An Almost Famous Christmas!

Santa’s here with some podcast gifts! Ben and Ashley take us through their holiday plans, which look a bit different for Ben now that he’s a dad!

We hear about Ashley’s wild Orlando vacation and some tips on how to handle holiday stress and visits to Santa Claus!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Ben and Ashley I almost famous podcast
with iHeartRadio.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
It's the almost famous podcast. It's been here and Ashley
and we wanted to share with you our best holiday wishes.
We want to wish you the most very merry Christmas
and happy holidays. Ashley, you've been up to a little
bit right now. A few weeks ago you got back
from Universal. Was that a part of a holiday like fun?

(00:29):
Or is that just random?

Speaker 3 (00:30):
You know? As Jared asked me, he goes. After we
wrapped up the trip and we were driving home, he
was like, Sally, how much did you get for the
kids yet? And I was like, not too much, like
quality over quantity for sure. And I was like, and
after this week, this week, I think they're good with

(00:51):
the toys. I don't think these kids need anymore. I
love giving them experiences. And when we went down there,
it was definitely kind of just like, let's not think
about how much we're spending on that dinner or how
much we're spending at that Universal or Disney store. Let's
just enjoy ringing now. And now that it's over, I'm like, yeah,

(01:13):
So that was part of their Christmas gift for sure,
And it was part of the Christmas gift for our nieces,
and it was just kind of like a nice way
of celebrating with our closest family and friends in Rhode Island.
It's kind of like Jared's side of the family. Some
of them would be like Jared's cousins and the friends
of the whole group. But it was really really fantastic.

(01:35):
It was so great. We had at one point seventeen
people staying at this villa. It's at the villa. If
we say at the villa.

Speaker 2 (01:43):
TL, oh you love that place.

Speaker 3 (01:46):
Yeah, it's awesome. It was. It's this complex basically of
all of these apartments and I guess like little mini mansions.
They're all like AIRBNBD, but like the I don't have
to deal with the independence of Airbnb. You kind of
get a house without having to do it like independently,

(02:08):
you know what I mean, So that you have the
accommodations and the service that you get with a hotel,
but you have your own apartment or house and it's perfect.
And really, when you break it down, if you go
with a huge group like that, it's very affordable, like
one hundred dollars a night per person.

Speaker 2 (02:26):
How many villains did you need for seventeen one one?

Speaker 3 (02:31):
So they kind of cram these houses with bedrooms, so
you be shocked at how many bedrooms they have, because
you know, like a lot of like if you walk
into a house, you can have a dining orm, you
have a living room, you have you know, an office whatever.
They kind of like overload the design of these houses
with bedrooms. But we do have a family, but they
also have the common areas. I don't know how that

(02:52):
these houses must actually be just gigantic, and because they're
so bedrooms off, you don't even realize how giant they are.
But this house at the Villa tele has you have
a pool in the back, which actually freaked me out.
With the kids, I was like everyone was getting a spiel.
Make sure the door is triple locked, make sure the

(03:14):
fence for the pool is you know, I just couldn't
really have relocks in that component. We need to get
them swimming lessons asapay. But that's a whole other conversation.
So it's like nine bedrooms. Some bedrooms have double beds,
some even have four beds. Because the kids rooms, which
are all decorated with themes, have like Queen beds that

(03:36):
are bunked, and like multiple twin beds that are bunked.
It was really really cute. Then there's a game room
and a theater. Dawson, Oh my gosh. We could never
get him a really even a Nintendo sixty four or
anything like I know that's totally antiquated, but like a
Mario cart, Like he can't have a Mario car at all,

(03:57):
because this kid was addicted to the driving games, which
I love driving games at an arcade and my sister
she was the queen of them when we were kids.
But they have it hooked up so that like there's
a driving game and you can just keep going and
going and going. You don't have to pay anything for it.
And this kid three years old getting I'm not even
joking first place often on Mario Kart. He's a good

(04:22):
driver and I like watch him. And it wasn't like
he was of course he's taking the easy route, but
like even on the easy route, he was placing first.
It was so bananas. Everything was just so great and
sorry to keep saying, so we went to Universal Studios
two days. We have been insane and now since for

(04:44):
Dawson's approaching Dawson's second birthday, we went to Disney for
the first time and that was again with Jared's extended
family family extended family, and we learned a lot through
that one. We were like, oh good Lord, like that
was a very stressful trip. And I will said that
I think that two is too young to go to
Disney now. When we took him when he just turned

(05:06):
three with Jaden Tanner, it was much more fun. And
Hayden was such a baby at seven eight months that
he was just like so content in the stroller and
just like blob, you know, so the blob. And now
Hayden loved it at you know, a little less than
a year and a half because of just like all
the visual stimulation. And he really liked the little rides too,

(05:30):
but he wasn't like trying to really walk too much.
He was just like he was also at a really
good age, and Dawson is at a great age. So
I will say that if you're wanting to take your
kids to Orlando to do the parks, definitely wait till
almost four because now at forty inches, he's riding a
lot of things and he's brave. Not most not even

(05:55):
four year olds can handle the rides that he went on.
He went on the drop on the Jurassic rop water ride.

Speaker 1 (06:01):
You know that he.

Speaker 3 (06:05):
Was scared. He was like scared but not scared at
the same time. Like he didn't cry or wasn't like
upset like that, but he was like, I'm covering my face.
I'm covering my face. And then when when he dropped
and it was over, he was like, oh, I like that,
Let's do it again. We didn't end up doing again,
but he did do a number of the roller coasters,
like the Akida roller coasters, you know, like the forty
inch roller coasters, over and over, and he was so

(06:28):
annoyed that he had to like get off the coaster
and then go back in the line. Jared and I
love Universal Studios. That was one of the things that
we've learned from our previous two trips. It was like
we are Universal people over Disney. I just think that
it's a calmer way, it's a calmer park. I think
the rides are better. I think that the way that

(06:51):
the speed passes are designed so much better. But we
had a great day at Hollywood Studios as well. Really
nailed had a nap to Gate that Park.

Speaker 2 (07:11):
So now, I mean, with this trip happening, what are
your plans for the like, for the holidays.

Speaker 3 (07:16):
We are staying in Rhode Island. Yeah, I mean it's
it should be pretty chill. His sister lives in Rochester now,
but she's getting a house for the week because she
doesn't want to stay at my in laws for an
entire week. Small house and with the four kids, including
two kid baby to whatever. My sister in law is

(07:37):
actually runting a house like right down the street from us,
and they're gonna come over Christmas in the morning. We're
gonna do the whole opening of presents with their cousins,
you know, their cousins cousins, and we're excited about that.
It'd be really cute and cozy, and I think it'll
just be like kind of a chill day. I am
disappointed that I probably won't be seeing my family, but

(08:01):
like I told you at Thanksgiving time, we kind of
like half a negotiate it, especially since my dad always
works the day before Christmas and the day after Christmas
and it makes it things difficult. Anyway, what are you
doing for your Christmas? I know you you were in
Rhode Island and we did not cross paths, which is
super unfortunate. Did you you went to the Breakers That

(08:22):
is one of the Vanderbilt mansions, guys, and it is
always it's always beautiful, but it's even more beautiful at
Christmas time and they do like a big Christmas decor festival.

Speaker 2 (08:32):
Yeah, we brought Winnie there so that she could see
the lights. We went last year was awesome, but Jessica
was pregnant, so we wanted to bring her back to
Sea Lights. This is Jessica's family gets together though. All
the Italians come together in Rhode Island and we have
a blast. It's a great celebration. And then for Christmas,
we're going to Nashville, which is awesome. My my in

(08:55):
Laar's a hosting this year because we've traditionally gone someplace warm.
My sister in law is pregnant right now and going
to be very near her due date on Christmas and
so they can't travel. So my in laws are nice
enough to invite all of us, including my parents, to
their house for Christmas. So we're just going to hang

(09:18):
out in Nashville for a few days for Christmas, which
will be fantastic. We will have a great time so
we'll be going back, but we'll make it a quick trip.
This will not be an extended trip. This will kind
of be a fly in, spend the day kind of
fly out kind of thing.

Speaker 3 (09:33):
What are you getting Whennie, are you like shopping for her?
Because Dawson's first birthday, he's just about the same, born
in the same part of the year, so very not
knowing what Christmas is and all of that. What are
you planning on doing for her gifts?

Speaker 2 (09:50):
Not a lot quite honestly. I mean it feels, especially
for a first Christmas, it's cooler that she's we're just
going to get to celebrate her first Christmas with her. Yeah,
gift wise, that girl has more things than she'll ever
be able to open up in this house, just based
on just you know, getting stuff sent to us or grandparents,

(10:13):
great grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles. I mean, there's so many
things that we can We will overload her with like
one year old toys and then she won't play with
half of them. So I doubt Jess can I just
talked about it. I doubt we really get much more
than like maybe one or two things. She's really into

(10:34):
books right now and so that's kind of fun. We'll
get her some books that we'll read to her, but
she'll get enough gifts. She'll get enough gifts, like one
hundred percent. I'm not worried about.

Speaker 3 (10:46):
That's what I'm thinking. That's why I was like, why
should I get so much more for them when I
know your parents and my parents and my sister are
going to life and our house is already just so
over loaded with toys, and especially for it with Hayden,
it's just like everything's a hand me down toy, Like
you don't need new toys that like Dawson never had.

Speaker 2 (11:07):
Yeah, there's I think there's like a mindset where some
will hear them be like that's crazy, how could you not.
I I hear that and say, hey, a lot of
the toys that we get we already just like donate
brand new.

Speaker 3 (11:19):
Or do that have that too? Yeah, I have a
good time.

Speaker 2 (11:23):
So we're trying to like consolidate to the toys she
loves and uses. I already got her a it's called
Make It Cute. It's a really fun cardboard dollhouse that
you just pop up. She already has that and she
loves it, and I got it for her for Christmas.
So yeah, we'll be good. We'll be good there. I

(11:46):
actually I grew up in a household that gifts were
not ever expect the.

Speaker 3 (11:51):
Balls, yeah, actual balls, yeah.

Speaker 2 (11:53):
Like sports things and like those would happen when my
ball would run, like get beat up. And so Christmas
or Birthdays were never like a big day to get
gifts because I already had what I wanted. And I
have this mindset for Winona. It's well, you know, she's
she's already spoiled just by this stuff she has at
eight or ten months old. I am always pushing against

(12:18):
more physically.

Speaker 3 (12:20):
I just I just really want to experience gifts from
my kids. It was so fantastic last year my sister
in law got us passes for the zoo as a family,
and that's in perfect. We went to the zoo four
times and in the year and then I just like
would love for somebody to instead of giving me my
kids a toy, to like get them one of the

(12:43):
like yearly passes chuck E Cheese because they love Chucky's
and that'll make him spec Dawson particularly like way happier
than any toy that he'll probably play with her for
like five minutes, maybe like Rediscovered down the road, play
for five minutes and then whatever. It's so funny that
you told me years ago that you were like, I
didn't have toys. I just like got balls in my house.

(13:04):
The balls and like the hockey sticks and the baseball
bats and stuff like that are really the only that
that is what's used ninety it's seventy percent of the
time that is what the boys, both of them prefer
to play with over anything.

Speaker 2 (13:16):
So you see what I was saying. You were shocked
back then. I'm like, I'm like, no, I really didn't,
because I think my parents after a few years were like,
I'm not buying him another game system or whatever because
he doesn't play with it. He wants to be hitting
a ball against the wall.

Speaker 3 (13:31):
Yeah, it is. It's what it's always played with most
and that's great. It's a great, great thing. And it's
funny that even hated now at not even seventeen months
is picking up the baseball and trying to hit the
ball and.

Speaker 2 (13:46):
So much more fun, so much better. Ashley. A couple
of final questions for you. You've obviously gone through a
few holidays now being a mom. What does it mean
to you this time of year. Has it changed it all?

Speaker 3 (13:59):
It's definitely more. It's obviously more special. I think everybody
was like, wonder we gonna like feel the Christmas spirit
and the Christmas magic that was like our nineties Christmases.
That's what a lot of millennials will say, and I
think you get way more of a touch of that
when you are experiencing Christmas through your child's eyes. Again,

(14:22):
doing anything, just baking gets Dawson hyped, like he is
so cute and you're like, you want to make a
cake and he's like, make cake cake. It's so adorable.
I haven't done Elf on a shelf or anything like that,
but just going to see Santa, doing anything Christmasy he

(14:45):
loves and it is just like a warmer part of
the year again. I feel like, definitely just it's more
of a thing.

Speaker 2 (14:55):
Do you take your kids to see Santa.

Speaker 3 (14:58):
I don't like, do it with intention. We just happened
to kind of do it. So we go to this
Christmas tree lighting and the cutest little town. And this
has been a tradition that I didn't even think we
were making. We didn't purposely make a tradition. We just
happened to have done it now three years in a row,
and now I want to make it a tradition. It's
the cutest little town. It's called Wickford, and they have
a Christmas tree lighting, and then there are little shops

(15:20):
are open later that day, and these are like the
cute little craftsman shops, you know, where they have handmade
ornaments and such. So I always go into this one
store and we buy a couple handmade ornaments. So I'm
going to make it so that the boys pick out
an ornament each year from that store. And then Santa
comes on a fire truck and all the kids freak
out when he pulls up on the side of the
fire truck, and Dawson has been eager to meet him

(15:44):
the past two years. And then whenever where we're at
the mall, and Jared's a big mall guy, loves Christmas
shopping at the mall. I am all about the online shopping,
and I try to make everything like so very specific
to the person. And Jared's thought of a personal gift
is different, and I respect it. Both both ways are great.

(16:05):
I am more of like, I'm going to look up
this person's interest and find like the most niche thing,
and he is like, I'm going to go with my
hands and pick out something that I feel that they
really like. Like he really wants to do it in person.
So he's all about the mall. So he'll take Dawson
to the mall sometimes and I like to go like
once or twice, but he'll take Dawson to the mall.
We will all go, and then he might sit on

(16:27):
Santa's lap there. Santa comes to Audrey's every year. That's
a nice little tradition. Now he came last week and
it's adorable to see all the kids just up against
the glass like waiting for him to come in. And
he did lap time and there you go.

Speaker 2 (16:54):
Is it hard to book? Sannah Like, I mean, I'm
assuming it. What do you do? You call the Elves?

Speaker 3 (16:58):
So the shopping center that we're in, they do a
whole breakfast with Santa. So he's there from eight to eleven,
and then they distribute where he's gonna be a time wise,
so he was at Audrey's from ten to eleven or
something like that.

Speaker 2 (17:13):
It's gotta be so tired this time of year. We
have something we're really excited to do. Is that I
don't know if you've seen on TikTok, but it's the
thing where you spray the magic spray on the little
Christmas tree and then when the kid wakes up the
next morning, it's a big tree. Like you start out
with like a small little like like plan yeah, and
you like tell the kids spray it, and they like

(17:34):
spray it with water. Oh, it's magic water, and it
blows up. The next morning they're like, oh my gosh,
I made the tree grow.

Speaker 3 (17:40):
No way, that's so cute.

Speaker 2 (17:42):
Isn't that cute? Yeah, I'm gonna do that. We're really
pumped for that. That'll be a good one. We took
Winnie to bass pro Shop. Do you know Bass pro
Shop does free pictures with Santa.

Speaker 3 (17:53):
Oh that's nice.

Speaker 2 (17:54):
Yeah, it was awesome. It was fantastic. I have it
sitting here on my desk and he was he was happy.
He had a good singing voice when he was confused.
She was, Yeah, it was great. The holidays are such
a special time for so many and in such a
difficult time. You know, in most households, especially as we

(18:16):
get to be my age, in Ashley's age, there's people
we miss, people we wish could be there. We fully
understand that the holidays, for as much joy and magic
and tradition there is around them, they're also ones of
deep pain. And so if you're out there and you're
somebody that relates more to that than the celebration, no,

(18:39):
you're not alone. Also, with all that being said, I hope,
Ashley hopes, we all hope here at iHeart that your
holiday season can be one where joy is found, where
love is found, and where connection with a community around
you is found. It's not about the gifts, it's not

(19:03):
about the luxuries, it's not about the food on the table.
It's about being around the table, and it's about being
around people that have been there for you and that
you love. That could be family, or that could be
a chosen family. But we wish you the best this
holiday season. We hope you celebrate well, and we'll be
back talking about more things that matter, like what's happening

(19:27):
in Bachelor Nation when we return from the holidays.

Speaker 3 (19:32):
Well said pastor Ben. Until next time, I've been Ashley.

Speaker 2 (19:36):
And I've been Ben. We'll talk to you soon.

Speaker 1 (19:39):
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