S1 Ep81: Pro Tips for Surviving the Holidays and a Downpour

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Good day to our Dad Time Out show listeners around the world. Welcome to the Dad Time Out show. We're just four dads with 12 kids between us and we all oddly enough or not work in the entertainment industry. We're not parenting experts but we listen to them, we interview them, we read what they have to say and then we report back to you and ourselves to see how we're doing. Tonight we'll be discussing tips for drum roll.

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discussing tips for surviving the holidays. It's a place to put your feet up or down, relax, listen to us, and let us do the legwork. We'll do the research and the reading. All articles, interviews, and show notes are now available on www.dadtimeoutshow.com after each show, and we're very interactive with our listeners, so if you could follow us, like us, or subscribe, we will be forever grateful. And follow us on the Instagrams, where we are most active. In tonight's show, of course, the dads will kick off

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the show. And then they'll have their take on parents. Funny tweets of the week, all from one of the show's favorite writers, Simon C. Holland. And then in some articles by smart people, the dads will be discussing two articles, one from care.com called Five Tips for Surviving the Holidays and a bonus article, Seven Holiday Tips for Parents to Save Your Sanity. And hopefully you can glean some nuggets in just in time for the holidays. We'll wrap up with a quick quiz from the Crafty Lab, folks. And for the rest of the show, we'll be right back. We'll be right back.

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Then finally they'll talk about gratitude and things that make them smile Speaking of things that make me smile. I am joined by my favorite eighth grader tonight. Eights are very Spoken number in our house right now. What's your name, sir? My name is Landon land and welcome to the show How you feeling tonight? All good. You're feeling all good. Are you Riz? Stop no cap I'm Sigma

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I got them all. All right, Landon, it's tradition that we always start off with a dad joke. Let's hear it from the kiddos. What do you call a running turkey? I have no idea. Fast food. Fast food? That's amazing. All right, I know you've got food on the way, so why don't you head inside the house? Thank you, Landon. Let's give them a nice round of applause. Coming up next is.

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The Gentleman and The Dad Time Out Show.

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Gather together from the cosmic reaches of the universe. Here in this great hall of justice are the most powerful forces of good ever assembled, dedicated to truth, justice, and peace for all mankind. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Dad Time Out Show!

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All right, the guys are now around the corner. Why are you giggling? Starting with a giggle. He's giggling. I'm always giggling. First of all, big toast. Hey, toast. I'm not sure what we're consuming. My wife had to run to a parent-teacher's group meeting. He's like medicinal. But it's got pomegranates and all sorts of things. She just threw a bunch of stuff in a cup. It tastes good. Wait a minute, Ben. I hear you and I hear Chris, but I also hear an unfamiliar voice in the chair tonight.

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Our contributor is on some fancy vacation somewhere. I just see in the pictures. But we have a very special guest in the house. Ben, would you like to introduce our very special guest tonight? I thought, guys, I didn't get permission. But I just said, I'm bringing my father-in-law, whether you guys like it or not. So we got in the house Mr. Peter Dirksen from the Netherlands. And none other. All right, can we hear a quick? I'm going to bring my mic over here to my father-in-law here who's looking at us. He's a little leaning.

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Well, I'm quite happy to be, to enter this show. I'm a bit different from the other fathers. Actually, my kids already are 40.

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Yeah, how many? 43? 44? Hell's my wife, she's sad. The problems I have with them are a bit different. The other ones probably deal with adolescents and those kind of things. I have to treat with kids that treat with adolescents. So that's quite different. I understand. Well, we always say on the show, Peter, that once you decide to have a child, you really never, ever again stop parenting.

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So, you know, we dole out all sorts of information from all ages and all groups and we are honored and and privileged to have you sitting with us tonight. Welcome. I think it's our first father-in-law on the show. I think and and you know, the funny thing about father-in-law is they really don't get to choose their son-in-laws. So we're working on it over here. Yes, yet here we are. Well, all right, we've got a great show tonight and we want to welcome once again our very, very special guest. This is super exciting.

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Um,

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Yes, our fourth cohort in a crime is over in someplace where I saw blue water. I don't know. It is, why? Maybe Hawaii, maybe Cabo, maybe Lake Chabot. I don't know. I don't know. But if I photoshopped. Booth saturation. We've got a lot of stuff. So I'll just paint the room real quick. We have a very special guest, Ben and Chris are in the house. The temperature is moderate. We actually just missed a downpour, which is, you know, it's funny.

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I told Chris this before you arrived. I was gonna make fun of weather folks tonight, like, because we've been all expecting this storm for a week. Storm watch. Storm watch, level two storm on Thursday. Winds out of, you know, you get all this hype and we've gotten zero. And I get so excited about the little things in life. And I was so excited about this storm and it fizzled out. So I thought, oh, let me make fun of weather people to start this show and I'll be darned. I'm in my house and all of a sudden they're,

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I'm like all my equipment was out. Oh shoot. Yeah a rare moment. So they got back at me karma According to Taylor Swift

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Well, when I was a good friend, when I told when I told him my my my family here that it's raining, the Dutchies, they did giggle at me. This isn't right. Yeah. Yes. It's a drizzle. Yeah. Well, yes, of course. It is. That's not anyway. That's it's a buzzkill is what it is. Have you guys all had a good week? Our episode tonight is about the holidays. Here you are for the holidays. Are you coming for a spell? Yes, we are here for a month. A month. Yeah. Oh, that is fantastic. Are you staying at the home?

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same party in the home. What do you think of the outdoor shower? We're going to take care of a dog.

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Oh, the bathroom. The outdoor shower. Which you made. Yeah. Well... For my family that I provided. Yeah. Yeah, well...

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In the Hilton, it's a bit more comfortable. But we can do with it. We can manage. Yes, yes, yes. We have fun with that every week on the show with Ben, not only building an outdoor toilet and shower in the middle of a random urban area, but also shooting arrows and throwing axes and all those types of things, which are all part of the family fare. You've got to work with what you got. I like it, Ben. I like it.

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Well, it's been a heck of a week. So we are getting ready for the holidays. And of course, that's kind of our topic tonight. We will still have a Christmas show, as we'll put this out about early December. But we thought we'd dive in and kind of talk about the holidays and give parents some tips, especially traveling tips, all that types of stuff. We're in the homestretch. School's been driving me absolutely bonkers. And I can't wait for a little break. OK. I'm just saying. I'm not even in it. You're not even in the school. That's driving bonkers. Yeah.

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Well, yeah turkey days next you mean just like the the all the stuff. Yeah all the same. It's a lot No, I've just been frazzled I can't I'm like, you know, you have to go to the bathroom and you're right at your house But it's still like you got to open the door and go upstairs and do all that like that I'm right at the finish line. I'm looking at the holiday break It's just right, you know I see the light at the end of the tunnel and I'm just like dragging myself there to just get some respite How appropriate because tonight we will have suggestions on how to

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to alleviate your discomfort with the house. Is that like an older person thing? What? That you, my body somehow, I won't have to go to the bathroom until I'm a block away from my house. Oh, and your body knows you can. And then all systems kick in. And then how many coffers have you had? There's no reverse. You're caught in the tractor beam and then it's like, you know, no turning back, man. It's like, oh, I might have to physically, you know, close pin action. You guys don't know. You're talking about one or two. Well, either, either, buddy.

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Usually one That's easy though Like get the right key and then I put the key in upside down and like it all it all is happening I just curious if it's just me So my kiddo just wrapped up a Theater week so that happened It was very fun and exciting. She did Godspell But the only reason I mention it is because it was a real joy And I like with all the crazy news in the world

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It was just really fun to see teenagers expressing themselves on a stage in cohesion putting on a musical Or you could say that about any sports or anything like that But when you're looking for distraction and positivity these days with all the insanity, it's nice to see your kids Immersed in these like really fun and healthy stuff. Yeah for sure

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Oh darn it. I forgot to do it. I didn't bring it out Which forget wanted to talk about my two new favorite things little mr. Machine. Oh, is it here? I'm don't ruin Christmas. Oh, I got a lot of news. No Maybe I'll save it for the next show My favorite new product is this thing called cozy earth, right? So, I don't know I might have been Oprah's Favorite I can't remember where I found this little nugget, but it's like the softest bedsheets

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And I so I splurged a little bit I got him and like there's like the what he You spend how much of your life in a bed in a bed and their third of your life especially Americans like 98% Yeah, I want all that but I'm invested. That's like more than a car. I think it's more important your bed. Where you I rest Yeah, so I've got good news for you. Yes, so then it was he Matt. What is it? It's cozy

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Cozy Earth. And I'm gonna tell you, and they're not a sponsor, you're just doing this for fun. They may be, because let me tell you what happened. Let me tell you what happened. And we'll move on to the big show. So.

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I then my wife one of the holidays that you buy things I can't remember whether it was an anniversary or a Baseball game or whatever it was but I got her these cozy earth pajamas, which are made of the same material Okay, wait, okay. So today Today I get a handwritten note from the CEO of cozy earth

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What? And he said he wrote out a whole card. Like thanking you. I said, is this a I like is this the day? Is this like, no, no, there's no mistake. It's real handwriting. You see the finger smudges. OK, as you can fake that. But I think that's a good gesture. I think that's awesome. I my guess was this that like he takes like three or four legitimate customers out of however many and handwrites them every once in a while. And I got chosen in the Cozy Earth lottery.

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Sponsorships we were just talking to send a link to this where we're talking about him right now I'm very happy for you way to be forward about it So I'll tell you what I'll do though next episode I will he gave me a promo code for friends and family And I will give the promo code out and I believe it's 45% off all Yeah, yeah, it's it's legit so fire that up right now. Yeah, Mr. Cozy if you're out there man. Hey, Cozy Earth Yeah, I don't think his name's Cozy Earth, but you know

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But what do I matter anyway? So I'm gonna wrap this segment up like again with gratitude and then we'll move on to tweets of the week from the great Simon C. Holland. We did get another nice karmic thing. We were mentioned in this group of podcasts this week. It's called Fathering Future Leaders. And we were mentioned along these really amazing podcasts of being like one of the ones to listen to. Wow man, come on, what's up on the board?

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You don't get a fanfare do do do do oh yeah Find it there you go I hit the twilight one, but this is the same thing all right, so

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Let me just share some of our company because it's kind of cool. And I actually listened to some of them this week and they're very good podcasts and actually super popular. So I'm honored. Dadville with Dave Barnes and John McLaughlin. We're right next to them on the list by the way. Everyday Parents, a Day in the Life podcast. Young Dad podcast. This one I started this morning and I didn't get all the way into it but it was pretty funny. Oh baby I had no idea. Right. Great name.

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the show. We're going to be professional parenting podcast guy altogether are Eddie and and. Navigating joy together comes from us. We're in there It's good company right there, brought us into that hole. cider by fire. This good

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one of our all timers Simon C. Holland. So hang on, Tweets of the Week coming up next.

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Sweet dreams everyone!

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Alright, it's time for Tweets of the Week and you know where this is going to come out in December so I think we could tackle the holidays a little early. Simon C. Holland says here's a marriage tip.

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If you need a new can opener, just get a new can opener. Don't give one to your wife for Christmas. Mm. Yeah, that's honestly my wife's move. She usually gets me kitchen stuff. Who's laughing? Yeah, my father-in-law's laughing. He giggled before you. But you know. I do that a lot. I get the gift that I need. It's like she's like, hey, a Dremel tool, what is this? Oh. Right. You can use it for all sorts of stuff. Wow, but how often do you like pans and like shared stuff?

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the robot vacuum just because I'm like okay let's wait for me you got your wife a robot vacuum those are great bad the Roomba Zumba Roomba yeah yeah on our chore list she like picked the floors and this is like a way for it to just auto

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It's great. I gotta say I mean, it works way better than I thought. Yeah. Wow. I've done I've done combined like, hmm. Oh, maybe like, I don't know if it's a direct example. I can't remember I'm getting old. I may have bought the Cozy Earth sheets for my wife and then I enjoy them. No, but that's it. It's like it's okay. Shared gifts like hey, we need this. All right. We need that. We'll do that once in a while. That's what it can. We'll say let's not get each other x and we will

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why you know whatever it might be. However the other person should be a little excited about it. But win-wins are good. I like win-wins. I get stuff that's just on the list like oh that pans old here's a new one happy birthday. And it's wrapped. And the pan handles don't even wrap. It's a dad gift though. Alright number two. A string of Christmas lights that doesn't work is the worst.

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Luckily last year I put all those strands back in the bin with the good ones so I can be mad again this year We always hope that somehow they're gonna work next year magically we fix itself. Well, they do sometimes we need to marinate sometimes Season off Where it's still like one if one goes out they all go out so you Know the new ones like, you know, just yeah

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Modern ones man. Oh, wait a minute. I forgot about this. See now that they all got LEDs and whatnot like Oh the rain got solar. Yeah, there's solar Oh good thing my house isn't solar. We would have no power right now. Just talking to nobody. Yeah each other I'm only kidding. I'm in viral friendly

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If that's a word. Where were we? Christmas lights. Speaking of that, I found the ultimate Christmas decoration. You can get a Clark Griswold six foot statue where he's plugging in the light. And he's getting electrocuted. Yeah, and you put it in your front yard. Hallelujah. I saw it on the gram. I may actually get it. Let's get it. Okay, number three from team Simon Hollands.

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air fryers and if it's worth losing the counter space. Middle-aged Christmases are wild. That's crazy. The answer is no. It's not worth real estate. No. Isn't it funny though you break down the weirdest things in that age bracket? Can we? Why is that there? Does that make sense? Air fryer is definitely a cupboard. Yeah, yeah. Bring it out. But I think like pre-marriage, I would run five cords around and just you just buy whatever looks cool.

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little ice cream maker out on the cake yeah yeah rice cooker ice cream maker we have the what do you call it not the crock pot but the insta pot that's like that was like trendy a little while back so that's out on like my wife decorates it got a little Harry Potter sticker on there and really yeah what does she cook every I mean once in a while

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No, I'm not making fun of her. I'm saying what is she cooking the crock pot? Oh, like those like beef stews and chili and yeah, you just dump stuff in. You're a stew guy. Yeah, yeah, I love stew. My wife, we both cook, but she's the one that kind of commandeers the crock pot, but it only makes an appearance every once in a while. She makes me sad. I kind of like that. Crock pot's underutilized. Underutilized. Put a sticker on it. I'm going to. Yes. Sticker on it.

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Okay, number four Wow, my kids are decorating the heck out of this small lower left section of our Christmas tree this year That makes me uncomfortable just hearing it. Yeah, do you guys know how do you do your tree? Do look at all tell how tall these guys are, you know, they right you gotta Gotta be even man. I stand back and make check it. Is it evenly dispersed? Yes, no, I do it. No, I one of the kids get to you carry him up. Yeah

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We can't we can't do that anymore. Yeah, minor Beyond to carry I mean, I know I mean they don't let a kid do the star But we always had a kid do not talk about my shoulders No, no, I never did they all the kids always do but we don't do it on the shoulders anymore We we roll the dice and see how it plays out Yeah, well I told you I fell off the roof hanging my Christmas lights at work Remember I sent you the picture. Yeah But here here's my first reaction though I

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I fell and I was injured, but I yelled to my wife. She's like, what's that noise? I'm like, get the camera, get the camera. This is funny. I think I heard myself. I'm like, what's that noise? I'm like, get the camera, get the camera. This is funny. I think I heard myself. All right, Simon C. Howell, number six, absolutely no one. Blank, old Navy email at 6 a.m. on Christmas Eve. There's still time. Do you fall for it or are you completely packed and loaded by Christmas Eve?

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Do you do any last second or you guys like a month out? Two months out? Oh, I'm a week of type of guy. Are you? Week before, week before. If I see something, like today, I saw something, oh, she'd like that. And then, you know, if it comes my way. But yeah, we really hone in, I'd say, week before. I mean, the 24. You know, you just kind of boop, boop, boop.

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I do. Well, man, local bro. Yeah, I do. I do a mix. Frickin Amazon, you go into the honey. I'm telling you, I'll say it on the air. I can't do I mean, Amazon is well, I don't say it's ruining retail. I don't think they're going to sponsor. They're not. They're not going to sponsor us. But I know. But like, you know, it's just like it's like, you know, it's free. The next day. Well, we're going to get to the article and I'll skip it. And just one thing that experience is what we've been focusing on. You know.

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Well, my wife's good. She was like, we'll be visiting a national park and I'll make a comment about a plate in August.

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and then it'll be under the tree. A plate? Somehow she's good at that. Yeah, she will smuggle it and then get it and then whatever it might be. That's magic. I really think that's like the above and beyond. See? Or what do you want to do? Don't say anything bad about the what? Coming closer. It's fine. We're fine. Let's just go into the umbrella. We're good. Sleevels, rain, how are you listening? It's not really even, okay now it's. Alright, we're coming back in with a little rain. Let's tell everybody what just happened.

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the rain controversy. We just brought it in, a huddle form. It's the weather karma that I spoke over earlier. Exactly. All right, well this tweet's appropriate then. This is from, I don't know if you've been paying attention, these are from Simon C. Holland. I've never heard of him. And he moved the thermostat, so this is from Simon C. Holland. These are tweets that he has put out from Simon C. Holland. And the rain has already stopped.

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move the thermostat up one degree this morning as a little holiday treat for the family. Six hours worth. See, my wife's the worst there. She won't turn it off. She won't turn it off, but she won't turn it down. I am the one that was, yeah, but it gets cold. It's like 12 cents a minute. Every, you know, and that's like. It is crazy. Is it? It's like a dollar an hour, you know? It's very expensive. But yeah, try a sweater first. I'm all for that.

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I'll get into number nine and ten and then we'll move on to smart articles by smart people. Hey, these are from Simon C. Holland, who's very funny on Twitter. If you want to know what it's like to be middle-aged, just said, wow, this is really nice wrapping paper. High quality.

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Do you, so I'm not gonna name the relative, but we'll force you to take the wrapping paper off nicely, fold it and reuse it. I do that just out of courtesy, you know, when you're unwrapping a gift. Why am I not surprised? Really? No, well, you do the rip out, tear it all up. What are you gonna do? You're really gonna save wrapping paper?

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we fold it and then put it in the recycling bin. Well, OK. Just crumple it up and put it in the recycling bin. I don't know why. Yeah, it's just more like I've been trained because my mom used to do that, like save all the wrapping paper, especially the fancy ones. Well, bags, yeah. No, no, like the paper, if you don't crease it, you can reuse that. I mean, it's got to be some damn nice paper. Back in the day, you would do your school books and stuff. Remember? You'd like, you know. With a paper bag, with a grocery bag. Yeah, that's probably right. Well, that's funny, gentlemen, because Simon C. Holland has a follow-up tweet that says, just

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seven inch scrap of wrapping paper that will never get used. Right. You still got to do it. You know what I mean? No, OK. All right. All right, then last but not least, and then we'll move on to Smart Articles by Smart People. This is from Simon C. Holland. Hey, on top of all the stress during the busiest month of the year, don't forget to dress your kid up next week for Grinch Day, Reindeer Day, Polar Express Day, Holley Day, and Cheer Day. Love elementary school. I know, right? And we're doing that in high school.

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Spirit week so they catch what you can man hippie day They had like a frat boy day all these weird they had to dress up like random things Yeah, it's a Really yeah, that does not seem right Alright, well, thanks to Simon C. Holland for our Christmas tweets of the week. We have we have more will unleash them on the next show In a rare moment the DTO crew is forced under the umbrella. It reminds me the old days

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pre-COVID how it was before. Yes. Then we did the distance. I know, we just stayed there. Yeah. All right, coming up next, Soil and Nichols by Smart People.

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But I'll close by four people. You know guys, a lot of people pay for this sound. What's this record? Oh, the electronic. Five seconds, yeah. Oh yeah, your little sleep machine. If you're on the Calm app. Calm app, yeah. We should all talk in a very monotone voice. There's all kinds of rain sounds. Coming up next, five tips for surviving the holidays when you're a parent. You know they got, what's his name, Kevin Hart on the Calm app now as a narrator? Oh, that's a, how does that work? It's not calm at all. I saw The Rock was on that one.

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These guys aren't calming me down. All right, well, let me tell you, I'll give you some surviving the holidays tips. Sorry. All right, many of us grew up equally awaiting the holiday season, the gifts, the decorations, the yummy food, the time off from school and the warm feelings of family togetherness. We become families, sharing these things. It's supposed to be a magical journey at the reality of holiday season, which starts at Halloween, becomes more about surviving the holidays. We're stuck preparing for guest travel, planning, abundance of school,

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tackling holiday shopping list holiday magic generally placed by an ordinary amount of stress and exhaustion so here are five tips from care.com Wendy Wisner this was just updated so Wendy's like Wendy with yeah these on top of this yeah fake name number one it's not a fake it's a it's too good to be a real name Wendy Wisner she's coming after you know good name I've already gotten bad karma from the weather people don't get Wendy Wisner on my own get her mad at

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the perfect holiday dinner. Pressure for me comes from tradition, says Floyd. Lives far from an extended family and feels that it's entirely up to her to create holiday memories for her boys that are similar to her own. Child yet. Her husband said, Hey, you want to go out to dinner and said he suggested Chinese food. She did not. So. Yeah, I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not

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Are you guys perfectionists? Are you cool? Are you laid back? How are your holiday meals? I guess this is pertaining to meal holiday meals. Meals? We're sticking with the meals right now. Or no just traditions. Out of the gate. Yeah. Like I thought this one I kind of felt like I didn't agree as much with because they're saying like let go a little bit. But for me I think this is what it's all about right? Like it's like this is the tradition and it's not supposed to be easy. It's supposed to be hard. Miserable. That shows the effort that you put in.

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to like get together, make the effort to get together and keep doing the tradition. Yeah. And then prioritizing the family time and that this is, you know, and especially nowadays. So I don't know. I mean, I definitely feel like this will add to your holiday stress, but this is one where I'm like, it's the juice is worth the squeeze, you know, like suck it up and you know, we're gonna do our. We're gonna do it. Our family Christmas. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Two degree, right? Two degrees, so my main thought was

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like sometimes you got to push through with some of these traditions, but definitely distill the ones that like give you to that spark of joy. I'm stealing, what's her name? Condo. Marie Condo. Yeah, she came to Marie Condo. It came to mind like she like this idea that like get rid of anything that doesn't give you a spark of joy. So like I did listen to that book and I was like okay, definitely take the ones that that really truly gave the give you some joy.

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And yeah, but you can filter out maybe the ones that are just... All I'm saying is this is that there's a little bit of, what do you call it, delayed gratification where it doesn't bring you joy even in the moment, but years later, the memories... There's a reason we're doing it, right? Yeah, like, you know, that's gonna pay off someday, you gotta believe. And so I would say muscle through, but yeah, if it's stressing you out, like the article says, you know, chill out. You're so sentimental. I thought too what was really interesting.

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the

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through it, get through the tradition, you know, all the kids, but it is hard, right? Like when you're cooking and you know, blah, blah, blah. Sure. And it's a typical... Card's not bad. Yeah. No, right. How you handle hard is a thing. But yeah, you see this, right? Because you're comparing and you run into like every conversation, you're comparing yourself to social media. Yeah. Oh my gosh, you see the table that, you know, Kylie Jenner had and her blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Or in our world, there's this, I'm not going to name names, but people go...

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over board on the elf on a shelf. And they're constantly showing these massively like creative detail. CGI in there. Yeah. Everything. I was like, what the heck? Come on, man. Like, let's get real here. It's in social media can create a great deal of stress for parents, particularly during the holidays, significantly reduce or avoid it so you are not pressured to purchase items or mimic scenarios that feel good or feel bad because you can't buy or do particular things, she says. All right.

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Kind of wrapping back around to yours, this topic on the CARE article is pressure to recreate the magic of our childhoods. Like many parents, the other cook of mom wants to create holiday magic that she remembers. I tried hard to rekindle these feelings. The holidays used to stern me. Unfortunately, the reality of making magic isn't that simple.

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Right. But I do. I feel like there's an homage to tradition as much as we had in our family. Like we eat certain things on the day and we bring out certain flatware and silverware and we have a time meal. And then this person comes over. We go to that person's house. Is it. But I think that you've got to make it your own too. Right. Like, yeah, I think that recreating your own. It evolves. Yeah. Yeah. But it evolves. I like that. But yeah, we got to add to it. Got to muscle through it. You still got to muscle through it.

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It's about togetherness in the end. And I think we talked about this in the last pod, is just creating that home should be the safe, the haven for the family. And those type of things are about togetherness and that kind of catalyzes safety. You know what I mean? These things are about, you don't do traditions alone, you do them together. And so those are these together moments that are rare. So maybe that's part of that pie.

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And you know on our last episode we spoke a lot about tradition and this kind of plays into that as well tradition can be a very powerful driver at the holidays and Can sometimes though make fun seem like a duty, but it's a good idea to listen to that feeling and just kind of I Think they're saying here and basically go with the flow There's like a seasonality to it where I feel like there's like an ex like you are saying Since we don't really have the changing of the seasons out here But it's like there's these rituals that we come to expect

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like, oh, like we're gonna go trick or treating and decorate the house and then we're gonna go into Thanksgiving and for Easter egg, we do the Easter egg hunt and all this. And it's just like, it just kind of reminds us of the passing of time and helps us take a beat, I guess. Yeah, and in my case, now I really geek out. I can't wait till September 1st. I can't wait till- Like something to look forward to. Yeah, fall decorations, Halloween,

33:23
And I mean we have a generational situation here we do Sinterklaas and so you know we definitely are doing all the things Yeah, yeah, absolutely Yeah, we mimic them to the to the tea I'd say of what was done in the Dirksen household right like for example Yes, yes actually giving presents at Christmas time generally

33:51
Some people do, but most people do it as Sinterklaas. But it's not like the American Christmas. Yeah, yeah, ours is pretty extreme. The American Christmas, actually, it's more of a...

34:07
valuable presents and the Dutch Santa Claus is more the teasing type of present, the small things and they wrap things which are not actually very valuable and they're joking, they're making poems about it, so it's more... Not so materialistic. No, yeah, it's less materialistic. So actually America smashed together Santa Claus and Jesus' birthday.

34:37
and it's put into Santa Claus and Jesus' birth. Think about it. What do they have to do with each other? Really, nothing. So we smash together Santa Claus and Christ's birth.

34:49
Can I throw a third one in there go on I was born on December 20th? Oh well bummer so cool We call it Mike Mike interclus No, I always joke with my kids. I'm like you know first. It's me and then Jesus like it's pretty cool company Yeah, we're like the last two like big boys of the year then we move on to the new year Me and Jesus no, but thank you for that. I mean I agree

35:19
We do go overboard on the consumerism front on the materialistic front, but you know, I Do think there's a lot more heartfelt smaller items because we have dear friend our best friends are from Sweden It's the same type of situation It's a good segue to the next point

35:36
Well, funny, you should point my way because the next point is we could do that since we're closer together now. Good segue financial stress. The holidays are supposed to be a time for appreciating loved ones and showing them how much we care. Instead, the media bombards us with messages saying the best way to express love is to shell out big bucks on material possessions. Far too often, all this translated into buying, striving and gifts for everyone in our lives, whether we can afford them or not. During the holiday season,

36:06
financial stresses offer the number one stressor and it's not just presents for kids. It's gifts that you're expected to buy for coworkers, teachers, extended family and more stream around of money stress. Yeah, I see that because you know in my

36:22
Well, you know, like you have a credit card that's just for Christmas. Right. Well, I used to. Man, just I used to. I used to get laughed at by the Dutch guy. No, but it's not like it's not a $20,000 limit here. We're talking like it's just there. If you get isolated, huh? You keep it isolated. So you know. Yeah. Well, it's reserved for other things. But it is my that's the card that I would if I go over over my own personal budget. I think it's really big.

36:52
way too big on presents. And luckily I had, you know, I married someone who had a much more modest approach to the gift side. And so we were able to damp it early, like put the brakes on, like almost like pulling the horse reins, like, oh my gosh, we can't keep up with what I did growing up. My parents, just they loved it. They loved the Christmas presents, you know, to stacked up around to the ceiling, you know, covering the windows. And it was, but it was for them because that was kind of

37:22
It wasn't necessarily wanted to see the joy. They love that. That's like kind of how they did it. But like we can't keep up with that. So like I think it's really important. My teaching point would be like get on it early and set the standard for what is joyous, you know, and what and also I know it's coming up. I'm cutting corners here, but experience. We've been concentrating on giving them gifts that are like horse riding. We're going to go to this theme park, whatever. You know, so like giving an experiential gifts.

37:52
happy and it's not a bunch of plastic crap. Oh no I agree the the the funnest little things around the American Christmas anyway is the white elephant yeah and just the five dollar ten dollar trade gift regift kind of thing that's the fun right and that's four hours of fun and laughter and memories and then you know. You set that standard early though with like like oh we got to get them ten gifts each then you got to do it or you feel like right then they're

38:22
Yeah, yeah, yeah, or they don't value what they're getting because it just bounce around until they run out of adrenaline and endorphins Batteries and then yeah, and well indoor batteries But I got it laughed at so I'm excited about that that's movement in my recovery We get we get laughed at a lot Americans that are consumerism. Oh for sure our Dutch fans are you know?

38:52
says try the four gift rule. Carter uses a four gift rule to focus on meaningful gift giving and keep spending under control for her family. Instead of receiving limitless pile of presents, each child gets four simple gifts, something you want, something you need, something to wear, and something to read. Geez, that's a lot of gifts. That's also good. It's like one of those, man. Something you want, that's enough, isn't it? Wow. I don't know. Yeah, we don't totally know where.

39:22
the

39:52
this year. Yeah just for you. Yeah. One chocolate a day. I'm always jealous every day. I'm like oh. Well here's her second advice on that just to finish it up. Give experiences instead of things. Now we do a lot of that. Yeah. But she says community parties, free days at museums, and things that are always free. Walk in the snow are really good options. If you're looking to make these free options feel more gifty, make a coupon book of experiences for your loved ones to choose

40:22
We all did the one free back massage. Get redeemed. They don't get redeemed. Love this. One free groom cleaning. That's the best. Never get it. I'm going to cash them in, man. Mike, my little girl had, I think in first grade, she gave me one, says, I'll clean the room for eternity. And I'd, eternity. And I still have it up on our kitchen wall. Frame that. Yeah. It's, but it doesn't really happen. It's funny. Anyway. It's a QR code or something. So again, for number four, keeping up with the Joneses. Mm-hmm.

40:52
I don't know. It's common. Why isn't it the Winters or the Browns or the Chives? Jones is a very common American name. If you spend time on Instagram or Facebook, it might seem that every parent beside you is able to do it all and do it well. Clark can relate, especially during the Halloween costume frenzy. I'm just not that crafty Pinterest mom and it makes me stressed and down on myself, she says. Shares that often, dresses her kids in store-bought costumes. I don't know why we went back to Halloween. But basically, it's talking about avoiding the comparison trap.

41:22
So if the family next door's a little girl gets this, and they're good friends, and your girl wanted that, it's trying to avoid that comparison trap.

41:30
Ben, you looked like you were ready to launch into a diatribe. I was. I was, but it's just like, I mean, that's never been a struggle for me because I find it pathetic leaving that mindset. So I mean, I mean, I mean, really? People try to keep up with someone else. No, no, it's just, you know. I love you. Love you. I never looked at someone as pathetic. I just thought, that's not my cup of tea. I think there's two ways of phrasing it. You wiggling. You pathetic worm. I was about to be quiet.

42:00
You you you resurrected my thoughts. Oh Friends making Pinterest where the cookies might impress some other parents Maybe the kids would actually have more fun squirting icing and spring, you know, we're in the same camp on this All right number five jam-packed schedules. It's the last one actually. Yeah You say yeah Yes, somewhere to be During the holiday season families are offered grappling with issues of being spread to

42:30
in families do too much to try and pack a holiday schedule too tightly with activities she had yeah the reasons parents feel compelled to pack it all in sometimes you can be desire to please everyone even though it's unrealistic to do so other times it's just a result of adding whatever without eliminating anything

42:50
I actually have to say we're fairly even. Yeah, but you guys are good at that in general. You know, we don't pack them too much. We do too much. Yeah. Yeah, we do too much. But yeah, it does. That can that that's the biggest stressor, you know, like because we got like I said, we got such a clause and my daughter's birthday at the same time. And then when's her birthday? Twenty fifth of November. So Thanksgiving, daughter's birthday, such a clause and then Christmas. So it gets to be way too much. But I think the secret there is just like

43:20
One day at a time. Well, just do what you can. And like, I don't know. Not just pack it in. Oh, you just go for it out? Yeah, because you're going to have some days off, some vacation time to recuperate. So you might as well put in the effort and just grind it out. Here we go. He's grinding. We got a grinder here. Because we got like my in-laws family, so we want to have a Christmas dinner with them. So then we have to do the same. But is it fun? I think the point is, where's that point where it's not fun? It doesn't have to be fun. You're making the memory.

43:50
That's the valuable thing and we can sit there and watch football and the parade and the kids are on their phone But we're gonna sit in the room Grind it out man. We like the article even says like we only have a handful of yeah Christmas is like it's a finite number So don't get sad on me now Maybe one of our grandparents when we get to chill right pop Like you just that's when you get to observe and just maybe never get to chill right? I look at it

44:19
Like anything. I put a carrot at the end, and I know I'm going to get to that carrot eventually.

44:29
So like, if I have a really big, say I have a really big job in life going on, a work, a project. I'm like, all right, on Sunday night, all this anxiety and stress is going to be gone, and I'm going to have a big glob of wine in my hand. Yeah. So I start imagining what that's going to look like, taste like, what might, what the warmth of my cozy sweatpants are going to be, what I'm going to be watching. There you go. You know, but it's the same thing with like these really busy months. I'm like, okay, well, it's only a day. And then you take the next day.

44:59
than you take the next day. But again, we're pretty chill. Life is chill. Our New Year's is chill, our Thanksgiving. This one's a little more chaotic. We're actually flying across country for the first time. But anyway, so her advice is taking care of yourself is the bottom line here. How does self care always sneak itself into our podcast? I think it's importante. Okay.

45:24
I guess if you're not happy, the family's not gonna be happy. Right. Right, and who wants a grumpy present wrapper or turkey cutter or New Year's Eve popper? Popper. Popper, popper? Popper, popper. Bottom line, survive the holidays, obviously, again, says take care of yourself. Besides becoming more self-aware of your holiday stress triggers, perhaps the most important and often neglected way to avoid burnout is prioritizing self-care.

45:53
It's a lot of rain and we're about to get lightning So care parents around the holidays might look like you meditating asking for help or making sure to eat well and exercise Take time for yourself. So that's it. That's it from care comm We didn't have time to get to this seven holiday tips for parents, but we'll get into that one next time Coming up next the quiz of a lifetime

46:23
Paracrys! Crys, crys, crys, crys, crys.

46:28
All right, we're back. This is the storm has passed. Do do do do do do do. Like, man, that was. Who are you? We are taking one for the team tonight, listeners. We are just four men huddled under an umbrella in a downpour. Yeah, that was crazy. Equipment's out and all. I like that you took your jacket off. I know, that was weird. When it started raining hard. I'm not getting electrocuted. I had to see the equipment. Oh, is that right? Yeah, yeah. You took it over the gear. Equipment first, family second. All right, so we'll kind of have a two-parter Christmas

46:58
This will be a holiday ish episode and then next one will actually have Christmas But we can kick it in with a little Christmas tree because trivia is always fun There are 10 questions from crafty lap everybody can play along. It's pretty multiple choice oriented And the winner will take home Hmm. Let's see. So rest of that candle and no no no I have some lovely bath and body works lotion that my wife left over from an event So we'll we'll give that to you on the way out. The rain has now subsided

47:28
was Chris. Oh, by the way, the drink came in while we were under our weather watch. Doppler. Doppler. It was a pomegranate mule is what was what was enjoyed this evening courtesy of the lovely JVK. Alright, so number one in the song Jingle Bell Rock, where are they dancing and prancing? In the song Jingle Bell Rock, is it

47:58
I think I already answered that.

48:02
Jingle Bell Square. Jingle Bell Square? You said Jingle Bell Square. Everybody say Jingle Bell Square. Of course. Correct answer is Jingle Bell Square. Nice. A lot of people found that funny. All right. Number two. What do mean what do the mean girls what's my kid's favorite movie right now? What do the mean girls cast sing at the Christmas talent show? What do the mean girls have seen it? Is it Santa Claus is coming to town? No. Jingle Bells or Jingle Bell Rock.

48:32
This is Rock. I didn't watch the movie. Go on. OK, well, it is that. I'll pay now. It's a classic. Chris is correct. Jingle Bell Rock. All right.

48:45
Good job Chris that scores one to one who wrote the classic Christmas Carol Feliz Navidad Is it Luis Fonzie Juan Gabriel or Jose Feliciano? It's Juan Gabriel No, the first one is not that's the guy that sings the Luis Fonzie Juan Gabriel or Jose Feliciano It's the second way the third one just because it's cool

49:15
know this but the correct answer is Jose Feliciano. The legendary Jose Feliciano. We can actually keep score without Mark like rubbing it in my face. Cheating and rubbing it in my face. He does google things. Alright question four. If you didn't know the last one you'll never know this one. Fill in the blank. A Bad Mom's Christmas stars Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell and...

49:43
Tina Fey, Katherine Hahn or.

49:46
Anna Ferris pretty obscure Christmas. I'm giving you multiple choices. You know, the way that works is that you have a one in three chance I want to get a correct bro. Leslie Jones. I'm gonna say Tina Kristen Bell Mila Kunis and who starred in a bad Christmas Christmas I don't know some either Tina say rebound both of you are in ring. Correct is Katherine Hahn Katherine Hahn don't need to know. All right, this should be a no-brainer, but

50:16
I'm not sure. I'm not sure.

50:24
Oh, yeah. Wham. Was it Wham, Simon and Garfunkel or the Proclaimers? Wham. George Michael. It's my children's favorite Christmas song. Really? Well, it's in the top three. Yes, it is George Michael and Wham. Which artist recorded the hit Blue Christmas in 1964? Elvis Presley. Oh yeah. Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley or Marvin Gaye. You right, you right. Marvin Gaye. Elvis.

50:52
The correct answer obviously is Elvis Presley. Oh, I hit the laughter button by mistake. Elvis was funny as well, starring in several movies, including The Amazing Blue Hawaii. What is another common name for Secret Santa? Chris Kringle, Saint Nick, or Father Christmas?

51:17
What do you know this right? What is another common name for secret Santa? Santa's crinkle number one Chris Kringle is correct. We're going on to number eight a yule log or boucher de noel is a type typical Christmas dessert in which region you'll log north america western europe or australians gold coast Western europe let's say western europe number two western europe is correct Pitching talk is speculating the spring cores are on again. Yeah, it'll pass question nine

51:47
Italian dessert at Christmas. Pandoro, Cristolan, or Buenelos? The second one? Buenelos. Or Buenelos. Is that right? The second one, Cristolo. Cristolan, Pandoro? I'm going to say the first one. Oh, oh, oh. Penatone. That's Italian. Well, if that was a choice, I would give it to you. But I think the P is all we need out of that. Yes, yes. Number one, Penatolo is right. Penatolo. Penatola. Okay. Number ten.

52:17
does the holiday, which country does the holiday drink Coquito originate from? Brazil. Coquito. Brazil. Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic or Costa Rica? I'm gonna say Costa Rica. I'm gonna say the DR. You're gonna say it but did you say it? I did. Dominican Republic. Both of you are incorrect. It is Puerto Rico. We have a tie on this one and an international guest obviously wins all trivia games.

52:47
the

53:13
Come on, you're here, you're there, you're there, you're there, you're there. Bang, right there. Tee'd up for ya.

53:20
What's with you today? Come on, come on, Wolfie. Alright, ready? Yeah, sure. Well, I already hit it. Alright, it's time for things that make us smile. Our very first international guest makes me smile right off the bat, but I'll let you have that limelight. I said earlier in the show, I was very excited about the performance because I love seeing kids just so bright and so fun and so energetic. We're just having a really good run.

53:50
But I'm very grateful for my family. And we all will take a lot of this in and kind of absorb it. But you know, this is a great time of year as well. And all of that makes me smile. Plus, being involved in something bigger than ourselves, which is the toy drive this year, will also make me smile. That's all the tourism there. All right. Man, I would say I'm really excited about my daughter coming home for Thanksgiving. As you should be. Man, next week she's going to be home, actually, on Tuesday. And she wants to come to work with me.

54:19
while she has the week off. So hold on. She's coming home. That's a great sign already. That means you did it. Your kids coming home when they don't have to. Oh, yeah. But that's true. That's like the goal in life that when they start when they come home when they don't have to. Well, I'm excited about that. That's one of my it is the turkey for the turkey. Turkey is not the best meat. They ruined it for me now. I just posted this meme today. If your kids grow up and want to hang out with you. Yeah.

54:47
would you say then you have won the parenting jackpot yeah she wants to hang out so hey i feel like i'm a winner uh... and then my younger kid played in this veterans golf tournament to be honest with our local course where of course we're going to do it in support the thing is we woke up and she paired up with the uh... that an actual veteran in the had a tournament where every look you know kid plays with the veteran and uh...

55:16
But he was a Pete Sampras. No like a veteran army and military. Oh a veteran vet Oh, I thought you meant like a veteran athlete. No, no, these are disabled for on Veterans Day for the veterans day Sorry, I missed the whole first half that conversation. So, you know, we did it but then like, um Doing it she ended up talking with the the spores in the whole round and ended up like like really kind of appreciating it and at the end they asked to pass the mic around and she got up and spoke and was like gave this really moving speech about like

55:46
not wanting you know like not ever appreciating it and now how this way opened her eyes up to the like you know the sacrifice and all this stuff that the veterans made and she really awesome came home watch saving private Ryan and all that so it was a really proud moment for me and then um the last one is the Roomba. Gosh are you guys it's a robot vacuum man. Radar. It works really good. It's like a text in the boost. Very interesting right? It's making me smile.

56:16
Well, I guess it's pretty it made me smile when I told my father-in-law tonight that we've been doing a podcast for four years He's like, oh really? So he found out about tonight and here he is so that was kind of funny Trying to describe that in Dutch. It's like what do you mean? You do. Yeah. So anyway, that was funny And so just having our little house full with grandparents and it's the swirl and the noise and the mess and then that's it's it's it's hell

56:46
at the same time. And just, you know, rain, man. Love rain. The cleansing, you know, you guys know that about me, I guess. I'm trying to hold back the giggles. Like drinking a fresh orange juice in the rain. It's my favorite. No, I sitting with coffee on the porch with a rain in the morning. My Lord, that's just like that's that's what I wait for. So that made me smile. Did that. I think that's fantastic. You didn't even mention your guests.

57:16
What do you mean I didn't mention him? I just said... Well, you didn't actually say he makes me smile. Oh, yeah, so again, my father-in-law's here. If you didn't know me, I'm not filtering anything. He already knows it all, 20 years together. But, yeah, it's just great. I just said it's great to have them in the house. Did you not hear that? Yeah, I think the rain's really thrown me off for the sake of it. I apologize. I keep wondering if I hear thunder.

57:46
smile? Yes, I would love that. We'd be honored. Well, actually it's only since four years that we are back in the United States. This is the second day we're around here and I have been smiling for two days now. Oh, that's lovely. He's the most positive and happy person I know so yeah, take

58:16
spirit to have around. Well, we welcome you. We hope you have a wonderful, wonderful holiday. Thank you for being on the show and thank you for hanging out with us during the weirdest show we've ever had. That was awesome. During the thunder slap. Chris is in the weirdest mood he's ever been in. No offense, Mark. That's a good point. All right. Well, we are the DadTimeOutShow. You can always find us just at the end, www.DadTimeOutShow.com. We

58:46
happy with show notes and all that good stuff. So if you want to subscribe to that, just throw your email in a little box. That's how it works. But we're going to have a big show coming up next. So I look forward to seeing you on the flip side of that. Toy Drive info will be online and all the good stuff. Thank you guys for being here. Have a great night. Stay dry wherever you are in the country. And have a wonderful holiday, whether you listen to us or not. Well, if they didn't listen to us. But if they do listen to us, we're specialists. A feta's day.

59:16
Dad Time Out Show, and we're out of here. Goodbye. Thanks for listening to the Dad Time Out Show. We're out of here. We've been listening to you talk for an hour. Ha ha ha. My turn. Hey, everybody. Thanks for listening to our Time Out Show. And we're out of here.

59:44
I'm out.

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