 Hello, hello everybody. Welcome back to the walk podcast. I hope that you're all doing well. If you're new here, my name is Sam and this channel is basically just a little video diary of my life. I post about all things faith, travel, fashion, lifestyle, just kind of whatever I'm feeling that day. So if you are new here, I hope that you enjoy your time here. And let's just get into it. As you can tell, this setup is extremely Christmas out. It's one of the perks about having a podcast that is only on YouTube because it's just visible. So you can see the things that I'm talking about. Side note about that. I did talk to the person that I work with to get my other videos on my other channel on Spotify. And I just asked about, you know, getting this podcast on Spotify and they said they don't, they don't really handle like lifestyle, like kind of like regular podcasts or just ASMR stuff. But they gave me a name of like a company to try. So it's something I'm thinking about just so that you guys are aware in case you are wondering. But for now, we're just chilling with the walk on YouTube. Also side note, if you hear like a ticking, like a timer, can you hear that? I don't know. I have salmon in the oven for dinner later. So that's what you hear. It's going to go off soon. I actually smell it. It smells really good. But if you're wondering what that ticking is, that's what it is. It's only going to be here in the beginning of the video and then it's going to stop. So anyway, as you can tell, yeah, we're going to be having a little holiday episode. If you know me, you know, this is my favorite time of year. I have been enjoying the holiday season so much this year, but it's also going by so fast. I think from the day I am recording this, I think Christmas is in 13 days or something like that. So less than two weeks away, which is so wild. I feel like it was just the middle of November, but that's how it always goes every year, right? It just goes by and I remember when I was younger, someone told me like the older you get, the faster it's going to go by. And that is so true. But anyway, I have rambled on six different tensions so far, but that's what this video is going to be. It's planned, but also it's pretty unplanned. We're just going to have a cozy kind of chit chat sort of video. We talk about holiday, holiday plans, some of my family traditions, just thoughts I have going into the holiday season this year, maybe comparing it a little bit to last holiday season. And then later half of the video is going to be a Q&A. I went on Instagram and asked you guys to send me some holiday themed questions. So it's going to be very chill. So I hope that you will sit down with me for the next 45 minutes, hour or however long this video is going to be. And I hope you'll just hang out with me, grab a fun cozy little drink, or don't, I don't know, whatever you want to do, but we're just going to hang out. So I know, you know, I said in the beginning that this is one of my favorite times of year and it is, but I also want to acknowledge and recognize that for a lot of people, it is actually the hardest time of year, whether it's because you lost loved ones or, you know, maybe you don't have a good relationship with the people that you once did. So you feel kind of lonely. I just want to acknowledge that and I want you to know that I see you. I wish I could be, you know, there with you. I wish we could all kind of hang out. But I hope that this video will bring you a little bit of comfort and, you know, a little bit of company if you need it. So that's why I said grab a drink and let's just kind of hang out. So I will say, even though I grew up with divorced parents, you know, they got divorced when I was very, very young, I still had a really good childhood, really good holiday seasons. I was really blessed in that way. So typically what's kind of always been the tradition for the most part, at least for as long as I can remember, maybe it was different when I was younger, but I always remember doing like Christmas Eve with my dad's side and then Christmas day with my mom's side, usually unless somebody was traveling somewhere and you know, maybe it was a little different one year or another. But for the most part, that was the tradition. So that's what I'm doing this year. And we'll get into holiday plans in a little bit. But I wanted to talk about some funny memories that I have from my childhood and just ways that my family and my parents, you know, really made the magic of Christmas come alive. So one that really sticks out, I think this is my first like Christmas kind of holiday magic story. And if you've been with me for years, maybe you'll might recognize one or two of these stories. But the first thing I remember, I think I was around four or five. And at that point in my life, my mom and I lived with my aunt and two of my cousins. So it was the five of us in one apartment. I think it was like a two bedroom apartment, or maybe three, I don't remember, but it was pretty small apartment for the five of us. But anyway, this was the time of like camcorders and VHS tapes and all the things. So this was probably what, 1999, 2000, maybe? They're on the year 2000. And so my mom and my aunt did this for my cousins and I. They set up, they set up the video camera in the corner of the living room. And they basically had it. So they told us that they put it up so that they could like spy on Santa when he came and gave us our presents. And what really it was was my mom videotaping and my aunt. Oh, was it my mom? I don't remember. One of the two. One of the women was holding the video camera and the other one put on a Santa suit. And obviously all you see is their back. But in the video, Santa is putting the gifts under the tree. So in the morning, we woke up and they were like, kids, we have something so exciting to show you. Santa came and they played the video for us. And of course, you can imagine our minds were absolutely blown. Our little kid brains just exploded. And we were like, Oh my goodness, we're looking at Santa right now. And we're going to talk a little bit more about like Santa and that kind of thing later in the video. But for our four year old little brains, I was probably four. So that means that Sierra was seven and CJ was 10, nine, something like that. Rough estimate. But so we were all still young enough to have our minds blown, maybe not so much CJ, but means yeah, we're like, what? Um, Sierra is my cousin that was in my Seattle vlog. If you watched that, you know, Sierra. So that's one memory. Another one was on my dad's side. And we when I was younger, I would guess I was maybe like six or seven. I had dinner at my grandmother's house with my dad and my aunt pretty much like four or five days a week. My dad lived two houses down from my grandma, from my nana's house. And so we would just walk over every day. It was amazing. It was, I love the idea of like families living on the same street and just being able to walk there that it's like goals to me. But anyway, so we would have dinner at my nana's every day. And it was a kind of like a two family house sort of situation. And next door, we had a neighbor and his name was Egidio. He was an old Italian older Italian man. He still lives there to this day. And he, oh, just so sweet. He lives alone. He used to have a parrot and a cat that I would help babysit when he was away because he would go to Italy every year, every summer. And then he'd come back, whatever. So I would help like babysit his animals. Sweet little old man. Anyway, my dad and my aunt to this day, I still don't know whose idea it was, but they coordinated with Egidio one day that during dinner, they were going to make it so that I heard Santa and the reindeer's on the roof during dinner. So it must have been like the week before Christmas, maybe the day before or two days before. And so they somehow I think they maybe gave Egidio a key or like left the door unlocked upstairs because it was a multi-layer or multi-floor house. And he came in and just had bells and just like jingled them really quickly. And then I guess just left he like skirted and went back to his house. And so of course I hear it and I'm like, and I was a very quiet kid at this time. But I think like my excitement still like came out. And I was like, what was that? And of course my family is like hyping it up. They're like, what was that? Did you hear that? It sounded like a reindeer. And so of course I went to investigate. They were like, oh, go Sam, like go check it out. Go upstairs, see what it is. And from what I remember, I think I went upstairs and I think they were present there by the door. If I remember again, I was so young, but I think that that's what happened. And it was just so fun to me. It was like, wow, like Santa was here. You know, I wonder if my parents like coordinated like, hey, I'm going to do this because if I would have might have been like a really spoiled kid, if they like did it the same year. And I thought Santa was visiting me like three times. But anyway, that was another really good story. What else when it was just me and my mom. So I think I might have been around 10 years old. Maybe it was just me and my mom in a one bedroom apartment. And, you know, it was an apartment. So there wasn't a house. There was no fireplace. And you know, Santa always comes down the fireplace. That's what you that's what you're taught when you're younger. And we had a, it was like a fake fireplace that my mom bought somewhere. But it was like not even like an electric one. It was a cardboard one cardboard fireplace. And you know, like it really, it wasn't that good, but it was, you know, it looked like a fireplace. And my thing was that I always instead of putting milk in cookies, I would put milk and red and green M&Ms in a bowl for Santa. That was my thing and little baby carrots for Rudolph. And one year I woke up on Christmas morning. And I really got to give it to my mom. I don't know if she even, she's watched a couple of these podcast episodes. I don't know. I don't know if she still does. But if you're watching, I mean, you were a real one because for a single mom to really like hype it up for your kid, you know, it's, you know, I give her credit. She found these like decal footprints that were meant to look like Santos footprints. And in the sole of the shoe, it like said ho ho ho on them. And so she put the decals on the floor, like leading out to leading out of the fireplace, like to the Christmas tree. And they were white. So it was meant to look like snow prints kind of. And so maybe I was, oh, I was definitely younger than 10, then I must have been like seven. I was I was younger. But she set that up for me so that in the morning it looked like, you know, Santa had left footprints behind and the M&Ms were gone and the carrots were gone and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And, you know, and I was young enough to where like, I, I believed it. And, you know, it just, it just made the day so like magical, you know. So those are three memories that really stand out to me. And I remember, I don't know what like what order in which my friends and I like learned that Santa wasn't real. But I remember one of my best friends at the time in elementary school, she believed man up until she was like 12 or 13. I found out when I was nine. Um, but yeah, I, my friend just, she really was just like, she was stuck on like, no, Santa, like, she would get upset. She'd be like, no, like, it's a thing, like Santa's real. I'd be like, dude, like, no, like you're wrong. I just remember that that's, that's funny. But, um, that's a really weird time for kids because it's a really big bomb that people, your parents, you know, drop on you. And a lot of times like kids ruin it for other kids. And it's, it could get a little bit, a little bit messy. But my, my family really like, they were really good like to us kids and really hyped it up for us. My sister, my sister's 10 years younger than me. And so she was of the age of like elf on the shelf, which if you don't know, it's like a little elf doll that is essentially supposed to be like one of Santa's helpers. And so he comes to you around like the beginning of December and he lives in your house up until Christmas. And he's supposed to watch the kids to tell Santa if they're good or not. But the, the funny thing about the elves on the shelves is that the parents are supposed to every day put him in a different spot of the house. So it looks like, you know, it's a lot live and it's moving, but the kid, I'm pretty sure isn't allowed to touch the elf ever. It's like a rule that they learn when the elf first comes. And my dad and my stepmom used to get so creative, they would hang him from the ceiling fan, they would put him in the kitchen like with food, they would really, if you go on like TikTok and you look up like elf on the shelf, you'll see all the things like people just get so creative. It looks like there's nothing in here. I swear there's stuff in here. It's just that it's reds that you can't see. Anyway, so if you guys have kids, I would love to know what you do to like make the magic come alive. Or if you want to share any of your childhood memories down below, I would love to read them. Did I write anything else? And I did have like a couple notes. I did want to write down or I did write down that I wanted to share that another tradition my mom and I did is and I should have brought one to show you but personalized ornaments. Do you guys remember they were like kiosks in the mall and you could like pick any design and then they would write your name on it in the year. I have one of like best friends forever, my friends from college with all of our names on it in the year. I have a horse one because I went through a phase where I was like obsessed with horses. I thought I was going to be an equestrian. I don't know. But I have a horse one that says my name and it says like 2007. And that was a big thing. Every year we would get like one or two. And even to this day, like my mom and I always had the tradition of whenever we traveled somewhere we would get one ornament like at least one new ornament a year if not more from the places we traveled or the things that we did. And I still do that. And now that I have my own Christmas tree this is my second year with this Christmas tree. And everywhere like when I went to Washington I got one when I went to where else did I go? I don't know. I have one from California. I have one from you know when I went to LA and blah blah blah blah. So I still keep that tradition alive and that is a tradition that I want to continue like as I get older as I have kids ornaments I think your Christmas tree should have some personality I think in my opinion and some some memories because I think I love that everyone's Christmas tree is completely different. And I think it's it's like a fingerprint like everything every tree is different and that kind of like represents who you are as a person or who you are as like your one household you know. So I just love that idea. So that's something that I'm definitely going to continue as I get older. I'm a big like tradition girl like I love and we'll get into traditions and a little bit. I think that's actually the next thing I'm going to talk about but I just it just gives you something to look forward to every year and and I love that every family has different traditions and especially of different like nationalities and different backgrounds and just everybody's different everybody's holiday season looks different. I think that that's so beautiful. So like for example and we'll get into like my holiday plans this year and one of the first things already happened is the tradition that we have on my dad's side and the Italian side which every year two three weeks before Christmas we get together and we make crostallino. Crostallino is an Italian thing and it looks different for every Italian family and also depends on like where you're from in Italy and blah blah blah blah but my grandmother brought the recipe over from Italy and crostallino is essentially it's dough you know it's it's fried dough you make the dough from scratch you essentially make it the way you would make pasta dough from scratch but our recipe has white wine in the dough as well so it's got like a little sweet kind of taste to it and she she did have a written down recipe kind of but she just she had it like she knew it by heart and she would write it down not in exact measurements that a chef normally would it was just like an Italian but she would put like a little glass of this and a little pinch of this and a little you know that's where my dad gets it from my dad is a chef if you didn't know he very rarely I think cooks with a recipe so that's where he gets it from but my dad having his chef knowledge has since taken her recipe and converted it one to English and two into exact measurements because it's a recipe that I want one day because you know many many years from now god willing many many many many years from now when I am much much older and my parents are gone and you know I have my own family and I have grandkids it's something that I want to do every single year of my of my life that's that's my goal I have done it every single year since I've been born I'm pretty sure maybe we missed one year but honestly probably not and we get together and we do it and that's something that I want to continue but we did it this past Sunday so essentially you make the dough in advance my dad makes the dough and then when it sets we cut it up we have like a pasta roller one of those rollers and you roll it through you make it nice and thin you cut it into different shapes different ribbons you tie it together and then you fry it just for you know a minute a piece and then once they cool we make big big big batches of it because the whole thing is you make the crusty in advance and then in the weeks leading up to Christmas you you make plates for your neighbors and your loved ones and your family and etc etc to pass out to people that you love so to make the plate you put a bunch of crusty and I should have brought some to show you but I have some in my in my cabinet you make a plate you heat up some honey drizzle the honey over the top and then you put sprinkles on top of it and that's how you would serve it to people they would also you know when my grandparents were alive and they hosted Christmas parties that's what they would do they would make a plate of it put it on the table for everybody to have after dinner so it's a very it's one of my favorite traditions if not my favorite tradition ever um and we just did it and so when I go to my dad's on Christmas Eve I will dress a plate and I'll bring it to my mom's because my mom also really loves it so it's just a beautiful it's a beautiful thing and I think it'll always remind me of my nonna it reminds like you know every time we do it she passed away four years ago and every time we do it we still talk about her and I still like imagine her making me a little sad I imagine her sitting next to me you know making it with us so anyway oh sorry um there are these tears though because the the tradition keeps her alive with us you know so anyway who wasn't expecting that okay anyway um yeah so plans for this holiday season I mean I kind of already talked about it but um Christmas Eve so my church is actually doing a bunch of services and it's my first Christmas season at this church so they're doing a service Saturday because Christmas Day is Monday so they're doing a a service Saturday evening and then a Sunday service I think they have three different services on Sunday and then they do have a Christmas Day service um so I'm definitely I don't know if I'm gonna go to the Saturday one I definitely will be at church Christmas Eve and then right after Christmas Eve I will I'm sorry right after church on Christmas Eve I will go to my dad's and do big dinner and presents with them and we usually like play UNO and just play games or like watch a Christmas movie or like something like that and they live very close to me so I can hang out like super late and then just come home at night you know so that'll be very fun and then I think Christmas Day I think I'm just gonna wake up super early and I don't think I'm gonna go to church Christmas Day just because you know I'm going Christmas Eve so I think I'm just gonna go up straight to my mom's and I'll just spend the day there probably stay the night there um you know seeing as how like I live alone like I really if I don't have to be alone on Christmas Day like there's anything wrong with it but like if I don't have to be alone for long on Christmas Day like I'd rather not be like I think it's a day to just be with your your loved ones and your friends and your family you know if you can be um so yeah I'm gonna wake up get ready and just go straight there I think um and I think you know my aunt my cousins usually come over to my mom's um and we exchange gifts and it's always different like we used to always do gifts like early in the morning but that's when I lived there I remember last year we didn't do gifts until like nine o'clock at night um so it's always different I guess but it's always just so fun to like give them gifts and my step dad like you could give him a pencil and he'd be like oh my gosh I love it like it's just it's just fun I'm not getting him a pencil I got him some really nice stuff but um yeah I just really look forward to it but then I get really sad because once the holiday season is over it's like oh I have to wait a whole year to like experience my favorite time of year again you know because it just goes so fast and that's why like this year I tried to do holiday shopping earlier because as I get closer to Christmas I just want to enjoy it like my dad god bless him he always goes Christmas shopping like within the week that Christmas is coming like he'll start shopping the 20th and like it's stressful you know I mean we've all done it I've been there it's stressful I don't that's why I don't do it anymore I want to enjoy the days leading up to Christmas you know so I'm almost done I think I just have my dad who is I'm not even kidding the hardest person in the entire world to shop for he's always last uh and my step mom and my aunt and I literally think I have everybody else so I did really good this year and I'm happy just if you if you know about like what's going on with my car stuff like I'm glad I just got that all out of the way before so now I can mostly focus on the car stuff but anyway um so yeah that's kind of what my holiday season usually looks like and I've been really reflecting and I don't remember if I like said this to you guys or not in another episode I don't remember but I've been really reflecting on like the differences of last holiday season and this holiday season because I man this is like night and day last holiday season I really didn't get to enjoy Christmas last year I really didn't I you know it was a I think a week or so before Christmas is when I found out things in my relationship that I was not aware of and there was just a um there was a real heaviness on me uh and I kept it all inside I didn't tell anyone my family didn't like nobody nobody knew my mom knew a little bit but not really um and that was my fault that was my choice I kept it in um and I hid it pretty well from everyone but inside I it was not a good time for me I had a lot of other things on my mind rather than enjoying time with loved ones and I was I was very good at faking it but this year having to not fake it and just genuinely be happy and like filled with joy and excitement and it's just so much better and it's funny my dad the other day when we were making the crustal it was him and I in the kitchen and we were talking about like the holiday season and he was like you know I was gonna ask like if you feel sad this year and I was like why because I'm single well I was like no honestly I feel so much joy I was so excited going into this holiday season to really fully enjoy it and it's okay that I'm single I don't I'm not one of those people where being single on a holiday makes me feel bad it really doesn't if anything it gives me more undivided attention for my you know I can give my undivided attention to my friends and my family you know and I can spend more time with them and I you know I don't know I just I feel a lot of joy like I'm not upset I'm not sad I don't feel lonely I you know and I think it's just because in comparison to last year it's just like night and day and yeah I've really been able to enjoy it I'm enjoying it with new friends I have a Christmas party next week with the young adult group at church so all new friends that I've met literally within the last two months most of them I think it's a very new friendships but we're having like an ugly sweater white elephant party and it's gonna be great and it's gonna be fun and you know it's all about making new memories and really happy memories and yeah I'm just in a really good place so what do you guys oh actually before I go into the Q&A because I was gonna say what do you guys think we jump into the questions but the last thing I wanted to talk about briefly because I said we were gonna talk about Santa again was I've been seeing so many debates over like on the internet about Santa and when you have kids are you gonna invite them to believe in Santa or are you not gonna do the Santa thing and honestly they're all really good arguments so I wanted to talk about it for a second and also get like your input because I'm curious so you guys know I'm a Christian so I know I know the true meaning of Christmas and I grew up with Santa you know in my life and even still I grew up knowing the the real meaning of of Christmas and that's celebrating the birth of Jesus so you know I am a testament of I had both and I I ended up okay you know I can still recognize the real meaning of Christmas and I have one co-worker who I love him but he he always says you know Christmas is a made-up holiday and and it's not Jesus's real birthday and blah blah blah blah and that may be true I I have read that Jesus wasn't born on December 25th but it doesn't matter I think Christmas just symbolizes the story of Jesus and his birth and that's what's important like like with anything what's important is the intention behind it and so I'm very careful now like this year I'm reading the book of Luke I'm reading a chapter a day because there's 24 chapters so by the time Christmas Eve comes I'll have read the whole thing leading up to Christmas reading the whole you know it starts from when he was born and goes through his whole life as a way to honor him and as a way to remind myself of what the real meaning of Christmas is so with that being said like I've heard a lot of on one side a lot of Christians being like well I'm not going to introduce my children to Santa because that's not what Christmas is about and I get that I do I me personally I don't know what I'm going to do with my kids yet I don't even have a man so I you know it's a little premature for me to be thinking about that um but I don't know what I would do I there is something beautiful about having like this magic of Christmas but there is also the side where you want to make your kids aware of what the real meaning of Christmas is and also I've heard a lot of parents say you know I I work hard to get my my kids these gifts I don't want them to think that it's Santa getting them the most expensive gifts like I'm working hard for it you know I want them to thank me and that is such a valid valid argument um so like I think if I were to do Santa like the big gifts can come from me and then maybe Santa will be like the stocking stuffers or like something like that but then it becomes dangerous because then they get to school and Santa buys them their friend a new iPad and it's like wow Santa bought me a pack of gum Santa got me socks you know like am I not good enough that's where like school and like sending your kids out in the world can get pretty hard and and pretty interesting because on the other side I always think well say I don't introduce my kids to this idea of Santa I don't want them to go to school and ruin it for other kids and go around telling people that they're wrong for believing in Santa because for some people some people aren't aren't Christians and so they are taught that Santa is what Christmas is about and you know that's their business that's their family's choice and they're not wrong for that that's just the way that they were being raised and so I don't want my kid to be ruining it for others and making other kids cry and then the other kids parents get upset and then they're calling me and then you know it's just it's very it's very hard especially when kids are like six years old they don't have a filter they're just gonna they regurgitate everything that they hear at home so it's just it's a it's a it's a it's a tricky one it's a tricky one so it's something that I think about often and again kids are I think pretty far off not hopefully not that far off but like a couple years away for me so I have time to think about it but um it's just very interesting so if you have kids especially if you're because I'm a Christian right so if you're a Christian I'm curious to see like what your approach to doing things was or is with your kids or will be if you're planning on having kids soon or whatever I'm just very curious because I see such a valid arguments for both you know and I would hate for my kids friends to to be doing fun things together then my kid isn't allowed or doesn't doesn't you know engage in the same thing so then they feel that they can't have as much fun I don't know it's just it's you know I see sides for both and I also would love to do the elf on the shelf thing as a parent because it'd be so fun to like get creative and like do things but of course I always want my kids to know about Jesus and that being the first and most important thing but I think there is also room for other like American Christmas traditions you know as long as you make Jesus first and then everything else afterwards I don't know I think there is room but again I have a long time to figure it out but I am very curious to hear your thoughts okay let's get into the questions shall we because I feel like I've been talking for a while so I have on my Instagram story I said I was filming a podcast episode today and so I have a bunch of questions as you can see so I did kind of scan through them a little bit and some of them are like not Christmas related at all so I'm going to save those for another video or just kind of skip over them for now it's not that I don't see them or I'm ignoring you it's just that I think some people didn't realize that it was going to be like Christmas and holiday themed video so some of the questions like wouldn't really make sense in this video but I'm sure they will think there will be things that I will answer in the future okay so I'm just going to go in a random order let's see would you ever go on vacation for the holidays I would I have never done it I don't think I think I've always been home in my home state right but yeah I have never done it but I would do it I think I would do it it's hard for me because if I go away with mom side or with dad side then I'm leaving the other side hanging and that means that they get the short of the end of the stick because they don't get to see me for the holidays I feel like if I was older and I was like married with kids maybe I'd do it for like a year with like my little family but it's hard for me like right now to like pick sides to like travel with I will say though this year was the first time I ever traveled somewhere warm in the summer I went to Mexico in February and it was so cool to know that it was February and I was sitting in like 90 degree weather on the beach like it was really cool I really enjoyed that so yeah I would definitely never say never I don't have plans to do it currently and I have never done it but I probably would maybe one day in the future but there's also something about being in your cozy little home with your Christmas tree for the holidays but I would do it for like a year this is a good one do you get a gift for every member of your family so on my dad's side yes but there's also not that many of us it's my dad my stepmom me my sister my aunt that's that's really it we have family friends that will come and occasionally and like spend the day with us but for the most part like my family is just the five of us so yeah we get we all get everybody something my mom's side is a little bit bigger still not that big but it's a little bit bigger and we used to do the thing where this is when like all my aunt and my uncle came over and all my cousins and we would do the thing where we would like we tried to do white elephant one year so we all had to only purchase one gift but even when I do that of course I'm gonna get my mom I can't not get my mom something for Christmas and then I have to get my stepdad something and then you know and then my step siblings so I feel like we have tried that and it just doesn't work because then people end up getting a white elephant gift but then they feel bad for not getting other people things so then they end up getting gifts for everyone so we kind of did away with that so I pretty much yeah if I know that you're gonna be with us on the holiday if you're gonna be at my mom's house or whatever I will get you something because there's nothing worse and it has happened to me there is nothing worse than somebody that you don't expect getting you a gift and you have nothing for them it is the worst thing I remember one year I got a gift from somebody at my mom's house and I had nothing for them and I ran upstairs my mom has this little closet in the bathroom with like candles and bath sets that we never used and I like found one that hadn't been open and I like wrapped it and like gave it to them but it was awkward and I think that they could tell that it was a last minute gift and yeah so I have learned my lesson and I don't do that anymore even if it's something small like getting my aunt like a candle from Bath and Body Works you know but at least I have something to give her that she could take home and use so yeah this year I think I pretty much have all yeah my step siblings I got my cousins something I got yeah I pretty much I got everybody so um things that are better during the holiday season when you're single I mean I think the biggest thing is it's harder when you're in a relationship because I did it the past two years when you're in a relationship to divide your time between your family and like your person your partner's family um if you're in the early stages of dating I don't think you need to be together on Christmas and Thanksgiving um but when you've been together for like a little longer a year or two then yeah that's natural that you're gonna want to split your time I just spilled a little bit of this whoops um so that was always challenging and it's extra challenging for me because I have two sides so it's not just splitting one with my family and your family it's splitting between three so it's it's three households so that was I remember last year was like kind of stressful about it too um and like yeah we had been together for two years so like of course like I wanted him to come spend some time with my family you know but then he had his family and you know it just it's hard it's it's hard that that's the easiest thing so or that's the hardest thing so I think this year that's the biggest difference of like it's so much easier for me to plan my time and I was talking to my dad about it and he was like honestly though like when you are in a really good relationship like that's a good problem to have and I agree it is um but I'm happy this year to not have to deal with it if I'm if I'm being honest with you again it is a good problem to have it's a great thing that you have multiple that's a blessing to have multiple households to go to that's going to invite you in and feed you and give you drinks and you exchange presents and all the things um but you know I'm not mad at skipping a year of that who knows what next year will bring but right now I'm okay um okay let's see what type of drink do you have on the holidays um if we're talking like drink drink um we love coquito in my house I can't drink a lot of it because it's very heavy and my tummy don't like it all the time but like a glass of it here in there yes love it I hate eggnog I hate eggnog and you're probably like Sam they're kind of similar I can't do eggnog it actually kind of grosses me out a little bit um like any holiday you guys know I love my white wine so during dinner I'll usually have wine um one year my mom really likes bulinis which is like champagne and peach juice or like cranberry juice either one she loves those so one year we just made a bunch of those and we drank them in champagne flutes and because champagne flutes aren't like they don't hold that much so we were really just gonna drink in a lot of them but they're so good and I think my mom put like actual cranberries in them for like garnish those were cute we did that one year um my co-workers actually selling coquito so I'm buying a bottle from her and I think I'm gonna try to save it and bring it home for Christmas to my mom's so um yeah let's see what else what gifts are you excited to give this year okay so I think I don't really think any one of my family is gonna watch this I hope not if any of you are here please turn away at this moment um my favorite my I think the top of my list that I'm so excited to give is my cousin Sierra my cousin and I love boy bands backtree boys in sync all the things um 98 degrees like all the 90s bands and her and I our first concert ever was in sync I was four and she was seven why they took me to an in sync concert at four or five years old I don't know I had earplugs I do have vague memories of it um I remember the big teddy bear I remember the the the strings I remember the I remember all of it um and that was our first concert so I found honestly through tiktok shop it's the first and only thing and hopefully last thing I ever buy on tiktok shop but it is a Christmas sweater of a picture from the 90s of in sync like the boy band it's iconic and I loved it so much that I bought one for myself as well and I told her when I saw her last I said I just want you to know that I bought your Christmas gift and I loved it so much I bought myself one and that's all I said so I think she's very excited I'm just so excited to see her reaction I really like I know her so well and I think she's really gonna love it um so I think that's like the one that I'm the most excited also I got my step brother my step brother really likes beer like he every time he goes somewhere he likes to try their IPA from that place or that state when we did the cross country trip he was buying like boxes of IPAs everywhere um so I bought him this like beer making kit that I found just so he could try to make his own beer and it's like an IPA type because they had different types of beer that you can make and that one's an IPA and I don't know he's it they're gonna hate it and not use it or he's gonna really like it I hope he uses it I like to get really like personalized gifts for people um like something like I saw this and it made me think of you or you know whatever I also got my my best friend my co-worker Marissa um a locket from Etsy I had it custom made and has an M on it for her name and then inside is a picture of her and her dog um she has a dog named Honey and Honey is beautiful and every time I come over she'll be like Zia's here because Zia is on an Italian so she refers to me as Zia for the dog because we're extra like that um so I think she's really gonna like that um so those are just a few a few things I got my mom a new work bag because she really wanted one um so little things like that but the ensign Christmas sweater I need to wear that in a video so that you guys can see it it's just so iconic and I'm so excited and I haven't been like wearing it I haven't posted it anywhere because I don't want her to see it and like want it and then go buy it you know so but I love I love it okay let's see um a lot of these I answer like what's your favorite Christmas memory do you like eggnog um someone says what does a religious Christmas look like oh I like the way they said that it says what does a religious Christmas look like for you I mean I kind of said it you know Christmas to me is first recognizing that it is about celebrating the birth of Jesus and I will be going to church um yeah I feel like I kind of answered that I mean it's not that different I still gather with my friends and my family and I still have drinks and and exchange gifts and have really good food and the only probably big difference is that we pray before our meal usually when I go to my dad's house they ask me to pray and then at home my mom usually prays um and you know I'm gonna go to church but other than that it's not too different and I'm reading the bible up until I mean I read the bible I need it every day anyway but I'm reading the book of Luke leading up to Christmas you know so it's not that different really um favorite Christmas movies elf will always be top-notch for me I haven't watched it yet this year and I really need to it is such an iconic movie there are just so many good lines so elf is up there um Jim Carrey's the Grinch stole Christmas it's a really good one um I saw the Home Alone movies for the first time last year I know I'm a really late bloomer um I really did like them like the first two I have no interest in watching the other ones but they were they were really cute I liked them more than I expected to um I like four Christmases with Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon I believe that's a really just Vince Vaughn is just really funny um so those are just those are a few um let's see favorite Christmas song I haven't really been listening to Christmas music this year if I'm being honest there's that always that one radio station that plays Christmas music from Thanksgiving to New Year's but I haven't put it on lately let's see um activity that puts you in the holiday mood making Grustle is a big one decorating my apartment helping my mom decorate her house watching Christmas movies breaking out the Christmas pajama pants things like that my least favorite part of the holidays how expensive it is it's the most expensive time of year but it's okay um what's one food you add to your Christmas dinner that's not commonly there I mean at my mom's they make beddingy which is pork essentially um we also do ham I don't know if that's common that's common um but beddingy is definitely different um um yeah probably that um let's see favorite line from a Christmas movie that's a tough one it's definitely something um I was gonna say it's either from it's probably from elf but no it's either elf or the Grinch because the Grinch has very iconic ones Marissa and I are always like exchanging quotes back and forth to each other like when he's trying on clothes and he's like ooh ah ooh that's it I'm not going we do that all the time or like um max get my cloak or just like things like that it's probably something from the Grinch actually like elf has really good ones too um but I don't know Grinch might take it for me I love from elf though uh Wally I think the whale in the beginning bye buddy hope you find your dad I don't know why it's not even funny but just I don't know I feel like my friends and I say that to each other sometimes I don't know um okay let's just do a couple more because I feel like I've been talking for a year and a half even though I don't really think it's been that long but anyway have you ever been ice skating yes many times it's been a while though um funny ice skating story for you really quick when I was younger uh I was probably 12 I had braces still and my aunt took me and my cousin Sierra ice skating and we had gone around so many times no one fell everything was good and then at the end my aunt was like do it one more time go around one more time and we were like okay and I was halfway back and I fell so hard on my face my not to get like too graphic I'm sorry but my bracket of my braces went like into my gums somehow I didn't chip a tooth but my lip would I had to drink out of a straw for like a week my lip was huge it was awful I had to go to the dentist and like get the whole situation fixed it was like it was a it was a nightmare and my aunt was so scared to tell my mom that's her sister um she was so scared to tell her what happened because my mom was at work at the time I think it was like Christmas break and my mom was at work so my aunt like took us out and yeah but I live to tell this story remember we went to Applebee's after and that's where they broke the news to my mom on the phone uh great time okay a lot of these are repeats how are you increasing the presence of Jesus into Christmas this year I kind of like I said reading the book of Luke I shared it on my Instagram and a lot of you are actually doing it with me which is really cool um you know I'm going to church but I always go to church every year for Christmas um and like making like I'm gonna I'm gonna read the book of Luke in a video on my other channel um like the week of Christmas I think so just little things like that but more than like putting it on line or on TikTok or on YouTube it's more that I just it's more important that I implement it like in my heart for myself but then after that you know I like to share things with you guys um actually there's I didn't even realize there are a lot of questions about like should we tell our kids about Santa you know that's your decision but I told you guys some of my thoughts that I have going through my head um let's see what foods or spirits of your Puerto Rican heritage do you eat a drink I kind of mentioned that the coquito and the um the perney my mom used to make flam but not not a lot of people in my family like flan I've never liked flan um but apparently my mom makes a really good one I just can't tell because I just don't really like it regardless but um all right what traditions do you plan on passing down when you start your own family it's definitely the crustily and like I said like the getting one new ornament a year um but I definitely want to come up with other traditions again when the time comes so I'm not thinking about it yet again long time away but um I think every family like when you have your own kids like just I think naturally new traditions will just form um but I definitely like my my children will be making crustily one day like it's it's a non-negotiable that'll be happening um yeah so I feel like I have rambled for quite a while this video is probably what 40 45 minutes um so thank you for being here again I know you know I hope I never want to come across as like insensitive like I'm talking about how much I love this time of year when I'm sure some of you watching this don't get to enjoy the season as much or you actually dread this time of year and so I never I hope I'm really not coming across as insensitive I really wanted to make this video just to give us an opportunity to hang out a little bit um and hopefully kind of make you smile or make you laugh with some of my stories and traditions um but I hope yeah I hope you enjoyed this video thank you so much for being here I have one more podcast episode for you that's going to come before the year is over um so I will see you then I love you guys thank you for your support as always to those of you who celebrate I hope you have a great holiday season whatever it is that you celebrate I hope you're able to spend it with people that you love if you're at work because I have been there just know that you are you are doing a really good service because that means that your job is essential it's something that we need regardless of whether it's a holiday or a weekend or whatever so I applaud you and I respect you and I hope that after you're done with work you get to enjoy a little bit and I'm gonna stop rambling now so thank you for being here for this episode of The Walk and I will see you guys next time bye guys