December 2, 2025 • 26 mins
In this heartfelt episode of the Home and Marriage Podcast, Lennon and Christal Noland open up about their own family rhythms during the holidays and the joyful anticipation of Christmas. They share the traditions that anchor their home, like baking cranberry bread and celebrating “Christmas Eve Eve,” and how these simple rituals strengthen connection and create lasting memories.
Together, they offer practical wisdom for navigating the holiday season with peace—managing expectations, setting realistic budgets, and keeping family relationships healthy when things get busy. Most importantly, Lennon and Christal point listeners back to the true meaning of the season: celebrating the birth of Christ and letting His love shape every moment.
This episode invites you to embrace the beauty in imperfect traditions, cultivate a Christ-centered home, and make the holidays meaningful without stretching your sanity—or your budget.
Visit our Website for more information at https://homeandmarriage.com/
6 Habits of Happy Couples Course https://homeandmarriage.com/collections/courses
Connect further with Lennon and Christal:
email info@homeandmarriage.com
On Instagram https://www.instagram.com/home_and_marriage/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100091578588121
TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@home.and.marriage?_t=ZP-8zJvDNq3UZb&_r=1
10/2 Connection https://homeandmarriage.com/pages/connect
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Lennon (00:03):
This is the Home and Marriage Podcast with Lennon and
Christal Noland, where we helpcouples become better at home
and stronger together.
We're husband and wife, parentsand ministers who want God's
best for our home and for yours.
Oh my gosh.
Christal I hear it.
Can you hear it?
(00:24):
What?
Santa Slay be's baby.
Santa's coming to town.
Is it too early for that?
It's so early December, but asfar as I'm concerned, Santa's on
his way.
Christal (00:33):
It's not too early.
Lennon to me, when it's December1st, it's definitely time to
celebrate Christmas.
'cause Thanksgiving's behind us.
We just had a great Thanksgivingwith our family.
We enjoyed lots of food.
Like I know I gained somepounds.
Lennon (00:48):
I know I gained some pounds too because I stepped on
the scale this morning.
And let me tell you, that wasn'ta great way to start the day.
Yeah.
You thought that was funny.
I see.
But it's true.
You were sleeping like a babyand I was, uh, getting up to go
to the gym and talk aboutmotivation to go ahead and get
out the door on a day that on aday this cold.
I was like, my goodness, I gottaget back to it.
So we did enjoy Thanksgiving.
(01:10):
We went and spent time with mydad early in the week.
Yeah, because it was yourparents' year for us to eat at
their house.
So we had barbecue at my dad'shouse.
Traditional stuff onThanksgiving Day with your
parents.
It was great being witheverybody.
Christal (01:24):
Yeah.
Hey, what was your favoriteThanksgiving food this year?
Lennon (01:28):
I think my favorite Thanksgiving food this year was
my dad's ribs.
Honestly,
Christal (01:33):
not even, not even the actual Thanksgiving food, but
the mm-hmm.
Lennon (01:38):
On on Thanksgiving day though.
I mean, the classic stuff, themashed potatoes, the eade, the
garlic mashed potatoes, thegravy.
I kind of like to mix the stufftogether.
My plate is kind of gross, butthe hodgepodge of all the
basics, the mashed potatoes, thestuffing, the Turkey.
I love it all.
Christal (01:56):
My favorite was our cranberry bread.
We do cranberry bread every yearsince the kids we're little
because we read this book calledCranberry Thanksgiving.
Lennon (02:07):
Yep.
Christal (02:07):
And the back of it has the actual recipe for a good
cranberry bread, which was inthe story Moms, if you.
Have little ones, please getthis book.
It's such a cute book and I loveit because it was all about like
sharing what you have withothers and it just has a sweet
meaning.
But anyways, that's my favorite.
I love good cranberry bread,fresh from the oven with some
(02:29):
coffee.
Lennon (02:30):
That was an unforeseen tradition that we developed.
We're gonna talk a lot abouttraditions today.
Yeah.
But that Thanksgiving traditionof Thanksgiving morning.
You know, you baking that bread.
We would read the story to thekids.
I remember when it finally cameto an end where we sat down at
the table and we opened the bookand they were just too old for
it.
And they're like, mom, we don'twanna do this.
Christal (02:51):
I, this is one of those mom fail moments where I
was trying to press an issue ofwe're gonna read this book.
We're gonna get into this.
And they're all like, mom, we'retoo old for this book.
Please don't make us read it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I just had to come to terms withcertain traditions are gonna age
out.
(03:12):
Yeah.
And it's okay.
Embrace the new move on.
Right.
And we, but we still do enjoyour cranberry bread.
They beg for it every year.
I will just say, yeah.
It's one of the few bakingthings that I actually can do.
So,
Lennon (03:25):
yeah, we had a great Thanksgiving.
We're into Christmas, you know,we came into Thanksgiving with,
our tree was up, most of thelights were on the exterior of
the house.
Mm-hmm.
I like to come into, intoThanksgiving with a running
start toward Christmas.
We pulled that off and so you'vegotta set up in full.
Christmas mode.
I, I don't even mind your pillowobsession around Christmas
(03:47):
because the December pillows youpull out look fantastic.
You've just done a great jobwith our home this year.
Christal (03:53):
Oh, thank you.
I, I love the whole Christmasatmosphere in our home.
I do think we need a couple moreChristmas mugs to display
though.
I do.
I do think that is somethingwe're lacking.
Lennon (04:06):
For the love of the Lord Woman.
We have enough mugs.
Yeah, you're drinking outta amug right now with Christmas
trees and nutcrackers on it.
Christal (04:14):
Yeah, but this is actually our daughter's mug
because I don't really have agood Christmas mug myself.
Lennon, so that's one of theproblems.
I think I need my own Christmasymug.
That's mine.
Lennon (04:27):
Yeah.
Well, we'll agree to disagree,so, but we got plenty of other.
Christmas things that we hope toenjoy.
Mm-hmm.
Kind of like everybody.
We're gonna talk about thattoday.
Christmas is something that, forme, over time, has become a
bigger deal to me than it waswhen we first got married.
Christal (04:43):
Yeah.
I remember our very firstChristmas together as a married
couple.
We were married for only threemonths so far.
So we, everything was new and Iwas.
So excited to get our littleapartment set up for Christmas.
We found a Christmas tree.
Actually it was my parents' oldChristmas tree that they were
done with.
(05:03):
I think we had to re stringingsome lights on it.
Yeah.
To make sure it all lit up.
But I couldn't wait to set thatup.
But the one thing I noticedabout you is you just didn't
seem that end of Christmas, andI came from a family that loves
Christmas, and so that wasreally new for me.
Lennon (05:21):
Yeah, I was really a late comer to coming to love
Christmas with the intensitythat you do and maybe beyond the
intensity you have for it now.
Yeah.
Uh, didn't have all of the sameexperiences that you had growing
up, but being around you and howmuch you love it.
And then of course, little kidscoming into the picture.
(05:42):
I am as much of a Christmas nutas anybody that I know, or
anyone we can see in a moviethat's a little too over the top
about it.
Christal (05:51):
You're like a kid at Christmas.
It's even funny to me how youwill mourn Christmas before it's
even over, but you will start tosay it's true.
You'll say like, oh, I can'tbelieve that.
Christmas is gonna be here in 25days, and then it's gonna be so
long until the next one.
Like I, I think that's so funny.
Yeah.
How much you love it now.
(06:12):
And I do think a lot of that isbecause of the, the special
memories we've made over theyears at Christmas time, the
things we've done with the kids,having kids really brings.
Christmas alive in a new way, soI think a lot of the things that
we've done tradition wise has,has meant a lot for our family.
What, what is something that youlove?
(06:32):
What's one of your favoriteChristmas traditions that we do?
Lennon (06:36):
One of the things that I love most, it's not totally
unique to us, but we do, you dothe Christmas morning breakfast
of monkey bread.
Some people call it differentthings, but it's all the
biscuits and a bunt cake pantogether with syrup and brown
sugar.
We fry up a bunch of bacon.
Christal (06:55):
Yeah, lots of butter on that thing too.
Lennon (06:57):
Lots of butter.
I eat a lot of that.
And then drink a lot of coffee.
Christal (07:02):
Yes.
Amen.
Lennon (07:03):
And we open presents with the kids.
I look forward to that time somuch.
Mm-hmm.
That is my favorite breakfast ofthe year, so that's my favorite.
Yeah.
What's, I love that.
What's, what's your favoritetradition
Christal (07:15):
that we have?
I think one of my favoritetraditions is our Christmas Eve
Eve night.
Yes.
We, and the reason we dosomething on Christmas Eve, Eve
is usually Christmas Eve, we'reat a, a service together at
church, but Christmas Eve Eve iswhen we.
As a family, gather around andwatch the Christmas Carol, the
Jim Carrey version, which isyour favorite.
(07:35):
My favorite.
So good.
We love it.
And then we'll have hot cocoa ora special dessert.
It's just a fun night.
And when the kids were little,they used to on Christmas, Evie,
sleep under the tree or near thetree, right?
And so they would get out theirpallets.
Or their, their bedding.
Yeah.
And they would all sleep underthat tree.
Lennon (07:54):
Our German Shepherd was so happy to have company for the
night in the living room floor,and they kind of, they, they
don't enjoy that as muchanymore.
Christal (08:04):
No.
They, they like the comfort oftheir beds and they like to
actually wake up later.
That's one of the beautifulthings about teenagers in
Christmas.
Lennon (08:11):
That's true.
They
Christal (08:12):
don't come knocking on your door at 5:00 AM No, they're
like, oh, can we please sleeptill eight or nine?
So.
Or even later if they, if we letthem, but
Lennon (08:22):
yeah.
Christal (08:22):
Yeah.
Yes you can.
It's
Lennon (08:23):
fun.
Christal (08:24):
So that's our favorite traditions.
Why do you feel like traditionsare important for a family?
For Christmas,
Lennon (08:32):
I feel like traditions give us a reason to slow down
and to be together in a way thatis expected.
Yeah, and with a reference pointof we know what we're doing and
we know how to enjoy it.
That's why it's always worthmaking time to do certain
things.
There's a way of doing theholidays where traditions are
really about letting everyonesee how good you are at family.
(08:54):
Mm.
By you and you live for themoment of posting what you're
doing.
That's a way that traditionsbecome burdens.
Yeah, actually.
But the little things that maybeno one knows, but you and your
spouse or you and your kids,they're really fantastic because
they kind of ground the holidaysand bring a little bit of sanity
(09:15):
and togetherness to it.
Because I guess, here's thedeal, traditions.
They kind of facilitate theseideal moments and the holidays
as a whole just are not alwaysideal.
Christal (09:27):
Yeah, I think we get.
A picture of how Christmasshould be in our minds.
Kind of how we do with a lot ofthings.
As parents or a couple, we justwanna make it like the best
Christmas ever.
We want everything to beperfect, everybody be happy.
And in real life, life is stillgoing on.
During Christmas time, thingsstill happen, right?
(09:50):
Yeah.
We still have regular life, andthen you add on top of your
regular schedule.
All the Christmas stuff that youdo, you can let it become even
more stressful than it reallyneeds to be.
Yeah.
And overcomplicate it.
So I, I do think it's so good tobe careful with your
expectations, to set realisticexpectations during the holiday
(10:13):
season.
Lennon (10:13):
And one of the places that our expectations can be the
most unrealistic is concerningthose things that we put
underneath the tree.
The classic Christmas thing treeand presents is your jam.
The joy of giving each othergifts is often like really
covered up by the stress ofgetting the gifts.
(10:34):
Yeah, and specifically beingable to get the gifts You want
to be able to give to peoplethings that maybe they're great,
but honestly maybe you can'tafford'em.
Right.
Maybe.
Maybe the budget's alreadytight, but you feel like you
have to because it's Christmasand in the name of love and in
the name of Jesus, I don't know.
Maybe load up credit cards,stress out over providing more
(10:58):
than you should really provideof things that won't really last
and don't really matter much inthe end.
Christal (11:06):
Yeah.
We can't let our goal be to oneup last Christmas.
Because Right.
That's so easy I've been guiltyof that.
Wanting to do that as well.
I'm gonna make this Christmaseven better than last Christmas,
and to do it, I have to spendall this money and that's not
really the case.
I've come to find out more andmore over the years how spending
(11:28):
isn't what brings us happiness,and the amazing, perfect gift is
not gonna make an amazing,perfect Christmas.
If you really, really think backto your favorite Christmases,
and I know we've even asked thekids these questions before, but
it's not because it was acertain gift that you spent all
this money on.
Mom and dad, that's why myChristmas was good.
(11:49):
It's usually, well, I loved whenwe went to the Christmas parade,
or I loved when we watch thismovie, I just wanna make sure we
do those things for Christmas.
And so we really do need abudget.
First of all, we need.
A realistic budget for Christmasgifts.
Lennon (12:05):
Yes.
An amount you can spend andafford and whatever fits into it
fits.
And if it doesn't fit into thebudget, it doesn't fit into
Christmas.
Christal (12:13):
Exactly.
Especially, I will just say, Iknow personally some families
that.
Said this, but our budgets maynot be what they were because of
the economy right now and thingslike that.
Or maybe you're going throughjust a different kind of a, a
year and so you may not have thebudget you had last year.
(12:34):
But that's okay.
Your Christmas can be awonderful Christmas without
that.
Lennon (12:39):
As far as the gifts go, the thought that's put into it
really is more important thanthe amount.
Mm-hmm.
You know, for instance, some ofour best friends have a house
full of teenagers, and the mostwell received gift that they
have ever given their kids wasan individualized bag of their
favorite snacks.
Like for each of'em.
(12:59):
And the first time they didthat, my friend told me, I don't
know why we've been stressingout about iPads and clothes.
They enjoyed this bag of snacksmore than anything else.
It's what they talked about, youknow, going into the new year.
He was like, we're just notgonna freak out over stuff
anymore because it doesn't,that's not what matters.
Christal (13:19):
Right.
And I will say one way to do.
Something for Christmas thatmakes it memorable is to have
experiences together that don'thave to break the bank.
I know for us, for example, orfriends I've talked to, they
love to go drive around inneighborhoods and see beautiful
light displays.
It doesn't even have to besomething you pay to get into.
Lennon (13:40):
Yeah.
Christal (13:41):
And then another idea is.
What's your favorite Christmasmovies?
Bake a Dessert.
Like do something like that as afamily?
You just wanna make time in yourcalendar for those things.
Lennon (13:52):
Yeah.
Christal (13:53):
Do you remember when we did this one big thing?
We were trying to do special forthe kids.
We went to the Galleria Mall inDallas, which is beautiful.
It has like this amazing treeindoors, right?
Lennon (14:06):
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's the biggest indoorChristmas tree in the United
States.
Christal (14:09):
Yeah.
And we thought, Hey, let.
Really do something big andlet's spend all this money on
getting ice skates and do iceskating in the gallery.
A mall by the tree.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Right.
And we'd never been ice skatingbefore, like the kids had never
been.
Right.
I think I had been before, butI, I did not like it really.
(14:30):
But I mean, I think we spentabout 50 bucks a person.
That's my guess.
Lennon (14:34):
Yeah.
Christal (14:35):
But it was crazy for us like to put that money down
for an experience.
But you know, we were like,let's do this and do you
remember what happened?
Lennon (14:44):
Okay.
Our, everybody, our kids madeone lap around the ice.
One and a sprained ankle.
Yeah.
And a large amount ofdiscouragement later, you know,
it was incredibly falling.
Crowded people fallingeverywhere.
Our kids were done.
Yeah.
They made one lap and they didnot want to do another one.
And so all that, all that moneywas gone right away.
(15:07):
Mm-hmm.
And but what our teenage girlshave talked about this year,
they want to go back to themall, not to ice skate.
To see the tree.
Christal (15:15):
Yeah.
Lennon (15:16):
We don't have to spend a dollar to see the tree.
It's just time.
And it's what you're talkingabout.
Christal (15:22):
Exactly.
Lennon (15:23):
Did you know at homeandmarriage.com you can get
our six Habits of Happy CouplesCourse.
A lot of couples think that whatmakes for a better marriage is
grand gestures, especially ifyou're in a time where you're a
little disconnected or thingsare a little tense.
We can feel like we need to dosomething huge and big to get
things back on track.
(15:43):
That's actually not the case.
A happy marriage comes down tothe little things, the everyday
things.
It comes down to habits.
And so that's what's behind oursix Habits of Happy Couples
course.
You've got six distinct habitsthat I teach on, and then
Christal and I unpack thosetogether.
Each section has a PDF that ismeant for you and your spouse to
(16:07):
be able to talk through, some ofthe material and come up with
your own ideas about how toimprove your connection and
improve your marriage.
This course is$70, but for youas a listener of the podcast, if
you use.
Coupon code Podcast 20, you'llget$20 off of that.
And so that is a better marriagefor less than the price of a
(16:30):
date night.
So again, for podcast listeners,code podcast 20 at
homeandmarriage.com.
Get your course today.
Christal (16:41):
Well, okay.
There's another pain point maybeyou could say that could happen
during the holidays and thatcould be navigating our family
dynamics.
Like trying to make everyonehappy.
Yes.
Which is something you reallycan't do anyways.
Lennon (16:55):
You can't, and every married couple knows this
because whenever you first gotmarried, the first set of
holidays came around.
And if you weren't disagreeingon where you should spend your
first Christmas.
One set of the parents, orprobably both sets of your
parents, we're expecting you tobe with them, and it really
becomes this tension deal.
(17:16):
Everybody has expectations ofyou.
We want you here.
This is what we always do.
Even though now we includes awhole nother person and a whole
nother family to accommodate.
It can be very difficult.
And if you add in divorce.
Stepparents, those kind ofthings, it can become
(17:36):
overwhelming and make you justwanna throw up your hands and
say, forget it.
Christal (17:41):
Yeah.
We tried to do this one yearwhen our kids were at that
three, three and under place.
We decided we were living inNorth Carolina at the time.
Mm-hmm.
Lennon (17:51):
And we're
Christal (17:51):
like, let's make a trip to Texas.
In the van, in the minivan, andwe're gonna strap those babies
in.
We're gonna drive through thenight.
It's gonna be awesome.
We're gonna go through all theseparts of Texas as well.
'cause our family was spread outto different parts of Texas.
Lennon (18:07):
Yeah.
Christal (18:08):
We just were like, we're gonna do this thing.
And we drove that first night.
it did not turn out well.
Lennon (18:14):
We didn't even cover a hundred miles.
Christal (18:16):
Yeah.
Lennon (18:16):
Whenever we were planning to drive all the way
through the night, because in aperfect world, the kids were
gonna, we were gonna stop fordinner.
Mm-hmm.
And they were gonna sleep.
Yeah.
But within a few miles of beingout of town, it was weeping and
gnashing of teeth.
It did not stop until we got ahotel.
I don't know, midnight orsomething.
Just totally discouraged.
Christal (18:37):
And of course, we're trying to lay these ki overtired
kids down around midnight, andthey don't e even fall asleep.
Well, at that point.
You know when they'reoverstimulated.
Yes.
And then they can't sleep well.
And then we get back on the roadthat morning and we just drove
and drove.
And finally we got there atthree in the morning.
The
Lennon (18:56):
following day.
Christal (18:56):
The following day.
Lennon (18:57):
Because at that point, that night, everybody was so
exhausted.
Mm-hmm.
That they did sleep.
The moral of the story is whatin the world were we thinking?
Who was requiring all of, wewere putting so much pressure on
ourselves.
And we were trying to make allthe grandparents happy and it,
it was, it was too much.
Christal (19:17):
Yeah.
I mean, you know, I don't regretthat we made a trip to Texas in
the minivan or anything.
No, I think it's, it's good tosacrifice some time and effort
to be with family, but it waswhat we did in addition to that,
deciding we're gonna go.
Five hours this way, now youknow, we just could have
probably planned that trip in away that worked with the phase
(19:40):
of life we were in at that time.
Lennon (19:42):
That's a big deal.
Mm-hmm.
Not every phase allows foreverything, and sometimes you
gotta give yourself a little bitof grace.
You've gotta be willing todisappoint somebody because you
can't always make everyonehappy.
So one of the best things that afamily can do as early as
possible is establish some sortof rotation.
(20:02):
You know, we mentioned havingThanksgiving Day at your
parents' house.
Mm-hmm.
Next year that'll be at my dad'shouse.
And you know, we do somethingearlier in the week if possible
with the other set of family.
Things like that have justbrought.
Some kind of predictabilityinstead of just stress and
expectation.
Christal (20:20):
Yeah.
Out of that really came thedecision to have Christmas
morning with just us and thekids at home.
Let them wake up to their homeand I know that may not be
perfectly done every year.
I mean, of course I wouldn'tmind a Colorado vacation one day
wake up in the ColoradoMountains.
Me neither.
But that really helped us havesome.
(20:43):
Consistency with just the kidsand enjoy the family that we
have so I think find the thingsthat work good for your family,
allows you to be with yourfamily, but.
We can totally put so manyexpectations on ourselves.
And if we're not doing itourselves, other people are
gonna do it too.
Lennon (21:02):
Yeah.
But you have no one to impressmy friends with how you choose
to Christmas and how you decideto try to approach the holidays
with you and your family.
So just for the sake of a littlesanity, friends, you know, make
a budget.
Decide that you can live withcertain levels of disappointing
people.
Discuss some expectations beforethe holidays arise.
(21:24):
Uh, decide what matters for youand your household.
And by all means, give yourselfa little grace whenever things
don't go perfectly.
Because the holidays are almostalways a mixed bag, and yet
they're still good.
Christal (21:36):
They are so good.
This is making me think of thisSNL skit with Matt Damon, and
it's called The Best Christmasever.
Lennon (21:43):
Best Christmas ever.
Yep.
Christal (21:44):
And him and his wife are at the end of the Christmas
day relaxing on the couch andthey're talking about the day
and they're romanticizing, howthings went.
It was not.
Reality on how things reallywent.
No.
Yeah.
Do you remember that they wouldflashback to the scenes and show
what really happened through theday?
Lennon (22:03):
Yeah.
He's saying things like, I justlove being with your family
today.
I love him so much.
And then the flashback, hisfather-in-law standing up from
the couch and farting in hisface, you know, or, and the
kids, they were just sooverjoyed with all the gifts.
Cuts away to kids fighting.
Mm-hmm.
Over the gifts.
Mm-hmm.
And at the end of it allChristmas, I think the end of
(22:25):
line of the skid is Christmas.
Even whenever, even when it'sthe worst, it's the best.
Christal (22:31):
I like that.
Lennon (22:32):
Me too.
Christal (22:33):
That's really good.
Yeah.
'cause I think there's, it's,you will enjoy Christmas more if
you can laugh at things thatdon't go well, and you can just
be in the moment, enjoy what'shappening and not make it
something.
It doesn't need to be
Lennon (22:48):
And so let's close with that to keep it from becoming
something it doesn't need to be.
Uh, we've gotta remember what itwas supposed to be in the first
place.
I mean, why do we do Christmas?
We're celebrating as everypastor everywhere is reminding
every church.
Mm-hmm.
They're celebrating.
We're celebrating the birth ofChrist.
And whenever you spend time inthe gospels and around these
(23:11):
birth stories, number one, weremember that Christmas is about
what God has given to us, notabout what we need to somehow be
able to afford to give to eachother.
Yeah.
But then the circumstances ofJesus' birth, we sing, oh, holy
Night, we sing all of thesethings that make us picture.
Maybe everything being bathed inkind of ethereal light and
(23:34):
perfection.
But Jesus was born where sheepwere born.
He was surrounded by manure andsmoky walls.
Uh, he was born to parents thatwere so poor that whenever they
went to the temple to offer asacrifice.
Shortly after Jesus was born,they offered a sacrifice of
pigeons, which was anaccommodation for people that
(23:56):
could not afford.
A lamb.
And so Jesus wasn't born intoperfection, and yet he came to
do the most perfect andwonderful thing in laying his
life down for us.
If we can get our hearts andminds around that, it's gonna be
hard to get Christmas wrong,whatever else you.
Feel you aren't able to do.
Christal (24:17):
Yeah.
This is making me think of thatChristmas song.
I love it so much.
By Stevie and Curtis Chapman.
Christmas is All in the Heart.
Yeah.
Which is a really kind of cheesytitle.
Yeah.
But it, I'm telling you, everytime I hear it, every Christmas
I like, it makes me tear up andget chills.
Lennon (24:34):
Yeah.
Christal (24:34):
Because it talks about not having much, but still
having Christmas and giving,giving what we can to one
another, loving each other.
But then at the end it talksabout.
The night Jesus came on thisearth was to save us.
And that was the whole point.
And so I think too, as parents,we can really bring this into
(24:57):
our home to kind of come back tothe main point and what are we
doing this for?
We can guide them spiritually,you know, guide our kids
spiritually during the season.
There's some really easy ways todo that.
Maybe we read as.
Story, a, a picture book withour little ones about Jesus,
about the Christmas story.
Something that just teaches themeaning.
(25:19):
Yeah.
Of Christmas.
We love to attend church and goto Christmas service of some
sort with a whole family so wecan really remember why we're
celebrating Christmas.
Another thing.
I think is a great ideapersonally for yourself is find
some type of advent or ascripture reading that you do
(25:41):
every day of December.
So easy and short does not needto be long, but doing something
that brings your mind and yourheart back to the word and to
the truth of why we celebrateChristmas.
Lennon (25:55):
And so friends, that's really our encouragement for
you.
Slow down, enjoy each other.
Don't make it about everythingyou can afford and make it about
the Lord.
Remember the king who came tosave the world?
Well, guys, that's it for today.
Don't forget to follow orsubscribe, so you never miss an
episode.
We drop new ones every Tuesday,and if today's conversation
(26:17):
encouraged you, we would loveit.
It means so much.
If you would leave us a review,you can visit Home and Marriage
for more resources like our SixHabits of Happy Couples Course.
And if you'd like us to comespeak at your church or event,
you can schedule us through thewebsite.
You can also follow along onInstagram, Facebook, TikTok, all
those links are in the shownotes.
Christal (26:38):
Thank you for joining us today on the Home and
Marriage Podcast.
We really do believe that homecan be your favorite place.
We'll be back again next weekwith more encouragement and
wisdom to help you become betterat home and stronger together.
This is the Home and Marriage Podcast with Lennon and
Christal Noland, where we helpcouples become better at home
and stronger together.
We're husband and wife, parentsand ministers who want God's
best for our home and for yours.
Oh my gosh.
Christal I hear it.
Can you hear it?
(00:24):
What?
Santa Slay be's baby.
Santa's coming to town.
Is it too early for that?
It's so early December, but asfar as I'm concerned, Santa's on
his way.
Christal (00:33):
It's not too early.
Lennon to me, when it's December1st, it's definitely time to
celebrate Christmas.
'cause Thanksgiving's behind us.
We just had a great Thanksgivingwith our family.
We enjoyed lots of food.
Like I know I gained somepounds.
Lennon (00:48):
I know I gained some pounds too because I stepped on
the scale this morning.
And let me tell you, that wasn'ta great way to start the day.
Yeah.
You thought that was funny.
I see.
But it's true.
You were sleeping like a babyand I was, uh, getting up to go
to the gym and talk aboutmotivation to go ahead and get
out the door on a day that on aday this cold.
I was like, my goodness, I gottaget back to it.
So we did enjoy Thanksgiving.
(01:10):
We went and spent time with mydad early in the week.
Yeah, because it was yourparents' year for us to eat at
their house.
So we had barbecue at my dad'shouse.
Traditional stuff onThanksgiving Day with your
parents.
It was great being witheverybody.
Christal (01:24):
Yeah.
Hey, what was your favoriteThanksgiving food this year?
Lennon (01:28):
I think my favorite Thanksgiving food this year was
my dad's ribs.
Honestly,
Christal (01:33):
not even, not even the actual Thanksgiving food, but
the mm-hmm.
Lennon (01:38):
On on Thanksgiving day though.
I mean, the classic stuff, themashed potatoes, the eade, the
garlic mashed potatoes, thegravy.
I kind of like to mix the stufftogether.
My plate is kind of gross, butthe hodgepodge of all the
basics, the mashed potatoes, thestuffing, the Turkey.
I love it all.
Christal (01:56):
My favorite was our cranberry bread.
We do cranberry bread every yearsince the kids we're little
because we read this book calledCranberry Thanksgiving.
Lennon (02:07):
Yep.
Christal (02:07):
And the back of it has the actual recipe for a good
cranberry bread, which was inthe story Moms, if you.
Have little ones, please getthis book.
It's such a cute book and I loveit because it was all about like
sharing what you have withothers and it just has a sweet
meaning.
But anyways, that's my favorite.
I love good cranberry bread,fresh from the oven with some
(02:29):
coffee.
Lennon (02:30):
That was an unforeseen tradition that we developed.
We're gonna talk a lot abouttraditions today.
Yeah.
But that Thanksgiving traditionof Thanksgiving morning.
You know, you baking that bread.
We would read the story to thekids.
I remember when it finally cameto an end where we sat down at
the table and we opened the bookand they were just too old for
it.
And they're like, mom, we don'twanna do this.
Christal (02:51):
I, this is one of those mom fail moments where I
was trying to press an issue ofwe're gonna read this book.
We're gonna get into this.
And they're all like, mom, we'retoo old for this book.
Please don't make us read it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I just had to come to terms withcertain traditions are gonna age
out.
(03:12):
Yeah.
And it's okay.
Embrace the new move on.
Right.
And we, but we still do enjoyour cranberry bread.
They beg for it every year.
I will just say, yeah.
It's one of the few bakingthings that I actually can do.
So,
Lennon (03:25):
yeah, we had a great Thanksgiving.
We're into Christmas, you know,we came into Thanksgiving with,
our tree was up, most of thelights were on the exterior of
the house.
Mm-hmm.
I like to come into, intoThanksgiving with a running
start toward Christmas.
We pulled that off and so you'vegotta set up in full.
Christmas mode.
I, I don't even mind your pillowobsession around Christmas
(03:47):
because the December pillows youpull out look fantastic.
You've just done a great jobwith our home this year.
Christal (03:53):
Oh, thank you.
I, I love the whole Christmasatmosphere in our home.
I do think we need a couple moreChristmas mugs to display
though.
I do.
I do think that is somethingwe're lacking.
Lennon (04:06):
For the love of the Lord Woman.
We have enough mugs.
Yeah, you're drinking outta amug right now with Christmas
trees and nutcrackers on it.
Christal (04:14):
Yeah, but this is actually our daughter's mug
because I don't really have agood Christmas mug myself.
Lennon, so that's one of theproblems.
I think I need my own Christmasymug.
That's mine.
Lennon (04:27):
Yeah.
Well, we'll agree to disagree,so, but we got plenty of other.
Christmas things that we hope toenjoy.
Mm-hmm.
Kind of like everybody.
We're gonna talk about thattoday.
Christmas is something that, forme, over time, has become a
bigger deal to me than it waswhen we first got married.
Christal (04:43):
Yeah.
I remember our very firstChristmas together as a married
couple.
We were married for only threemonths so far.
So we, everything was new and Iwas.
So excited to get our littleapartment set up for Christmas.
We found a Christmas tree.
Actually it was my parents' oldChristmas tree that they were
done with.
(05:03):
I think we had to re stringingsome lights on it.
Yeah.
To make sure it all lit up.
But I couldn't wait to set thatup.
But the one thing I noticedabout you is you just didn't
seem that end of Christmas, andI came from a family that loves
Christmas, and so that wasreally new for me.
Lennon (05:21):
Yeah, I was really a late comer to coming to love
Christmas with the intensitythat you do and maybe beyond the
intensity you have for it now.
Yeah.
Uh, didn't have all of the sameexperiences that you had growing
up, but being around you and howmuch you love it.
And then of course, little kidscoming into the picture.
(05:42):
I am as much of a Christmas nutas anybody that I know, or
anyone we can see in a moviethat's a little too over the top
about it.
Christal (05:51):
You're like a kid at Christmas.
It's even funny to me how youwill mourn Christmas before it's
even over, but you will start tosay it's true.
You'll say like, oh, I can'tbelieve that.
Christmas is gonna be here in 25days, and then it's gonna be so
long until the next one.
Like I, I think that's so funny.
Yeah.
How much you love it now.
(06:12):
And I do think a lot of that isbecause of the, the special
memories we've made over theyears at Christmas time, the
things we've done with the kids,having kids really brings.
Christmas alive in a new way, soI think a lot of the things that
we've done tradition wise has,has meant a lot for our family.
What, what is something that youlove?
(06:32):
What's one of your favoriteChristmas traditions that we do?
Lennon (06:36):
One of the things that I love most, it's not totally
unique to us, but we do, you dothe Christmas morning breakfast
of monkey bread.
Some people call it differentthings, but it's all the
biscuits and a bunt cake pantogether with syrup and brown
sugar.
We fry up a bunch of bacon.
Christal (06:55):
Yeah, lots of butter on that thing too.
Lennon (06:57):
Lots of butter.
I eat a lot of that.
And then drink a lot of coffee.
Christal (07:02):
Yes.
Amen.
Lennon (07:03):
And we open presents with the kids.
I look forward to that time somuch.
Mm-hmm.
That is my favorite breakfast ofthe year, so that's my favorite.
Yeah.
What's, I love that.
What's, what's your favoritetradition
Christal (07:15):
that we have?
I think one of my favoritetraditions is our Christmas Eve
Eve night.
Yes.
We, and the reason we dosomething on Christmas Eve, Eve
is usually Christmas Eve, we'reat a, a service together at
church, but Christmas Eve Eve iswhen we.
As a family, gather around andwatch the Christmas Carol, the
Jim Carrey version, which isyour favorite.
(07:35):
My favorite.
So good.
We love it.
And then we'll have hot cocoa ora special dessert.
It's just a fun night.
And when the kids were little,they used to on Christmas, Evie,
sleep under the tree or near thetree, right?
And so they would get out theirpallets.
Or their, their bedding.
Yeah.
And they would all sleep underthat tree.
Lennon (07:54):
Our German Shepherd was so happy to have company for the
night in the living room floor,and they kind of, they, they
don't enjoy that as muchanymore.
Christal (08:04):
No.
They, they like the comfort oftheir beds and they like to
actually wake up later.
That's one of the beautifulthings about teenagers in
Christmas.
Lennon (08:11):
That's true.
They
Christal (08:12):
don't come knocking on your door at 5:00 AM No, they're
like, oh, can we please sleeptill eight or nine?
So.
Or even later if they, if we letthem, but
Lennon (08:22):
yeah.
Christal (08:22):
Yeah.
Yes you can.
It's
Lennon (08:23):
fun.
Christal (08:24):
So that's our favorite traditions.
Why do you feel like traditionsare important for a family?
For Christmas,
Lennon (08:32):
I feel like traditions give us a reason to slow down
and to be together in a way thatis expected.
Yeah, and with a reference pointof we know what we're doing and
we know how to enjoy it.
That's why it's always worthmaking time to do certain
things.
There's a way of doing theholidays where traditions are
really about letting everyonesee how good you are at family.
(08:54):
Mm.
By you and you live for themoment of posting what you're
doing.
That's a way that traditionsbecome burdens.
Yeah, actually.
But the little things that maybeno one knows, but you and your
spouse or you and your kids,they're really fantastic because
they kind of ground the holidaysand bring a little bit of sanity
(09:15):
and togetherness to it.
Because I guess, here's thedeal, traditions.
They kind of facilitate theseideal moments and the holidays
as a whole just are not alwaysideal.
Christal (09:27):
Yeah, I think we get.
A picture of how Christmasshould be in our minds.
Kind of how we do with a lot ofthings.
As parents or a couple, we justwanna make it like the best
Christmas ever.
We want everything to beperfect, everybody be happy.
And in real life, life is stillgoing on.
During Christmas time, thingsstill happen, right?
(09:50):
Yeah.
We still have regular life, andthen you add on top of your
regular schedule.
All the Christmas stuff that youdo, you can let it become even
more stressful than it reallyneeds to be.
Yeah.
And overcomplicate it.
So I, I do think it's so good tobe careful with your
expectations, to set realisticexpectations during the holiday
(10:13):
season.
Lennon (10:13):
And one of the places that our expectations can be the
most unrealistic is concerningthose things that we put
underneath the tree.
The classic Christmas thing treeand presents is your jam.
The joy of giving each othergifts is often like really
covered up by the stress ofgetting the gifts.
(10:34):
Yeah, and specifically beingable to get the gifts You want
to be able to give to peoplethings that maybe they're great,
but honestly maybe you can'tafford'em.
Right.
Maybe.
Maybe the budget's alreadytight, but you feel like you
have to because it's Christmasand in the name of love and in
the name of Jesus, I don't know.
Maybe load up credit cards,stress out over providing more
(10:58):
than you should really provideof things that won't really last
and don't really matter much inthe end.
Christal (11:06):
Yeah.
We can't let our goal be to oneup last Christmas.
Because Right.
That's so easy I've been guiltyof that.
Wanting to do that as well.
I'm gonna make this Christmaseven better than last Christmas,
and to do it, I have to spendall this money and that's not
really the case.
I've come to find out more andmore over the years how spending
(11:28):
isn't what brings us happiness,and the amazing, perfect gift is
not gonna make an amazing,perfect Christmas.
If you really, really think backto your favorite Christmases,
and I know we've even asked thekids these questions before, but
it's not because it was acertain gift that you spent all
this money on.
Mom and dad, that's why myChristmas was good.
(11:49):
It's usually, well, I loved whenwe went to the Christmas parade,
or I loved when we watch thismovie, I just wanna make sure we
do those things for Christmas.
And so we really do need abudget.
First of all, we need.
A realistic budget for Christmasgifts.
Lennon (12:05):
Yes.
An amount you can spend andafford and whatever fits into it
fits.
And if it doesn't fit into thebudget, it doesn't fit into
Christmas.
Christal (12:13):
Exactly.
Especially, I will just say, Iknow personally some families
that.
Said this, but our budgets maynot be what they were because of
the economy right now and thingslike that.
Or maybe you're going throughjust a different kind of a, a
year and so you may not have thebudget you had last year.
(12:34):
But that's okay.
Your Christmas can be awonderful Christmas without
that.
Lennon (12:39):
As far as the gifts go, the thought that's put into it
really is more important thanthe amount.
Mm-hmm.
You know, for instance, some ofour best friends have a house
full of teenagers, and the mostwell received gift that they
have ever given their kids wasan individualized bag of their
favorite snacks.
Like for each of'em.
(12:59):
And the first time they didthat, my friend told me, I don't
know why we've been stressingout about iPads and clothes.
They enjoyed this bag of snacksmore than anything else.
It's what they talked about, youknow, going into the new year.
He was like, we're just notgonna freak out over stuff
anymore because it doesn't,that's not what matters.
Christal (13:19):
Right.
And I will say one way to do.
Something for Christmas thatmakes it memorable is to have
experiences together that don'thave to break the bank.
I know for us, for example, orfriends I've talked to, they
love to go drive around inneighborhoods and see beautiful
light displays.
It doesn't even have to besomething you pay to get into.
Lennon (13:40):
Yeah.
Christal (13:41):
And then another idea is.
What's your favorite Christmasmovies?
Bake a Dessert.
Like do something like that as afamily?
You just wanna make time in yourcalendar for those things.
Lennon (13:52):
Yeah.
Christal (13:53):
Do you remember when we did this one big thing?
We were trying to do special forthe kids.
We went to the Galleria Mall inDallas, which is beautiful.
It has like this amazing treeindoors, right?
Lennon (14:06):
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's the biggest indoorChristmas tree in the United
States.
Christal (14:09):
Yeah.
And we thought, Hey, let.
Really do something big andlet's spend all this money on
getting ice skates and do iceskating in the gallery.
A mall by the tree.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Right.
And we'd never been ice skatingbefore, like the kids had never
been.
Right.
I think I had been before, butI, I did not like it really.
(14:30):
But I mean, I think we spentabout 50 bucks a person.
That's my guess.
Lennon (14:34):
Yeah.
Christal (14:35):
But it was crazy for us like to put that money down
for an experience.
But you know, we were like,let's do this and do you
remember what happened?
Lennon (14:44):
Okay.
Our, everybody, our kids madeone lap around the ice.
One and a sprained ankle.
Yeah.
And a large amount ofdiscouragement later, you know,
it was incredibly falling.
Crowded people fallingeverywhere.
Our kids were done.
Yeah.
They made one lap and they didnot want to do another one.
And so all that, all that moneywas gone right away.
(15:07):
Mm-hmm.
And but what our teenage girlshave talked about this year,
they want to go back to themall, not to ice skate.
To see the tree.
Christal (15:15):
Yeah.
Lennon (15:16):
We don't have to spend a dollar to see the tree.
It's just time.
And it's what you're talkingabout.
Christal (15:22):
Exactly.
Lennon (15:23):
Did you know at homeandmarriage.com you can get
our six Habits of Happy CouplesCourse.
A lot of couples think that whatmakes for a better marriage is
grand gestures, especially ifyou're in a time where you're a
little disconnected or thingsare a little tense.
We can feel like we need to dosomething huge and big to get
things back on track.
(15:43):
That's actually not the case.
A happy marriage comes down tothe little things, the everyday
things.
It comes down to habits.
And so that's what's behind oursix Habits of Happy Couples
course.
You've got six distinct habitsthat I teach on, and then
Christal and I unpack thosetogether.
Each section has a PDF that ismeant for you and your spouse to
(16:07):
be able to talk through, some ofthe material and come up with
your own ideas about how toimprove your connection and
improve your marriage.
This course is$70, but for youas a listener of the podcast, if
you use.
Coupon code Podcast 20, you'llget$20 off of that.
And so that is a better marriagefor less than the price of a
(16:30):
date night.
So again, for podcast listeners,code podcast 20 at
homeandmarriage.com.
Get your course today.
Christal (16:41):
Well, okay.
There's another pain point maybeyou could say that could happen
during the holidays and thatcould be navigating our family
dynamics.
Like trying to make everyonehappy.
Yes.
Which is something you reallycan't do anyways.
Lennon (16:55):
You can't, and every married couple knows this
because whenever you first gotmarried, the first set of
holidays came around.
And if you weren't disagreeingon where you should spend your
first Christmas.
One set of the parents, orprobably both sets of your
parents, we're expecting you tobe with them, and it really
becomes this tension deal.
(17:16):
Everybody has expectations ofyou.
We want you here.
This is what we always do.
Even though now we includes awhole nother person and a whole
nother family to accommodate.
It can be very difficult.
And if you add in divorce.
Stepparents, those kind ofthings, it can become
(17:36):
overwhelming and make you justwanna throw up your hands and
say, forget it.
Christal (17:41):
Yeah.
We tried to do this one yearwhen our kids were at that
three, three and under place.
We decided we were living inNorth Carolina at the time.
Mm-hmm.
Lennon (17:51):
And we're
Christal (17:51):
like, let's make a trip to Texas.
In the van, in the minivan, andwe're gonna strap those babies
in.
We're gonna drive through thenight.
It's gonna be awesome.
We're gonna go through all theseparts of Texas as well.
'cause our family was spread outto different parts of Texas.
Lennon (18:07):
Yeah.
Christal (18:08):
We just were like, we're gonna do this thing.
And we drove that first night.
it did not turn out well.
Lennon (18:14):
We didn't even cover a hundred miles.
Christal (18:16):
Yeah.
Lennon (18:16):
Whenever we were planning to drive all the way
through the night, because in aperfect world, the kids were
gonna, we were gonna stop fordinner.
Mm-hmm.
And they were gonna sleep.
Yeah.
But within a few miles of beingout of town, it was weeping and
gnashing of teeth.
It did not stop until we got ahotel.
I don't know, midnight orsomething.
Just totally discouraged.
Christal (18:37):
And of course, we're trying to lay these ki overtired
kids down around midnight, andthey don't e even fall asleep.
Well, at that point.
You know when they'reoverstimulated.
Yes.
And then they can't sleep well.
And then we get back on the roadthat morning and we just drove
and drove.
And finally we got there atthree in the morning.
The
Lennon (18:56):
following day.
Christal (18:56):
The following day.
Lennon (18:57):
Because at that point, that night, everybody was so
exhausted.
Mm-hmm.
That they did sleep.
The moral of the story is whatin the world were we thinking?
Who was requiring all of, wewere putting so much pressure on
ourselves.
And we were trying to make allthe grandparents happy and it,
it was, it was too much.
Christal (19:17):
Yeah.
I mean, you know, I don't regretthat we made a trip to Texas in
the minivan or anything.
No, I think it's, it's good tosacrifice some time and effort
to be with family, but it waswhat we did in addition to that,
deciding we're gonna go.
Five hours this way, now youknow, we just could have
probably planned that trip in away that worked with the phase
(19:40):
of life we were in at that time.
Lennon (19:42):
That's a big deal.
Mm-hmm.
Not every phase allows foreverything, and sometimes you
gotta give yourself a little bitof grace.
You've gotta be willing todisappoint somebody because you
can't always make everyonehappy.
So one of the best things that afamily can do as early as
possible is establish some sortof rotation.
(20:02):
You know, we mentioned havingThanksgiving Day at your
parents' house.
Mm-hmm.
Next year that'll be at my dad'shouse.
And you know, we do somethingearlier in the week if possible
with the other set of family.
Things like that have justbrought.
Some kind of predictabilityinstead of just stress and
expectation.
Christal (20:20):
Yeah.
Out of that really came thedecision to have Christmas
morning with just us and thekids at home.
Let them wake up to their homeand I know that may not be
perfectly done every year.
I mean, of course I wouldn'tmind a Colorado vacation one day
wake up in the ColoradoMountains.
Me neither.
But that really helped us havesome.
(20:43):
Consistency with just the kidsand enjoy the family that we
have so I think find the thingsthat work good for your family,
allows you to be with yourfamily, but.
We can totally put so manyexpectations on ourselves.
And if we're not doing itourselves, other people are
gonna do it too.
Lennon (21:02):
Yeah.
But you have no one to impressmy friends with how you choose
to Christmas and how you decideto try to approach the holidays
with you and your family.
So just for the sake of a littlesanity, friends, you know, make
a budget.
Decide that you can live withcertain levels of disappointing
people.
Discuss some expectations beforethe holidays arise.
(21:24):
Uh, decide what matters for youand your household.
And by all means, give yourselfa little grace whenever things
don't go perfectly.
Because the holidays are almostalways a mixed bag, and yet
they're still good.
Christal (21:36):
They are so good.
This is making me think of thisSNL skit with Matt Damon, and
it's called The Best Christmasever.
Lennon (21:43):
Best Christmas ever.
Yep.
Christal (21:44):
And him and his wife are at the end of the Christmas
day relaxing on the couch andthey're talking about the day
and they're romanticizing, howthings went.
It was not.
Reality on how things reallywent.
No.
Yeah.
Do you remember that they wouldflashback to the scenes and show
what really happened through theday?
Lennon (22:03):
Yeah.
He's saying things like, I justlove being with your family
today.
I love him so much.
And then the flashback, hisfather-in-law standing up from
the couch and farting in hisface, you know, or, and the
kids, they were just sooverjoyed with all the gifts.
Cuts away to kids fighting.
Mm-hmm.
Over the gifts.
Mm-hmm.
And at the end of it allChristmas, I think the end of
(22:25):
line of the skid is Christmas.
Even whenever, even when it'sthe worst, it's the best.
Christal (22:31):
I like that.
Lennon (22:32):
Me too.
Christal (22:33):
That's really good.
Yeah.
'cause I think there's, it's,you will enjoy Christmas more if
you can laugh at things thatdon't go well, and you can just
be in the moment, enjoy what'shappening and not make it
something.
It doesn't need to be
Lennon (22:48):
And so let's close with that to keep it from becoming
something it doesn't need to be.
Uh, we've gotta remember what itwas supposed to be in the first
place.
I mean, why do we do Christmas?
We're celebrating as everypastor everywhere is reminding
every church.
Mm-hmm.
They're celebrating.
We're celebrating the birth ofChrist.
And whenever you spend time inthe gospels and around these
(23:11):
birth stories, number one, weremember that Christmas is about
what God has given to us, notabout what we need to somehow be
able to afford to give to eachother.
Yeah.
But then the circumstances ofJesus' birth, we sing, oh, holy
Night, we sing all of thesethings that make us picture.
Maybe everything being bathed inkind of ethereal light and
(23:34):
perfection.
But Jesus was born where sheepwere born.
He was surrounded by manure andsmoky walls.
Uh, he was born to parents thatwere so poor that whenever they
went to the temple to offer asacrifice.
Shortly after Jesus was born,they offered a sacrifice of
pigeons, which was anaccommodation for people that
(23:56):
could not afford.
A lamb.
And so Jesus wasn't born intoperfection, and yet he came to
do the most perfect andwonderful thing in laying his
life down for us.
If we can get our hearts andminds around that, it's gonna be
hard to get Christmas wrong,whatever else you.
Feel you aren't able to do.
Christal (24:17):
Yeah.
This is making me think of thatChristmas song.
I love it so much.
By Stevie and Curtis Chapman.
Christmas is All in the Heart.
Yeah.
Which is a really kind of cheesytitle.
Yeah.
But it, I'm telling you, everytime I hear it, every Christmas
I like, it makes me tear up andget chills.
Lennon (24:34):
Yeah.
Christal (24:34):
Because it talks about not having much, but still
having Christmas and giving,giving what we can to one
another, loving each other.
But then at the end it talksabout.
The night Jesus came on thisearth was to save us.
And that was the whole point.
And so I think too, as parents,we can really bring this into
(24:57):
our home to kind of come back tothe main point and what are we
doing this for?
We can guide them spiritually,you know, guide our kids
spiritually during the season.
There's some really easy ways todo that.
Maybe we read as.
Story, a, a picture book withour little ones about Jesus,
about the Christmas story.
Something that just teaches themeaning.
(25:19):
Yeah.
Of Christmas.
We love to attend church and goto Christmas service of some
sort with a whole family so wecan really remember why we're
celebrating Christmas.
Another thing.
I think is a great ideapersonally for yourself is find
some type of advent or ascripture reading that you do
(25:41):
every day of December.
So easy and short does not needto be long, but doing something
that brings your mind and yourheart back to the word and to
the truth of why we celebrateChristmas.
Lennon (25:55):
And so friends, that's really our encouragement for
you.
Slow down, enjoy each other.
Don't make it about everythingyou can afford and make it about
the Lord.
Remember the king who came tosave the world?
Well, guys, that's it for today.
Don't forget to follow orsubscribe, so you never miss an
episode.
We drop new ones every Tuesday,and if today's conversation
(26:17):
encouraged you, we would loveit.
It means so much.
If you would leave us a review,you can visit Home and Marriage
for more resources like our SixHabits of Happy Couples Course.
And if you'd like us to comespeak at your church or event,
you can schedule us through thewebsite.
You can also follow along onInstagram, Facebook, TikTok, all
those links are in the shownotes.
Christal (26:38):
Thank you for joining us today on the Home and
Marriage Podcast.
We really do believe that homecan be your favorite place.
We'll be back again next weekwith more encouragement and
wisdom to help you become betterat home and stronger together.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
Two Guys, Five Rings: Matt, Bowen & The Olympics
Two Guys (Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers). Five Rings (you know, from the Olympics logo). One essential podcast for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics. Bowen Yang (SNL, Wicked) and Matt Rogers (Palm Royale, No Good Deed) of Las Culturistas are back for a second season of Two Guys, Five Rings, a collaboration with NBC Sports and iHeartRadio. In this 15-episode event, Bowen and Matt discuss the top storylines, obsess over Italian culture, and find out what really goes on in the Olympic Village.