Podcasts about christmases

Fluent Fiction - Italian: Echoes of Christmas Past: A Spirited Quest for Survival Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/it/episode/2026-06-27-22-34-01-it Story Transcript:It: La neve cadeva leggera sul tetto della stazione deserta.En: The snow fell lightly on the roof of the deserted station.It: Le decorazioni natalizie anni '80 pendevano storte dalle pareti scrostate.En: The 1980s Christmas decorations hung crookedly from the peeling walls.It: Giovanni, Luca e Alessandra avanzavano cauti tra detriti e il gelo paralizzante.En: Giovanni, Luca, and Alessandra moved cautiously among the debris and paralyzing cold.It: Il treno non arrivava ormai da anni, e gli unici suoni erano il fruscio del vento e lo scricchiolio sotto i loro passi.En: The train hadn't arrived for years, and the only sounds were the rustling of the wind and the crunching beneath their feet.It: Giovanni osservava i resti di un vecchio cartellone pubblicitario, i colori sbiaditi, e ricordava il Natale di quando era bambino.En: Giovanni observed the remnants of an old billboard, with its faded colors, remembering Christmas from his childhood.It: I ricordi di una vita passata lo accompagnavano mentre guidava il piccolo gruppo in cerca di risorse.En: The memories of a past life accompanied him as he led the small group in search of resources.It: Aveva sentito parlare di un deposito segreto sulla parte alta della stazione.En: He had heard about a secret stash on the upper part of the station.It: Era pericoloso, ma Giovanni era determinato.En: It was dangerous, but Giovanni was determined.It: "Saliamo," disse Giovanni, indicando le scale polverose.En: "Let's go up," said Giovanni, pointing to the dusty stairs.It: Alessandra lo guardò con preoccupazione, ma lui le sorrise rassicurante.En: Alessandra looked at him with concern, but he gave her a reassuring smile.It: "Dobbiamo provarci.En: "We have to try.It: Ci servirà tutto ciò che possiamo trovare."En: We'll need everything we can find."It: Le scale cigolarono sotto il loro peso, amplificando la tensione nell'aria.En: The stairs creaked under their weight, amplifying the tension in the air.It: Luca, sempre pronto a sdrammatizzare, scherzò su un "fantasma di Natale passato," cercando di alleggerire l'atmosfera.En: Luca, always ready to lighten the mood, joked about a "ghost of Christmas past," trying to ease the atmosphere.It: Ma tutti sapevano, ridendo a bassa voce per non attirare attenzioni indesiderate, che il vero pericolo era davanti a loro.En: But everyone knew, laughing quietly to avoid attracting unwanted attention, that the real danger lay ahead of them.It: Arrivati ai livelli superiori, la stazione rivelò lo scaffale nascosto.En: Upon reaching the upper levels, the station revealed the hidden shelf.It: Giovanni intravide una cassaforte dietro un vecchio quadro.En: Giovanni caught sight of a safe behind an old painting.It: Con mani esperte, forzò il lucchetto.En: With expert hands, he forced the lock.It: All'interno trovò dell'acqua, cibo in scatola, e una cosa che lo fece fermare: una fotografia della sua famiglia.En: Inside, he found water, canned food, and one thing that made him pause: a photograph of his family.It: In quel momento, dalle ombre comparvero i predatori, famelici e ostili.En: At that moment, from the shadows appeared the predators, famished and hostile.It: Giovanni non perse un attimo; passò le scatolette a Luca, gridando ad Alessandra di correre.En: Giovanni didn't waste a second; he passed the cans to Luca, shouting at Alessandra to run.It: Con coraggio incredibile, affrontò i nemici.En: With incredible courage, he faced the enemies.It: I tre fuggirono, sentendo i ruggiti e i passi veloci dietro di loro.En: The three fled, hearing the roars and fast footsteps behind them.It: Con un ultimo balzo, il gruppo uscì dalla stazione.En: With one last leap, the group exited the station.It: Al sicuro, Giovanni si accasciò a terra, respirando affannosamente.En: Safe, Giovanni collapsed to the ground, breathing heavily.It: Tra le mani stringeva la foto, un collegamento tangibile con il passato.En: In his hands, he clutched the photo, a tangible link to the past.It: Guardò i volti sorridenti ricordando cosa stava davvero contando.En: He looked at the smiling faces, remembering what truly mattered.It: "Ce l'abbiamo fatta," disse Luca, battendo Giovanni sulla spalla.En: "We made it," said Luca, patting Giovanni on the shoulder.It: Alessandra annuiva, mentre le loro voci si perdevano nel vento.En: Alessandra nodded, while their voices got lost in the wind.It: Sotto il cielo invernale, con una nuova speranza nel cuore, Giovanni sapeva che, nonostante il mondo fosse cambiato, il suo legame con il passato lo avrebbe guidato nel futuro.En: Under the winter sky, with new hope in their hearts, Giovanni knew that, despite the world having changed, his connection to the past would guide him into the future.It: E, in mezzo al gelo, sentiva il calore dei Natali di un tempo.En: And, amid the cold, he felt the warmth of Christmases past. Vocabulary Words:the roof: il tettodeserted: desertathe debris: i detritiparalyzing: paralizzanterustling: il frusciothe crunching: lo scricchioliothe remnants: i restifaded: sbiaditithe billboard: il cartellonethe resources: le risorsethe stash: il depositoreassuring: rassicuranteto creak: cigolarethe tension: la tensionethe ghost: il fantasmathe atmosphere: l'atmosferato lighten: alleggerirethe shelf: lo scaffalethe lock: il lucchettothe predators: i predatorifamished: famelicihostile: ostilithe enemies: i nemicito shout: gridarethe courage: il coraggiothe roar: i ruggitito flee: fuggireto collapse: accasciarsito breathe heavily: respirare affannosamentethe warmth: il calore

2026 Show Notes Addendum: As we prepare what is slated to become our final ever installment of Nerd Noise Radio - Channel F, I felt it apropos - poetic, even, to make this month's rerun be of our very first ever installment.   As always, please keep in mind how much worse my production quality was all the way back in late 2017 than it is today (both in terms of tools and techniques), and give all that a little grace. A snapshot of a moment in time. However, as you'll see from the even earlier late 2016 rebroadcast included in this transmission, even with as bad as late 2017 production was, it was already much improved over where I had gotten my start about a year earlier. Now, please, enjoy this maiden voyage of our betas and bonuses outlet - including, not one, but BOTH of the two most important, transformative, meaningful, and cherished Christmas memories of my life!   -------------------------- original show notes -------------------------- Tales of the glories of Christmases long long ago.......and tales of the glories of an all-new Channel from the Nerd Noise Radio Network - plus a certain special "re-run" embedded at the end! Merry Christmas (etc), Noisers!!! p.s. First Appearance of the new Nerd Noise Radio logo and background design scheme for 2018. I hope you like it! It's purposely lo-fi, but hope that comes off in the good way, rather than the bad way. Also, as a fledgling (and I mean SUUUUUUPER fledgling) student of Japanese, I just couldn't resist. ;-)

Listen to today's podcast... I found it very hard and often stressful staying connected to family and friends.  Our lives were too busy and setting up time to connect seemed like a major exercise in the calendar shuffle. It wasn't that I didn't want to visit with them, it was just that there never seemed to be enough time to do it all. Now we are physically distancing and I would so love to be visiting, even though I am still just as busy. I loved visiting my grandma, especially when we would just sit and play cards for a while.  I can still remember the family reunions at the local community center with everyone sitting out on the grass, playing baseball and eating all that amazing food that was set out on the picnic tables, or our Christmases where Santa would come to surprise everyone with a gift or two. Take One Action Today To Build Your #Resiliency!      Here are today's Tips For Building Resiliency and Celebrating Visit Your Relatives Day: Family and friends can provide the support system needed to get us through these hardest of times. Visit Your Relatives Day was intended to give us the opportunity to get closer to our relatives, stay connected to family and friends, and to strengthen family ties and relationships. It is still a good day to consider how you are keeping these special connections strong during this time. Even though you can't go and visit them, research suggests that even just viewing photos of family members prompts brain activity that can positively affect how you feel about them and even yourself. Remember, If you like the tips in this briefing, please leave me a review on amazon or in your #alexa app. Don't forget that you can find more tips for coping with mental health issues, by checking out my Live Smart blog at worksmartlivesmart.com #mentalhealth #hr

How to Complain to the Lord by Autumn Dickson In Numbers 11, we read about the Israelites getting sick of their miracle, namely the manna in the wilderness which fed them. They remembered all the good food they used to eat in Egypt, and they were mad about eating the same thing for every meal. Numbers 11:10 Then Moses heard the people weep throughout their families, every man in the door of his tent: and the anger of the Lord was kindled greatly; Moses also was displeased. Moses gets so sick of the Israelites complaining that he asks the Lord to kill him rather than having to deal with them anymore (same, Moses, same). The Lord responds by sending too much meat until they get sick of it. I want to share my own story, and then I'll bring it back to the Israelites. My daughter was baptized in December. It was beautiful. A lot of my family was in town for the wedding and so they got to be there which was magical for me; it also actually complicated things. The week before the baptism and wedding, the stomach flu went through our house. I rejoiced that we got over it in time for my family to come into town because I don't get to see my family that often, and I adore being around my family. Unfortunately, the day before the baptism, one of my babies started throwing up again. I was actually rather devastated. I hadn't realized how much excitement I had placed on being with my family and having everyone with us for this huge step in my daughter's life until it was potentially getting taken away from me. I pleaded with the Lord for it to be a fluke, that she would just throw up once and go a full 24 hours without throwing up again before the baptism. Unfortunately, this miracle was not to be. She threw up again the morning of the baptism. I texted the family and warned them all that I was still going to my daughter's baptism and that the baby would be there because I had no one else to watch her. I told them I understood if anyone was too afraid to come because everyone was traveling for Christmas (some on international flights), and there were some pregnant women and other little children. We had some immunocompromised family members. There were many reasons to stay away. And then I knelt down. I told the Lord that I accepted what He chose to give and withhold, and I worked really hard to feel that acceptance and not just offer lip service. Heaven knows lip service wasn't going to make me feel any better. And you know what? He blessed me for it. He opened my eyes to see the fact that I was blessed for having a family that I wanted to be around. Not everyone has that. He helped me see that I have an eternity of Christmases to be with family and celebrate. And most importantly, He helped me see that my daughter's baptism wasn't just about that single day. It was about the fact that she was binding herself to her Savior forever. In fact, because of her baptism, I would be able to be with her and the rest of my family for eternity. It was definitely a moment to celebrate. Regardless of the circumstances surrounding it, it would be one of the greatest blessings of her life. Now, my family all came anyway, as did my husband's family who live closer to us. It was perfect and chock full of the spirit and a surprising amount of fun. BUT. If my family had chosen to stay away that day, I would have understood. There were plenty of reasons to bail. I would have been terribly disappointed and sad, but it would have likewise been tempered by the Savior's soft reminders. I've gotten frustrated with the Lord often enough in my life that I've realized it's fruitless. There have been times when I've been filled with anger or sadness or betrayal and turned to the Lord in my immense overwhelm; He has responded by giving me a clearer perspective and teaching me that I can trust Him. So after a million and one experiences with the Lord and His wisdom, I was able to approach Him with a lot more faith this time. Rather than getting angry with the Lord for not preventing the problem, I approached Him with meekness. As with all things in the Lord, I was the one who was blessed. We don't approach the Lord with meekness to placate His ego. We don't approach the Lord with meekness to try and get Him to change His mind. We approach Him with meekness because it blesses US. It allows Him to show us the reality of our situation. The reality of our situation is this: even in the midst of fast and direct trials like Egypt or in the long and arduous and uncomfortable trials of a journey through the wilderness, we have already won! We actually have every reason to be grateful and when we commit to meekness, we have the Lord to help us remember that. Important sidenote: I have learned that meekness can coexist with many different emotions. We often picture a humble, quiet servant who doesn't talk back or ever complain, but I don't think that's the only way to be meek. Even in the midst of anger or frustration or exasperation or devastation or annoyance, we can simultaneously say, “I know Thee, Lord. I know I am in Thy hands, and I know that Thou art doing what's best for me.” You don't have to turn down your emotions in order to successfully approach the Lord. Just simultaneously bring your knowledge that the Lord is watching out for you. Better yet, take those big emotions to the Lord and ask Him to help you see more clearly so that it's not difficult to be meek. When I approached Him in prayer about seeing my family while they were in town, I was bawling. I've definitely approached Him and carried my anger with me. We don't have to seem all pious and restrained. We can simply cling to our testimony that the Lord loves us and wants what's best for us. The truth is, the Lord is often going to do what He's going to do anyway. If the Israelites had simply approached Moses (or approached the Lord, directly) and asked for some dietary variety, maybe the Lord would have sent the right amount of quail rather than sending a difficult lesson alongside it. However, the blessing of meekness is that regardless of what the Lord chose to send, the Israelites could have been happy. We came here to struggle. He can't take that away without simultaneously robbing us of the purpose of the Plan of Salvation (growth), and meekness softens that struggle enough that we can see it more clearly. It enables us to see around it and rejoice anyway. I testify that the Lord has your best interest at heart. I testify that He loves you. I testify that meekness over complaining is a gift that blesses us. It honors Him with the deference He deserves, but even our meekness before Him gives back to us. I testify that trials are gifts, and that the Lord provides. Autumn Dickson was born and raised in a small town in Texas. She served a mission in the Indianapolis Indiana mission. She studied elementary education but has found a particular passion in teaching the gospel. Her desire for her content is to inspire people to feel confident, peaceful, and joyful about their relationship with Jesus Christ and to allow that relationship to touch every aspect of their lives. Autumn was the recipient of FAIR's 2024 John Taylor Defender of the Faith Award. The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Numbers 11–14; 20–24; 27 – Part 2 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

"Have you ever wondered why a penny saved is truly a penny earned—or how a cat could end up in a courtroom over a color TV?"

Content Warning: This episode contains detailed discussions of childhood sexual abuse, domestic violence, physical abuse, substance abuse, and suicide. Listener discretion is strongly advised.In this powerful episode of The Human Experience, host Jennifer Peterkin sits down with Ruth Carroll—a survivor whose story spans decades of unimaginable abuse, yet who now stands as a beacon of hope and resilience.Ruth's story begins in the innocence of childhood, with memories of happy Christmases and playing in the front yard. But at age six, when her parents divorced without explanation, everything changed. Moving in with her grandparents at seven, Ruth entered a world of psychological, physical, and sexual abuse. From there, Ruth's life became a devastating cycle: constant abuse, relocations every six months that prevented her from forming friendships, a near-abduction at 15 that nearly ended in murder, running away at 16 to escape into an 18-year abusive marriage, and even encounters with demonic worship and threats against her life.Yet through it all—through two suicide attempts, years of being told she was worthless, and a nervous system perpetually on high alert—Ruth found unexpected gifts: a calling as an EMT where her trauma became her superpower, the strength to learn karate and car mechanics to prepare her escape, and ultimately, a relationship with God that anchored her healing.Now remarried for the right reasons, a professional photographer, and the author of a memoir, “Held By His Hands”, Ruth shares her story - not for shock value, but to tell even one person: You don't have to live like this. You are not alone. There is a way out.This is a story of survival, resilience, and the evergreen journey to true healing.This episode was recorded in West Chester, Pennsylvania.MEET RUTH CARROLL:From the age of seven to thirty-five, Ruth's life was shaped in shadows—learning how to survive before she ever learned how to feel safe. Ruth walked through years of abuse, silence, and fear, carrying wounds no one could see. She escaped with her life, but I did not escape alone. God met her in the darkest places, lifted her from what tried to destroy her, and taught her heart how to breathe again. What was meant to break her became the soil where faith and healing took root. Ruth's story is one of survival, surrender, and the quiet power of grace.CONNECT WITH RUTH:Purchase Ruth's Memoir - Held By His HandsRuth's FacebookHeld By His Hands FacebookRuth's InstagramKEY TAKEAWAYSAbuse creates distorted normal: When abuse starts in childhood, victims have no baseline for healthy relationships—everything abusive becomes "normal."Abusers isolate their victims: Constant moving, controlling money, disabling cars, and cutting off support systems are all tactics to maintain power.Strangulation is a red flag for lethality: Non-fatal strangulation is one of the strongest predictors that an abuser will eventually kill their victim.Trauma can become a gift in unexpected ways: Ruth's history of trauma gave her unique resilience as an EMT—her different baseline allowed her to help others in crisis.Healing is not linear and takes time: Ruth didn't begin true healing until her 50s, after multiple failed relationships and years of codependency.You don't need to understand everything to escape: Ruth learned karate, car mechanics, and saved money without a clear plan—she just knew she needed skills to survive.Building community is important: The church gave Ruth her first understanding that she was loved and that the abuse wasn't her fault.Children need to be told what's happening: Ruth's parents never explained the divorce—this lack of information left her feeling abandoned and confused for decades.Breaking codependency requires solitude: Ruth needed five years living completely alone before she could enter a healthy relationship.You can break generational cycles: Ruth gave her children the boundaries and values she never received, even though she felt like she was failing them.IF YOU ARE IN CRISIS:National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233National Sexual Assault Hotline: 1-800-656-4673National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988________________________________________________STAY CONNECTEDThe Human Experience Podcast | Instagram | FacebookThe Human Experience Legacies | InstagramConnect with Jennifer on Substack | LinkedInSupport the Podcast

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On this episode I share all manner of enthusiasm about the new year (WHAT IS BETTER THAN A NEW YEAR REALLY THERE IS NOTHING), and Melanie shares all manner of enthusiasm about her extensive house clean-out (WHAT IS BETTER THAN A CLEAN-OUT REALLY THERE IS NOTHING). Of course we recap our respective Christmases and discuss all that we've done (and watched) to celebrate the season. Melanie also offers an alternate calendar theory, and it's her turn for Five Favorites. Happy New Year, everybody! Join Us on Patreon  Our Amazon Shop Show Notes: Little Em's Oyster Bar in San Antonio Biscoff Christmas Crack vibration plate USA pans on Amazon family takes turns raiding grandmother's closet eulogy for Anna's pacifier (also, THIS TURKEY) Stranger Things Actress of a Certain Age by Jeff Hiller Fun for the Whole Family by Jennifer E. Smith The Traitors Shrinking Bridgerton linen cover thick spiral notebook Style Edit root concealer Amazon Essentials crew neck t-shirt baggy wide leg cargo sweatpants Bounce fleece tunic Sponsors: Cash App - download the app and use our referral code, SECURE10, for the offer in this episode Thrive Causemetics - use this link for 20% off your first order Laundry Sauce - use promo code BIGBOO for 20% off

Missin Curfew Episode 445 The Fellas recap the early games of the World Junior Championships and discuss the storylines around Team Canada and Keaton Verhoeff. Buffalo is the hottest team in the NHL since firing Kevyn Adams Who should the Blackhawks take if they get the first overall pick? Is this the year for Jon Cooper to win the Jack Adams? (0:00) Intro (1:00) The Fella's Christmases (16:22) Reactions to the First World Juniors Games (26:35) ECHL Strike (29:58) DraftKings Pick6 Segment (32:26) KITS Dish of the Week: Gavin McKenna (36:36) Labatt Get This Guy A Beer: Buffalo Sabers, McDavid, Conor Garland (48:54) Eagle Four Around the National: Jon Cooper for Jack Adams?, Maple Leafs Coaching (55:21) Macklin Celebrini's Historic Start (58:07) Back Up The Brinks Truck: JJ Moser (1:02:07) Luxury Auto Collection Dog of the Week: Team Canada Working the Red Line (1:06:08) Milk Carton: Marchment Hit on Schaffer  (1:08:41) Jägermeister Iciest Shot: Krill Kaprizov (1:10:40) Miami Winter Classic SAUCE HOCKEY MERCH | https://saucehockey.com/collections/missin-curfew YOUTUBE | www.youtube.com/@MissinCurfew SPOTIFY | https://open.spotify.com/show/4uNgHhgCtt97nMbbHm2Ken APPLE | https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/missin-curfew INSTAGRAM | www.instagram.com/missincurfew TWITTER | www.twitter.com/MissinCurfew TIKTOK | www.tiktok.com/@missincurfewpod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hinch talks about throwing up on airplanes, guys recap their Christmases, then get into what they're looking forward to in 2026.+++Off Track is part of the SiriusXM Sports Podcast Network. If you enjoyed this episode and want to hear more, please give a 5-star rating and leave a review. Subscribe today wherever you stream your podcasts.Want some Off Track swag? Check out our store!Check out our website, www.askofftrack.comSubscribe to our YouTube Channel.Want some advice? Send your questions in for Ask Alex to AskOffTrack@gmail.comFollow us on Twitter at @askofftrack. Or individually at @Hinchtown, @AlexanderRossi, and @TheTimDurham. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

To celebrate the holidays, Believe to See is re-airing episodes from past Christmases. Or should we say from Christmas Past? "Is It a Christmas Movie?" first aired on December 3, 2022.

We hope you all had a great Christmas. This week we discuss our Christmases, buying presents for family, what we got and adding an extra month to the year to get more snow by Christmas.  We talk non spoilers Stranger Things season 5 watching, New Years celebrations and locking cupboards to keep food safe from gremlin children. Noble explains how  Feliz Navidad sounds like the Police nabbed me dad, we discuss other favourite Christmas songs and family xmas traditions. Peroty questions Noble and Nitedemon on what is boxing day? Noble tries to ask some Destiny questions and we get down with the kids playing Fortnite. Two Titans and a Hunter YouTube Channel Two Titans and a Hunter Twitch Two Titans and a Hunter Discord Two Titans and a Hunter - Patreon Two Titans and a Hunter Ko-Fi The100 io – GH/GD/2TAAH Group Email: twotitansandahunter@hotmail.com Two Titans and a Hunter Twitter Two Titans and a Hunter – Facebook Artwork by @Nitedemon Xbox Live: Nitedemon, & Peroty End credits theme song by Elsewhere - YouTube Channel Plus as always, thank you to Alexander at Orange Free Sounds & www.freesound.org for all the sound effects used in our podcast.  Required Stuff: Pluderthabooty - YouTube Channel Destiny 2 - Tier 5 Report Destiny 2 Armor 2.0 Cleaner Destiny 2 - Way Back Machine Link Twitch - GuardianDownBot Raid Checkpoints Twitch - IceBreakerCatty. Engram.Blue Link

KB & DJ are BACK and kick things off recapping their Christmases and having some HYSTERICAL laughs as they always do. Then they recap Week 4 in the NLL and try to figure out what the hell is wrong with the Oshawa FireWolves offense, tell the masses to pump the breaks on Vegas, and an UNREAL goalie fight that broke the internet. Then they preview Week 5 of NLL action that they dub "Rivalry Weekend" and dish out their Picks of the Week. Then they wrap up discussing the latest in PLL Free Agency and the first signings exclusively for the Championship Series. Voicemails: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠speakpipe.com/OTBLaxPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Support our partners!Merch: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Code UNDERGROUND for 10% off at⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠phiapparel.co/shop⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠'47 BrandShop for your favorite sports fan and get FREE SHIPPING on ALL orders with '47 Brand!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠47.sjv.io/e1Nyor⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠PLL App CodeDownload the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠PLL App⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ & redeem code OTBPOD for 500 XP!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠BUFFShop the SURVIVOR 49 Collection!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://buff.sjv.io/yqqVz2⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Get your podcast looking and sounding pristine with Riverside!https://riverside.sjv.io/QjBBVMKenwood BeerVisit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://kenwoodbeer.com/#finder⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to see who has Kenwood on tap! (Must be 21+)Follow Us!TwitterUnderground: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/UndergroundPHI⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠OTB: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/OTBLaxPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠KB: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/KBizzl311⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠DJ: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/Scs_nextgreat⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Hoots: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/HootSportsMedia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/otblaxpod/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/undergroundphi/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠SUBSCRIBE on YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠youtube.com/@UndergroundSportsPhiladelphia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠youtube.com/@OTBLaxPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Intro/Outro Music: Arkells "American Screams"#Lacrosse #NLL #NationalLacrosseLeague #Week5 #GoalieFight #PLLFreeAgency #PremierLacrosseLeague #LacrossePodcast #Subscribe #fyp

At this coldest, darkest time of year, draw near the fire and the radio, join with family and friends, and savor the warmth and joy of good company, good food, and good stories.  Master storyteller Jay O'Callahan shares some tales, including one about his community's tradition of Christmas caroling and how it brought hope to his mother in a time of darkness and for Christmases to come. Also, Tem Blessed, an environmentally and socially-conscious hip-hop artist, discusses how contemporary music can communicate the importance of the environment and sustainability to young audiences.  And Denny Breau, a singer/songwriter from Maine, joins us during these cold winter months to discuss some of the moments that warm his heart. He shares stories about one of his favorite holiday meals, ice-fishing, his Acadian family origins, and traditions of song that span the generations. Happy holidays from all of us at Living on Earth! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Merry Christmas from China Compass! After a few minutes to talk about The Millionaire Missionary's Last Christmas, my wife and youngest daughter join me to (mostly) talk about Christmas overseas, but also hit the following topics (and more)... Eating Chinese fish (or not) Internet Cafes on Christmas Eve Chinese Christian Christmas Talent Show Christmases long ago, including our first in China I'm your China travel guide, Missionary Ben. Follow me on Twitter/X (@chinaadventures) where I present a new Chinese city or county to pray for every day. Also, I’m now set up on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/c/chinacompass), which not only allows for donations, but also lets me sort podcast episodes into various collections, making it easier to find all the episodes on a certain topic or region, like Tibet, North Korea, or Hong Kong. Send any questions or comments to chinacompass@privacyport.com. Everything else can be easily found at PrayGiveGo.us! Now Available on Amazon (+ free PDF): The Millionaire Missionary (BordenofYale.com) The Millionaire Missionary's Last Christmas The Millionaire Missionary, William Borden, of all people(!) could have stayed home an extra week to be with his family (his mother!) for Christmas. But he boarded his ship in New York on December 17th, determined to land in Egypt by New Year’s Day to begin his life overseas. https://chinacall.substack.com/p/a-mothers-final-farewell-part-i https://chinacall.substack.com/p/mothers-final-farewell-part-ii Kevin Belmonte’s biography of William Borden, Beacon-Light, which mostly borrows from early Borden biographies by close friends, as well as Mary Taylor’s Borden of Yale (the unabridged version of The Millionaire Missionary), provides a few more details from the trip (pgs 227-230). Christmas for Missionaries https://mailchi.mp/radiusinternational/was-the-great-commission-only-for-the-original-apostles-9217919?e=baba53761c As an adult, I’ve spent far more Christmases overseas than at home. Looking back, there is some sadness in what I missed, especially with loved ones who have since passed away. But there are no true regrets. And there are many happy memories, especially when God provided for loved ones to visit us and spend Christmas (or Thanksgiving) with us on the mission field! Thank you for listening! Subscribe and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform! Don’t forget to follow me on X (@chinaadventures) or email chinacompass@privacyport.com with any questions or comments. Also, I've finally set up Patreon, but my favorite thing isn't the (potential) support. There’s also a Paypal link at PrayforChina.us if you’d like to give to our China ministry. Last but not least, for (almost) everything else we’re doing visit PrayGiveGo.us. Luke 10, vs 2: the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few, therefore ask the Lord for more. Talk again soon!

It's Christmas time in the UK. And like with celebrations around the world, people have lots of traditions that they do every year, and memories about Christmas from their childhood. But were the Christmases of the past as magical as we remember? Neil and Beth discuss a strange emotion we can feel at Christmas called nostalgia.Find a full transcript, worksheet and interactive quiz for this episode at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/6-minute-english_2025/ep-251225The Reading Room - improve your reading skills here: ✔️https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/features/the_reading_roomSUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER: ✔️ https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/newslettersFIND BBC LEARNING ENGLISH HERE: Visit our website ✔️ https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish Follow us ✔️ https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/followusLIKE PODCASTS? Try some of our other popular podcasts including: ✔️ Learning English Grammar ✔️ Learning English from the News ✔️ Learning English for WorkThey're all available by searching in your podcast app.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the Dental A-Team! Kiera encourages listeners to acknowledge and celebrate the people in their lives in real time. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript:   The Dental A Team (00:01) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and Merry Christmas. I hope that you guys are so happy and I don't know, I feel so honored that you're sharing Christmas Day with me. I hope that you unwrapped your packages. I hope that you were able to give amazing gifts. I hope that you were not naughty this year and you were nice. I hope that like, my gosh, like I just wish that I was with you like walking down the stairs to your Christmas morning. I hope that you were with your friends, your family. And if you don't celebrate Christmas, I hope that you woke up today just feeling the special magic.   of this time of year of anticipating our next year. And I just hope that you're surrounded by friends and family and that you just feel love. I hope you feel love for yourself and just Merry Christmas. I am so, I love this time of year. I love this holiday and I did not used to love this holiday. It was my favorite growing up. And then there was a short stint of time where I hated it. Like no Christmas music, no things. I don't even know how that was possible because I was Mrs. Claus.   I worked for United Way of Utah County and I was Mrs. Claus for the year and we did Sub for Santa. And that was a year I realized that there is truly magic in our communities and in us serving each other. And gosh, I just like, I remember growing up like, yes, I loved presents and I love those things, but a lot of times it was just like my family being together and little things. And like in my family, had, when I was really, really little, we had these like dollars. don't know, they were called like.   I to say scholar dollars, but that wasn't right. They were these like little dollars that my mom gave us. And it was like little things that we did that were kind gestures to our siblings, like helping each other out. My family was lawn mowing business. And so we'd help each other with that. And growing up and getting older, I think, well, yes, it's so fun to have gifts for my siblings. The real gift that I look forward to, and I'm sure a lot of you can relate to this is   being with these people, being able to be present with them, being able to share special moments, to be able to share magic with them, that's what makes holidays magical. ⁓ And when I think about like this time of year, giving's not just about gifts, it's about like our presence. So not present, but presence, our impact, and how we're able to like show up for our families and for our teams and our practices. And so when I look at this, I just really think about like,   in the spirit of Christmas, the spirit of giving, in the spirit of that, like leadership and team culture are so important of gifts that you can give your team. And this is what can help you guys thrive. So of course, it's the holidays. I'll make this short and sweet for you ⁓ because I really want you to think about like when we're looking at our families and we're looking at today, being present with our family.   is one of the greatest gifts that we can give them. think of how many times are we scrolling on social media? How many times are we not present? I even think about me and Jason, like we're hanging out together and we are both knee deep in our phones. And I look up and like 45 minutes have passed by and I've been sitting by the person that I absolutely love. And the world is so obnoxiously annoying on asking for our time, asking for our attention. And I think that that's why we get so excited about holidays is we actually have this like   Dedicated shutoff time where we can be with our families and holidays sometimes actually bring out the worst in us I know two Christmases ago It was absolutely one of the worst days and I felt so annoyed because I had to slow down and I couldn't go anywhere and I couldn't call anybody because people with their families and I felt stuck and I felt trapped and I was like this is not a good thing Kiera you clearly are operating at such a high velocity all the time that you slowing down was actually one of your worst days and so I think when I look at like being present in life   I think being present for my team. How many times is my team talking to me and I'm slacking or I'm sending an email off or I'm not fully listening or I'm responding to a text message. I think the world today is craving people being present, of being intentional, of listening, of caring. And I think that that's like when my family gets together, yes, a gift is nice, but the gift of their time and attention is becoming more and more valuable because I think it's so hard to capture that from people. And also I think being present for yourself.   showing up for yourself every single day, having meditation time, having journal time. Like the world can be so loud. Things can be like, we have dinging things, reminders constantly that it's like being present, listening, showing up, engaged, engage with your team. I think about Britt, there's certain times that her and I would just like shoot the breeze and we're just hanging out with each other. And I'm like, those are more meaningful than our meetings. And we're just like trying to rattle things off and get things done.   And so I just think like, if we're giving a gift of presence, not present, how can you as a leader do that? And I think one of the biggest things that doctors can do is to actually be fully attentive in team meetings. ⁓ And for team members to be fully attentive in team meetings, I can't tell you how many times I watched teams and the doctors on their phone, they're not engaged. And I just think like, if you're asking your team to be here and you're asking them to solve problems, but we're not willing to be present,   Gosh, like that's just such a hard ask. And I think as leaders, that is your job to silence them, to be present, to be with the people in front of you and not to be distracted elsewhere. And I say team members to do the same. We've got to also have our minds be there. I could be completely checked out of my phone and Slack, but my mind could be elsewhere. And so how can I be fully attentive in my team meetings when I'm having conversations with people? And I will say like, doctors, this is like, Merry Christmas. Be present for your team.   ⁓ I watch often and I see doctors just scrolling on social media, even when I'm there having conversations with them. And I just think if you're willing to do that with me, that you're paying me to be here. ⁓ and that feels icky to me. How do think your team feels when they're coming to you as a leader, as someone that they're looking for, for support. And I just think for your family, the gift of like, even if it's like five seconds, even if you put the phone down, ⁓ even if you just like really commit to be there.   be there. ⁓ Another thing is like to pause during the day like a short connection. ⁓ It doesn't take a lot to be connected to people. It doesn't take a lot for you to just say hello to ask them like genuinely with no agenda, no time construction, not having your phone, not having your watch go off. Like even people is like, my watch like, hmm. Yep. huh. I'm listening. I'm like, you're not listening to me. I literally have my watch to where it will not have text messages come through at all. I use it specifically for a watch. If I need to later, I can have things pop in but   I shut off the notifications because it drives me nuts when I'm in a conversation and I'm having a conversation and they pull up their watch, they pull up their phone like, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh. No, it's not uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh. You're not listening to me. You're not present with me. So I think like today, practice being present with those around you. You might be Kiera who had like one of her worst Christmases a few years ago and it was awful, but I realized this is, I'm out of touch. I'm out of practice. I don't do this often.   And if we can train that muscle, gosh, what a gift it's for yourself, a gift for your team, a gift for your family to truly be present. ⁓ I also think another way for you to do it is to celebrate people in real time. So the reason why this is a gift of presence is because you have to be intentional. You have to be paying attention to them to celebrate them in real time. like look for it, look for when your assistant does like perfect handoffs to you, like.   They're handing the instruments and they're just crushing it. Celebrate that with them. Celebrate when someone closes the case for you. Celebrate when we fill this schedule hole. Celebrate when we like got that claim collected. Celebrate when like doctors, got that perfect endo, like you got all the way to the bottom of that root tip. Celebrate when you did a perfect crown prep. Celebrate and be present in that moment. Celebrate when patients tell you great things. Celebrate when we get an SRP diagnosis and we went from a bloody profie to an SRP and we told them what they really needed. Celebrate when our team   is like giving a great patient experience, celebrate when our team does a tour of the office and highlights how great of a place it is, celebrate when people edify each other, celebrate those little pieces in your life. This is such a fun, easy way, because I really do believe that we're just becoming a society that's not present. We're giving presence, but we're not present. ⁓ We're so distracted trying to be connected that   we're missing the people right in front of us. And I think about that. We have no social media Sundays in our house. And Jason and I are shocked at how many times we like go to the app on that day. And it's just a habit. It's like these habits that have been formed. And so I think like, can you be attentive in team meetings? Can you be just connected at little points, like busy times throughout the day and just pause and connect? Can you connect with your spouse or your kids? Text them, send out little magic moments to them every day. Like,   Tell them how much you love them. I will tell you like, shout out to Jace, he's such an incredible man. He's like my greatest gift in this world. Every day he texts me three reasons he loves me. And ⁓ sometimes I don't read those with intentionality. I just think, Kiera, he sat there and thought about you. The least you can do is just be like so present and say thank you. ⁓ To give that gift to me every single day is beyond magical. To send a little love bomb, you could even do it in the morning. It can be part of your morning routine of like,   I meditate and then I send out magic to somebody and just tell them how much you love them to be present, to be connected to somebody truly connected, to pick up the phone. My brother calls me and I think about how often am I distracted while I'm on the phone with my siblings rather than being present and intentional with them. Jason tells me he'll take five minutes of me being intentional rather than 30 minutes of me being distracted. And I just think like, a gift we can give each other to not just give presents this year.   but give our presence. And on our team meeting, say that like passion, present, results, solutions are four things we say in our company. We want to show up with passion. We want to be present. And that means we show up with the people in front of us, email, Slack, text, phones are closed. And I'm not here to say that we have to be perfect at it, but I am here to say that today of all days, I hope you take time to go be present with your family, present with the people in front of you, and to maybe give a little bit more of that gift of presence to your team this year.   Be attentive in team meetings, be connected during busy times, celebrate the small wins with your team. And I will tell you that, and this means like being at morning huddle, being connected and doctors who do this have higher morale, have stronger retention of teams because they feel cared about. They feel seen, they feel heard, they feel like they're a human. So I'm telling you that's five minutes of your time that you are giving up to get this huge outcome. You're gonna have stronger relationships. You're gonna have better relationships with your kids, better relationships with your spouse, parents, siblings.   aunts, uncles, neighbors, and I think it's a gift to give. And I think it's something for all of us to do. So I would just say like today, give someone your full attention, no phone, no distractions for five minutes. See if you can do it. And then maybe work up to 10 minutes and just try it and just see. And also for yourself, sit there in silence for five minutes. See if you can do it. Sit there for 10 minutes. See if you can start to train yourself that your, your preferred operating system, unlike mine a few years ago,   is to be present rather than to be distracted feeling like I am present. And I would just say that's I think a gift for all of you. And so today is Christmas. I hope that you're celebrating with family. I hope that you love yourself. I hope that you give yourself the gift of presence to be present for yourself, to shut off, to disconnect, connect to yourself, to connect to ⁓ the universe, to God, to your higher self, to the space around you, whatever you believe today that you really truly do.   Give that great gift to yourself and to those that you love, including your team. You guys, we are so blessed to be alive today. We're so blessed to have experiences. I'm so blessed to have all of you in my life, my Dental A Team family. Gosh, I just like want to celebrate you. I want to be there with you. I want to drink, you know, non-alcoholic eggnog with you. I want to be like, cheersing you on the great things you're doing. I want to be present with you. I want to listen to your struggles. I want to listen to your wins.   I want you to be a part of our community. I want to see you the first Tuesday of every single month. I want to meet you in person. I want to be that cheering cheerleader for you. I want you to see what it feels like to have somebody see you, to know you, to recognize you, to love you, to encourage you, to give you a good like push when you need a push to hold you accountable. That's our gift to you. So if that feels good to you, reach out. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. I am not working today, but I will be working tomorrow and our team will be there for you.   So reach out. know this is a time where you guys settle down. You are more present. You're not busy with patients. You have time to connect to yourself, to connect to your family. And I think, hey, maybe giving yourself the gift of time to get a team that's trained a little bit better, to get a patient experience that's a little bit better, to help you be a CEO instead of an operator all day long, every single day. It might be the time. You might be able to settle into that and to be present, to give yourself even more time back. be a gift to give yourself. So if that feels right to you, reach out. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com.   I'd love to chat more with you about it. And I hope you just go celebrate with your family. No, I'm like sitting there with you, drinking the eggnog, sitting there, chestnuts roasting on an open fire, hanging out with you at the beach, wherever you are. Just know that I'm giving you a giant hug. You're doing better than you think you are. I adore you. I love you. I'm here with you. You don't have to do this alone. And I'm happy to be the person to guide you. I'm also happy to be your friend on the podcast that walks with you every single day. But just know you're not alone. You're doing better than you think you are.   and I'm willing to give you the presence that you deserve. And I hope that you give that to those that you love as well. And as always, thanks for listening. Go have a magical, merry day, and I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.  

On this Christmas Eve many families gather around to watch their favorite holiday movies, but in Amy and T.J. home, it’s a dilemma. And up until now, neither one had actually sat down and watched the other’s favorite movie. This week, they took the time to watch both films together, and have a spirited debate about whether either or both should remain a holiday classic for the Christmases to come. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this Christmas Eve many families gather around to watch their favorite holiday movies, but in Amy and T.J. home, it’s a dilemma. And up until now, neither one had actually sat down and watched the other’s favorite movie. This week, they took the time to watch both films together, and have a spirited debate about whether either or both should remain a holiday classic for the Christmases to come. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this Christmas Eve many families gather around to watch their favorite holiday movies, but in Amy and T.J. home, it’s a dilemma. And up until now, neither one had actually sat down and watched the other’s favorite movie. This week, they took the time to watch both films together, and have a spirited debate about whether either or both should remain a holiday classic for the Christmases to come. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's the most wonderful time of the year—when you're permitted (and strongly encouraged) to sip eggnog and pretend you forgot that embarrassing childhood performance of “Jingle Bells” on your parents' camcorder. But guess what? We didn't forget. And we're bringing you something just as classic and cringey—a rerun from three Christmases ago! Join us as we sleigh-ride back in time to an episode packed with questionable decisions and awkward outcomes, like what happens when you attempt to steal a trailer, but you're not too bright or why we should never fiddle about with the weather. It's our Christmas gift to you—and the best part? You can re-gift it guilt-free to your friends, family, or that random coworker who keeps forwarding you cat memes. So, don your ugly sweater, grab a candy cane (or something much stronger), and tune in for a holly-jolly re-gifted serving of The Shallow End. No matter how you celebrate, at least you'll have this greatest hit to amuse you while Uncle Gary attempts his 47th retelling of “The Night Before Christmas.” Merry Reruns! If you would like to advertise on The Shallow End with Schnebly and Toth, contact  ⁠advertising@airwavemedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Don't miss a special musical broadcast on the Christmas Eve edition of Chris Fabry Live. Several guests from Christmases past will visit to spread good tidings of great joy! You'll hear the group Selah. Steven Curtis Chapman shares his heart. Lindsay McCaul has a medley of songs, and Andrew Greer and Cindy Morgan will join us. Don't miss the music and conversation when you join us for Christmas Eve on Chris Fabry Live. December thank you gift:Hosanna in Excelsis: Hymns and Devotions for the Christmas Season by David & Barbara Leeman Chris Fabry Live is listener-supported. To support the program, click here.Become a Back Fence Partner: https://moodyradio.org/donateto/chrisfabrylive/partnersSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on The Metallica Report… Steffan and Renée search for the meaning of Christmas. Well… at least what it means to James and Kirk. The guitarists share how their families spend the holidays, including traditions, favorite movies, and some silly memories from Christmases past. The Metallica Report – your official, weekly guide for all things Metallica, straight from the source. New episode every Wednesday.   Become A Fifth Member: metallica.com/register  Music from The Metallica Report: metallica.lnk.to/TMR-music  Upcoming Tour Dates: metallica.com/tour  Wanna be featured in a future fan debate? metallica.com/podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“The Grinch has a FUPA!” - Andrew On this holiday unlock episode from seven Christmases ago, the gang travels to Whoville to chat about the outrageous live-action Dr. Seuss adaptation, How the Grinch Stole Christmas! Get in the holiday spirit as you watch the Grinch do all the beloved gags you remember him doing, like shove stuff up his ass, swear in front of children, murder a yodeler, and motorboat a random woman he went to high school with! PLUS: Donald Sutherland starring as the Grinch in the 1970s? Sign us up!  How the Grinch Stole Christmas stars Jim Carrey, Taylor Momsen, Christine Baranski, Bill Irwin, Molly Shannon, Kelly the Dog, and Clint Howard; directed by Ron Howard. This episode is brought to you by Sonos! This holiday season, give the gift of Sonos sound! Looking for the perfect last-minute gift? Sonos is offering up to 25% off now through December 28, 2025 at sonos dot com. Throughout 2025, we'll be donating 100% of our earnings from our merch shop to the Center for Reproductive Rights. So head over and check out all these masterful designs and see what tickles your fancy! Shirts? Phone cases? Canvas prints? We got all that and more! Check it out and kick in for a good cause! Original cover art by Felipe Sobreiro.

Comedian, entrepreneur, and cultural favorite KevOnStage sits down with hosts Deborah Joy Winans Williams and MAJOR. for a wildly funny and surprisingly heartfelt holiday conversation on Choosing Joy for the Holidays. From broke-era Christmases to the infamous Batman-without-the-Batman gift, Kev shares stories that shaped his childhood — and why those moments still make him laugh today. Kev opens up about what the holidays were like growing up with very little, including years when presents were missing, sweaters were the wrong size, and his grandmother still made it all feel meaningful. He reflects on how becoming a father shifted everything, including why he eventually stopped giving his kids mountains of gifts and instead started taking annual Christmas trips around the world — this year, all the way to Japan. As a comedian who happens to be a Christian (and not the other way around), Kev breaks down how he navigates faith, comedy, and community without letting labels box him in. He shares outrageous stories about church life, roasting from the pews, and learning not to fear disappointing people — because, as he says, “I disappoint myself every day.” The episode closes with a rapid-fire holiday game featuring eggnog, NBA basketball vs. Christmas service, the best version of “This Christmas,” and which family member is absolutely spiking the eggnog. A hysterical, warm, relatable, culturally rich episode — everything Holiday AF was built for.Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/choosing-joy/id1826833726Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thechoosingjoypodcast/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@choosingjoythepodcastGo Premium: https://www.theblackguywhotips.com/premium/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's our annual Christmas music special!  We play many secular and non-secular songs old and new.  There are stories shared of Christmases past and just enough gratitude to get you in the holiday spirit.  Thank you to all of you for another great year!

The holidays are here. And if you're struggling with an eating disorder, you know exactly what that means—anxiety, overwhelm, and missing the magic happening right in front of you because you're stuck in your head, counting, calculating, and controlling. But what if this year could be different? In this fan fav, I'm getting real about how the eating disorder literally steals decades of precious moments from your life. How many Christmases have you missed because you were trapped in those ED thoughts? How many family gatherings have you sat through physically present but mentally a million miles away? Here's the truth: The present moment is your present. And it's time to stop letting your eating disorder be the Grinch that steals your holiday joy. I'm sharing a powerful realization I had while standing in line with my boys to see Santa—how they were fully immersed in the magic while everyone else (myself included) was rushing, stressing, and missing it. And it reminded me: recovery happens in the NOW. Not in the past with regrets. Not in the future with anxiety. Right here. Right now. In this episode, you'll discover: Why the eating disorder wants to pull you out of the present moment (and how to fight back) The shocking statistics about anxiety during the holidays (and why being present is actually a recovery tool) How 89% of individuals who practice mindfulness during recovery report better outcomes 3 practical ways to choose presence over perfection this holiday season Why your recovery is the most magical gift you can give yourself How to focus on connections over calculations at family gatherings If you're tired of missing the magic. If you're done letting your ED steal another Christmas. If you're ready to be HERE for the moments that matter—this episode is your holiday recovery guide. The present is your present, sis. Let's unwrap it together. KEY QUOTES FROM THIS EPISODE

Join me for a special holiday episode of Within the Trenches, where I share deeply personal and unforgettable stories from Christmases past. Join me for a special holiday episode of Within the Trenches, where I share deeply personal and unforgettable stories from Christmases past. Sponsored by INdigital - Facebook | LinkedIn | X | Web RapidSOS - Facebook | LinkedIn | X | Web An unforgettable family break-in during the holidays and how it shaped Ricardo's outlook on safety The emotional impact of reuniting with past events through old dispatch records Funny and touching family moments, including a classic gift reveal mishap Sharing the legendary "Santa BOL" live on the radio and its lasting effect on the community How dispatchers stay resilient, create joy, and support each other during the toughest times If you have any comments or questions or would like to be a guest on the show, please email me at wttpodcast@gmail.com. An unforgettable family break-in during the holidays and how it shaped Ricardo's outlook on safety The emotional impact of reuniting with past events through old dispatch records Funny and touching family moments, including a classic gift reveal mishap Sharing the legendary "Santa BOL" live on the radio and its lasting effect on the community How dispatchers stay resilient, create joy, and support each other during the toughest times If you have any comments or questions or would like to be a guest on the show, please email me at wttpodcast@gmail.com.

It's Part 1 of The Nikki & Brie Show's Family Tasting Special and Brie's partner-in-crime Bryan steps in to co-host a special family tasting (with live audience) from the Bonita Bonita speakeasy—and yes, Mama Bella is joining too! They're sipping the newly-released Bonita Bonita Grand Cuvée and Mama Bella's all-time favorite Chardonnay, and things are about to get bubbly and hilarious.Brie and Bryan kick things off chatting fashion fails, closet interventions, and discovering the male version of camel toe—yep, they're going there! Mama Bella hops in to taste the award-winning Chardonnay, reminisce about magical childhood Christmases, and share some hilarious family memories (including one about a flying Christmas tree)!From holiday toasts and family roasts to a festive game of ChardonYAY or ChardonNAY, it's an episode packed with laughs, warmth, and a generous pour of holiday cheer. Grab your glass and press play—because holidays are always better with family (and wine)! and stick around for Part 2 of this special family tasting dropping later this week! Call Nikki & Brie at 833-GARCIA2 and leave a voicemail! Follow Nikki & Brie on Instagram, follow the show on Instagram and TikTok and send Nikki & Brie a message on Threads! Follow Bonita Bonita on Instagram Book a reservation at the Bonita Bonita Speakeasy To watch exclusive videos of this week's episode, follow The Nikki & Brie Show on YouTube, Facebook, and TikTok! You can also catch The Nikki & Brie Show on SiriusXM Stars 109! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode Steve and Nubbin talk about Christmas, past and present.It's a fun walk down memory lane for a couple of guys that have witnessed more than 160 Christmases in their combined earthy journey.   The pair spins several tales of Christmases past in Alabama and West Virginia that will amuse and entertain.  Nubbin's wife Becky is still quite the entertainer with plans for more than thirty adults and their kids to invade the Sterrett, Ala., homestead at her gathering this year.  Steve and Ella take a more subtle approach to what is a favorite time of year, choosing a small, family-oriented holiday celebration.  The second part of the episode features guest Danny Jones of Rockwell, North Carolina.  Danny is promoting a new coon hunt in an old familiar location.  The Carolina Classic on January 23 – 24, will be held in Salisbury, North Carolina at the familiar Rowan County Fairgrounds where Southeastern Treeing Walker Days was held for many years.  Danny heads the Trapp Hill Coon Hunters Association that will host the event.  All details of the homecoming event are discussed.From each of us at the Gone To The Dogs Podcast, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!We would like to thank those who support this podcast.  Special thanks to Double U Hunting Supply for sponsoring this episode.  www.dusupply.comhttps://www.youtube.com/@DoubleUHuntingSupply/podcasts Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode Steve and Nubbin talk about Christmas, past and present.It's a fun walk down memory lane for a couple of guys that have witnessed more than 160 Christmases in their combined earthy journey.    The pair spins several tales of Christmases past in Alabama and West Virginia that will amuse and entertain.  Nubbin's wife Becky is still quite the entertainer with plans for more than thirty adults and their kids to invade the Sterrett, Ala., homestead at her gathering this year.  Steve and Ella take a more subtle approach to what is a favorite time of year, choosing a small, family-oriented holiday celebration.   The second part of the episode features guest Danny Jones of Rockwell, North Carolina.  Danny is promoting a new coon hunt in an old familiar location.  The Carolina Classic on January 23 – 24, will be held in Salisbury, North Carolina at the familiar Rowan County Fairgrounds where Southeastern Treeing Walker Days was held for many years.  Danny heads the Trapp Hill Coon Hunters Association that will host the event.  All details of the homecoming event are discussed. From each of us at the Gone To The Dogs Podcast, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! We would like to thank those who support this podcast.  Special thanks to Double U Hunting Supply for sponsoring this episode.   www.dusupply.com https://www.youtube.com/@DoubleUHuntingSupply/podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode Steve and Nubbin talk about Christmas, past and present.It's a fun walk down memory lane for a couple of guys that have witnessed more than 160 Christmases in their combined earthy journey.   The pair spins several tales of Christmases past in Alabama and West Virginia that will amuse and entertain.  Nubbin's wife Becky is still quite the entertainer with plans for more than thirty adults and their kids to invade the Sterrett, Ala., homestead at her gathering this year.  Steve and Ella take a more subtle approach to what is a favorite time of year, choosing a small, family-oriented holiday celebration.  The second part of the episode features guest Danny Jones of Rockwell, North Carolina.  Danny is promoting a new coon hunt in an old familiar location.  The Carolina Classic on January 23 – 24, will be held in Salisbury, North Carolina at the familiar Rowan County Fairgrounds where Southeastern Treeing Walker Days was held for many years.  Danny heads the Trapp Hill Coon Hunters Association that will host the event.  All details of the homecoming event are discussed.From each of us at the Gone To The Dogs Podcast, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! We would like to thank those who support this podcast. Special thanks to Double U Hunting Supply for sponsoring this episode. www.dusupply.comhttps://www.youtube.com/@DoubleUHuntingSupply/podcasts

Visiting people who are in the hospital - I'm guessing that's not your favorite thing to do. A lot of times it's hard to know what to say to the person; especially if their condition is serious. But there are some visits where it's easy to think of things to say - like when you're visiting a new mom or a new baby. All you have to say is, "Aww, she's beautiful!" "Oh, he looks so smart; so alert" or "That's the cutest baby I've ever seen!" See, you're supposed to say these things even if the baby still looks all red and bald and wrinkled. But that first Christmas...well, one of the first people to see Mary's baby did not follow the usual script. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Strange Words For a Christmas Mom." Following the Jewish custom, Mary and Joseph brought their baby boy to the temple to be circumcised, just eight days after that first Christmas. God had someone waiting for them there - an old man named Simeon who had been told by the Holy Spirit that he would not die until he had seen the One he called "the Lord's Christ." He actually held the baby in his arms and praised God for sending Him. But then came those strange words for a new mom. In Simeon's words we find the shadow of great pain for Mary but great hope for you and me. In Luke 2:34-35, our word for today from the Word of God, "Simeon...said to Mary, His mother: 'This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel...the thoughts of many will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul, too.'" That's not exactly what a new mom wants to hear. But eight days into Jesus' life on earth, Simeon is foreshadowing the end of Jesus' life. The Bible tells us that 33 years later "near the cross stood His mother" (John 19:25). And surely, as Mary saw her boy nailed to a cross and pierced by a soldier's spear, that sword Simeon spoke of must have pierced her soul. So as we sing our "sleep in heavenly peace" and "joy to the world" carols, let's not miss the shadow looming over the manger. It's the shadow of a cross. But that cross was not some tragic twist of fate. It was the plan of a God who loves you so very much. It was His plan to give you and me a chance to go to heaven instead of hell; to enjoy the relationship with God we were made for but we've missed because we're running our own lives. And if there had been any other way to erase your sin from God's book and pay for your sin, believe me, God would have done it. But all your goodness, and your religion, and your Christianity can't pay sin's death penalty. Someone had to die to pay for it, and Someone did - the Son of God. The writer of the classic carol, "What Child Is This" expressed it powerfully: "Nails, spear shall pierce Him through, the cross be borne for me, for you; hail, hail, the Word made flesh, the Babe, the son of Mary." So you've had your Christmases, you've celebrated Jesus' coming. Have you ever had your Good Friday where you stand at the foot of that cross and say the two words that are the difference between heaven and hell, "For me, Jesus. And I'm giving me to You." That's the only way you can receive the gift of eternal life that He died to give you. Have you known about Jesus all your life but maybe missed that step? If you've never done that, let this be your Jesus-day. You'll have a lot more to celebrate than just Jesus' coming to earth. This season you'll celebrate His coming into your life. If that's what you want, tell Him right now, "Jesus, I want to belong to You. I am taking for myself what You died for on the cross." What a new beginning this will be for you. A lot of people have found help in beginning that relationship at our website. And I want to invite you to check it out this very day. It's ANewStory.com. It wasn't just Mary's heart that was pierced on that awful day on Skull Hill. We can only imagine the anguish in God the Father's heart, watching His Son be broken for you. So you can be sure that God will never forget what you do with His Son.

Visiting people who are in the hospital - I'm guessing that's not your favorite thing to do. A lot of times it's hard to know what to say to the person; especially if their condition is serious. But there are some visits where it's easy to think of things to say - like when you're visiting a new mom or a new baby. All you have to say is, "Aww, she's beautiful!" "Oh, he looks so smart; so alert" or "That's the cutest baby I've ever seen!" See, you're supposed to say these things even if the baby still looks all red and bald and wrinkled. But that first Christmas...well, one of the first people to see Mary's baby did not follow the usual script. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Strange Words For a Christmas Mom." Following the Jewish custom, Mary and Joseph brought their baby boy to the temple to be circumcised, just eight days after that first Christmas. God had someone waiting for them there - an old man named Simeon who had been told by the Holy Spirit that he would not die until he had seen the One he called "the Lord's Christ." He actually held the baby in his arms and praised God for sending Him. But then came those strange words for a new mom. In Simeon's words we find the shadow of great pain for Mary but great hope for you and me. In Luke 2:34-35, our word for today from the Word of God, "Simeon...said to Mary, His mother: 'This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel...the thoughts of many will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul, too.'" That's not exactly what a new mom wants to hear. But eight days into Jesus' life on earth, Simeon is foreshadowing the end of Jesus' life. The Bible tells us that 33 years later "near the cross stood His mother" (John 19:25). And surely, as Mary saw her boy nailed to a cross and pierced by a soldier's spear, that sword Simeon spoke of must have pierced her soul. So as we sing our "sleep in heavenly peace" and "joy to the world" carols, let's not miss the shadow looming over the manger. It's the shadow of a cross. But that cross was not some tragic twist of fate. It was the plan of a God who loves you so very much. It was His plan to give you and me a chance to go to heaven instead of hell; to enjoy the relationship with God we were made for but we've missed because we're running our own lives. And if there had been any other way to erase your sin from God's book and pay for your sin, believe me, God would have done it. But all your goodness, and your religion, and your Christianity can't pay sin's death penalty. Someone had to die to pay for it, and Someone did - the Son of God. The writer of the classic carol, "What Child Is This" expressed it powerfully: "Nails, spear shall pierce Him through, the cross be borne for me, for you; hail, hail, the Word made flesh, the Babe, the son of Mary." So you've had your Christmases, you've celebrated Jesus' coming. Have you ever had your Good Friday where you stand at the foot of that cross and say the two words that are the difference between heaven and hell, "For me, Jesus. And I'm giving me to You." That's the only way you can receive the gift of eternal life that He died to give you. Have you known about Jesus all your life but maybe missed that step? If you've never done that, let this be your Jesus-day. You'll have a lot more to celebrate than just Jesus' coming to earth. This season you'll celebrate His coming into your life. If that's what you want, tell Him right now, "Jesus, I want to belong to You. I am taking for myself what You died for on the cross." What a new beginning this will be for you. A lot of people have found help in beginning that relationship at our website. And I want to invite you to check it out this very day. It's ANewStory.com. It wasn't just Mary's heart that was pierced on that awful day on Skull Hill. We can only imagine the anguish in God the Father's heart, watching His Son be broken for you. So you can be sure that God will never forget what you do with His Son.

It's Christmassss! It's our annual Staying Relevant Christmas episode and this year we've swapped Santa and Rudolph costumes for something far more sophisticated. Matching pyjamassss. A choice Pete was NOT thrilled about, mainly because he doesn't even own pyjamas.We're spreading festive cheer as the boys compare their wildly different Christmases, quickly sparking a classic Pete rant on why he hates Christmas, why no one actually enjoys it, and why everyone suddenly pretends cheese only exists in December.To lighten the mood, we also take on Secret Santa, with a special extra present in store for Sam.

Air Week: December 22-28, 2025 Christmas Leftovers & New Year’s Resolutions Matt The Cat has dug up some more R&B Christmas treasures and added a few tunes about New Years for this week's continuation of the “Juke In The Back” R&B Christmas Spectacular. The holiday juke is jumpin' with cool tunes by Big John Greer, Champion Jack Dupree, Lowell Fulson, The Moonglows, Marvin & Johnny and many more. The range of topics is wide, from dancing Santas to lonely Christmases to making up with your baby on New Year's Eve. Miss Rosie stops by with her New Year’s resolution. So get hungry for some Christmas leftovers and plan to end the year on a high note with Matt The Cat on the “Juke In The Back.” LISTEN BELOW

We're at the end of the last full week of the Christmas season. Christmas 2025 is right around the corner. And today, we're back with another family gathering to reminisce about Christmases past. It's another visit dedicated to you and your Christmas memories! Music in This Episode"Cozy Podcast Music with Christmas Bells" — Denis Pavlov, via Pixabay"Podcast Jazz Waltz Cozy Relaxing Vibes" — Denis Pavlov, via PixabayOrder your copy today! Of Christmases Long, Long AgoConnect with Me Links to all the things https://christmaspastpodcast.com/links Email: christmaspastpodcast@gmail.com BooksOf Christmases Long, Long Ago: Surprising Traditions from Christmas Past (2025, Lyons Press and Recorded Books) It's Christmas as you've never seen it before, and it makes a great gift for all the Christmas lovers in your life. Christmas Past: The Fascinating Stories Behind Our Favorite Holiday's Traditions (2022, Lyons Press and Recorded Books)

Annie Gray always rejects turkey and the trimmings at Christmas. She believes they are a construct of a bygone era and will often eat pizza on the big day instead. She explores alternative dinners from Christmases past, present and future. She visits Bath to discover what would have been eaten over Christmas in the Regency period and bakes traditional mince pies - made with minced meat. She'll look at how Christmas is celebrated differently around the world and will discuss Christmas dinners to come with a food futurologist.Presented by Dr Annie Gray Produced in Bristol by Robin Markwell for BBC Audio

This week on The Nikki & Brie Show, the twins are toasting to the season with a Curious Convos: Holiday Edition—and they've got festive wine in hand and big questions on their minds. From ugly Christmas sweaters to emotional holiday songs, Nikki and Brie explore why this time of year hits so deep. Is it the music? The memories? Or maybe even a little bit of soul-level faith? They reflect on their childhood Christmases, wonder why the season always flies by, and debate whether December niceness is genuine or just peppermint-scented fakery.In classic Curious Convos fashion, it's not all deep talk—there's plenty of fun too. Nikki reads wild headlines about herself and Brie asks the hard-hitting questions like: “How dramatic was Nikki really last Christmas?” They also dig into the traditions they love, the chaos of holiday shopping, and the warm magic of shared meals. Oh—and don't miss their hilarious Holiday Red Flag or Green Flag game, judging the new guy your cousin brings to dinner.As always, they close with a heartfelt reminder: the little moments matter. Whether it's a text, a call, or a cozy cocoa catch-up, reach out to someone who might need it this season. Now pour a glass, get curious, and press play! Call Nikki & Brie at 833-GARCIA2 and leave a voicemail! Follow Nikki & Brie on Instagram, follow the show on Instagram and TikTok and send Nikki & Brie a message on Threads! Follow Bonita Bonita on Instagram Book a reservation at the Bonita Bonita Speakeasy To watch exclusive videos of this week's episode, follow The Nikki & Brie Show on YouTube, Facebook, and TikTok! You can also catch The Nikki & Brie Show on SiriusXM Stars 109! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Kiersten here. This week's episode is a solo one, and it's inspired by a book I just finished called The Art of Spending Money by Morgan Housel. If you're familiar with The Psychology of Money, you already know Morgan's style: short chapters, clean sentences, and big ideas. This new book is about spending but not the kind most people are struggling with.In this episode, I unpack:Who this book is really forTwo core takeaways that stuck: the psychology of contrast and the sustainability of contentmentA personal reflection on second Christmases, cultural context, and spending through the lens of joyA nuanced breakdown of how happiness is framed in the book and why that definition isn't one-size-fits-allI wouldn't call this a summary per se, it's a review with a little reflection, a little pushback, and hopefully a fresh lens for whatever season you're in.Hit play and let me know what you think. Connect with Julien and Kiersten on our website, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.Join our email list to get updates from us, opportunities for discounts, freebies and a quick rundown on the relevant financial and career news impacting your life. Get our book Cashing Out: Win the Wealth Game by Walking Away, named 2023 best overall book about investing by Business Insider and one of the best personal finance books by ForbesIf you would like to learn more about investing, check out our newest class, Making Money Grow

“Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.” (James 1:17 NLT) You’ve probably heard the saying, “All that glitters is not gold.” But it’s equally important to remember that all that’s gold doesn’t necessarily glitter. That is, not all valuable things appear to be valuable at first glance. Some of the most precious gifts tend not to attract our attention at first. We take a hurried glance and see nothing of significance. But if we go back and take another look, we begin to discover the glory and wonder of that gift. Think of Christmases past when you set aside a present that didn’t have that “wow” factor to move on to other shinier gifts with more bells and whistles, only to come back later to the less showy but more useful gift. So it was with the helpless baby in the manger in Bethlehem on the first Christmas. At first glance, He probably didn’t appear to be much of a gift. Another child born into humble circumstances. What value could He have? Why would He even merit a second look? The Bible practically bursts at the seams to answer that question. God dispatched angels to keep people from looking past His gift. That baby was the only begotten Son of God. Words cannot describe His value. As Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 9:15, “Thank God for this gift too wonderful for words!” (NLT). Even God couldn’t give a greater gift. He sent His dearly beloved Son into the world as a baby so that, ultimately, we could be saved. God gave us that which was most precious to Him so that His Son would be most precious to us. Our Lord Himself spoke of such a sacrificial act in Matthew 21:33–46 in His parable about the vineyard owner. The owner, who had unworthy servants looking after his property, sent his representatives and servants to the vineyard. One after another was maltreated and even killed. Then the owner thought, “If I send my son, they won’t do this to him. Surely, they will respect my son. There is nothing beyond this. It is the last act.” Hebrews 1:1–2 says, “Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he created the universe” (nlt). God sent many servants into the world and to the nation of Israel. He dispatched countless outstanding men and women to accomplish His work. But He surpassed them all with the gift of His Son. This is what should fill our minds and hearts with astonishment at Christmas: God has done something that even He Himself cannot exceed. He gave His only Son, His eternal Son, so that we might have eternal life. Reflection question: What impact has God’s surpassing gift had on your life? Discuss Today's Devo in Harvest Discipleship! — The audio production of the podcast "Greg Laurie: Daily Devotions" utilizes Generative AI technology. This allows us to deliver consistent, high-quality content while preserving Harvest's mission to "know God and make Him known." All devotional content is written and owned by Pastor Greg Laurie. Listen to the Greg Laurie Podcast Become a Harvest PartnerSupport the show: https://harvest.org/supportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

"Have you ever wondered why a penny saved is truly a penny earned—or how a cat could end up in a courtroom over a color TV?"

“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:16–17 NLT) When people give Christmas gifts to each other, they usually put a lot of thought into their selections before buying them. For better or worse, a gift tells us quite a bit about the giver. You can estimate, fairly accurately, what people think of you by the gifts they give you. On the other hand, we all can probably remember Christmases from childhood when we failed to fully appreciate what we had been given. It seems to me that presenting gifts to one another on Christmas is a very right and very good thing for us to do. I believe that in doing so, humanity is subconsciously helping to underscore the greatest and most important thing for us to realize about this day. At Christmas, we must never forget that God the Father is the Giver. Of course, it is natural and right that we should think about the child in Bethlehem, our blessed Lord, lying as a helpless baby in a manger. We should always be thankful for His sacrifice. But let’s never forget this: God is the Giver. It was the Father who sent His Son into the world. The Son accomplished the Father’s purpose. And we can get a pretty accurate sense of what God thinks of us based on the gift He gave. Jesus said, “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:16–17 NLT). The apostle Paul wrote, “But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children” (Galatians 4:4–5 NLT). He also wrote, “But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners” (Romans 5:8 NLT). That brings up an essential point about God’s gift: We did nothing to deserve it. “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it” (Ephesians 2:8–9 NLT). In this season of giving, as we celebrate the greatest gift ever given, let’s not lose sight of the One whose generosity makes the celebration possible. Let’s bring praise and worship to the Father, the great and eternal Giver. Reflection question: What does God’s gift of His Son reveal about God the giver? Discuss Today's Devo in Harvest Discipleship! — The audio production of the podcast "Greg Laurie: Daily Devotions" utilizes Generative AI technology. This allows us to deliver consistent, high-quality content while preserving Harvest's mission to "know God and make Him known." All devotional content is written and owned by Pastor Greg Laurie. Listen to the Greg Laurie Podcast Become a Harvest PartnerSupport the show: https://harvest.org/supportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bryan and Michael Voltaggio return to the pod to talk holiday cooking, family rituals, and their big Tournament of Champions: All-Star Christmas victory. They share childhood memories: from sausage balls to two-house Christmases. And how those traditions influence the way they cook for their own families today. The brothers open up about working together at their hometown restaurant, the emotional stakes of competing as a team, and the moment they realized they might actually win it all. Plus: Boursin-stuffing brilliance, massive lasagnas, onesie-clad fast-food holidays, and a story about a very unfortunate playlist choice. Follow Food Network on Instagram: HERE Follow Jaymee Sire on Instagram: HERE Follow Michael Voltaggio on Instagram: HERE Follow Bryan Voltaggio on Instagram: HERE Learn More about Tournament of Champions: All-Star Christmas: HERE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In part one of the Christmas Clean series, Sathiya explains why Christmas is one of the most triggering seasons for porn relapses and how you can avoid falling into the same patterns as past years. With holiday stress, disrupted routines, loneliness, and overindulgence all working against you, the key is identifying your personal holiday triggers, learning from the last five Christmases, and building a simple plan to stay clean. This episode gives you a practical, repeatable process to recognize your biggest pitfalls and create boundaries that protect your freedom—so you can enter 2026 with real momentum and zero shame. Perfect for listeners searching for porn addiction recovery tips, holiday relapse prevention, and how to stay clean during Christmas.   Know more about Sathiya's work: Join Deep Clean Inner Circle - The Brotherhood You Neeed (+ get coached by Sathiya) For Less Than $2/day Submit Your Questions (Anonymously) To Be Answered On The Podcast Get A Free Copy of The Last Relapse, Your Blueprint For Recovery Watch Sathiya on Youtube For More Content Like This Chapters: (00:01) Why Christmas Is the Most Triggering Time of the Year (01:20) The “Holiday Debt” Analogy & Why Most Guys Relapse in December (02:24) Step 1: Identify Your Holiday Triggers (03:45) Common Holiday Triggers Explained (04:48) Why Christmas Triggers Repeat Every Year (06:20) Creating Your Personal Trigger Plan (07:25) Real Example: How One Client Prevented a Thanksgiving Relapse (08:20) Setting Boundaries on Sleep, Food, Alcohol, and Social Behavior (09:18) Closing Advice: Don't “Wing It” This Christmas

From an inexplicable force that turned a woman to ashes in her farmhouse, to strange phenomena that transformed a quiet English town into a UFO hotspot, these chilling Christmas mysteries continue to baffle investigators and haunt communities long after the holiday decorations were packed away.IN THIS EPISODE: A nurse was found dead in her bed - and her boyfriend and his nine-year-old son vanished, leaving behind only a truck full of bloodstained presents. (Christmas Murder in Lockhart) *** A little girl vanishes on a winter road trip to Las Vegas, and twenty Christmases later, a detective's search for answers leads to a desperate couple's final confession - but not to the truth about what really happened to two-year-old Nikole Betterson. (Nikole's Christmas Farewell) *** Behind one of the most beloved Christmas poems ever written lies a centuries-old mystery: was "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" penned by a scholarly professor for his children, or did someone else create the story that shaped how we see Santa Claus? (‘Twas The Mystery Before Christmas) *** When Patty Vaughan left her home on Christmas Day 1996, she left behind three children and a trail of mysterious clues - including an abandoned van, suspicious blood stains, and a red work uniform that would puzzle investigators for decades to come. (The Patty Vaughan Vanishing) *** When farmhand John Larson awoke to find soot on his pillow on Christmas morning 1885, he never imagined he'd discover his employer Patrick Rooney dead from smoke inhalation and his wife Matilda mysteriously burned to ash in a perfectly circular hole in their kitchen floor - with no other fire damage to the house. (Matilda Rooney's Christmas Combustion) *** In the quiet town of New London, Connecticut, what began as a simple flat tire on Christmas Eve 1973 turned into one of the community's darkest mysteries when twenty-year-old Kevin Showalter was struck and killed by a driver who vanished into the night - leaving behind a grieving mother, whispers of a cover-up, and questions that would haunt the town for decades. (The Hit And Run Death of Kevin Showalter) *** A teenage girl's first office Christmas party should have been a celebration of new beginnings, but for Rhonda Hinson, it became her last night alive - and the start of a mystery that would puzzle investigators for over forty years. (Rhonda Hinson's Only Office Christmas Party) *** A mother's quick errand turns into a decades-old mystery when Tracy Mertens vanishes from her Birmingham flat days before Christmas, leaving investigators with a yellow Ford Escort, two mysterious men, and questions that remain unanswered to this day. (The Tracy Mertens Mystery) *** On Christmas morning 1964, the quiet town of Warminster, England woke up to strange sounds that would mark the beginning of one of history's most puzzling mysteries - a series of unexplained events that would become known worldwide as 'The Thing. (The Warminster Christmas Thing)CHAPTERS & TIME STAMPS (All Times Approximate)…00:00:00.000 = Cold Cases, Colder Nights00:02:38.802 = Show Open00:06:20.432 = The Warminster Christmas Thing00:13:13.664 = *** The Tracy Mertens Mystery00:17:10.974 = The Mystery of Matilda Rooney's Christmas Combustion00:21:36.666 = Rhonda Hinson's Only Office Christmas Party00:27:32.493 = *** Christmas Murder in Lockhart00:30:24.890 = The Holiday Hit-And-Run of Kevin Showalter00:33:56.238 = Nikole's Christmas Farewell00:38:20.096 = *** The Patty Vaughan Vanishing00:41:44.518 = ‘Twas The Mystery Before Christmas00:47:49.521 = Show Close*** = Begins immediately after inserted ad breakSOURCES PAGE: https://weirddarkness.com/ChristmasMysteries

“Therefore see that you walk carefully [living life with honor, purpose, and courage; shunning those who tolerate and enable evil], not as the unwise, but as wise [sensible, intelligent, discerning people], making the very most of your time [on earth, recognizing and taking advantage of each opportunity and using it with wisdom and diligence], because the days are [filled with] evil.” Ephesians 5:15-16 AMP   *Transcription Below*   Questions and Topics We Discuss: How did God meet you in your experience of army life to reveal your choice of hope vs. fear? What have you learned about community, both before and after your experience of launching your husband into space? For all of us, how can we rediscover our fun side when we've been trapped in survival mode for too long?   Stacey Morgan is always ready with a funny or thoughtful story from her own life; whether it be holding down the home front during military deployments, working for the Smithsonian, skydiving, or blasting  her husband into outer space. Stacey is on staff with MOPS International, a nonprofit focused on the unique needs of mothers around the world. She and her husband, Army colonel and NASA astronaut Drew Morgan, have four children.   Connect with Stacey on Instagram or through her website.   Other Savvy Sauce Episodes Related to Friendship: Friendship with Drew Hunter Reflecting Jesus in Our Relationships with Rach Kincaid Nurturing Friendships with Jackie Coleman Art of Friendship with Kim Wier   Thank You to Our Sponsors: Chick-fil-A East Peoria and The Savvy Sauce Charities (and donate online here)   Please help us out by sharing this episode with a friend, leaving a 5-star rating and review, and subscribing to this podcast!   Connect with The Savvy Sauce on Facebook, Instagram or Our Website   Gospel Scripture: (all NIV)   Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”   Romans 3:24 “and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”   Romans 3:25 (a) “God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.”   Hebrews 9:22 (b) “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”   Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”   Romans 5:11 “Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”   John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”   Romans 10:9 “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”   Luke 15:10 says “In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”   Romans 8:1 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”   Ephesians 1:13–14 “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession- to the praise of his glory.”   Ephesians 1:15–23 “For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”   Ephesians 2:8–10 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God‘s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.“   Ephesians 2:13 “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.“   Philippians 1:6 “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”   *Transcription*   Music: (0:00 – 0:09)   Laura Dugger: (0:09 - 2:54) Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, where we have practical chats for intentional living. I'm your host, Laura Dugger, and I'm so glad you're here. I want to say a huge thank you to today's sponsors for this episode, Chick-fil-A East Peoria and Savvy Sauce Charities.   Are you interested in a free college education for you or someone you know? Stay tuned for details coming later in this episode from today's sponsor, Chick-fil-A East Peoria. You can also visit their website today at https://www.chick-fil-a.com/locations/il/east-peoria.   I'm so excited to share a special Patreon re-release episode. And if you've been with The Savvy Sauce for a while, you know that we used to make some money by having people sign up for Patreon and as a reward, they would get access to special episodes. Now we have done away with that as we've transitioned to becoming a nonprofit, and we want to make all of these episodes available to you, so we re-release a few every year.   What I'd love to ask is, as we're approaching the end of year because we've taken out that revenue stream, would you consider financially supporting Savvy Sauce Charities?   There are two simple ways. First, if you want to mail us a check, that saves us all of the processing fees, and you can make that out to Savvy Sauce Charities and mail it to P.O. Box 101, Roanoke, Illinois 61561. Also, if you want to go online, visit thesavvysauce.com and you can type in different words to the search button. You could type in “donate” or “support” and it should take you to the place where there's a button to click and put in your credit card information and give that way. We would be so grateful for any amount, and we love our partnership with you.   Here's our chat.   Stacey Morgan is my guest today, and you may have heard her name in the news over the past few years. She has documented her story in her debut book, The Astronaut's Wife: How Launching My Husband into Outer Space Changed the Way I Live on Earth. And now she's going to share more about that season and all the lessons God taught her about making the most of her one incredible life, and she's going to inspire each of us to do the same.   Here's our chat. Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, Stacey.   Stacey Morgan: (2:55 - 2:58) I am so excited to be here. Thank you for having me.   Laura Dugger: (2:58 - 3:07) Well, it is truly my pleasure. And will you just start by giving us a little bit more context for our time together and just share a few things about yourself?   Stacey Morgan: (3:08 - 4:49) Sure. Well, hi, my name is Stacey. I currently live in Texas.   I have four kids. I'm married to a guy named Drew who has kind of an unusual job. I grew up in a small town just outside of Boston and was kind of a scholar-athlete growing up interested in a lot of different things but always involved in church and youth group. And that really served me well when I went off to college.   The first college I went to, West Point. And actually, I'll tell you in a minute, but that is where I eventually met my now husband, Drew.   We got married after I graduated from undergrad. He's a little bit older than me and he is an Army officer. And so, we have moved all over the country. We've lived on both coasts and had a number of kinds of unusual situations just, you know, kind of typical for a military family living all over the place.   I've had a lot of crazy jobs. I think mainly I have an unusual story because I'm really quick to say yes to things, which sometimes, you know, it's a double-edged sword. Sometimes you say yes and you realize, “I should have thought through that a little bit more.” But really it's been quite an adventure because we have had the opportunity to live in a lot of different places, experience a lot of different things.   And we ended up here in 2013. We can kind of get into that if you want, but we ended up down here in Texas with my husband, who is still an Army officer, but he became a NASA astronaut. And so, that totally changed the direction of our lives and kind of changing all the plans we had for what we were supposed to be doing in the military and ending up down here at Johnson Space Center. Then, him eventually launching into outer space.   Laura Dugger: (4:49 - 5:01) Wow, there are so many points to unpack, but let's back it up to what you had mentioned about West Point. So, will you just elaborate and tell us more about how you and Drew met and fell in love?   Stacey Morgan: (5:01 - 7:21) Sure. So, we were both cadets at West Point when we met. He was a little bit older than me, but we met through Officers' Christian Fellowship, which is a Christian club that is very popular on military bases, both at the academies but in big Army and other services as well when you get out.   It's a, you know, it's like small groups, typical for what most people would find comfortable in kind of church community. And so, we met there and we just kind of clicked, you know.   I would say it's funny looking back, we were not the type of people I think we would have thought we would marry. He was far more serious than I am. I'm a little bit more, I'm the one to more kind of like walk the fine line, but we work together really well.   We've always been a great team. That's always been a real theme in our marriage, you know, that we are a team. And, you know, when he proposed after I graduated from undergrad, he kind of said, “I promise you a life of adventure,” which at the time sounded wonderful and adorable.   Of course, it has come back to haunt me several times when he has been, you know, come up with some crazy plan and when I hesitate he's like, “I promised you adventure.” And I'm like, “Now that's unfair. I did not know when you said adventure back in 2000 that you meant all these crazy things like going to space or all these different deployments and all this kind of stuff like that.”   So, we now have four kids. We've been married this summer will be 22 years. And, you know, it hasn't been without its challenges like any marriage and certainly any marriage under stress because of stressful situations, whether that's military deployments, whether that's space travel or just kind of life and parenting. And as you kind of grow up together and get to know each other and the world changes around you, we've certainly had ups and downs, but we are a team.   And I think God has really honored that and it's been really helpful for us when we've had those sticky seasons where you just feel like, “Man, we are just not connecting or kind of jiving the way we would want,” to actually say to each other that we are on the same team and that has been really helpful.   Laura Dugger: (7:22 - 7:40) The part of your story that involves space travel is one that most of us will never be able to relate to experientially, but it's still extraordinary. So, can you walk us through the detailed events leading up to 9:28 p.m. on July 20th, 2019?   Stacey Morgan: (7:42 - 15:28) Sure. So, I should back it up one big step behind that just to give everybody a little context. So, in 2012, we were kind of living our lives. We had always been deep into the Army Special Operations community. We love that. In order to live and kind of thrive in that environment you have to be all in, and we were all in.   And one day my husband came home and he was uncharacteristically giddy and he said, “You're not gonna believe this huge news. NASA is opening up the application window for a new class of astronauts.”   And I thought, “Why are you telling me this? This has no bearing whatsoever on our lives. We are on this path and that is a completely different path.”   And he said, “Well, I want to apply.”   And I thought to myself, “Well, I wanted to be a ballerina at one point in life, but that ship sailed. Like who doesn't say they always wanted to be an astronaut? Like this seems like a childhood fantasy.”   But he said, “No, I just want to apply. Like don't worry, all of our plans are gonna stay the same. They've never selected an Army physician before. I just, you know, I want to...” You know, the joke was that you'll always be a NASA applicant, right? And that'll be great. We'll laugh about it at family Christmases and stuff.   Except he kept making it through every gate. And so, in 2013 we got the call that completely took our life off of one set of train tracks and put it on another. At that time, we were currently stationed just outside of Washington DC at Fort Belvoir. We were supposed to be literally the next week moving to Germany. And that's how close these changes kind of came up on themselves. And so, we had to unravel everything for Germany and move to Houston, Texas, because that's where Johnson Space Center is.   And so, he began his training in 2013. I started my journey in learning a whole new culture, a whole new way of doing life. I'd never lived in a place that was at least not near a military base or within a military community. Didn't quite recognize at the time how much that shared sense of community had made things easier in terms of connecting with people before that and when I didn't have it.   So, it was probably our rockiest transition for me personally that I'd ever had in terms of friendships and getting connected. That's a big part of my story because I think friendship struggles are so common for adult women. It's just something that nobody really teaches us how to do and so a lot of women are very lonely.   But fast forward, he trained for several years until it was eventually his turn to fly. And in 2019, the only way to get to the International Space Station was to fly on a Russian Soyuz rocket. So, some people are very confused because they think, “Well, every space movie I've ever watched is taking place in Florida, right? Whether that's Apollo 13 or Armageddon or whatever. Why didn't he launch from Florida?”   Well, between 2011 and 2020, the Space Shuttle program had ended. SpaceX Crew Dragon had not yet started launching from Florida again. So, for about a 10-year period, the only way to get to and from the International Space Station was to ride a Russian rocket.   So, that's what NASA did. They went into partnership with the Russians, which of course makes things very interesting given today's kind of current political climate and all the world events. But that meant when it was Drew's turn to launch, we as a family had to travel to Kazakhstan, which is a country that I could not spell before 2019.   And so, if you don't know where that is, don't feel bad. I didn't either. I had to look it up. It's a former Soviet Republic really kind of in between Russia and Afghanistan. So, it is in the middle of nowhere. And when the Soviets were building their space program in the 1950s and 60s, they built their secret space city there in Kazakhstan. That's where they started their space program and they have kind of kept it unchanged and they continue to launch their rockets from there today.   It was a whole kind of world travel and cultural experience to take my four kids to Kazakhstan, which is a completely different cultural experience for really what came down to a very stressful, very emotional moment really waiting for that launch. So, unlike Florida, which you know when you watch on television, it's colorful, there's a lot of people, a lot of spectators, big people remember from the shuttle days big countdown clock, a loudspeaker kind of telling everybody what's going on... that's not how it is in Kazakhstan.   So, about 30 minutes before the launch, the kids and I were brought to this viewing area. And by viewing area I would say big field. It's not... there was kind of some grandstands area far at the other end of the field, but that's where all the space tourists stand and the press and all that kind of stuff and we didn't want to be near them. So, our escort brought us down to the end, the other end of the field, and it's just dark and it's quiet and there's no announcements. There's no countdown clock. It's just looking at your watch or your phone there just kind of in the dark and you just know that that Russian ground crew is going to launch that rocket at exactly 9:28 p.m. Not a minute earlier, not a minute later.   And so, standing there in the dark holding my kids' hands, and we can see the rocket in the distance only about a mile away, which by rocket launch standards is very close. Knowing that in a minute or 30 seconds or 10 seconds as it gets closer, it's either going to be one of the best days of your life, super exciting, super proud moment, or it's going to be the worst day of your life, and you could become a widow.   And as much as it's easy to kind of get complacent because incidents are so rare, but we all can remember any number of space disasters that have happened. Columbia, Challenger, those are very real. And with my time down here at Johnson Space Center, you come to learn those names and you meet those families and you meet those widows and widowers and you realize that space travel is dangerous. You know, at the end of the day my husband was in a little tiny capsule on top of a rocket full of highly explosive fuel. So, it's very scary.   And in that moment standing there thinking, “In 10 seconds my life is going to change no matter what happens.” Even if this goes perfectly, what happens next? I don't really know. It's kind of like having a baby. You can read all about it and assume things will be the way they're going to be, but until you're in it and then it happens, you don't really know how it's gonna go.   And so, it was a really overwhelmingly emotional moment because you think this could go sideways. And also, by the way, the world is watching live with me. So, if something goes wrong, I'm not able to process this privately. I will be experiencing it in real time with the rest of the world.   But even if it goes perfectly, what happens next? Like what does it look like to live on earth with a spouse in space and single parent for nine plus months while their other parent is in space? And you really don't know and it's scary to think like, “Gosh, what if something happens?” You know, he can't like come home early. Can't just like a business trip jump on a plane or a train and get home early. There's no coming back early. So, whatever happens, I'm on my own for better or worse. I'm on my own and I hope I have the endurance and the support system and everything I'm gonna need in order to be successful in this nine months.   Laura Dugger: (15:28 - 15:47) And my heart is pounding a little bit faster just as I hear you describe this. And I'd love to get back to your story, but first just to pause and wonder with that mixture of this adventure right in front of you and then your experience of army life, how did God meet you in all of that to reveal your choice of you're able to choose hope or fear?   Stacey Morgan: (15:47 - 22:32) Right. So, you know, when you take the time to step back and think, sometimes you don't see these patterns in your life until you kind of start putting them down on paper. And it was interesting for me to see how God had prepared me for that moment with other moments, especially related to military deployments in the past. Because certainly experiencing a rocket launch and all that fear and kind of this moment of where is my hope found in this moment, that was a varsity level moment.   But I'm so thankful that about ten years earlier God really started to prepare me for that moment with some other big moments. Like when my husband deployed for the first time.   I'll never forget, it was the height of the War on Terror. So, we were living in a military community which was amazing and a lot of my friends' husbands were also serving in the same military units or similar military units and they were deploying. The tempo was high so that meant, you know, six months deployed or longer, coming home for short amounts of time and then deploying again. Lots of action specifically in Afghanistan and Iraq at the time.   And so, lots of fatalities, lots of injuries, lots of grief, and for spouses a lot of fear because we knew what they were doing was very dangerous. And so, for me and my friends we kind of had this unspoken rule which I think a lot of people can understand which was, “Let's just not talk about this scariest thing because somehow talking about it makes it seem more possible.”   And as crazy as that is to say, people get that. You know, there's a lot of things we don't talk about because it's just too scary to think about. And so, for us the scariest thing in our life at that time was the fear that our husbands would not come home, that they would be killed in action. And that felt very real because we were going to memorial services, we were visiting people in the hospital, we were turning on the news and seeing what was going on in the world. And there was often communication blackouts because we knew that they were doing things that were very dangerous, very secretive.   And so, at the time I happily did what everybody else was doing which was, “Let's just not talk about it. Let's just kind of live life managing.” We felt like we were managing this fear, I think that's what I would have said at the time.   But then one day my friend Lisa, who's an amazing friend and she's always like two steps ahead of me on the wisdom scale, we were having coffee on her front porch and she turned to me and she said, “I've been thinking a lot about what life would be like if our husbands were killed.”   And this was like a bomb drop. I mean because we just were not supposed to be talking about this. Like here the rest of us had been avoiding all morbid thoughts about what could possibly happen with our husband and instead she had like turned and looked it straight in the eye.   And I was shocked. And so, I kind of sat up straighter and I said, “What do you mean?”   And she said, “Well, I've been thinking about it and it's not that, you know, life would certainly be hard and doesn't mean we wouldn't need counseling or our kids wouldn't need support, but life would still go on even if that happened. Life would still go on. Life would still be full of good things and God would provide and bring people around us to support us and I've just been thinking about that.”   And I was stunned. I was absolutely stunned because while the rest of us were too afraid to face that fear, in looking at it she kind of exposed it for what it was, which was certainly real and an absolute possibility that that could happen. But when she started walking down the path of like, “Okay, if this happened then what would happen?” You have to decide, “Do I believe God would really be with me or not? Do I believe His promises are true that He will be with me on good days and bad days and that He will draw people to me who will love me and support me? And have I plugged myself into friends and a faith community that would be there for me if that happened?”   And it was a game changer. That was probably one of, at the time, the biggest life-changing conversations I'd ever had as an adult because it really did shift how I viewed feeling afraid about things like that. And so, I had several opportunities... Drew deployed several times and then certainly doesn't take combat deployments to feel afraid like that. I know I have felt it before when my daughter was in the NICU, you know, and I had to leave her in the NICU and go home at night. I know I have felt it during this pandemic several times. I know I'm gonna feel it when I drop my oldest off at college this summer. You know, this moment where it just life feels very scary mainly because of the unknowns that come next and the fact that you have no control over those.   And so, that rocket launch moment was, you know, I felt like God was really prompting me in that moment to say, “Hey, if this rocket explodes like what will you do with that? Do you still trust me that I'm here with you and that I will still bring people to you and love you? Like is your support, is your foundation and your hope truly found in me or is it found in this rocket launch going successfully? Because it might not, and then what does that mean for you?”   And so, it really was this choice of am I gonna choose to live a life of fear, which is our default because if you do not choose something else we will always live a life dictated by fear of something. It's exhausting to live like that because once you conquer one fear another one's gonna pop up. Then they come in bunches and they just start layering on top of each other. Honestly it can lead to despair because there's plenty of things in the world to be afraid of and new ones just pop up every day.   So instead, I felt like God was offering me a new way of living and it really felt tangible in that moment of that rocket launch which is, “Hey, I hope that you will choose to find your hope in me. Just me. The one unchanging thing in this world that will be unchanging regardless of what happens with this rocket launch in 10 seconds. But if it goes well or if it goes poorly I am unchanging. You can rely on me. I will be with you in the best and the worst of times. And even if the rocket launch goes successfully and whatever happens in the next nine months, I'm with you there as well. So, you don't need to be afraid because I'm here with you. You can have hope that I will enable you to do what must be done no matter what happens tomorrow.”   Laura Dugger: (22:32 - 22:49) I'm so grateful that you chose hope and you chose faith. And then after all of that excitement and that adrenaline experienced on launch day, what did your life look like in the months to follow?   Stacey Morgan: (22:49 - 26:47) Yeah, it wasn't easy. You know I joke that those nine months really were like it was like a master class in all these little lessons I've learned throughout the years, but I'd never had to put them into practice at this level and all at the same time.   So, things like being honest about that I needed help. That, you know, there are times in the past where I have certainly wanted people to know or think that I had it all together and that I could do it all by myself especially, you know, I think every mom feels that way.   Certainly, military spouses, we take a lot of pride and feel like I'm doing this on my own.   And I realize now that I had certain seasons I have made life a lot harder for myself because I somehow thought that there was like an extra trophy if I finish the race by myself. I said that it was like, spoiler, there's no trophy. And also, I was just making it harder for myself.   And so, this season I could not fake it. Like past seasons I could fake it. This one I could not fake it. I had two teenagers, two tweens, a lot of hormones and then prepubescent and puberty things flying around. Just a lot of scheduling, a lot of driving, like just life. And then just the stress of living with someone who, you know, a spouse who was living in space and the stress of what does that do to your marriage, to parenting and, you know, parent-child relationships. Just every single piece of running a house, of parenting all the things, was solely on my shoulders and that's a big weight. And it was tough. It was tough.   So, I could not fake it. I had to ask for help. I had to be willing to ask for it and receive it, which are two different skill sets I found. It's sometimes you get good at one and not the other. I had to get really willing to be vulnerable as my friends and say things like, “I'm really lonely.” Can you know, it's like being honest. Like everything's not just, “Oh, this is so exciting. Oh, isn't it so great? Aren't we just so proud of them?” Yes, but at the same time sometimes I'm lonely. Sometimes I'm struggling.   Sometimes in my stress I would overly focus on trying to control my home life or what was happening within my own house and become not as pleasant of a person to live with because I was just trying to kind of regain some control in what felt like a little bit of a chaotic world and then you become not your best self and you know that. And so, I had to learn how to kind of get out of that survival mode and still have fun even when life is hard. And really just kind of accept that life isn't one thing or the other. You can be in a hard season and it still have good things in it. Life can be full of opportunities and challenges and one does not negate the other. And when you try to live your life by one narrative or the other, not only are you faking it but you make life harder than it needs to be and you kind of block other people out of it.   So, there was a lot of learning going on in there but we really all came down to that first decision of how am I gonna live my life in this season? Am I gonna live it fearfully, reactionary, hair trigger, you know, just stress all the time because I'm afraid of what comes next. I'm not sure if I'm gonna be able to handle it? Or am I gonna live a life of hope, which is of course like not wishes and dreams but it is anticipation that God will be with me no matter what comes down the pipeline. And sometimes that's divine comfort that is hard to explain but you just feel it. Sometimes it's people he draws to your life who literally will sit on the couch with you and just like hold your hand or give you a hug that moment you need it. Sometimes it's someone offering to carpool or take your kid out driving because they're trying to get their driver's license, you know?   But that's really the biggest thing for me. I talked about it in chapter one of the book because that's the foundation that really all those other lessons were built on.   Laura Dugger: (26:47 - 27:26) And I think also with your book, it was helpful to hear little insights into what it looked like for your marriage. And it was even interesting when you said it's really important for astronauts to have forms of entertainment and that you were so committed to being involved in Drew's life and that you two still found ways to stay connected. I just think that has to be encouraging to any married couples listening right now because you clearly had a big barrier to overcome. But what were some of those ways that the two of you tried as best as you could in that season to stay intimately connected to one another's lives?   Stacey Morgan: (27:26 - 31:19) Yeah, it's not easy. And I think there's kind of this fallacy that is kind of dangerous for especially young married I think to believe which is like in every season of your life you're gonna feel amazingly connected to your spouse and you're gonna constantly be growing in your relationship. And sometimes that's not true. Like sometimes one person has a job that takes them away from home or someone is sick or there are other issues going on in your life where the connection is just not as strong not because you don't want it to be but because the circumstances you find yourself in don't allow for that.   And certainly, while my husband was in space that was a lot of challenges to feeling connected. I mean there's good communication but there's a difference between like quality and quantity, right? So, he could call me on the phone every day but because of the time differences and his schedule the only time he could call me was between 4:00 and 5:00 p.m. my time, which as any person knows and with any kids, is like the worst time of the day. Like everything's happening, the wheels are coming off, homework, pickups, dinner prep, like all that kind of stuff was crazy.   So, needless to say, I was not able to sit down and have like a heartfelt drawn-out conversation. And then kids hate talking on the phone so he wasn't really talking to them during the day. I'm like, you know, my eight-year-old isn't gonna send him an email. So, you know, there wasn't like a lot of quality or quantity conversation with the kids which of course puts a little stress on your marriage too because you worry about that.   And then we have one video chat a month and you want it to be fun. You want it to kind of be good for the kids as well as him but it's a very, you know, it's one hour to share between five people and so that's not a lot of time. And so, the reality is that for that season there was a lot of, I would say, relationship treading water. And you're, you know, the goal is just not to let things go downhill, which you can easily do in life when you and your spouse are experiencing the same event but from different points of view. And that's what we were doing. You know, we were sharing the mission but from two vastly different points of view.   And so, you do your best. But the difference is I think you have to in order to kind of come out on the other end better, you have to have a kind of a mutual commitment that, “Hey, we're going to... we are eventually going to come back together on this. We can't change the circumstances. I can't make the time difference different. I can't give you more time on the phone. I can't... there's things I just cannot change. But we are committed as a team to doing the best we can right now and when this circumstance changes, in this case when he came home, we're gonna kind of back up again and do some story sharing and reconnect about some things that we just didn't have the opportunity to in the past.”   And so, it's a little bit kind of like two steps forward one step back but eventually you still come out ahead if you are committed to trying to come back together and share those experiences in one way or another. Where you run into kind of danger is if people start experiencing two different things and then they never come back together so the gap just kind of keeps widening and widening. And then you hear when people say like, “Yeah, I woke up and I felt like I was living a different life than the person who was sleeping next to me.”   And so, reminding us to ourselves that we are a team even though we were experiencing the same thing. I didn't know a lot about a lot of the things he was doing. He didn't know a lot of stories about how things were for me. And so, it's okay to tell them later if you don't have the ability to tell them in the moment as long as you both have the goodwill and you prioritize coming back together eventually.   Laura Dugger: (31:19 - 34:26) And now a brief message from our sponsor.   Did you know you can go to college tuition free just by being a team member at Chick-fil-A East Peoria? Yes, you heard that right. Free college education. All Chick-fil-A East Peoria team members in good standing are immediately eligible for a free college education through Point University.   Point University is a fully accredited private Christian college located in West Point, Georgia. This online self-paced program includes 13 associate's degrees, 17 bachelor's degrees, and two master's programs, including an MBA. College courses are fully transferable both in and out of this program. 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We love producing free content that's available to everyone around the world with our monthly newsletters when you sign up for our email list and with our weekly episodes. We pray that this has been a benefit to you. That if any episode has ever impacted you, what we ask is that you will partner with us now and generously and prayerfully give financially before the end of the year. There's multiple ways to do this. Online at thesavvysauce.com, you can donate through Stripe,  PayPal, or Venmo with just a simple click. Or you can send snail mail to us at Savvy Sauce Charities, P.O. Box 101 Roanoke, Illinois, 61561. We hope you choose to support us today and during this season especially.   It sounds like you really leaned into your friendships. So, what would you say you've learned about community both before and after your experience of launching Drew into space?   Stacey Morgan: (34:26 - 38:07) Well, I tell you what, I realized that as an adult often a lot of us don't really know how to do friendship well. And our culture is so, it so values independence that we often convince ourselves that if we tell our friends or our community that we need help or just kind of show our true heart for how important it is to us, that somehow that's gonna be kind of like devalued or we're gonna feel weak. And I realized like, “Man, I wasted a lot of years trying to be tougher than I really am.” And I wish I could go back and change that because in this season, mainly because I had no choice. And so, God really used this opportunity to show me like, “Hey, I'm gonna kind of like force you to open up your heart, be vulnerable with this small group of really trusted friends and like just trust me to see what happens next.”   And I did and it was a game-changer. I mean, I have a lot of deep feelings but I put a little bit of a tough exterior and I forced myself to be super honest and super vulnerable with my friends and say things like, “I'm lonely or I don't even know what I need but I'm just feeling exhausted or angry or this is really frustrating to me or I need help with this and I don't even know where to begin.” And just let those friends step into my life in a really intimate way.   And you know, I think we've all had a friend at some point who has asked for help and we have been so happy to help them and we've never thought less of them for it. But somehow when it comes to our own time we're like, “Oh, I don't want to trouble anybody. Oh, they're gonna think I can't handle it.” Or like, “Well, this is like I made this bed so I better lie in it. You chose to have all these kids, you chose this career, you chose this whatever, like this is your problem.” But we would never say that about another friend. And so, I don't know why we are harder on ourselves than we are on our friends because it's not right. Most of our friends are happy to help us. They love us helping us, being with us, comforting us, supporting us. That's how they show how important you are to them and we need to let them do that.   I've also gotten better about verbalizing the feelings that I had always felt inside but I felt awkward verbalizing. Like, “Thank you for being my friend.” Or like, “Thank you for just spending this time with me,” or, “You are an important person in my life.” Words that we say to our kids, that we often say to our spouses, but sometimes for me at least felt weird saying to friends and I'm really trying to get better about that. That was a great nine months of practice. It doesn't come easy or natural I think to anybody but it's a game changer. Like why not tell your friends how much they mean to you?   So, community is essential. Like don't try to lone wolf this life. I've certainly had some more extreme experiences than probably the average person, but the principles are the same. Get plugged into community and have multiple circles of community. Certainly, your faith community but also you know if you work, if you go to the gym, if you go to school, like your kids' friends, like there's so many circles of community and don't be afraid to just jump right in and get connected. And you've got to do it before you are in crisis. You've got to kind of invest in these friendships so that you know them and can trust these friends so that when those seasons come that are hard you have this small group of people who you can rely on. It will be a complete game changer in your life when you have a small, could be one person, can be two people, trusted people who can journey with you.   Laura Dugger: (38:07 - 38:34) I could not agree more. I really think that friendship is one of the most precious gifts were given in this life. And going back to your marriage we had discussed that time of separation but then there was a whole other season of transition as well. So, what was it like to come back together after being apart for nearly 10 months?   Stacey Morgan: (38:34 - 42:55) Yeah, so it's funny there's always these Hollywood romanticized versions of what reunions must look like whether that's a military deployment reunion or you know when an astronaut comes home. And I think people assume it's some kind of like hot sexy romantic can't keep hands off of you but the reality is far different, right? Because it's... I mean maybe it is, maybe that's how it is for some people. I will just say for us, you know, when you've been living an independent life for however long, whether that was you know a six-month or an eight-month deployment or a nine-month deployment to outer space, you know I was living my own life fully independent for that long where I made all the choices. I didn't have anybody looking over my shoulder or you know there's a little bit of independent freedom there when you're the only one kind of making the big decisions.   And so, when that person comes back into your life, which you want them to come back, you're happy they're home, but there is this awkward transition period. It's definitely an opportunity for some tension because now there's another opinion back in the mix, right?   Like I had to kind of adjust my way of doing life for another person who had a valid opinion, another decision maker. The kids had to adjust to having another parent back in the house. You're kind of getting to know each other so there is a little bit of a sniffing out period where you're like, “Hey, nice to meet you.” Because we all change. You know you could be gone from someone for a month, you know, you're not the same person you were today as you were last year or six months ago or maybe even a month ago. So, anytime someone comes back in your life they're different, you're a little different. You're like my friendships had shifted over those ten months, like my work had shifted, everything in my life had moved on and he had not been there in the house with me to experience that so there was... it was a whole new set of experiences and a new person to get to know again.   Now he came home and what made it a little bit more dramatic was that Drew came home in the startup of the pandemic. He came home in April of 2020 which at the time I think we weren't sure, “Are we going up? Are we coming down?” We know now looking back we realize things were just ramping up; the world was, we were all still very confused about what's the best thing to do can we all the things you know. So, NASA pretty much brought him home and then he came home to our house after just a few days in kind of the quarantine facility there on Johnson Space Center. But then he came back to our house and then it's like he never left because all of the normal stuff that would happen when you come home from space like travel and meetings and all these kind of things were all canceled or postponed.   And so, instead of kind of like getting to know each other slowly it was like zero to sixty. I mean he was home and he didn't go anywhere, none of us could go anywhere. So, we joke that the irony that he was in space with five professional crew mates in a small space and then he came home to live in our small space with five amateur crew mates who are certainly not nearly as gracious or accommodating or helpful as the professional astronaut and cosmonaut crew mates he had. The irony is not lost on us. So, he came home I don't think we've ever spent that amount of time together you know 24/7 in the same house with all four of our kids, no school, nowhere to go because everything's closed. And so yeah we're getting to know each other in this kind of Petri dish of new experiences as the world is also kind of like upside down and everything's unusual.   So, in the end it was okay. I joke like we did a lot of “I was like let me go do this puzzle I just need some alone time” or “I'm going for a walk around the neighborhood please don't text me. I'll be back when I'll be back I just need a few minutes to myself.” I think everybody has had that moment in the during the last two years where you're just like, “I just need a few minutes alone please,” you know in my if you've been trapped in your house with somebody who you're not normally with 24/7.   Laura Dugger: (42:56 - 43:17) Well sure and with your experience, mental health is very important for the family of the astronaut and the astronaut themselves. Wasn't it your psychologist who is saying typically when you come back and enter this time of reentry and reuniting you do little bit by little bit because that tends to be wiser?   Stacey Morgan: (43:17 - 45:22) Yes, that's right. They call it titrating a return. That's a principle they have in the military as well which is they would normally come back from a deployment for at least the first couple weeks back from a long trip away they would go to work every day for several hours because it's you know psychologically difficult for two people who have been living very independent lives to come back together just with like zero transition. The military has learned this over the last 20 years you know that you could go from a combat zone to mowing your lawn in 24 hours. That's stressful especially if you add in you know marriage baggage, kids you know nagging kids or issues like that, financial struggles, that's a kind of what can be a breeding ground for some really difficult situation. So, it's best to let people get to know each other again a little bit at a time.   Like you said the normal return from space was kind of the same thing. It would be come home and then you'd have some physical therapy, you'd have these different meetings and it would be a little bit like going to work for several weeks while they're getting their body and everything back to normal. Then, you kind of could have this kind of extended time at home but it gave both people the ability to kind of like reintroduce themselves to each other in bits and pieces and just kind of ease into it. But we did not have that luxury so we kind of had to create it ourselves. And I am glad again that we had those past experiences to know where the potential minefields were. If you were not prepared you could be very disappointed if you went into it thinking, “Oh, they're gonna come home, it's gonna be like romantic. We're gonna be like together and loving it all the time and just connecting so deeply. It's gonna be amazing.” And then the first time that your spouse is like, “Why are you emptying the dishwasher like that?” It's important to know like, “Yeah, if there is going to be tension it is going to be awkward. That's okay that is part of the normal cycle and it's gonna be okay.” But I'm glad that we had that knowledge beforehand because it could be tough.   Laura Dugger: (45:22 - 46:07) Well and Stacey another reason that I really appreciate you being willing to let us enter your story with you. When we have different careers or we have someone in the military and a civilian who's not involved, there's so much room for assumptions and maybe not always assuming the best. There's opportunity for miscommunication so I'm just wondering about the person who's hearing this and what if they're thinking, “Well that sounds irresponsible or even selfish of Drew to choose this path if he's a husband and father.” So, how would you offer that kind of person another perspective that they might be missing?   Stacey Morgan: (46:07 - 48:20) I mean I would say is when it comes to astronauts for sure, you know, these are not like hot-rodding thrill-seeking people. In fact, I would say I think a lot of people make the assumption that people who do some of these higher like physically higher risky jobs must be like thrill-seeking you know just thrown caution to the wind about everything in their life. Actually, nothing could be farther from the truth. I think you would find that we certainly and I would you know I think a lot of people in the same career field are similar and that we are good risk calculators. And that like policemen, like firemen, like military personnel you know it's an act of service to be in this job. These are not just like you know space tourists or billionaires getting on a rocket for fun. These are professionals who have chosen a career field of service and whether that is as a policeman, a fireman, a service to the nation, service to humanity, service to their community and they all play a part in that.   I think most people recognize that that it is you know there's something to be said for the person who chooses a career that has a level of risk because they feel called to it and because thank God for people who will take on risk and are willing to potentially sacrifice themselves for someone else. I mean I think it's kind of a higher calling which is why in general in our culture we honor them and rightfully so. It is risky, it's very risky. They certainly don't do it for the money. I don't think anybody in any kind of government service would say that they're doing it for the money, that's for sure. You know they're doing it because they feel called to something bigger than themselves and to serve their fellow man in some way. That's certainly I know how we feel as a family that his choosing to transition as an Army physician into being still in the Army but serving in this capacity was just the next level up. The way he could serve our community, our country, our nation and all of humanity and he really is its service first. It's the opposite of selfish; it is selfless service really.   Laura Dugger: (48:20 - 48:55) Mm-hmm thank you for that. I just say amen to everything you just said. Really it's service from your entire family that requires a sacrifice from each of you like you said for the greater good. And I think something else that you pointed out so well in your book was that having this value more so of security or not living into this calling that you said this calling was put upon your lives that could actually be idolatry if you're starting to place a higher value on security or anything else other than God and so I think you model that well.   Stacey Morgan: (48:55 - 51:13) Thank you. Yeah I think a lot of people you know sometimes these idols creep up on us we don't realize that we have put something on a pedestal until it gets threatened to be taken away from us and all of a sudden our reaction is over the top because we're you know you realize, “Gosh, I'm finding my security in this thing I'm finding my identity in this thing whether this thing is a job, another person, a political party, a scientific breakthrough whatever it is.” Right? Like and I think a lot of people, I certainly felt it you know in that launch moment like, “Am I finding my identity in being married to this person or him having this job or this launch being successful? Because if I am in about 10 seconds my world may crumble because if that could all be taken away from me.” And in that yeah I think we all kind of have probably had a moment especially in the last two years where for a lot of people something that they have built their life on has been either taken away from them or has it has been threatened to be taken away because of the pandemic a job a person in their life you know a relationship your kids going off to school every day I mean whatever it is that you've built in your life and you have put on this pedestal and you kind of made without even realizing it have started to place more hope in those things remaining unchanged than you have in God. And all of a sudden when those things are threatened you have this over-the-top emotionally fearful response that's kind of an indicator I think to all of us like when we have that is like, “Whoo my fear and my response should tell me that I seem to be very very afraid that this is going to be taken away from me because I am putting too much hope in it. Instead, I should be taking that and putting it back where it belongs. I should reprioritize where I am finding my hope and the only unchanging thing that we can build our foundation on is God. Everything else, every person, everything, every job, every whatever it is can and could possibly be taken away from you and on your deathbed will be.” So, you know you can't help but have a little bit of self-reflection there.   Laura Dugger: (51:13 - 51:23) Well and then for all of us how do you recommend that we all can rediscover our fun side when we've been trapped in survival mode for too long?   Stacey Morgan: (51:23 - 56:05) This is a great question because I think all of us have felt this definitely in the pandemic. You know this part in your life where everything in the world feels very chaotic and so you try to regain some control in your own life by maybe regimenting your kids a little more, cleaning your house a little more, you know, controlling things at work or whatever your environment is. And without really realizing it you become this just like survival mode like your day just becomes about making things easier for yourself, streamlining things, making things just go go go. And you wake up one day and you were like, “I'm exhausted. Like why am I so tired? Why am I why do I have like no joy? Why do I just feel unhappy?” And you realize that you have not done anything other than just be like surviving and cleaning and doing work or whatever it is like you have just been doing the basics with no fun whatsoever.   So I have been there I hit that a bunch of times in the pandemic, but I certainly hit it when Drew was in space because it's really hard being a single parent and managing all of the emotional burdens and the logistics of it. And I realized that I was cleaning a lot I was kind of getting a little bit more trigger angry with kids or people who you know were making me upset because when you're in survival mode it's all about just like “Get out of my way let me do what I want to do,” it's about getting things done quickly and other people become an annoyance instead of a joy in your life.   So it's all about going back to something that that fills you up and it can be something really frivolous it can be something like it's very it's 100% unique to you and so I can't tell you what that thing is but I would say the first step in kind of getting yourself out of survival mode and kind of getting back to your your whole self is asking yourself the question like, “What do I enjoy?” Not for its educational value, not for its good cardio exercise or and not what your kids enjoy, not what is Instagram worthy, or anything like in your soul what fills you up? Is it reading? Is it watching movies? Is it riding bikes? Is it roller skating? Is it you know eating Mexican food? Like what is it that you enjoy doing that when you do it you just feel like more of yourself?   And then just go do it tomorrow. Like it's gonna take prioritizing time probably some money but that is as much of a part of who you are how God created you. He didn't make you this like worker bot or like just a mom or just a wife or just a daughter or a sister like He made you a whole person and a huge part of who you are are these things that you enjoy. And you cannot continue to pour into other people or work or your community if you are never getting filled up yourself. You will just dry out, you will be burnt out, you'll be unhappy and you'll actually be worse in all these other areas where you were trying to work hard because you're just gonna be like a shell of yourself.   So, for me it was prioritizing time with friends. It was... I got this crazy flyer on my front door for roller skating lessons and I had this fantasy of being a really good roller skater that stemmed from like when I was eight and so I signed my girls and I up for roller skating lessons which was hilarious and very humbling but it was just silly. It took time, we had to prioritize the time on every Saturday it took money, but it was just fun. It had no educational value my kids will look back on it and be like, “What was that all about? I don't even know.” But it was great because even in the midst of a stressful season like that was a very stressful season, undeniable, but as part of that narrative it will not only be like, “Yeah it was really tough when my dad was away and you know my mom had to like single-parent us but that was also the season where my mom took us to roller skating lessons. Isn't that weird? That was so weird.” And we'll laugh about it.   And so, it's just about finding something that you want to do and then just unapologetically spend the money, spend the time, and invite a friend to do it with you again. Doing something with a friend is always more fun than doing something alone. Don't feel like you have to justify it or explain it to everyone you don't need to take pictures to post online you don't need to tell it just just go do it and have a good time. It's amazing how when you do that suddenly like those dust bunnies or that email that had a weird tone that you got don't annoy you as much as they used to because your kind of like finding your whole self again.   Laura Dugger: (56:05 - 56:27) That's helpful to remember to live life to the fullest and be ready for the next adventure that life's gonna throw at us. Yeah. And just as a bonus can we just ask what are some of the most common questions that you and Drew answer about space?   Stacey Morgan: (56:27 - 57:25) That's a good question. A lot of like personal hygiene questions about teeth brushing toilets how do you know take showers or whatever and of course the answer is they don't take showers. But and then of course a lot of people want to know, “Hey I've always been interested in becoming an astronaut how does somebody do that?”   And there are so many resources online people you know I say, “Look go online read all about it. There's amazing videos NASA puts out an incredible amount of resources that you can read up on but at the end of the day do what you are most passionate about because the likelihood that you, or your nephew, or your cousin, or your co-worker, your son, or, whoever it is that you know is convinced they want to be an astronaut the likelihood of them being an astronaut is very low. So you should do what just fills you up do a career and a life that you are passionate about and if God calls you to that path those doors will open but if He doesn't you'll still be living a life fully within God's purpose for you.”   Laura Dugger: (57:25 - 57:39) And Stacey you're such an incredible communicator both in this interview time together but also really enjoyed your book. And so, if people want to follow you to hear what you're up to next, where would you direct them online?   Stacey Morgan: (57:39 - 58:41) Sure well they can go to my website StaceyMorgan2000. That's like Stacey Morgan two zero zero zero dot com. That has my blog that has links to a different podcast like this that I've been on and they can check that out. They can find me on Instagram same handle StaceyMorgan2000.   And you know if people want to reach out, I love when people have been sending me messages lately after they've read the book it's been so awesome. You know I tell people like I certainly didn't write this book for the money I'm actually donating all my book proceeds to charities that support military families. So, I've been joking like, “Hey read the book if you don't like it the worst that happened is you donated to a military charity. If you do like it buy ten copies and give one to all your friends. But if you do like it I love it when people send me messages and just tell me kind of like what resonated and how it spoke to them.” That's just been one of the I would say the coolest aspect of completing this project was kind of putting it out there and then getting to see how God uses it in people's lives.   Laura Dugger: (58:41 - 59:02) There were so many things that resonated but off the top of my head if anybody has a copy of the book they'll have to turn to the part about baloney on sale friends. And Stacey you may know that we're called The Savvy Sauce because savvy is synonymous with practical knowledge and so as my final question for you today what is your savvy sauce?   Stacey Morgan: (59:02 - 1:01:08) Well I'll piggyback off your baloney is on sale friends' reference and that would be: pick up the phone and text your friend. We didn't need a study to show us this because I think most of us have just known this in our soul but there is an endemic of loneliness in the world right now as you know we've got all these ways to connect and yet people feel more disconnected. They feel more lonely especially women and what I learned through my own kind of relationship struggles over the years is that everyone's waiting for someone else to go first. That you in that moment you feel like you're the only person who's feeling lonely and alone and that everybody else is in these friend circles and you're just somehow on the outside. But the reality is that pretty much everybody feels the same way you do and everybody's sitting at home wishing someone would just text them and invite them to coffee.   So that's my practical tip is don't wait, go first be the bold friend or even acquaintance like it doesn't have to be someone that you are super besties with. But those baloney is on sale friends like I said you have to read the book and understand that that is like a special category of friendship that's the kind of friendship that our soul longs for but those things don't appear or like pop out of the ground. That kind of friend doesn't just show up it's developed over time it's invested in and cared for and loved and it starts with literally a text to go get coffee. That's how every great friendship story begins. So, if that's you, if you feel like yeah I don't have this close friend who I can do something with I'm lonely. Okay take that first step be the one who picks up the phone send that text message to the woman from church, or the woman from the gym, or that friend you haven't talked to in a while and just invite them over for coffee. Nothing fancy nothing crazy no agenda just come over for a couple hours for coffee. Every single person I know who does this no one ever regrets inviting a friend over for coffee. That's the first step that we can all take into just feeling more connected and having those kind of friends that we want.   Laura Dugger: (1:01:08 - 1:01:31) Love it. Well Stacy your book definitely changed my perspective on risk and I was so hooked on all the stories that you shared so I believe that your book is truly a gift to anyone who chooses to read it and your faith is very inspiring so thank you for sharing your journey with us and thank you for being my guest.   Stacey Morgan: (1:01:31 – 1:01:33) Well, thank you it's been great.   Laura Dugger: (1:01:33 – 1:05:16) One more thing before you go, have you heard the term gospel before? It simply means good news. And I want to share the best news with you, but it starts with the bad news.   Every single one of us were born sinners, but Christ desires to rescue us from our sin, which is something we cannot do for ourselves. This means there's absolutely no chance we can make it

In this episode, Jennifer shares some fond memories of Christmases that were far from perfect but by far the ones that meant the most. Resourceshttps://holleygerth.com/the-gift-of-rest/

Avery and Scotty are back for a cozy, slightly unhinged holiday catch-up with some martinis poured, shots lined up, kids finally in bed. In this They read your wild holiday horror stories: camcorder sex tapes played at family gatherings, chaotic blended Christmases, cheating scandals, and pets absolutely ruining dinner. Nothing is off limits, and the submissions are as unhinged as promised. In between listener stories, they crack open a truth-or-sip game and things escalate fast. Avery reveals the unhinged nickname she secretly gave David's penis, they break down their hard no's, secret kinks, and what gives major tiny-dick energy. If your own family feels a little too intense this season, pour a drink, heat up your leftovers, and spend the holidays with Avery and Scotty instead. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This week is presented by "Dial It Back", available now on Prime Video. This episode is sponsored by Cozy Earth! Use promo code HALLMARK to get 40% off at cozyearth.com--Brian is back to review a brand-new holiday movie that fans have been buzzing about: Christmas Above the Clouds. Featuring the return of an Erin Krakow and Tyler Hynes pairing, this movie is a little Christmas magic at 30,000 feet.ABOUT CHRISTMAS ABOVE THE CLOUDSWorkaholic CEO Ella Neezer tries to skip Christmas by boarding a flight to Australia. But her plan takes an unexpected turn when she is visited by three quirky spirits representing her past, present, and future — and she finds herself face-to-face with her ex-fiancé Jake. As Ella navigates these encounters, she's forced to confront the choices that prioritized success over connection, ultimately rediscovering love, compassion, and the true meaning of Christmas.AIR DATE & NETWORK FOR CHRISTMAS ABOVE THE CLOUDSNovember 8, 2025 | Hallmark ChannelCAST & CREW OF CHRISTMAS ABOVE THE CLOUDSErin Krakow as Ella NeezerTyler Hynes as JakeDirected by Peter BensonBRAN'S CHRISTMAS ABOVE THE CLOUDS SYNOPSISMeet Ella Neezer — a certified holiday grump. She runs a fancy-pants travel company and all of her employees hate her. It's Christmas Eve, but she could not care less. The new ad campaign isn't good enough and she wants improvements by the 26th. “I'm not saying you have to work on Christmas… it just has to be better by then.” Very chill.Ella and her assistant Bobbi head to the airport to catch a flight to Australia so Ella can skip Christmas entirely — even though Bobbi has a son, Tim, that she'd clearly rather be home with. On the way, Ella's sister calls trying to convince her to come home for Christmas. Absolutely not. Ella looks at a photo of her mentor, Marlene Jacobson, and for a second it looks like Marlene is moving. Weird, but let's brush that off.At the airport, Ella bumps into her ex-boyfriend Jake — the one she broke up with six years ago today. Even worse? He's seated right next to her on the plane.The plane takes off and suddenly things get spooky. Lights flicker. Window shades go up and down. And then — Marlene Jacobson appears on the seat-back screen to haunt her. She announces that Ella will be visited by three spirits. Buckle up, bucko.Ella falls asleep and is woken by the Ghost of Christmas Past, who is obviously a flight attendant. She shoves Ella out of the plane (casual) and Ella lands in her own childhood. She sees herself and her sister stuck at boarding school over Christmas. Then she jumps to college, where she meets young Jake, the cute librarian who gives her his scarf. They were happy once! Next, she sees an old company Christmas party — back when her employees liked her — and she and Jake are very in love. We get a memory montage: years together. He even proposes at Christmas. But as her career ramps up under Marlene, Ella gets busier, misses more time, and eventually the relationship breaks. She watches herself end it, placing the ring down. Finally, she sees herself snapping at Bobbi last year when Bobbi needed to rush home to her sick son. It hurts.Ella wakes back up on the plane and apologizes to Jake for all the Christmases she worked through. She could have done better.Then comes the Ghost of Christmas Present, who takes her to a bar where her employees are having their own mini Christmas party — and talking about how much they dislike her. Ouch. They visit Ella's sister's house, where her sister wishes Ella could just share in the joy. Ella sticks around long enough to remember how fun Christmas used to be. They visit Jake's charity, which is thriving. There's a woman clearly into him. Ella is jealous. They stop by his old friends' annual “Dive Bar Christmas” — the tradition Ella used to love. She misses those days. Then they visit Bobbi's house — Tim is sick with asthma, and the family resents Ella… until Tim says he's thankful for Miss Neezer because the job helps afford his medicine. Ella is crushed.Back to the plane she goes. Bobbi's asleep, so Ella goes to talk to Jake instead.Finally, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come arrives. Ella sees her employees talking like someone is gone — but who? At her sister's house, everyone is dressed in black. Jake shows up with flowers. Someone has died. Eventually, Ella realizes Jake gave up on love. Then she sees Bobbi's home. Tim's chair is empty. And then — she sees her own grave. She's devastated, begging for a chance to change.Suddenly — she's back on the plane. The flight has landed in Utah due to engine trouble. Coincidentally, her sister lives in Utah. It's Christmas morning (technically 1 AM).Ella snaps into action. She tells Bobbi she's getting a promotion, double salary, the best health insurance imaginable, and a first-class flight home to be with Tim. Bobbi is stunned.Ella and Jake go to breakfast. Ella tells him she doesn't want to go through life alone — especially not without him. She apologizes — sincerely. They slow dance. He dips her. They kiss BIG ONES.They surprise her sister. Ella apologizes for not being the sister she should have been. They spend Christmas together. Jake tells Ella he loves her. She tells him she's always loved him — some might say it was always you. They kiss again.Bobbi FaceTimes. Tim says, “God bless us, everyone.”The end.