WEBVTT
1
00:00:00.520 --> 00:00:04.559
Hey, everyone, it's Will. I wanted to record something really
2
00:00:04.639 --> 00:00:10.439
quickly because I'm sitting here. It's Christmas. Christmas Day, December
3
00:00:10.439 --> 00:00:15.800
twenty fifth, it is almost six pm, and this has
4
00:00:15.880 --> 00:00:20.879
been probably one of the most challenging Christmas that I've had,
5
00:00:21.440 --> 00:00:25.480
maybe ever. Indulge me here for a second, because I'm
6
00:00:26.079 --> 00:00:28.440
The reason why I'm recording this is because I think
7
00:00:28.719 --> 00:00:31.440
everyone has their own challenges that they have to face,
8
00:00:32.240 --> 00:00:35.719
whether it's a holiday or not, and maybe knowing that
9
00:00:35.759 --> 00:00:39.119
you're not alone, well maybe it will help. This particular
10
00:00:39.240 --> 00:00:42.600
day was a challenge for lots of different reasons, and
11
00:00:43.159 --> 00:00:45.799
a lot of them are gonna seem pretty petty to you.
12
00:00:46.719 --> 00:00:49.600
They seem petty to me when I think about them now,
13
00:00:49.640 --> 00:00:53.439
but each one just built on top of the other
14
00:00:53.880 --> 00:00:57.520
and made it so that this is one of the
15
00:00:57.520 --> 00:01:01.920
most challenging Christmases I've ever had. Let me preface it
16
00:01:01.960 --> 00:01:04.920
by saying, first and foremost that our family is down
17
00:01:05.079 --> 00:01:08.439
in Florida, so we're pretty separated. Not long ago, we
18
00:01:08.480 --> 00:01:12.719
decided to stop the family tour and go to Florida
19
00:01:12.879 --> 00:01:16.040
and hit the whirlwind where we had to visit every
20
00:01:16.040 --> 00:01:18.719
single family member during Christmas, and it was a challenge
21
00:01:18.719 --> 00:01:24.079
for us. When my daughter turned four, we decided that
22
00:01:24.120 --> 00:01:25.760
we were no longer going to do that. We were
23
00:01:25.760 --> 00:01:29.599
instead going to have Christmas at our house and if
24
00:01:29.640 --> 00:01:32.159
anyone wanted to come, they would welcome. They were welcome
25
00:01:32.200 --> 00:01:34.599
to come. But we wanted our daughter to grow up
26
00:01:35.480 --> 00:01:38.760
waking up to her own tree, to her own presence
27
00:01:38.840 --> 00:01:43.159
from Santa in her own house, and invite friends and
28
00:01:43.200 --> 00:01:46.480
family to our home and create our own traditions. So
29
00:01:46.599 --> 00:01:50.799
that's what we've done for the last ten years or so. Well,
30
00:01:51.000 --> 00:01:54.599
here's where it starts getting petty. Now, what I'm about
31
00:01:54.640 --> 00:01:56.840
to say is a little bit of a spoiler for Christmas.
32
00:01:56.840 --> 00:01:59.439
So if you have young kids, maybe this is not
33
00:01:59.480 --> 00:02:01.400
the time to listen to this because I'm about to
34
00:02:01.400 --> 00:02:04.599
spoil something that was spoiled for my daughter this year.
35
00:02:05.560 --> 00:02:09.599
So fair warning. This is the first year that my
36
00:02:09.719 --> 00:02:15.680
daughter knows the truth about Santa. See she's fourteen, and yeah,
37
00:02:15.960 --> 00:02:20.360
that's old fort still believing in Santa, I understand, But
38
00:02:20.639 --> 00:02:25.599
our daughter is magical and so special. One year, maybe two, three,
39
00:02:25.680 --> 00:02:27.560
four years ago, she came to me. All of our
40
00:02:27.560 --> 00:02:30.080
friends were asking me the question, you know, Santa real?
41
00:02:30.080 --> 00:02:31.719
Do you believe in Santa? And all that kind of stuff,
42
00:02:31.759 --> 00:02:33.360
and she came to me and asked me straight out, yeah,
43
00:02:33.360 --> 00:02:35.879
it is Santa reel because I'm getting lots of questions
44
00:02:37.080 --> 00:02:40.000
and I wasn't ready to have the conversation with her, yeah,
45
00:02:40.080 --> 00:02:42.800
because it was just about Christmas time. And so my
46
00:02:42.919 --> 00:02:47.800
answer to her was, Santa is real for those that
47
00:02:47.879 --> 00:02:51.759
believe he is real. And boy did she grab on
48
00:02:51.800 --> 00:02:55.159
to that because all these years, she just felt that
49
00:02:55.360 --> 00:02:57.360
she was one of the lucky ones that because she
50
00:02:57.520 --> 00:02:59.560
still believes in Santa, she was one of the very
51
00:02:59.560 --> 00:03:03.800
few who got visited by the jolly old red guy,
52
00:03:05.120 --> 00:03:07.479
which made it harder for me when I actually have
53
00:03:07.520 --> 00:03:11.120
to sit her down and tell her that now that
54
00:03:11.159 --> 00:03:14.759
she was going into high school, it wasn't responsible anymore
55
00:03:14.800 --> 00:03:17.120
for me to let her believe that Santa was still
56
00:03:17.360 --> 00:03:21.400
something that was real. And the disappointment in her eyes
57
00:03:21.800 --> 00:03:25.919
told me everything I needed to know about what the
58
00:03:26.000 --> 00:03:29.039
reality of it was for her. See, she really truly
59
00:03:29.080 --> 00:03:32.039
believed in the magic that we instilled in her. And
60
00:03:32.080 --> 00:03:34.759
we've went back and forth so many times trying to
61
00:03:34.759 --> 00:03:36.879
figure out whether or not we were gonna even do
62
00:03:36.919 --> 00:03:38.520
the Santa thing. We didn't want to lie to her.
63
00:03:38.599 --> 00:03:41.280
Her whole life. But ultimately we decided we wanted to
64
00:03:41.280 --> 00:03:44.599
give her magic, that experience of waking up in the
65
00:03:44.639 --> 00:03:48.759
morning and having all these gifts at the bottom of
66
00:03:48.759 --> 00:03:52.680
the tree that magically appeared overnight. We wanted that for her.
67
00:03:53.120 --> 00:03:56.039
We wanted her to experience the magic of reindy Er
68
00:03:56.120 --> 00:03:59.000
flying through the air, and the experience of Santa Tracker
69
00:03:59.039 --> 00:04:00.960
every year where were Santa. Now we're saying to now,
70
00:04:01.000 --> 00:04:02.479
oh my gosh, God, I hurry up and go to bed,
71
00:04:02.479 --> 00:04:07.560
because he's going to be here any minute. Well, perhaps
72
00:04:07.639 --> 00:04:09.439
we did it a little too well. I mean, we
73
00:04:09.479 --> 00:04:13.599
went all out. We did snow footprints and Best Christmas
74
00:04:13.639 --> 00:04:16.759
Tree awards and all kinds of things. We were those parents,
75
00:04:17.279 --> 00:04:20.199
and so when I saw the disappointment in my daughter's
76
00:04:20.199 --> 00:04:23.319
eyes this time for the first time, it crushed me.
77
00:04:25.160 --> 00:04:31.360
And I say that very genuinely. I knew it was
78
00:04:31.399 --> 00:04:33.680
going to be difficult to have the conversation with her,
79
00:04:34.079 --> 00:04:37.240
but I guess I'd just assume she go, Okay, yeah,
80
00:04:37.279 --> 00:04:39.120
the gig is up. I knew how much you guys
81
00:04:39.199 --> 00:04:40.959
liked doing this for me, and I just figured that
82
00:04:41.040 --> 00:04:43.319
it goes as long as I as I could, just
83
00:04:43.360 --> 00:04:45.600
to make it a happy Christmas for you guys, since
84
00:04:45.639 --> 00:04:49.160
it seemed like you guys really enjoyed it. But yeah,
85
00:04:49.199 --> 00:04:52.600
I know, like Tanta's not really real. Well, that was
86
00:04:52.639 --> 00:04:57.399
not what happened. That was not what happened, and it
87
00:04:57.439 --> 00:05:00.560
crushed me because I wasn't ready to see that disappointment
88
00:05:00.600 --> 00:05:02.639
and the sadness in her eyes, the loss of her
89
00:05:02.720 --> 00:05:07.040
childhood all of a sudden at one time. So that's
90
00:05:07.079 --> 00:05:11.120
one thing. But then we also, for the first time ever,
91
00:05:11.519 --> 00:05:15.720
had my brother and his kids come for Christmas. We
92
00:05:15.839 --> 00:05:19.480
bought them a ticket to come to our house for
93
00:05:19.560 --> 00:05:22.759
Christmas and promise them an incredible time, because hey, our
94
00:05:22.800 --> 00:05:25.879
traditions they're pretty damn cool. Christmas Eve, we have a
95
00:05:25.879 --> 00:05:28.079
big gift together with some of our friends and family.
96
00:05:28.399 --> 00:05:31.720
Karen makes this incredible beef Wellington and I mean incredible
97
00:05:31.759 --> 00:05:37.240
beef Wellington, and we have drinks and incredible meal and
98
00:05:37.519 --> 00:05:40.000
wonderful conversation and the kids all have a great time.
99
00:05:40.120 --> 00:05:42.759
And then at midnight we opened up one present that
100
00:05:42.800 --> 00:05:45.199
we have given to each other or for each other,
101
00:05:45.279 --> 00:05:48.480
and then everyone else goes home and we work our
102
00:05:48.519 --> 00:05:52.480
butts off. We watch Love actually, and I mean Karen
103
00:05:52.519 --> 00:05:55.079
and I will sit and watch Love actually while we
104
00:05:55.120 --> 00:05:57.360
finish wrapping up the gifts that we are going to
105
00:05:57.360 --> 00:06:00.800
put in the tree on behalf of Santa. And then
106
00:06:00.800 --> 00:06:03.399
the next day, Christmas Day, we all wake up at
107
00:06:03.439 --> 00:06:05.759
the crack of dawn because of course Sianna can't stay
108
00:06:06.000 --> 00:06:08.240
sleeping for too long because oh my Goshanta came. And
109
00:06:08.240 --> 00:06:10.399
then she of course comes and runs into our our
110
00:06:10.399 --> 00:06:13.199
bedroom and wakes us up. And we've probably gone to
111
00:06:13.240 --> 00:06:15.079
bed at four o'clock in the morning when we finished
112
00:06:15.160 --> 00:06:18.199
wrapping all the gifts and doing all the stuff, and
113
00:06:18.240 --> 00:06:20.399
she wakes us up inevitably on six six point thirty,
114
00:06:20.480 --> 00:06:25.480
so we're very tired. But Karen will have prepared overnight
115
00:06:25.680 --> 00:06:28.079
French toast and put it in a fridge, and the
116
00:06:28.120 --> 00:06:30.600
first thing she does is go downstairs put that overnight
117
00:06:30.639 --> 00:06:33.920
French toast in the oven, and while it's cooking, we
118
00:06:34.000 --> 00:06:37.040
open up presents from Santa and have a wonderful, beautiful,
119
00:06:37.079 --> 00:06:40.519
wonderful time. And then after that's done, we play with
120
00:06:40.519 --> 00:06:45.120
our gifts while we eat overnight French toast, which is incredible,
121
00:06:45.439 --> 00:06:47.639
and then after that we go as a family to
122
00:06:47.800 --> 00:06:50.839
the movies. It's just a tradition we've always had, so anyway,
123
00:06:50.879 --> 00:06:54.079
we promised our niece and nephew a wonderful Christmas, and
124
00:06:54.160 --> 00:06:56.040
they came and they were so excited, and we were
125
00:06:56.079 --> 00:07:01.199
excited to get here. However, Sienna got sick about four
126
00:07:01.360 --> 00:07:04.600
days or so before they were meant to come. Thankfully,
127
00:07:04.680 --> 00:07:08.759
she got better the day that they got here, but sadly,
128
00:07:09.120 --> 00:07:14.439
Karen contracted the illness the day they got here. And
129
00:07:14.480 --> 00:07:17.079
this illness has nothing to laugh about. It's not COVID
130
00:07:17.439 --> 00:07:21.560
we tested, but it is something rough. Karen has been
131
00:07:21.600 --> 00:07:25.439
in bed for four days with high fevers. She cannot move,
132
00:07:25.519 --> 00:07:29.600
she cannot do anything. So these poor kids have come
133
00:07:29.639 --> 00:07:32.680
here being promised a wonderful Christmas and having to sit
134
00:07:32.720 --> 00:07:36.560
around dealing with their uncle who's really bad at doing
135
00:07:36.639 --> 00:07:41.879
Christmas stuff, trying to cheer them up. And don't worry
136
00:07:42.279 --> 00:07:46.120
Tea who Tia is what they call her, Karen, her aunt.
137
00:07:46.680 --> 00:07:49.079
She's gonna get better any day, at any minute, and
138
00:07:49.120 --> 00:07:52.199
then we can really do Christmas. And it's just been
139
00:07:52.639 --> 00:07:57.000
going on and on. And Christmas Eve came and went.
140
00:07:57.399 --> 00:07:58.839
We had to cancel a lot all of our friends
141
00:07:58.879 --> 00:08:01.160
and our family because Karen and was still in bed,
142
00:08:01.360 --> 00:08:06.160
very badly sick. And here it is Christmas Day and
143
00:08:06.800 --> 00:08:09.120
Sienna comes to me today and goes, Daddy just doesn't
144
00:08:09.120 --> 00:08:12.399
feel like Christmas. It just feels like it's just a
145
00:08:12.439 --> 00:08:16.839
regular Wednesday. Oh boy, top that with well, as we're
146
00:08:16.839 --> 00:08:18.839
wrapping gifts, and of course I'm rapping gifts on my
147
00:08:18.879 --> 00:08:21.240
own because they can't see that I'm rapping gifts for them,
148
00:08:22.360 --> 00:08:24.439
so I'm rapping gifts on my own. I'm playing Christmas music,
149
00:08:24.439 --> 00:08:27.000
trying to get myself into the Christmas spirit, and I'm
150
00:08:27.040 --> 00:08:30.120
pulling out all the old gift bags that we got
151
00:08:30.199 --> 00:08:34.159
from last year that we saved, and the tags all
152
00:08:34.200 --> 00:08:40.240
say to Sienna from Santa who. That hit me hard
153
00:08:40.600 --> 00:08:43.120
because not only was this the first year that Sienna
154
00:08:43.440 --> 00:08:47.840
doesn't get to experience Santa, but it's also a really
155
00:08:47.960 --> 00:08:51.120
crummy Christmas because her mom's sick and we couldn't have
156
00:08:51.159 --> 00:08:54.960
her traditions like we always do. And she's having a
157
00:08:54.960 --> 00:08:57.120
great time with her cousins, but it's still just a
158
00:08:57.200 --> 00:09:02.000
regular Wednesday. It's not Christmas anymore. And I'm trying to
159
00:09:02.000 --> 00:09:03.840
cook dinner for them in lunch and trying to get
160
00:09:03.840 --> 00:09:06.519
them happy, and trying to take care of Karen and
161
00:09:07.200 --> 00:09:11.559
fighting not getting sick myself, and I feel it on
162
00:09:11.600 --> 00:09:13.440
the edges. But I'm not accepting it. I'm not letting
163
00:09:13.480 --> 00:09:16.639
it happen. I can't sleep in the same bedroom as Karen,
164
00:09:16.679 --> 00:09:18.279
so I'm having to sleep on the couch. So I'm
165
00:09:18.320 --> 00:09:21.080
super tired, and just one thing after another, another of another,
166
00:09:21.080 --> 00:09:25.240
everything gets stacked up on top of my head. And
167
00:09:25.279 --> 00:09:27.720
then I opened up these gift bags and I see
168
00:09:28.080 --> 00:09:34.519
two Sienna from Santa, and I lost it. All the pressures,
169
00:09:34.519 --> 00:09:37.600
all the stress, all the sadness I was pushing away,
170
00:09:38.200 --> 00:09:41.360
all the disappointment all came to the surface, and I
171
00:09:41.639 --> 00:09:45.960
just lost it. I found a quiet place and just
172
00:09:47.039 --> 00:09:51.720
let all the emotions come out. And once those emotions
173
00:09:51.759 --> 00:09:54.559
came out, I went to the bathroom. I washed my face,
174
00:09:55.279 --> 00:09:57.840
my eyes, tried to make them less puffy, and came
175
00:09:57.840 --> 00:10:02.639
back downstairs and continue wrapping into Christmas music. And just
176
00:10:02.720 --> 00:10:06.879
then I looked at my clock and it was four
177
00:10:07.039 --> 00:10:11.159
forty four. And if you follow the show at all,
178
00:10:11.200 --> 00:10:14.399
you know how much I put into angel numbers and
179
00:10:15.120 --> 00:10:18.200
to have that message at that time, I hadn't looked
180
00:10:18.200 --> 00:10:21.559
at the clock all day long. The one time I
181
00:10:21.559 --> 00:10:24.960
looked the clock right after I have a massive breakdown
182
00:10:25.000 --> 00:10:28.639
like I did, was my spirit guys and my angels
183
00:10:28.679 --> 00:10:32.240
telling me it's okay, it's all right, Everything's going to
184
00:10:32.279 --> 00:10:37.200
be fine. And as I sat there and started crying again,
185
00:10:37.320 --> 00:10:42.399
but this time in gratitude for the message, all of
186
00:10:42.440 --> 00:10:44.639
a sudden, the message, the true message of what I
187
00:10:44.679 --> 00:10:47.279
was supposed to learn through all of this, came through
188
00:10:47.759 --> 00:10:49.559
and here, and I'm sorry it took me so long
189
00:10:49.639 --> 00:10:52.039
day to this point, but here is the whole reason
190
00:10:52.039 --> 00:10:57.039
why I'm recording this today. I ask myself, why am
191
00:10:57.039 --> 00:10:59.679
we supposed to experience it? Right? Everything happens for a reason,
192
00:11:00.200 --> 00:11:03.120
coincidences and everything is meant to show us or teach
193
00:11:03.200 --> 00:11:06.240
us something. Well, I finally get it, and you've probably
194
00:11:06.279 --> 00:11:09.159
guessed it by now. You're probably way ahead of me
195
00:11:09.240 --> 00:11:12.000
by now. But in my defense, I'm dealing with a
196
00:11:12.000 --> 00:11:14.440
lot right now internally, and I know, I know it's
197
00:11:14.440 --> 00:11:16.639
all petty stuff, it's all really light stuff. But for me,
198
00:11:16.799 --> 00:11:19.240
for some reason, one thing stacked on top of the other.
199
00:11:19.360 --> 00:11:23.039
It was a lot. But the message that I found
200
00:11:23.159 --> 00:11:27.000
was it is so important for us to be grateful
201
00:11:27.720 --> 00:11:31.279
for every single day, to celebrate the love that we
202
00:11:31.320 --> 00:11:36.480
share every single day. If we make one day super
203
00:11:36.639 --> 00:11:41.080
important in preference over any other, day. We are opening
204
00:11:41.080 --> 00:11:43.759
ourselves up to the possibility that something could happen that day,
205
00:11:43.919 --> 00:11:47.200
and suddenly everything that that day means to us is
206
00:11:47.320 --> 00:11:50.639
ruined like it is or it was for me today.
207
00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:54.480
And I know it's difficult for kids to think this way,
208
00:11:54.559 --> 00:11:57.440
but for me, this is my lesson, and I'm thinking
209
00:11:57.480 --> 00:11:59.240
this might be someone's lesson out there too, because I
210
00:11:59.320 --> 00:12:01.639
had a very wrong need to record this and set
211
00:12:01.679 --> 00:12:05.440
it out. I'm going to try to make as many
212
00:12:05.559 --> 00:12:10.200
days as possible, as special as possible, and share with
213
00:12:10.279 --> 00:12:14.000
my daughter the fact that you never know from one
214
00:12:14.080 --> 00:12:17.720
day to the next what's going to happen. So yes,
215
00:12:17.759 --> 00:12:20.799
you can look forward to a special day like Christmas
216
00:12:20.919 --> 00:12:24.159
or New Year's or your birthday or whatever day you
217
00:12:24.200 --> 00:12:29.039
look forward to, but it can't be everything to you.
218
00:12:29.039 --> 00:12:32.320
You've got to celebrate every day. You've got to appreciate
219
00:12:32.399 --> 00:12:35.919
every day, be grateful for every day, look around and
220
00:12:36.039 --> 00:12:39.480
experience every day as the gift that it is, because
221
00:12:39.480 --> 00:12:43.360
it is a gift, because you never know when Christmas
222
00:12:44.080 --> 00:12:48.559
is going to come and it's going to find you sick. Now,
223
00:12:48.600 --> 00:12:51.679
it doesn't invalidate all the sadness and bad times that
224
00:12:51.720 --> 00:12:54.679
everyone else is having. Here This Christmas and feel like
225
00:12:54.679 --> 00:12:57.000
we kind of ruin their Christmas. Unfortunately, something nephew, they
226
00:12:57.000 --> 00:12:58.960
probably would have had a better time at their other
227
00:12:59.000 --> 00:13:01.480
families house. So this was a hard lesson for me.
228
00:13:01.559 --> 00:13:05.440
This was very hard. And if you've listened to the
229
00:13:05.440 --> 00:13:07.320
show for a while, you know that I am the
230
00:13:07.399 --> 00:13:10.879
type that tends to learn things the hard way. So
231
00:13:11.879 --> 00:13:15.159
I hear you, you nurse, I got it. It's a
232
00:13:15.200 --> 00:13:18.440
hard lesson to learn, and I'm sad that it came
233
00:13:18.480 --> 00:13:21.519
at the expense of other people. But I will try.
234
00:13:21.679 --> 00:13:24.159
I will try to learn my lesson, and I will
235
00:13:24.200 --> 00:13:27.039
try to live each day as special as I can,
236
00:13:27.159 --> 00:13:32.440
because you never know what's going to happen on Christmas Day.
237
00:13:32.519 --> 00:13:34.519
All right, Well, if you're still here, I really appreciate
238
00:13:34.559 --> 00:13:37.159
you sitting and listening to me. If you had an
239
00:13:37.200 --> 00:13:40.240
experience similar to this one, if you had a less