to keep just on hand. It's also magnetic. It's smaller. It's heavy but it's smaller, and it also has a stand on it. So on places like the plane, when you're charging your phone, it has that little flip out metal foot on it so that you can have it standing. So these phone accessories were a game changer for us. No more looking for cords, no more fighting about who needs what, because we all just have them throughout the house, everybody has what they need at all times, and it has been a game changer for us.

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The next electronic and you again have seen me talk a ton about this. We did a whole podcast episode on this with the founder of the company Aro. The Aro box now also available is the Aro app without the purchase of the box. But I feel like if you're looking for a way for your family to just get off of electronics a little bit, to just be a little bit more present, to just kind of get a hold of this area of our life that can kind of run away from us without us even knowing how we got there. The RO Box is a site that I want you to go look at. I would love for you to go listen to the podcast I'll tag it in the show notes by Joey Odom, who's the founder, co-founder of this company.

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But it's a beautiful box that sits on your countertop or on your nightstand or anywhere that you choose to put it, maybe in an area where everybody has access to it, and you plug your phones into it it's kind of a visual reminder of you are more important to me than my phone, and so why I'm cooking dinner or why we're here having this meal together, or why we're sitting in the living room as a family or having game night, when you plug your phone into that RO box, it's putting it away out of sight and it's just letting the people in your life know like you're really important to me and it's gamifying the experience of time away from phone. So, unlike our Apple devices that tell us how much time we've been on the phone, and it can feel depressing and overwhelming the Auro app and the Auro box does the opposite. It's tracking how much intentional time we're spending away from our phone and when our family is linked together in this app. When I plug my phone in, people in my family get a notification that hey, mom has started an AeroBox session. Do you want to join her? It gamifies and creates this competition of who can be off of their phone the most, who can be intentional about walking away, and it just creates some boundaries. This would be an amazing family gift. If this is something where you just feel like we are missing really precious time together and time is fleeting and it's leaving quickly, and I really want to help our family get on target. I feel like the arrow box would be such an amazing way to present this gift of time to your family. So be sure to check out that link. Maybe spend a little bit more time researching that way. Maybe it's for Christmas, maybe it's just something you want to implement in the new year as you kick off in January. Just some good parameters around phone use.

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And then, lastly, I can't talk about electronics without talking about my very, very favorite way to preserve photos and home videos and baby tapes and the old slides from your grandparents, your personal baby pictures. Forever is a storage company that I was introduced to about three years ago that drastically changed everything about the memories in our home. It has been a process Again, there's a podcast on this, one I will link as well where my dear friend who helped me get this under control really was able to talk through how this works. But for the first time in my adult life I can say I have no stress about the pictures, the home videos, the memories, the scrapbooks. In my adult life I can say I have no stress about the pictures, the home videos, the memories, the scrapbooks, the baby books, the important documents, all of the things that if our house were to catch fire or if there was an emergency, every single memory of our families, is in this app on my phone, also saved in private, safe storage, and everybody in my family has access to it. So if my daughter is at college and she wants to pull up her baby video, literally, she can open her phone, open our Family Forever app and right there she can click on those hours and hours of home video. Or maybe a kid is working on a project for school and they need a picture of them at 10 years old. You literally can open that app. We can go to the year that we need. The photos are chronologically organized videos. All of the baby books have been scanned in. Literally, it has changed our life.

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If you are a mama that is trying to get this under control, then this would be a great thing for you to ask for. It would be a gift certificate to this company. It's something that my girlfriend, sherry, or I can hold your hand with and walk you through, like here's some baby steps to do. Here's what I would start with. What causes you the most stress? Do you wanna just digitize all of your home videos and start there? Do you want to scan in some important photos, like what is it that would make you sleep better at night? And again, it has been a process for me, but over the course of the last couple of years I have been able to complete this project and now I spend maybe an hour a month keeping it up to date, deleting photos that we don't need, but literally photos from this week are already in that app, already have been gone through. My kids have access to them wherever they are and they're preserved there for my entire life, plus a guaranteed 40 additional years, and you buy your storage one time. It's private Things like Google Photo and some of these other things like Shutterfly. They own your photos. They can do things with them. They can turn off a switch and you lose them. This is private storage in a private area for you, guaranteed for your life plus 40 years. So if you have a project you want to work on, asking for a gift certificate from this company, knowing that you'll have people to walk through it with you. My girlfriend, sherry, is amazing. This is what she does for her job, so that would just be a great place to start. If you need a gift, then we're going to move real quickly into health and wellness.

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Number one game changer has been the single most impactful thing in my nutrition is my walking pad, and so, again, if you follow me and you've watched my journey, you know that I'm working really, really hard to get a lot more steps than I typically do. Last year, I did a 500 mile walking challenge. This year, I'm really trying to get between. I started at 10,000 steps, have worked my way up to 15,000 steps a day, and many days out of the week I will get between 18 to 25,000 steps. I think my highest day at home is like 34,000 steps and that is because of course there's those times when I go outside and I take the quick walk. But to get the amount of steps that I really want, that my functional doctor wants me to get, it would become like a full-time job. I would literally have to be outside walking or on my treadmill walking all the time. And so this walking pad has revolutionized how I get my steps in, because I have it under my desk with a little table that gets my computer up to the right height and I can set that pretty slow. I usually walk at between a two and a 2.5. If you have to start slower, my girlfriend walks at like a one and a half because that's where she feels like she can feel secure and type and be doing things. But I'm able to pretty consistently be at, you know, between a two and a three and work, and so if I'm at my computer for five hours, I will walk eight to 10 miles in that time that I'm there, working in my office, editing a podcast, doing computer work, whatever it might be, organizing my pictures in that Forever app.

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I am getting steps why I do it. They are unbelievably inexpensive. The one that I linked, I think the normal price is $169.99. It is always on sale. When I posted the link for it, I think it had a $40 off coupon. So for $129, to be able to improve your health. The way that this has for me to be able to stay active in a time where it's really hard to stay active when we have a lot to do, in a time where it's really hard to stay active when we have a lot to do and in an environment and a climate where it gets cold and it's hard to be outside walking for that many steps, especially in the Midwest here when it's getting colder. And so just to know that, no matter what, all winter, if I wanna walk at a much faster pace or I have the treadmill downstairs, that's a much heavier duty, but this is just a nice light stroll while I'm working on my computer and getting things done.

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The walking pad is a game changer, a weighted vest. This is a new thing to my arsenal as well. I have a 16 pound vest. It's pretty heavy. They start much lower than that. 16 is what I kind of felt was right for me and I try to walk a mile or two a day with that weighted vest on why my functional doctor is a huge believer that that is really really good for bone density. Having that weighted vest, and just the way it makes your posture, the way that it's just building your bone strength with all the other things we're doing, it makes your walking a little bit more, it raises that heart rate and it just is a great addition to somebody who has gotten really into a good habit of already walking a good amount. And so that weighted vest, or as they call it, rucking, is a really, really great thing to add into your health and wellness.

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And then, as far as products go in the health and wellness realm again, maybe if these are things that you're interested in, you use the link and you get in there and you get my four favorite things. I already talked about the cleansing facial balm from Arbonne, but three nutritional products that I use every single day without fail that literally are just a godsend. Number one the vegan protein. That is, a pea, a cranberry and a rice, a brown rice protein. Some of the blends have a hemp seed, have avocado oil, just a good vegan, soy free, dairy free, gluten free, no artificial sugars, no artificial dyes. Protein powder that has between 20 and 24 grams per serving. A lot of times I double those up. Great flavors the coffee one is amazing. The protein is fantastic, as I'm trying to hit 150 grams of protein a day.

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That protein shake is a huge player in that they also have an energy fizz drink. It's a plant-based, natural energy that has 55 grams of energy, has vitamin Bs, lots of B12, b6, just a ton of other things for mind clarity. Love that as my source of energy instead of sodas. I give that to my kids instead of energy drinks. Just love it. And then, lastly, the greens that I use every single day is from Arbonne and it's a three-in-one. It's a collagen, it's a probiotic gut health and it's your greens, your rainbow of vegetables. All-in-one citrus-flavored drinks, and I've tried many different ones. This one by far is tasty and I just feel so much better when I get that in. So that's my favorite things in health and wellness.

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Now, really quick, just a couple other things For rest and relaxation the candle or anything in the fragrance by time in Fraser fir it, just like I'm a sucker for it. The day November 1st hits, until mid February, I will burn nothing but that Fraser fir candle. They have the oil diffusers just so delicious. I have linked the entire store there. And then also, if you're looking for something a massage or spa gift card, you can do spa findercom, which is just more of a generic one. If you have one in your city that you love, tell your spouse that, tell your mother-in-law that, tell your kids that, and just go take that time to take some time by yourself and enjoy a spa day that maybe you wouldn't do for yourself.

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When it comes to reading, I just put on here something that has been really impactful for me in the last year. It is the ESV Illuminated Scripture Books. This comes in sets, both Old Testament and New Testament. Or you can get the huge set, which is the entire Bible, all of the books of the Bible, or you can buy them individually. I have talked many times about how I'm reading a proverb a day and this little.

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What these illuminated scripture books are is. They've taken a book of the Bible and put it into the most beautiful. It's soft cover but stunning. They have foil printing on the cover and it's a journal with that book of the Bible kind of morphed together, and so if you're studying a specific book or if you're just trying to dig a little deeper and you want some room for notes, or if maybe you're doing a sermon series at church currently we're doing the book of Romans and so I ordered the book of Romans from this illuminated scripture. It's where I take my church notes in this. They're just beautiful. They're easy to travel with. If you're studying a specific book and maybe don't want to pack your whole bigger Bible and don't love using the Bible app, it's just a great way to have that with you and then to go along with that.

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I buy this for so many people over the course of the year. But is the brand Mr Pen and the pens and the markers that they sell for Bible journaling highlighting in your Bible are just the best of the best. I love the pens for everything, but specifically for writing in a Bible that has the thinner pages. It doesn't bleed. My kids use these for school as well, as they're doing a lot of journaling and things like that. So those are just two small favorites.

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Then a couple of things for the family that I added to my list is a new game that we were introduced to this year called KUB K-U-B-B. It is the most fun outdoor game. So again, for those that are in the Midwest, it's a great thing to buy to put under the tree for the family. Might be a little bit more difficult to use it unless you have a bigger basement where you can let this be. It's like a yard game, but so much fun Can be so competitive with it. We love to do parents against kids and traditionally we kick their butts, but it's the one game that takes zero athletic ability. Traditionally we kick their butts, but you know, it's the one game that takes zero athletic ability, and I pride myself in the fact that I am pretty darn good at it, and so I am going to play my kids as much as they will play me, so that I have something that I can dominate in when it comes to competition. And then our all-time family favorite game if you haven't played it is Ticket to Ride Super fun, pretty darn quick, has some strategy strategy and is just a great way to spend a family game night.

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As far as teenagers go, you know. I think the bottom line here is there is no way to make a list of what you should get for your teenager, because every teenager is so different. They like their own thing, they have their own hobbies, they have their own things that are cool and not cool, and so I got nothing for you when it comes to teenagers. I do have two really quick things for the guy in your life. I have been working really hard to find a cologne for my husband that I really enjoy. That's not super strong, because I had talked about wanting to find an all-natural perfume for me and I haven't been able to find one that I love. I find that men's colognes can be that much more intense, with that artificial headache inducing, and we were able to find a company called Henry Rose, which is a much cleaner brand of fragrances, and they have a sample pack that you can buy. And so we bought a sample pack and had I think 12, maybe 10, 12 different scents in it for men and we sprayed them all. We had little index cards that we sprayed them on with the names and we ended up finding one that we love. Both of us love I still. Every time he puts it on it smells so darn good, but that would be a great thing for you to look at If you're trying to find a new scent or cologne for your man. To get that sample pack, try it out and then get a full size and the one that meets your fancy.

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And then also this year we splurged and we got my husband which I guess we all benefit from but some cut cone knives. I am not a girl that would ever say I spent a good amount of money on knives. We just got five individual knives that stay in the drawer. It's not a huge block, but my husband loves to cook, he loves to barbecue, and so just spending a little bit of money on a couple of really good knives that have a guaranteed for life you'll never have to buy that knife again was a great move, and he absolutely loves them. And so if you have a man that likes to barbecue, or maybe you're someone that loves to cook and you just want to put on your list one or two awesome knives that you'll have for the rest of your life that have a lifetime warranty, those Cutco knives are pretty darn impressive.

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Okay, the last thing I'm going to say here and if you're a man and you're listening. I'm not trying to pick on you, but I have so many girlfriends that and I think it's just. It's traditionally that the moms are kind of the ones that do a lot of the work to make the magic happen, whether it's the birthdays or the parties or the holidays, and that's good and that's normal. And that's not me picking on anybody. I know that that's just how it is in our home. For a lot of reasons it's easier for me just to do it. My husband is never out shopping. I tend to be the one that's more out shopping in general.

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Anyways, the kids give me their list, we have a conversation about budgets and thoughts and then I kind of go wild. I do most of the wrapping and my husband shows up to Christmas just as surprised as the kids when they open every single gift. And I know that's a lot of times how it is. I'm not bitter about it at all, it's fine. It's what works for us. I'll tell you what would make me better If I woke up on Christmas morning and everybody in my family had a stocking and I didn't. I would be sad. And my husband has been a champ except for the year with all the gun stuff at, always having a beautiful, well-thought-out stocking for me with things that he knows I enjoy.

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And so if you are a man listening to this and you have just never made it a priority, you don't think it's important, but yet every Christmas you walk downstairs and you have a stocking and your kids all have a stocking, and your wife doesn't. I'm going to beg with you and plead with you. Do this for her. Make her feel important for the way that she creates the magic for your family for the holidays, and start it now. Do not tell her on Christmas Eve hey, babe, I got to run out real quick to do a couple errands, because she knows you're going out to try to buy something for her. Start doing this right now. When you stop somewhere, pick up her favorite beverage, grab a couple gift cards, get a pair of socks If you listen to this whole thing click on a couple of these links and go get her the Bomba socks.

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Get her a couple pair of underwear. Get her the Soma pajamas. Do a couple things so that when she wakes up she has a stocking that she knows you thought through. So I have a list of ideas for stockings both for her and for him. But we're going to start, for the men that are listening, with some great ideas for you to put in the stocking of your wife so that she wakes up Christmas morning and knows that her family also thought about her. And I encourage you to also put a handwritten note or a note from the kids, something sweet and personal. But a book or a magazine Maybe she's into a book series, maybe she loves Joanna Gaines and you can grab a Magnolia magazine. A candle is a great one. Essential oils, her favorite wine or her favorite beverage, her favorite coffee or tea. Gift certificates to her favorite stores Maybe it's Marshall's or HomeGoods or a spa gift card. Pajamas, socks, her favorite food treat, maybe it's phone accessories or a new perfume or a body lotion or oil or a really great pair of slippers. Just take a little bit of time, spoil her a little extra, and when she wakes up on Christmas morning and she sees that stocking that you put a lot of thought in, karen, I promise it's going to go a long ways for you. And then just some basic ideas for stockings for him.

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I am a stocking lover. This is probably my favorite part of Christmas. I don't know why, but we always joke that my kids are like please never, ever, ever stop doing stockings for us. And I probably won't, because it's one of my favorite things. I start buying stocking stuffers in about June. I have a bin in my closet, I keep a note app on my phone and I just make the notes in there as I pick things up that I think the kids would love, or Jed would love For my husband's stocking. Often there's grill supplies, spices and rubs, since he loves to barbecue. Books and magazines. Often there's a year subscription to a hunting magazine or a golf magazine both for him and my son.

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Again, his favorite beverage A lot of times I'll bring home a six pack or a 12 pack of the local beer from where our lake house is that he loves all summer. It's a fun thing to have that real quick in the winter. His favorite coffees. Gift certificates for things with hunting and fishing. Maybe it's some fishing lures or a hunting small thing. Maybe it's a sleeve of golf balls, something camouflage, maybe it's a new set of gloves or a camo hat, something that I know he'll use for hunting. I love to get socks, again, nice socks, bomba socks, something that you know is going to last.

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His favorite treats phone accessories and again linked in the link tree, is something I found this year that I bought, and I did one for my husband and all three of our children and it's an I love you because scratch off. And how this shows up to you in the mail is it's an eight and a half by 11 sheet with 10 different blanks that you fill in with reasons why you love them, and then it has, like the good old lottery ticket, scratch off silver. It has that as a sticker that you place over each one of those 10 things, and so it becomes a scratch off big card of 10 things I love about you. My husband and I did them together. We each put five things in for our kids. We sent one with our daughter when she moved to college this year, gave one to our daughter when she was starting just a new chapter in her life and gave one to our son when we left on a trip, and so it's just a sweet thing that's personalized and it's inexpensive. I think you can buy them in a four pack, which is what I did, which worked great for three kids and a husband, and so just again, little small things that you can do.

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My advice to you right now is start planning ahead. We have two months and this is the kind of stuff that gets stressful and that becomes just like urgent when we don't have time left. And so set up that giftful app and ask each of your kids and your spouse and you yourself set up things that would mean a lot to you, things that you find enjoyable, that bring you pleasure and that you would be super excited to open. Now, not that somebody has to only get things off of that, but it is just a great guide for people. I also ask every one of my children to put their favorite beverages, their favorite snacks, their favorite candy, their favorite gum on that list, and I know that sounds silly, but I still, on a regular basis.

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If I'm out at the store and I see that the bubblers are on sale and my kids are obsessed with bubblers I can open each one of their giftful apps and I know what their favorite flavor is.

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If I'm trying to send a care package to my daughter at college, I tell her if you're all of a sudden sick of goldfish, take goldfish off of there and update it with your Cheez-Its or whatever horrific snack it is that you love, and so it's just a great way for you to be able to start gathering some of that stuff that's easy to get now, to kind of spread out those expenses, to have a big box in your closet where you can be stashing that stuff. As you see it, and you know again like this is the time to be doing the apps, to be buying some of that stuff and to be getting those Christmas cards ordered and ready to go, so that the month of December is more about celebration and family and just leaning into connection and time together, not frantic getting everything crossed off your list. So this was a long one. There's a lot of things in there and I will make sure that all of those are linked in the show notes, as well as the other things we talked about that I said I would put links in for. But thanks for being here.

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Friends, make sure that you share this with your spouse or whoever else you think needs to hear it A girlfriend that maybe would love some of these things. We appreciate you sharing every single podcast that you do. It means a lot to us. So until next week, friends, take care.