Chrystal's 2023 Christmas Collection

Welcome to Chrystal Hurst's Christmas Collection, and, um, I'm trying to figure out how to start because we've been enjoying our own personal version of fun and foolery, trying to get our tech situation right. We've done eaten through a whole bowl of popcorn, we done posted on social media, we finished the eggnog. Added some Olipop to the cups. This is amazing. We're glad you're here. And I hope you are wearing your Depends and that you are fully comfortable in your fuzzy— I was gonna say your fuzzy underwear. Your fuzzy PJs and your fuzzy socks. And that you are ready to have a good time tonight. Welcome, Kheris.

Hello.

You are already not in a good state of mind.

What are you talking about?

I can feel it. I can feel it. Okay, y'all, so let's talk a little bit about Christmas past. She does not really remember Christmas with me. You remember Christmas with mom.

Correct.

My mom. Correct. 'Cause Lois Evans is Christmas incarnate.

Yes.

In fact, Charis would tell me all the time, "I wanna go to Nonni's house because—" Nani decorated. Yeah. Nani had pumpkin bread going.

Correct.

Nani had the eggnog on tap, the canned version of Borden's. Yes. That they have now since gotten rid of. Let's talk about this for a second. So I was in Costco yesterday and I just bought some— I'm just gonna— I bought, I bought some eggnog. It's called Sarah's. I don't know who Sarah is or what's happening, but it's actually pretty good.

Is it dairy? Like there's real milk in it?

I'm sure. Can't do it. So you're not even doing the real dairy for—

But Borden's was real dairy. I was also under 13. My stomach has since revolted.

Okay.

It's bitter and resentful and it doesn't like it anymore.

So we've been trying oat milk. What did you try last year? Was silk milk? Silk oat milk was—

or— Silk eggnog was really good. It tasted just like the Borden canned oatmeal.

So even if I make you oat— eggnog, you can't drink my eggnog. I probably wouldn't drink it anyway if you made it. Okay, but that's because that one time— that one time was enough. No, it was one time. Okay, when you make eggnog, okay, The key is, because eggs are in the nog, you have to cook the eggs.

I can tell you that the key is—

hold on, hold on, hold on. The key is that you have to cook the eggs, and you cook the eggs slowly, because if you don't cook them slowly, they will cook like they'll cook. So you have to stir very slowly so that the eggs cook, but They don't scramble.

So one time I made eggnog and there was scrambled eggs in the eggnog. So that's why we don't eat her eggnog anymore.

No, it was one time. One time was enough. My eggnog is the best eggnog ever. But now I have to figure out how to make it with nut milk since you're avoiding. Now you tried to be vegan for a second. I was vegan for a while. And you're not now. I am not now. OK, so why can't you just do eggnog during the holidays?

I'm just trying to limit consumption of at least drinks with dairy. It's the holidays. And I limit like cheese intake.

It's the holidays.

Even though I had a piece of pizza right before this. What are you talking about? So I really risked it all.

So Nonni had the best Christmas situation. Lots of traditions. Going out, we had a girls' trip before the holidays. We would take out all the girls in our family. Oh, a girls' day. A girls' day. We'd go out to eat, then we'd go shopping. We already talked about her pumpkin bread, pumpkin bread in the kitchen. If you went over to her house during the holidays, The Temptations and Al Green, Al Green Christmas playing loud in the house. Santa Claus looked like he came by personally. And threw up in her living room to make sure that the world would know how to celebrate Christmas. It was wonderful. What else do you remember about Nonnie Christmases? Because I didn't even bother. I didn't even bother. We just went to their house. It just was— Until you were like 13, I don't even think I ever bothered putting up a tree.

Mm, yeah, I don't remember. I don't recall. It was just everything Christmas is supposed to be from top to bottom. She'd be wearing sweaters with Santa on it. We'd set out cookies for Poppy the night before. Cookies and milk, he'd come and eat them. I think I found out it was him one time. I didn't think I knew it. I think I knew Santa didn't exist, but I was playing along until I like stayed up and saw him eat the cookies.

You know what? One of the things I went in her house and looked for was her Christmas sweaters. I feel like she had a season of that and then was done. Do you have her Christmas plates?

Can I have those?

No. We have to both get back to Priscilla first. Auntie Cilla has it? No, I'm just saying after today we need to go and handle that.

We need to go like right now. We need to go handle it. She's probably on her— she's watching this, she's probably on her way to the house.

Okay, other things that— okay, so when, um, because here's the thing, I'm just— I'm tired of gift giving. Now we got some stuff to show you, but I'm also like You know, Christmas is so much more than the gifts you receive. This child right here though was spoiled rotten. There was a Christmas that everybody, including me, got up and the tree looked like it was sitting on top of Mount Everest because there were just gifts cascading out from under the tree. It was the best. And as Jonathan, he was the dawn gift passer outer that year, started passing out the gifts, he would say, Keris, Keris, Keris, Chrystal Hurst. Keris, Keris, Keris, Keris, Keris, Priscilla. And we were all just like, now wait a minute. The good old days. Wait a minute. The girls were all rotten. So I was trying to develop some other traditions. And remember how I used to read that book to y'all? Jotham's Journey, every— and so I would buy the big red tin of cookies from Costco, and they would choose a cookie every night. This is my cue to grab a Biscoff because you can buy these at Costco, but you shouldn't because you'll eat them all. Um, and so we would do the cookie thing. What else do you remember? Did I do anything at all for Christmas?

We would go look at the Christmas lights. When the boys were little. Why you gotta sigh? I just took a deep breath because I've ingested so much popcorn and Olipop over the last like 30 minutes. So I'm just, my stomach is now moving up into my chest. We would go look at Christmas lights.

We would go look at Christmas lights.

And? And that was really fun. It was really good.

I did stuff. She was constantly comparing me to my mother. I was not. You were. You would say, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Let me speak.

You would say, well, our tree isn't like Nani's tree. Our tree doesn't have anything on it. I don't recall saying anything like that. Then you would be like, I went and bought those little cheap little single candle things that you put into your window, like, and I was so proud of myself, and I put them in the kids' windows, and she was like, is that it?

I don't recall that either.

You did. Then we drove home, you were like, "Our house is dark. Why don't we have any lights?" And you're comparing me, like, to my mother who's like 22 years older than me. I have no recollection. The point is, I had to show her that our trees were ratty when we were growing up. Like, my mother— Like, we— My parents did a great job with Christmases, but her— The house she knew was not the house I grew up with. There was this bird that would sing in the tree. Do you even remember this? It was a bird that would sing in the tree.

Oh, in the Christmas tree?

In the Christmas tree. I remember that. It was this— and now that I look back at the trees that my mother had, I think that children have wonder for whatever you do. You don't have to do a whole lot. They're just excited if it's just a little extra something special. That's why I went and just bought that 6-foot nutcracker from Costco.

Naparazzi is going to tear that thing down. Good luck. I don't know why you did that rock.

It's gonna rock that thing world. Oh, because you want to see the kids, their excitement. That's why we do this. That's why we do things. I'm trying to actually buy real ornaments because all these years I've just bought ornaments that if y'all break, I don't care. Do you put real ornaments on your tree?

I did. We're not doing that this year.

You're not doing it this year? You're entering the season broke every other day.

Yep. 'Cause we had glass ornaments and that was a mistake.

Okay, biscott cookies, eggnog, and oh, pumpkin bread. How many loaves of pumpkin bread do you think you make during the holidays?

I don't even know because I make the muffins now. 'Cause the muffins take forever. But I know 2 weeks ago, I made 32 muffins. They were gone the next morning. The kids would eat like 2 for breakfast, 3 for lunch, 4 for dinner. And then they'd be sneaking them throughout the day. 'Cause it's cake. It's cake. It's perfect. You just, you know, it's the holidays.

'Cause pumpkin bread takes an hour in the oven and then you gotta slice it. You gotta wait for it to cool. Pumpkin muffins are like a strong 15, 20 minutes, if that. But I do like the loaf better.

Because? There's something about it, maybe because it's bigger or maybe because of how it's baked, it just feels thicker. Feels more hearty. And then do you remember that one Christmas where we put it in a pan with some butter and then ate it like it was French toast? Auntie Stella and Anthony did that. I don't remember. And it was incredible. It was like, what have we been doing all this time?

So like you pan fried it, like in butter?

With butter.

So like French toast. You put the cake in the pan. With butter. With butter.

And then put syrup on it and eat it like French toast. It was incredible. Truly incredible.

Okay. So, Charis, you know, we went and saw your first time to go see Christmas lights were when you were— let's see, you were born November the 1st, so you were 2 months old. Now mind y'all, I am— I am— you were born in '91, so I am 19 years old and I'm going out to Christmas dinner with my family. So every Christmas at that time, we did it every Christmas Eve. Now we just some week, the week of Christmas we go out. But my dad and mom and the 4 of us and siblings, and then Charis and Jessica got a pass to come because for a long time they were the only kids. So we would go out to Christmas dinner and then after that go look at lights. She's 2 months old. There's 6 of us now, 'cause nobody's married just yet. My dad has a Q45 Infiniti. Y'all, that ain't a big car. So there's 4 of us, stacked on top of each other in the back seat. Nonnie and Poppy in the front seat. And I have this 2-month-old. So we go to see the Christmas lights in Arlington, Interlochen. We went to go see Christmas lights at Interlochen. Y'all, when you go see Christmas lights at Interlochen, you need to be prepared to be in your car for 3 hours. So she's hot. We're all hot. We're all frustrated. We're sitting in the car. Everybody's hollering and screaming at each other. Get off of me. Stop touching me. You are screaming in the car. So there's a tumult though. Ah! Ah! And I'm pulling out my boob to feed you. Jonathan is like, "Get your boob off of me!" Just like, total chaos. Total chaos. So it's like 30 degrees outside. And I literally had to get out of the car and walk you. So I'm walking while Poppy is driving the car. This was your first Christmas. I'm so sorry. Yeah. So now that's why I'm like, We stick everybody in the car because it can't get any worse than that. I have a minivan.

It's pretty fun.

So have you taken the children to see Christmas lights?

Yes, we go pretty much every year.

Where do y'all go? The Prairie Lights?

It just depends. Usually I think it's the Prairie Lights where we drive through and then you can get out and do the carnival, hot chocolate, sit on Santa's lap thing, and then we keep going through. But then we also did something at Fair Park. Was that last year? Yeah, you walked, it was like— because I took y'all.

Oh, thank you for that. I don't know if I could do that again. That was a mess. Well, it was expensive. That one was expensive. Was it? I paid for it. Thank you. You're welcome. Moving on, Christmas past and present. Um, let's talk a little bit about gifts, uh, to keep, gifts that are for you. Um, you've got a new baby on the way. I do. I'm trying to be gender neutral. How do you feel being pregnant?

This is probably a good time for me to issue a public apology to my husband because it has been an emotional roller coaster. And I'm sorry, Josh, if you're watching, I'm so sorry, but I appreciate your patience. I feel lots of things being pregnant. To answer your question, I feel happy some days. Some days I feel sad. Some days I feel overwhelmed. Some days I feel all of those things in a span of an hour. It's a lot. I'm in emotional— it's been wild. It's been wild.

Has it impacted you at all?

I'm just holding on. Josh is holding on too. We're just holding on together.

It hasn't impacted me at all.

Should I also be apologizing to you? No, no.

No, no. Not at all. So how do you feel about a new addition and going from being a family of 6 to a family of 7?

I'm terrified. Really? Absolutely. Why? Off camera. I just think we— I didn't think through this. Ah! We have not planned not one child. Not one child has been planned. We just keep having, we just, you know, keep having kids. And after this one, I was like, we probably, we should have thought through the, we should have thought through this. So I'm terrified. I'm just trying not to think about it.

How are you not thinking about it?

Like, I'm trying not to think about After the birth. But do you physically still enjoy being pregnant? I physically feel, for the most part, fine. I can tell a pregnancy at 22, at 32.

9 days. At 52, might be a little different. Just saying, Janet did it. Janet did it. Just let me be great. That would not be great. Okay, gifts that you give to yourself. What gifts do you give to yourself?

I go get my feet rubbed.

You do. Not as often as you used to. No. We can't go at the same time, 'cause we both want Lucy. What else do you do besides get your feet rubbed?

You straight up got mad at me one time because I wouldn't let you have her.

'Cause she took me out. She took me out and then I said, "I want Lucy." She said, "I already asked for Lucy." Nope, that's not what happened.

I was like, "Are you taking me out or what?" I didn't take you out. I said, "I'm going to get my foot rubbed, would you like to come?" That's not taking me out.

Let me try this from another angle. Mom, who would you like to rub your feet? Because you should probably— That would not be the intention of the call. Because you should probably have your feet rubbed because you're older than me, you're wiser than me.

I said, "I gotta step in, I'm going to get my feet rubbed." I wanna honor you.

You are blessed and highly favored. I want you on the side of heaven to know that I value your presence. But I let her have Lucy. You want to know why? Because I'm that kind of mom. Anyway, what else do you do besides get your feet rubbed and eat popcorn?

You're eating all the popcorn. I eat a bag of popcorn almost every night. What's your favorite brand?

Orville. Which kind?

Which variety? Like the extra butter. Movie butter or just extra? Whatever I see that says like a lot of butter.

When is the last time you've had my popcorn? Are you sure you don't like my popcorn?

Yeah, I'm positive. 'Cause here's the thing, it's not you. You are easily distracted. And so a lot of times things will get burned or overcooked like the eggs in the eggnog or the popcorn will be like scorched So, those have been my feelings.

You haven't lived at home for like 12, 14 years. So you don't know.

You're totally right, you're totally correct.

My popcorn is amazing. I'd love to get the boys. Can we call in the boys? Ask Jackson and JC. Can we do a call-in?

Can the boys call in and weigh in on this? They can. Let me call them because if they come from your number, they're gonna be intimidated.

Let them be, they should be intimidated. They should be. Oh, my phone is not working in here.

Oh, who'd you call? Call Kanan.

I'm calling the home phone. It's just whoever. It's because I still have a landline. I'm going to put Kanan on the phone.

Kanan will tell the truth.

Hey, who is it? Hold on.

Wait, hold on. Who is it? Hold up. Is this Kanan? No! Put Kanan on the phone Joel— hurry up he's asleep okay? Joel tell the truth... Joele yes?! Tell the truth does mommy burn a lot of her food? Burn yeah like is it overcooked like are the eggs brown uh sure wait no no don't let me be Joel Yes?

Do you like my butter pop? Butter pop? My popcorn. Oh, yes. OK, thank you. Do I burn a lot of my food for real? Or are you just saying that because Karris told you to say it?

I didn't tell him to say anything.

Hello? Hello? Do I burn a lot of my food for real?

I don't know. Yes. Bye.

I'm talking to you later. You lost. You lost. I don't appreciate that, Karris. All right, so let's talk about some other— I mean, what I like to do for myself, because you know what happens when you have a bunch of kids during the holidays? You have to make sure you give yourself a gift.

Absolutely. Absolutely. I give myself—

because it's going to take them like 20 years or maybe 30 before they start thinking about getting you gifts. So Until then, you have to give yourself a little Christmas cheer. What does that look like? I, last year, last year, yeah, I was very happy to get through the whole holidays. I was like, what do y'all need from me? What can I do for you? How can I bless you? How can I serve you? Do you want me to make this for you again? Because the whole time, all I could think was, as soon as the clock strikes 12 and 2023 arrives, I'm leaving y'all. I went to Hawaii last year. I was like—

Oh yeah, what was it like for 10 days?

No, no, no, more like 5, 6. Oh, I remember that.

You were sending us like selfies from the beach. Love you so much. I was like crying as I was home with my children for the last 3 weeks before they go to school. You were sending beach pics.

That's correct. In your bikini. Because when you're in Hawaii and nobody you know is there, you can let it— She wasn't wearing no bikini, y'all. I don't— I didn't shave. I didn't shave.

Whoa, wait. You want to know why? That would—

I think I left her. I'm just saying, I might have worn a bikini. I just hadn't worn one in a while. I'm saying because When you're— here's the beauty of going away by myself. When you're away by yourself, you just do what you want to do.

You're not thinking about—

That is very true. I don't know y'all. I'm probably never going to see y'all again in my life. I forgot a razor. I didn't want to buy one in the expensive Hawaii stores, so I just walked around. Hi! It's good to see y'all. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, be yourself. It was great. Being by yourself is a great gift.

Love being alone. At home or away from home? I— anywhere. It doesn't matter? I can go out. I, I—

have you always loved being at home, or do you love being at home more? Or being at home? Being alone. Oh, do you like being alone more since having children?

I've always loved you. Look at her. Oh, Ellie, I do like being with you as well. Thank you. But, but I also like being alone. I've always liked being alone. Always. You're not supposed to be talking.

Okay, so some of the things that you can also though give to yourself are— let's start talking about some stuff. This is my new favorite thing. It's not my new, it's kind of my new old favorite thing. Um, yes, so you know that there was once upon a time— let me tell you a little story. Once upon a time, Chrissy ran a marathon. Don't take them down. Okay, I'm looking, I'm like, are you talking to me? You're not talking to me. Chrissy ran a marathon. Uh, these were the shoes I actually started out training in. These are Nike Americans. You were pregnant when you ran a marathon, weren't you? My first half, yeah. I was, I think I crossed the finish line 6 months pregnant with Kanan.

Incredible.

Incredible. My round ligaments were jacked after that. That's probably why I pee on myself regularly today. Whoa. But anyway, that's a lot. Um, it is. Sorry. Okay, so Vomeros, these were my favorites. So after that, y'all, they changed. I think it went from a Vomero 8 to a Vomero 9, and they changed the body. You know how like if a car changes the body style and you liked it, and then they changed the body style and you're like, you don't like it anymore? They changed the style. So I tried 'em on, they didn't work anymore. So that started a multi-year journey of trying to find the right shoe. So this last couple months ago, I had to go to the doctor and I decided on my way to the doctor, just normal physical, whatever, that on the way back, 'cause I knew what the doctor was going to tell me, that on the way back I was gonna get a new pair of shoes. And you know, if you go to Luke's Locker, they wanna know how your foot is, how do you wear your shoes? So on my way to the doctor, I packed up my last 4 pairs of shoes so that they could see. Went to the doctor, he told me all the things I knew he was gonna tell me. And on the way back, 'cause I knew what I needed to do, I stopped by the shoe store and I said, "Help me, I cannot find still the right pair of shoes." And they said, "Well, you know, Nike Vomero, they went back to their old design." So these are Vomero 17s. It took 'em a million iterations to get back. Y'all, so these are my running shoes. I'm about to sign up. I still have yet to sign up. I was about to say they look real clean. I had to keep them clean because I had to keep them clean for the Christmas. Like, look, they still have the thing in there.

Yeah, I saw that. That's okay. You know what, Josh bought me 3 Pilates, uh, classes.

You haven't gone? Not once?

I went to the one on my birthday.

Haven't been back. Was it for pregnant people? Can you do Pilates?

Yeah, you can do Pilates. They do have pregnant classes. I did not take a pregnant class, but it doesn't matter. I'm just saying I have not been back. So I understand why your shoes are clean.

You can give yourself the gift of health. Here, hold them. Enjoy them before they get dirty. So my plan is to sign up for the Hot Chocolate Run. I haven't done it yet, but I'm going to.

So you get to drink hot chocolate while you—

No, no, no. You wait. You get at the end. First of all, their swag is great. They need to be an affiliate. Their swag is great. You can pass them that way. Oh. And then— Here you go. When you're finished, they have great chocolate where you can dip things in the chocolate— marshmallows, graham crackers, bananas, whatever. You go and you get your hot thing of chocolate. And it's just a fun, it's a fun run. All right, next thing. This is my next gift to myself. I bought these online because I follow Minimal Mom on YouTube, and she was saying that she buys these tops for mason jars. And I, it's such a small thing, I don't know why I love it, but I do. This is like my new water bottle. And you can have different sizes. So her big thing was, She got tired of kids leaving their cups all over the house, so everybody has a Mason jar and they just know their color for the top. And my big question to her was, well, what happens if they drop 'em? It's glass. She says, it's a Mason jar, it's really hard to break them. So everybody just has a Mason jar, you just change the lids out, and it's a really small thing, but it makes my life, I just walk around with lemon in there all day long. Love that. Yeah, it's great. So great. I saw that.

At this point, I'm not really trying to hide it.

Okay, what about besides Pilates? Are you a spa person?

You talked about your feet. Absolutely. Anything where my body is getting rubbed. Anything.

Does she have a— do you have— does it matter where you go? Do you— what are your— what is your spa What are your criteria?

I'm really not that high maintenance. I'm really not. I go to Yaya Foot Spa to get foot rubs. Josh and I do have a spa appointment coming up at Spa Habitat this week, which I'm really excited about. Ask for Claire. Good to know. Ask for Claire. I will ask for Claire. But sometimes we just go to little hole-in-the-wall places. It just depends. I don't mean like that.

Daddy says when I go to the hole-in-the-wall places, he says I'm going to the brothel.

Yeah, I've seen some places you go to. That's not the place that I'm talking about.

Well, wait a minute. What are you saying?

I'm not saying nothing. You said Daddy said— He said that.

—you go to brothels. 'Cause one time I was going to the place, and when I went in, there was a guy who was coming out and he had like his shirt unbuttoned and the girl, like the lady served him some food. So then I was like, what's happening here? And Daddy was like, I can tell you what was happening there. He said, you going to the brothel. She just served him like he came out and he sat down and he just sat down like this and she came up like— It was like a noodle thing. It looked like pho. That's how you say that, right? Is that how you say it?

Pho.

I just felt like an immediate, like, you said that wrong. I just felt it. But anyway, interesting.

Yeah, not those. So what's— what—

how do you define a hole in the wall?

I don't know, usually I just Google highly rated, like, massage places.

But it can be a hole in the wall as long as it's highly rated?

Yes, absolutely. I— yeah, I'm 100%.

So spa Pilates.

Get your back cracked. Oh yeah, I go to the chiropractor.

She's so— she says she's not high maintenance. You high maintenance. I have never—

so not high maintenance.

I have never— this is Karris after she has a baby. No, after she has a baby, this is Karris. Okay, let me just— all right, um, Josh, can you go ahead and get the chiropractor on the phone? Just let her know.

You mean like immediately after I've given birth to a child? Let her know. Whatever happens after I've pushed a child through my vagina is not high maintenance.

I'm just saying most people don't settle back and then go, okay, it's okay, you can get— let her know I'm ready for her to come adjust me post-birth.

I've done this enough times to know that if I'm not adjusted immediately after I give birth, there's gonna be problems. That's not high maintenance. That's knowing your body.

Sounds high maintenance to me. But do you go chiropractor— do I go to the chiropractor on a regular basis outside?

Pretty much. Oh no, not when I'm— when I'm not pregnant, I probably should go to the chiropractor, but I don't usually go when I'm not pregnant unless something is like hurting me.

So you go while you're pregnant and then Post-birth.

Yeah, and then post-birth, like in the few weeks after birth, as your body is like doing its thing and trying to get it back together. But chiropractor is essential if you're pregnant. Go to the chiropractor.

So a gift for Christmas, chiropractor gift certificates. Oh yeah, people where you want to go to the chiropractor, where you want to go to the spa, define for them if you want it to be a high-value spa or a hole in the wall. Figure out a place to get your feet rubbed.

Yaya Foot Spa is great if you live in Dallas for foot rubs.

But a lot of places you can ask your husband to rub your feet. You can also ask a good friend to rub your feet. Would you rub my feet?

I wish we could have paid for the responses here. Listen. That was sad.

This is not a clip. Children will rub feet. Listen, children will rub feet and they're cheap. Did you rub my feet, Ellie?

Bye. She said bye. That was enough.

Children will rub feet. Try out your children.

Josh has had the kids rub his feet before.

I know, I'm saying, like, that's great child labor at its finest. Use your kids. Okay, so the gift of health, the gift of creativity and learning. What about baking recipes, you and the kiddos?

We are gonna bake a few things this week. What do you mean, just like in general do we bake things? I usually bake at night alone.

So we're back to the gift of time, personally for you.

Yeah, and the gift to them is that when they wake up, there's muffins or butter bread or something nice.

The gift to them is also the smell of the things in the house. Like, I really think that the smells of home and the memories of home matter. And they probably won't even realize that until later. They're like, you know, during Christmas our house always smelled like—

I hope so. I have grand plans of baking this week.

What are you baking this week? We're going to bake cookies first.

I found this cookie recipe that Josh is obsessed with, so we're going to bake cookies.

Chocolate chip? Yep, just chocolate chip cookies. Can you save me one?

I'll bring some to the house. I'll bring a batch. I'll bring a batch. Me and Ellie will do those together. We're also going to bake some butter bread. What's that? I don't know, the kids call it sweet bread or sweet something. Ellie's like dying to get on camera.

Don't worry, your time will come. No.

Um, yes, butter bread. It's basically like a brown butter bread, sugar bread, whatever, but it's really good. It's like crusted on top. It's almost like something that you would eat with like tea or coffee that's just like a sweet brown butter bread. I don't know, it's delicious though. Okay. So we'll make that. Yeah, I think we have some other things on our list, but I don't recall them.

So every year for the last 3, 4 years, I have tried to make a chess pie and a chocolate icebox pie. They both, I make a lot of other things that turn out just fine, but those two, they always taste phenomenal, But the consistency's not right. Something's broken. This year I gave up. I ordered the pies.

I'm tired. Oh, good for you.

I'm done. I'm glad. I ordered from Luby's, 'cause the chocolate icebox pie is the best.

You know who has incredible chocolate cake? Who? Costco.

I mean, it is. The one I bought you all those years growing up. Yes! It's not— it's good enough. That's what— that's what seems to be happening. Delicious. They appreciate what they grew up on, even if it wasn't the best. That's true. Because that's— I was just happy that the Costco cake was there so I didn't have to make it. Well, it was fantastic.

Yeah, I thought it was 5 stars.

That's like you growing up on popcorn that's gonna kill you, so when I make the popcorn that's actually the better one, you don't like it.

Because it's not really better.

It's better. It's better. Okay, so, so another gift to What? Why is flakes coming out of my hair? It's like the snow. Let it snow, let it snow. I mean, like, seriously, can you see that? Nope. You can't see that? I just see flakes. Okay, I gave myself the gift of piano lessons.

Oh yeah, you did do that for yourself. That's so good.

I did. And then I And then I stopped going. But I just found the binder. I found the binder. So now I have to work up the courage to call my teacher back and say, "Yeah, I know I stood you up for 3 months, but I'm coming back." You stopped going because you lost your binder? I stopped going because I— my lessons are amazing. He's amazing. But he really— They were intensive. They were intense. And I was going twice a week. Yeah. And it was 2 hours. And he wouldn't stop. 2 hours. It'd be like 2 and a half hours in, he's like, you got 15 more minutes. And I kind of felt pressured, like, okay, yeah. So, so I think I was just a little burnt, but I'm about to go back. I'm about to go.

Well, good for you. Yes, yes, that's investment in yourself.

Okay, what, um, let's see what I want to ask you. I'm trying to make sure. What's your guilty pleasure right now? Guilty pleasure, like going into the holidays, a thing that you can't wait to enjoy, whatever that is.

The thing that I can't wait to enjoy going into the holidays. I don't know. I think just like being at home and like decorating and like just being at home. That's not really like mine is outside of the norm because nobody else really wants to drink it but me.

So I literally will buy a quart, half a gallon, and I just drink it straight from the fridge.

Yeah, I do enjoy eggnog. I did finish off a bottle just this last year.

Like, this is the cute way, but from the fridge, you just take off that top. Mm. Glug, glug, glug. I do the things that I tell my children not to do. Okay, more time, the gift of time. You know why I put these braids in my hair?

So you can have more time.

I gave up. I was just tired.

What do you have in your hair? Oh, I don't talk about my hair.

What do you mean you don't talk about your hair?

I mean exactly what I said. I'm old school. I don't talk about my hair.

This is on the list of things we're supposed to talk about.

I don't know why I don't talk about my hair.

Okay, what are your favorite ways to save yourself time when it comes to your hair?

Uh, wrapping it at night, putting a silk scarf on.

You see how her demeanor changed? I'm not— Like an old lady. Like, like, I'm asking her how old she is. She's like, oh, I don't talk about my age. Can I have your recipe? Oh, no, that's a family secret. I don't talk about my recipes.

It look good, don't it? Let's just leave it at that.

Okay, well, Ella, you gotta wait your turn, girl. Wait your turn.

Yeah, I said you supposed to be quiet.

Okay. So let's move on to the next section. Since she doesn't want to talk about her hair, I could talk about your hair.

It's not that I don't want to, I just don't. Why not? Because that's my business. Well, it looks beautiful. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Thank you. See, see? This is why, because it just, it doesn't deserve that much attention.

Why you flipping like that? Because you messed it up. OK, do it again. Flip it. She is so much. She is so very much. Okay, y'all, moving on. Okay, remember that time you begged Josh for this planner?

How much was that planner? I don't know, but I know Josh could tell you.

I don't remember how much the planner was. No, it was not cheap. It was a whole situation. It was a binder because you had to choose your binder. It was a binder.

You had to buy the insert. Yes, I was convinced I was going to use that planner.

It was a whole thing. Do you even still have that?

Oh yeah, I keep it all.

I feel like it was like a couple hundred bucks, probably, or more.

Probably.

I think the binder was $200. I don't know about that. It was a lot. It might have been. And you were so very excited, and then like, I really was. A few months later, I was like, how's that go?

I wouldn't even say months, I would probably say weeks.

What do you do to plan your life now? I use Evernote.

Oh, really? Mm-hmm. Yeah, I use Evernote.

Where'd you get the idea to use Evernote from?

I don't know, but I'm assuming because you're asking me a leading question that you were the one who told me I should use Evernote.

Possible, I'm not sure. What about writing things down? Evernote. You know, but you used to You put things down on paper.

I do have like a little thing I'll carry around the house for like random thoughts, but like just a little pad from Target. But usually it's Evernote, 'cause I can get that on my phone, I can get that anywhere.

Listen, she fought me down. 'Cause we would go to the little school supply every year and I would buy this planner. I'd always buy the same planner for her. And she would tell me she didn't wanna use it. I would make her plan her week. You know, homeschool mom, doing what I do. Make her plan her week. She was like, "I don't, that's not the way my brain works. I can't think that way." And then like second year college, I walk in her dorm and what does she have? No, no, no, no, better than that. You called me and you said, "Mom, where do you get that planner from?" Yeah, that sounds about right. Go ahead, keep going. Where are you going with that thought? It sounds about right.

No, it was a great planner.

Let's extrapolate that beyond planners. The other day I took her to Costco, and she was having the time of her life. Just the prices are cheap, everything was exciting. It was very exciting.

Yeah, but— I was very excited. We went back today.

And it was great again? It was fantastic. Why did you go to Costco?

Why did I want to? I went to Costco for the wreaths.

Yeah, but why did you know that there were wreaths there?

You're trying to lead me. Just say what you got to say. No, you say it. No, I don't want to—

I'm more satisfied when you say it.

No, just say what you got to say. I don't like being led into something.

My son-in-love said to my daughter, she said, Josh, we have to get a membership. We have to get a membership. And he said, Your mama's been trying to tell you all these years you need to get a membership. I just feel like that statement right there can be applied in numerous situations. The planner. Mom, you tried to tell me, this is the planner I need. You were right.

It was a good planner. It was a great planner.

Costco was a good decision. Give us one more. Threes are good. What's another thing recently that you said, you were right? Just pick.

I really can't think of anything else. There's just a mountain.

Of options. Why don't you choose something?

Because I feel like you have things that you need to get off your chest. Maybe there are some things that you'd like to say. Maybe you could go ahead and just expound on the things you'd like me to appreciate you for. I don't know.

You know, I really like to separate as far as the east is from the west. I don't like to hold things. I don't like to really harp on them. I just feel like there are some other things. One of the great joys of parenting in this season of my life is for my children to tell me that I was right. It's amazing.

I do tell the boys a lot that— she does, I'm so glad— that ignore the delivery, but she is most of the time right. The delivery, you know, sometimes might not be spot on, but the content is what you have to focus on. I do tell them that quite often. That you are right a lot of the time in the content of what you're saying, absolutely.

What do you mean the delivery's not right?

I didn't say the delivery's not right.

You told us to ignore the delivery.

I didn't say ignore the delivery.

Okay, what did you say? I don't recall. I don't recall. She does tell them, just listen.

I think we should move on.

The point is, how are you planning ahead these days with little children?

In what sense? I don't know.

How are you— what is happening? Uh, is this what's next? Oh, well, we're talking about wrapping gifts now.

Oh, we're talking about wrapping gifts. Thank you. Okay. What?

What are we wrapping? Oh, we're wrapping that box. Wrapping the box. Okay, so while we're talking about—

what were we talking about? You were asking me how I plan.

How you plan with little kids around. How I plan what? Your life, your weeks, your days, appointments. Let's talk about how you plan so that the grandparents' day ends ends up on the calendar and the grandparent gets adequate notification?

I'm not sure what you're trying to say. I don't know either, just ignore me. Um, I, it depends. I mean, mostly I live and die by my calendar. Josh and I have a weekly meeting where we go over all things calendar with the kids, with work, with all of that. So I'm a calendar-heavy person. Busy person. I put everything on the calendar. Everything. Yes, I put everything on the calendar. I'm just wrapping this box, is that correct? Yes. Okay.

Because you're a good wrapper. Nonnie used to give her a freck.

A freck is $100.

Listen, that is crazy. It was wonderful. She was spoiled. I was working for it. And then my mother would tell me, you can't tell me what I can can't give her. That's the kind of mess. Let Karris come over here. I need her to help me wrap. I have—

are you a good wrapper? Children now. I mean, I think I'm a decent wrapper.

I went through a season where I just— this is kind of— this is— oh, Jesus, don't mess up my egg.

No, faulty. Okay, we're gonna have to— can we click? This is not working out. How we intended it to. What were you saying?

I'm saying that I went through a season where I just put everybody's bags, gifts in bags. I remember that.

Because it was too much. We could just walk by and see what was in there.

And I would tell them, don't look.

I knew your hiding place.

What was my hiding place?

I don't remember, but I knew what it was.

Where was my hiding place?

I don't remember, but I remember knowing that I knew where it was. I think it was like in some closet somewhere behind a blanket or behind a bunch of stuff.

Can you see it now?

No. Why don't you just stop? Thank you. You don't have to do that.

Let it snow.

Okay, so we're just wrapping?

Is that a little short?

No, this is perfect. So how'd you learn how to wrap?

You don't want to crease the edge there.

Oh my gosh, this is—

I remember the days when Nonna used to go into Foley's and they would wrap the gifts in there for free. You would just take it and they had all these different rolls.

I don't even know what Foley's is.

Do you know what Foley's is? Thank you, Kim. Thank you. Yes, it was Sanger Harris, and then it was Foley's, now it's Macy's. Oh wow, a little history lesson for you there. Okay, but what if you don't cut the edges, you don't fold it to make sure that the edges are Would you like to wrap? No, I'm asking questions. I'm asking questions.

I'm saying what happens if you don't? I am not a perfectionist. I'm not either.

Are you sure about that? Oh, wait. I thought it was supposed to go like this. You're over here having a conniption about me wrapping.

You don't do it like that?

I'm gonna let you wrap it. Go ahead. I'm watching. I'm learning.

Go ahead. Let you wrap it.

I'll pay you a freck. No, you won't. No, you won't. Not a nonny freck. This is what my freck looks like.

Would you like some of my cookie? No, thank you. I've had plenty. I feel like you can't really see what I'm doing. Okay, I just folded the two in here. This is gonna get tucked down and it's gonna disappear. Here, let's do that now. So that folds into itself.

Nobody can see what you're doing.

Well, how would you—

Do this side and do that side. What? Here. Now you do it. That way we can kind of sort of see.

OK, I probably should do it this way. Call me Vanna. Who is Vanna?

Are you serious right now? Yep. I was about to say The Price is Right. What's the name of the show? Wheel of Fortune. She would just go and—

I can't do it like this.

She would just go and hold the words.

So then I just like fold this down, and then if there's anything that I think will peek out, I just cut it off.

So how did you learn how to wrap?

I don't know. I just— everybody would bring over their Christmas gifts. And then I would wrap them for Freck. And so that's— I guess I just figured it out. I just tuck all that in. Do you wrap your children's gifts? Absolutely. Why wouldn't— that's the fun, them ripping off the paper.

That is the fun. Or the paper. I did that for 2 years in a row, just the bags, and then I was like, this is no fun. And that's it. Okay, show them from start to finish. Finish on this side.

Can I set it up like this?

Because I would just take them and fold them in like a triangle. That's what I'm doing. No, no, no. I would do it like this. It's wrong. I think it's wrong. I would take it—

Tell me you grew up with a perfectionist mom without telling me you grew up with a perfectionist mom. I'm so excited to see how you wrap this paper.

I'm not gonna do it. I'm just saying, this is how I thought you were supposed to do it, like this. I'm sure there are multiple ways to wrap a gift, but I don't think my way worked because then I had all this extra bunchy stuff right here. Like, these corners would look great.

Oh, you can just fold it over.

I don't know, go ahead, finish.

As you were. This is beautiful wrapping paper though. Where is this wrapping paper from? Target? Yeah. Beautiful wrapping paper. I mean, really stunning.

Go ahead and show the people. Can you kind of sort of lean it that way?

See that? Is this the right side? Yeah. So yeah, I'm just folding it in.

Are you a last-minute shopper or an early shopper?

It depends on the year.

Most years you're a what? Um, I don't know.

It depends on what's going on in my life. I'm pretty inconsistent. Like, it really just depends. This year I'm an early shopper. Because? Um, because I don't want to have to deal with not getting— okay, this is not working out. I can't do two things at once. Because I don't want to deal with not getting the things that they wanted. I don't want to have to deal with that. See, look at this. Look. Boop! Goodbye. Just hide it. This tells a lot about personality too, I think. How I gift? Yeah. Oh, 100%.

Really? 100%. What does it say? Like, what does that say about you?

That's good enough? Look at that. This is good enough.

Look here, let me show what I can do. Let me show you how I can be—

now I usually do add a ribbon that's like that I'll tie. Oh, you have ribbon?

Oh, you tie the ribbon?

Oh yeah, I do, because I also, I really do like things to be pretty but not perfect.

As, as nothing is ever going to be perfect, you drive yourself So I think there's a difference between I'm not a perfectionist and I don't necessarily need to finish well. What? I'm saying like, like there's a difference between not being a perfectionist and like getting to the end and petering out. I'm not saying you're petering out. I'm just saying there's a difference. Just ignore me. Wait, what you did right there, what did you do?

Okay, so I just— I just put the pretty side on the top, and then I crossed it over in the back, and then I just twisted it, and bring it back to the front. That looks kind of magical. And then I'm gonna tie a bow. I usually just cut the ends at a diagonal. I'm doing a tutorial like I'm a wrapping expert. I'm not a wrapping expert. Let's just keep that—

But there's a lot of people on here that don't know nothing about cutting it on the diagonal.

Really? I just do it so it looks pretty.

Okay, I just took the back off of this right here.

Nani used to— Nani used to do that. She would have all the— she would have all the bows. Sorry.

Okay, do you need this?

Do you need this? Uh-uh, no, we're gonna— we're gonna tie a pretty bow. You need this? We're gonna tie a pretty bow. I'm not gonna tie anything special. It's just gonna be like a shoelace.

A shoelace. Can you tie special bows, though?

Uh, no. I mean, like, if I have a tutorial.

There are people on YouTube you could learn from. That's pretty.

Ding, ding, ding.

I feel like the gifts I've gotten from you, though, have been in bags.

I can't explain that. I don't know, maybe, probably.

Okay, moving on. We talked about planning your life. I don't know, I feel like I messed something up, but anyway, can I have that now? Yay! So here are some things. Hand me the black one first, Bells. All right, do you use the planner I gave you?

When did you— I think it might be time to remove the bell.

What?

Let's remove the bow. Let's move on from that segment. But I'm a present.

I am a gift to you. Aw. Thanks, Mom.

You are a gift. So back to this. No, I didn't, but that's just because—

I took off my hat. Ooh. Do we have a touch-up? Do I have a line across the top?

Nope, everybody's just like, um, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, don't make it worse. Let me see. It's fine. You have beautiful skin. Thank you. You're welcome. Okay, what now? No, because I use a digital planner now because there are too many things that are changing.

It's pretty. It's beautiful. Thank you, thank you. It's beautiful. You know what I'm gonna do? So this is my planner, y'all, for those that don't know. And every week there's a different question and a different quote in it. And so I'm gonna be making little coaching audios so that if you—

See, that's great. My digital planner doesn't do that. It doesn't do that.

So I'm going to do that so that if you're doing it, then week by week you hear from Chrystal Hurst.

Oh, that's so great.

Yes. So this was last year's version. It's a little updated on the front and a lot updated on the inside. But look, look at this. Okay, look at this. I'm getting fancy.

Oh wow, is this linen? Moleskin? What is this? It has such nice texture. She's interested. It has— I really am. I'm a texture person. Uh-huh. We do some ASMR. You hear this? Can y'all hear that?

For my ASMR lovers, the same content on the inside. But isn't that nice?

It's so pretty. Yes.

And then the pocket in the back. Yes, it smells good. Sewn binding. This is me trying to level up with my products.

I mean, it's really nice.

The thing is, y'all, Well, this one, they'll be on sale for Black Friday. You can buy these individually. Oh, here's the other thing. There are 4 of these and the insides are different for each one. They're quarterly because they're quarterly, so they'll be labeled like one is going to be Cultivate. Yay! One is going to be Thrive. One is Focus. Like they have themes. And then here's the super cool part. This one though is quarterly, but you can only buy these for the year. So it's like all in or not all in.

Great. What is the first theme for January? Cultivate. Cultivate. Cultivate.

So everything is about what it takes for you to plant the seeds that you need in your life to grow. Also, they're waving at me to make sure they know I got it. So the people that join the Inner Circle and they join for the year, they, they pay for the year. If you pay for the year at the community level, you get one free. You pay for the year at the Connection level, you get two free. If you pay for the year at the Coffee level, you get four free. Just saying. So go big or go home, people. Go big or go home. All right, what's next?

Um, what time do your kids go to bed? 7:30.

Y'all don't go to bed at 7:30, do you? No.

They're in their rooms with the door closed by 7:30. What they do after that is their business.

Then they're not asleep.

No. They're asleep to me.

But I'm on the phone with you and you're like, "Go to bed." That's what you say. "Go to bed." I said, "Go to bed." "Ellie, I'm not talking. I'm not talking anymore.

Go to bed." That's true.

I'm— What does she have to do to get you to stay in the bed? Turn on the television.

Which is not going to happen, which is why they don't stay in the bed. I can tell you how to get them to stay in the bed. I'm sure, but I prefer not to abuse my children. I'm not saying that you were abusive.

No, I'm not abusive, but that was implying something. No. All right, let's talk about gifts to give to other people. Let me go through some of my other faves. I feel like I love— I feel like I have made peace with lashes. Yes. I've gone blind multiple times, or almost gone blind multiple times, but I feel like I kinda have it now. I have on eyelashes tonight. They look great. But here's my new favorite. Okay, these are at Target. Now I know that you can give yourself the gift of lashes.

You should tell them the magnetic strip story.

What? What'd I do?

When you were trying to put on magnetic lashes or something like that, No, was it just eyelash with regular eyelashes with—

oh yeah, it was before Desperate for Jesus. And I was like, I'm gonna get to the church and put on my lashes there. I came to the church, y'all, with all the stuff I needed to put on the lashes, but none of the stuff that if it doesn't go well to clean up. So I'm in the bathroom, y'all. I, I— okay, somebody taught me how to put them on. I forgot the part where the glue goes on the lash. I thought the glue went on my eye. Like eyeliner. So I'm in the bathroom with the little brush thing with the glue, brushing my eye with glue. That eyelash glue don't stay, it runs. So I've got black glue running into my eyes. I'm in the bathroom like, you know, doing this. And this is my— this is— I mean, it was just chaos. And I'm thinking, we go live in like 10 minutes. I can't see. My makeup is messed up. It was chaotic. I literally thought I was going to go blind that day. Anyway, we've come a long way since then.

Praise the Lord Jesus. Blind as you put in your lashes. And also a tip to remember, don't put the glue on your eyes.

Don't do that, don't do that at all. It's all on the lashes. Another tip, put your eyeliner on so that way if your glue doesn't line up correctly, it blends in with your eyeliner.

That's a good idea, or you can get eyelash extensions.

That's too much work, and it's too much money, and it's maintenance. You gotta keep going back. Ain't nobody got time for that. Anyway, I was in Target the other day. And like, I have girls, you know, and they just stocking stuffers, little things that I enjoy, like my favorite lip balm or my favorite lotion or my favorite. So this is one of my little favorites, House of Lashes. And this is from Target? I got, yeah, you can buy them online too. House of Lashes, and I don't know what they did to their glue, but they combined the eyeliner and the glue on purpose.

Oh, so now you'll never have this problem again. In theory.

So I put the eyeliner on, and I don't know what they put in their eyeliner glue. I don't know what is in there. All I know is, you know how normally you have to put on eyelashes, you have to wait for the glue to kind of get tacky and sticky? You don't have to wait. I don't know. It actually sucks onto the eyeliner like it's magnetic, but it's not magnetic. It's not magnetic. So I don't know what their formula is. I might find out later. It does make you blind. These on the, this is a tool, it's like tweezers for your eyes, except the end point. Oh, the way that it's. Yeah, the end point is shaped like your eye. So if you put it here, it doesn't, it actually helps in the shape of the eyelash, and they don't stick to the glue. The little applicator doesn't stick to the glue. So this threesome, the eyeliner, the eyeliner glue, The lash and the applicator. I really, really love this. Pass it along, pass it along.

Thank you. Don't steal. I don't, I'm good.

I'm just saying, what happens. Now I feel like somebody sent these to me, but I'm also wondering. They're just really cute. I'm also wondering if I ordered them one night in my sleep. I can't, I can't. I feel like one night I looked at these and I feel like I actually played with customizing them. And then you ordered them, but I can't find proof of the order. But I'm like, anyway, but look at this.

Those are very cute. Oh, and they have your initial.

I put my initials on the back, or somebody did. C-E-H. Cute. I really like the little grommet here. Yeah, you can choose your grommets. So at Converse, it's not like total custom design. It's like within limitations, you know, they can change certain parts of the shoe. But, um, those are really cute. Yeah, they're super cute. So if you want it with like some neutrals, you know. Yeah, so if you like, if you have someone in your life that likes Converse or tennis or something, give them something that looks different. Converse or what? You heard me. You said tennis? You know what I meant though, didn't you?

I don't. Tennis shoes. Oh, okay. Moving on. I really need another favorite though.

You can't steal these 'cause they have my initials on them.

And because you wear a size 8.

Okay, another favorite of mine. Have you gotten anything from Buff City? No, but I've heard of it. This is laundry detergent. Go ahead and open it up.

Oh boy, I definitely feel like I'm taking this.

You can't. There's nowhere for it to fit. You'd be surprised. Whoa. Yeah. So they have all kinds of different—

Do you remember when I had pica when I was pregnant with JT? Don't you eat that.

I want to eat it. Don't you eat that.

I just want to take a big bite of it. I would eat Tums because it was the closest thing I could get to like what, like the laundry detergent, what I thought laundry detergent consistency would be like when you bit into it. I'm so for real. And like, this look like— this looks like the—

you see how Ellie wedged her way in here on the side? This looks like she's wedged her way in. Don't do it, don't do it.

I want to do it so bad, but if I was going to do it, I wouldn't do it on camera.

But now you just told everybody you're going to do it. So good. Okay, okay, this is another Buff City. So the key to smelling amazing is layering.

So I have— give me that— Narcissist.

Give me that. All right, now go sit down. That is soap, but it's like whipped soap. Yeah, so you put— yeah, yeah. So their products are all natural, whatever. And I wish I had all kinds of— this is soap. It's soap, but don't— you don't have water to rinse it off.

I mean, it's just, you know.

Yeah. Okay. So I didn't— I don't have the blended because— oh my gosh, look how beautiful their soap is! Look at this soap.

I need to get them to sponsor me. This is— look at that.

So you can layer up. So I have— this is Good Morning Sunshine. My Good Morning Sunshine soap is at home. I see you. What is shower oil? Well, it's like— okay, have you ever not oiled up after you came out of the bathtub? If you take a shower— I don't take baths.

Showers are fine. Okay.

But I used to do this with baby oil 'cause I was cheap. But you can put, after taking a shower, if you put baby oil on you and then just towel off. Yes, okay, yes. But that's the I smell good equivalent and it's not mineral oil from petroleum. Oh. So you can use the soap. It smells like— That smells like good morning.

It smells like— linen sheets on a beach, like, like on your honeymoon.

We have a young child.

I said honeymoon. Okay, do you know what honey is smelling good?

It's layering. So I got the soap of that smell. So I would get out of the shower, put the oil on, wash with the soap. That smells good. Anyway, Buff City. So if you've never heard of it, look for it in your area, shop online. It's a different version of Bath and Body because, you know, after a certain point, as grateful as you are for the Bath and Body and as wonderful as it is to have a Bath and Body on every corner, sometimes you just want something a little different. Okay, this is a shower fizzy something, a shower— that's what they call it, a shower fizzy. This is eucalyptus. You drop it in here. You drop it in your shower. On the floor? Yeah, just on the floor, just while you take a shower, but it basically creates a spa smell in your shower. So you can get, you basically have a spa-like experience while you shower. So you can get— Josh.

Oh my God!

Ew. I didn't even mean that. We have a great shower.

It has like 2 showerheads.

Okay, put— pass it on. Mm-mm. Okay. Another thing that I really love, because by the way, if you're on here and you're on the inner circle, we're supposed to be having an afterparty after this. I'm going to speed it up so we can get to that. Okay. One gift that I love giving, not just during the holidays, but when people throughout the year are having a hard time, maybe they're sick or maybe they've lost a loved one. Is Spoonful of Comfort. So, oh yeah, that's so nice. Comfort is like sending someone a care package in the mail, intentional, very intentional. And it's like a soup. Yeah, like bread. But they have all different kinds, all different kinds, but you can kind of choose. But it's basically like, if you can't go take somebody a bowl of soup, you send it to them. You can put a blanket in there. I mean, it's just like, I want to show you that I care. Without me showing up at your house. I'm just gonna— that didn't come out right. I'm gonna show you that I care without showing up at your house.

No, that sounds fantastic to me. I would prefer that. Don't bring me anything.

But sometimes it's not, you know, people need time. They don't necessarily wanna be bombarded, or you can't go. Absolutely. Anyway, it's great. Someone sent this to me after mom died, and I was just like, it literally felt like a warm hug.

Yeah, because you can choose. They have like, if somebody's sick, if somebody's like has lost someone, if it's a birthday. So they have all these different packs. I love Spoonful of Comfort. We, we've done that on many occasions. Yeah, it's great.

Okay, another thing is, if you're around, you know that we did a merch drop a few weeks ago where we had new hoodies, new shirts. Oh, you have them! Look at here. Um, we were, we were testing the market to see if y'all liked them. Y'all liked them, so we're bringing them back. Um, and we're making them even better actually. So these hoodies are great. There's a black one too.

Oh, this is soft.

Yeah, so these are going to be back in the shop for Black Friday and then they'll be out again. So if you missed it—

oh nice on the inside, what is this?

Something. But also, uh, shirts, hoodies, caps. So these will be in the store. Enjoy. With that planner. Oh yeah, this is nice. Okay, this gift, very nice, came from— was it Morning Joy?

They also have it on Etsy. I saw an ad on TikTok the other day. You can get it on Etsy. Yes.

So this is— it was so cool because I took my mother's recipe in her hand. This is two cards. So I sent them a picture of the front and the back and said, can you just make it one long recipe? And then I got her name from somewhere else. I said, here's her name, I want her name on the cutting board. So they literally, in like, this writing was like off to the side. They like, I told them, it was great. So this was a gift I gave a couple of years ago to everybody in the family, my mom's pumpkin bread recipe. But I think giving an intentional gift is super important, but it doesn't have to be, you can, I mean, they're on Etsy, Morning Joy, but also there's so many great things on Etsy that are not the things you can get off of Amazon, not the things that you can get, you know, at Walmart or at the department store. Yeah, it's just be intentional about looking for gifts that actually mean something to people. Yeah, do you? Because you have yours out on your counter. I sure do.

Yeah, and I'll look at it when I'm making pumpkin bread. Uh-huh. Well, the cool thing last time too, oh, Awesome.

The thing about this is when I talked about the company before, I didn't show y'all this because that was the gift I was giving this year. So I wanted to make sure y'all had seen this. That's a good gift. Yeah, it was a great, great gift. Great recipe gift to give. So there's that. And okay, so now you've got some stuff. I sure do. I sure do. Had me buying this expensive lotion.

I was gonna buy it, but I'm very grateful.

Open word. Oh, let's talk about your book first. Oh. She has a book coming out, y'all.

I do. It's kind of crazy.

My child is a writer. I have no idea how that happened.

I know how it happened.

Write that again!

You're missing a comma and an adverb!

Comma should conjoin two independent clauses. You don't splice it, you don't run on, you don't overuse in a series, you don't put the comma before the end. But look, I blessed her life. I blessed her life, okay? I blessed her life. Go ahead, tell us about it. What's the name of it?

Yes, it's called Jesus Everywhere. Pre-order it. Yes, you can pre-order it on Amazon, um, And on lots of different webs, like Christian book websites, you can preorder it.

Just search for Charis Faris. Yes. We're not joking. Charis.

That is my real name.

Charis is spelled with two S's. Faris is spelled with two R's.

Correct. You know who doesn't know that?

Poppy. Because he spells Faris like Charis.

He called me the other day. He said, "Now, how do you spell your first name?" Unbelievable. Unbelievable. It's so sad. Nobody spells my name right anymore. Sorry. I know.

I could— I don't think there's any way that I could have spelled your name that people would have gotten it right. No. Because it's supposed to be spelled C-H-A-R-I-S, and I didn't do that.

I thought C-H-A-R-Y-S is the right, like— No. Correct spelling. No, it's I-S.

And the thing is, I didn't do that because I was like, everybody's going to call you cherish. So I didn't do that, I put the K on it.

Now everybody just calls me Charisse. Right. I know.

So you're a writer. Was it hard?

It wasn't hard to write it, it was hard to sit down and write it. That is the hard part.

You gotta put your butt in the chair. Y'all buy her book, here you go.

Yes, it's a labor of love. Okay.

We went the other day. Listen. And she said, there it is. I was like, what?

I found this in Nonni's bathroom. And stole it. It's not stealing. There's a theme here. It's not stealing. It's her grandmother's. Thank you. Thank you. Stealing. And basically, it's just fantastic, good spreading, silky feeling lotion. It like absorbs. Absorbs into your skin and like leaves you feeling like silk and moisturized. Where do you buy this stuff? I was gonna get it off of Amazon because that's the only place that I could find it. But then we went to a— A spa. A spa called Milk and Honey and they had it. Look at our hands after that. Do y'all see that? Like, I mean. Oh.

That's how you beat the tambourine when you don't have a tambourine.

Oh, this stuff smells— it just smells clean.

There are a lot of lotions that smell clean, so why would you buy this one?

Because of what it does to your skin. And this is an oil, so this is a body oil that you put on your body when you come out the shower recently. Yes, but like, look at that.

Oh my God, it says massage into dry or damp skin.

Look at this. Can y'all see?

So it's different, y'all. I mean, the bottom line is, here's the word on the street. All God's children want to be moisturized. That's the bottom line. So if you go to Walmart and get the Equate, because listen, the extra advanced Equate works just amazing. And you can throw some, uh, the—

what's that eczema stuff? It's for it. Eucerin. That stuff will make you shine. Let me tell you what I would do.

This is the poor man's OC. You wonder what the poor— is that how you say that? How do you say that?

Oh, oh, I don't know. It could be OC.

It could be OCA. It could be OCA. Maybe it could be OCA. We don't know. The point is, let me tell you what I used to do. I used to go get the advanced lotion, the Equate brand, and then I would buy raw shea in bulk. So good. And then I would mix the raw shea in with the Equate to make it more emollient.

I remember one time I forgot to put lotion on after my shower, and so she said, since you keep forgetting to put lotion on, put Vaseline on your whole body.

Did I do that?

Absolutely. We were living in the townhome with Anshell at the time. I remember it like it was yesterday.

And then what did I have you do?

And I was like, Mom, no. I went to bed, but I was like sticking to the sheets. It was horrible. You were like, more, more. You're not going to forget to put on the— that was horrible.

I can relate if I was like, oh my God, I'm stuck to this thing. Did it work?

I put on lotion every— well, maybe not every night, but I do wear some lotion. Yeah. I don't forget about it. I either make a decision not to, but I don't forget.

Yeah, I think there were a couple of times when you told me you bathed where you really didn't bathe. So I would— it was kind of the same thing. I think I did that to you, right? Right, where I made you shower, dry off, get dressed for bed, and then go back and shower and dry off and get dressed for bed.

That sounds a lot—

if I didn't do it to her, I did it to somebody. It's like, oh, you not going to forget to shower again after this. You're not going to lie, cuz they be lying. They be lie— they lie. They say they shower, like, I'm not going to— like, Joel does that. I know he does. Mom, I did shower. You still— no, you didn't. Yes, I did. So I just said, come here, lift up your arm. And I can tell as soon as I go to him to lift up his arm and he does like this, he's lying.

Josh said that his dad would always say, let me see your fingernails. Because if he had washed his hair, then his fingernails would have been clean. But if he didn't, they would still be dirty.

So the moral of the story is mothers have ways of knowing whether or not children are telling the truth. And whether you use ose, ose, osehe, or whether you use equate, or whether you use straight Vaseline, 'cause listen, Vaseline can keep you from chapping if you live in Detroit, okay? Whether you use any kind of emollient situation, take care of your skin. Take care of your skin. And don't lie about taking a bath. Okay, what else we got for Charis? Okay.

For me and Charis.

Oh. I'll take this. Thank you very much.

Okay, I'll hold this. So I was influenced by TikTok to buy this foundation.

Influencer was influenced.

100%. Love to be influenced when it's like the good stuff. So this is Makeup by Mario foundation. Um, you can get it from— what is the one that's in North Park? Sephora? Is that Sephora or Ulta in North Park? I don't know. Sephora. Thank you. This is the best foundation. I've tried all the foundations, the Rihanna one, the Milk one, the, I've tried all of them. I have never, I have it on right now, and I am not a makeup-wearing person. I don't wear makeup every day. I probably wear it on date night and like to church, that's pretty much it. And so when I do wear makeup, I want it to be like just natural, just, you know, a little, a little elevation. This stuff, I have never had a foundation that like melts into your skin and looks so much just like your regular skin tone. It just melted in and it was— yeah, Makeup by Mario. So you have to get it from Sephora.

So somebody wanted to give the gift of this because you can't pick somebody else's color.

If you want to give the gift, this is something interesting that Sephora does that I found out when I went to go find this because I was testing shades and And like I said, I don't wear makeup, so it was just testing beauty products.

It's expensive.

No, no, no, I mean just going to the store and like putting it on your— my face in the mirror that they have and like trying to tell you why it's expensive for me because you buy them all.

Yeah, well, but no, but this was back in the day when I used to get my makeup from CVS. There was a package, you couldn't just test it in the store. I would have to buy it and take it home and then be mad that it didn't look me the way it looked in the package.

They don't do that.

You go to Sephora and you go to Ulta and you test it out. Yes, yes. Means you have to go.

Yes, but I asked a lady in Sephora because I was like, I'm struggling, help me, can you help me find my match? And she was like, yeah, let me just take a picture of your skin. So she put her camera to my forehead and then she was like, you're 22C. And we tried it and it was a perfect match. And I was like, what? So all that said, if you're If you're trying to buy this for someone, you can really just take a picture of their skin, like, or a picture of them, I'm sure, and give it to the Sephora people and they can like, they formulate, they told me all the things about my skin. Wait, wait, wait, she just knew? She took a picture with her phone on an app with my skin.

On an app, what's the app?

I don't know, the Sephora, whatever they have at the place. It's like the Sephora app. I don't know.

It was, ask the Sephora people. 4 people. It worked. Wow.

And then it gave me my match for like every brand. Crazy. And when I tried it on, I was like, whoa. I was going for like much darker. I think I think I'm darker than I am. I was like way off the— like I was on the— I just—

I have to buy 2 shades because I'm one color during the summer and I'm another color in the winter. Same. So I have a, I have a Studio C6 for the winter. And a Studio C7 for the, no, yeah. A Studio C7. I get, yeah.

So you're in the Cs.

Well, I don't even know what that means. There's an NW.

I don't either, but I know I'm an NW in MAC. So if you in a C, that just means we just not. Susie. Okay, moving on. I usually wear lash extensions. But when I don't, my eyelashes are bald. Don't say that, 'cause that's not the truth. You're lying.

Uh, watch your mouth.

This mascara in the interim when I'm not wearing lashes, 'cause lashes, if you do lash extensions, you know when you take 'em off you look like a bald eagle. This Ilia mascara. So why would you do that? Because when I have them on, I don't look like a bald eagle. Because they look incredible. I look like I'm, you know.

Did you just say I look incredible?

You're not wearing lash extensions.

No, you. You just said when I wear them, I look incredible.

No, I said when I wear them, I don't look like a bald eagle. Okay. They look, the lashes look incredible. When I'm not wearing them, this is called ILIA. It is just effective. And you can clearly see that it like lengthens your eyelashes. So this is an eye mascara. Yes, let me see. Yes, and makes it full. And that's saying something because I do not— I'm not a makeup person.

Is this a regular size or is this a trial size? That is a trial size. Can you buy the trial?

Because it was free when I bought this with— and I had Sephora points. But I'm hooked. It smells good. I've never smelled mascara.

It's on your eye. You don't It's close to your nose. You don't want it to smell good?

It's not that I don't want it to smell good. I've never thought, I'm gonna smell this.

So you would buy this? Oh yeah, for sure.

How much is the regular size?

I have no idea.

No idea.

I know my favorite mascara is, is a trip. $100. It's not $100. I'm not rolling in dough like that. Okay, here we go. Neither am I. Blue Salt.

Okay, Blue Salt is like rich auntie vibes. Vibes. Okay, you know that rich auntie? Hi, Gisela. Um, this— what kind of auntie am I? You're like down-home auntie, like I'm gonna beat your tail auntie if you don't listen. Okay, you gotta put it on the right side. It was done on purpose. Sorry, you gotta put it on the right side. Wait, what? See, this is the soft side. This is the interior. Oops. This is the interior.

Wait, this is the exterior?

The nice looking side is the exterior. Okay, this is just like a shawl. Like this is just a shawl. This is—

This is a blanket. Wait, stop.

Let me show you how it's supposed to be worn. Blue Salt. Is like rich auntie coming into the Thanksgiving— again, coming into the Thanksgiving feast. Everything is just soft and luxurious. Right now they're actually having a 25% off sale, which is great because there's very few times of year that I could afford Bluesalt. But right now, go walk, don't run. It's just so soft and comfortable. Can I please show them how to wear it? Because That's not it. Here. Okay. I gotta give my Auntie Sylla vibes. Okay, so usually you would have like a Louis Vuitton or something with this. Okay, and you would be holding it like this. Okay? And then when somebody says something, you just go, "Ha!" That's how you do it. You just drape it across. Here. Thank you. But yes, this is so soft. We love it.

Okay, one more.

Havenly. Havenly. Hey, oh, Havenly. I currently have every single room in our house pushed it to Havenly. Havenly is an interior design place online. You can send them photos of the room send them your Pinterest board for inspiration, you send the measurements, then you pick an interior designer based on your home style or the look that you're achieving. They come back to you with like 3 different options. How much does this cost? Right now it's 50% off, so you can get a full—

how much does it cost? I was getting to that.

Okay, right now it is 50% off. Okay, I'm out of breath.

From talking. She's out of breath from talking. That's what pregnancy will do.

Okay, right now it's 50% off, and you get like a 3D rendering back of your whole room. You can go through a bunch of different iterations. I think right now it's $99. Oh, that's not bad. I'm telling you, that's what I was trying to say. So it's really great. So I have every room in our house because I like, I know what I want, I just don't have the time to execute it. So they give you like the exact products. You can list like this is the budget that you want to stay within for the room. So for $99 for somebody else to do all of that work and source all of the pieces and then give you like a 3D rendering of your room, unbeatable.

So if someone in your life is trying to get their—

yeah, get their house together.

Or their apartment, they just are trying to figure out what to do. Havenly. It's like a step up from Pinterest.

It's a major step up. It is an interior designer for you, for that person, for whatever their design look is, they can choose. There you go. I think that's it.

And you're creative, so that's interesting that that is helpful to you. I'm creative.

I just don't have time. What?

Nothing. Y'all. Okay, so here's the deal. We want to— before we go to our Inner Circle afterparty, Christmas caroling is what we're going to do, giving away things is what we're going to do. We do have a couple of giveaways here, so I'm just going to answer these questions, ask these questions. All right. First question, get ready to chat. My phone is about to die. Get ready to chat in the chat. Give your answers in the chat because we're selecting from people that answer the question. Is that what's happening here? Okay, there are 3 questions and we have 3 prizes. Can I have one of the prizes here? Por favor, por favor, muchas gracias. Okay, um, this is a yellow Tony Evans Study Bible. Because he believes in the Sister Circles. He believes in the concept. No, that seriously, this, this had nothing to do with me, but it's perfect. So this is the yellow Tony Evans Study Bible, and we're going to give away 2 of these. And then we're also going to give— well, I'll say that way. So let's do a question for one of these. Number 1, okay, what popular Christmas song was really— was actually written for Thanksgiving? Da da da da da da da da. Can we get a hint? No, it's a popular Christmas song. It was actually written for Thanksgiving. Da da da da doo doo doo doo doo doo. I don't know. Me neither. I didn't know that until I looked. No clue. So we'll let y'all keep answering on that question. We'll look for people who actually know the answer. Now would be a great time to Google, you know, if you're sitting there beating your head, there's no need to do that. We can't see you cheat. Yeah, for sure. Google, Google, find the answer. Okay, cannot wait. That's for one of the study Bibles. Here's the other question: In O Little Town of Bethlehem, where do the silent stars go by? Silent Night. Okay, first question was: popular Christmas song was actually written for Thanksgiving. Second Christmas song: in O Little Town of Bethlehem, where do the silent stars go by? Imani Nasir, 1.

D? Imani Nasir.

Okay, so we have a winner for the One Study Bible. Imani Nasir, this is coming your way. So what am I telling her to do? Our norm, email. All right, email hello@chrystalevanshurst.com. Where, where are we helloing? Hello@chrystalevanshurst.com. So we need your name, your mailing address, all that fun stuff. But one of these study Bibles goes to you. Thanks for watching. And our second O Little Stars of Bethlehem, Where Did the Stars Go?

Don't eat that. I just want to smell it again.

Taylor H. Taylor— nope. Taylor H. Taylor H. Like abbreviation for the last name Harold or Harrison or Hunt or Hoarding or Hype or— Hurst. Hurst. Are we related? Okay, Taylor H— Yeah, is that what we're doing? Is that what we did last time? We went up? We did 6? Okay, all right. So here's another one. Now, if this is for you, if you're not in the Inner Circle— not in the Inner Circle, okay— what is the most— oh, let me tell you what you're getting. You get 6 months free in the Inner Circle. At what community level? At the community level. So, uh, if you're not in the Inner Circle, then answer this question. What is the most recorded Christmas song— excuse me— of all time? Of all time. Let me tell you how much money Mariah Carey is making off of "All I Want for Christmas." Every year.

Is that the answer?

No, that's not it. That's not the answer. Every year, that girl says, "Stream that." She's making her coins.

I wonder if she owns the rights.

She's got a— if she doesn't— she doesn't own the rights? You don't know?

Karen Hearn. Karen Hearn. Karen Hearn. Karen Hearn.

But I'm trying to figure out what you're telling me about Mariah. Do you know something about Mariah and her song rights? Is it just a shame that she makes all this money? Is that what it is? Okay, uh, so Karen Hearn, we're welcoming you to the Inner Circle tonight. Community member for 6 months. We want to invite you in. The last time we did this, the person who came in, they're still here, aren't they? Yeah, because they came in and they were like, y'all not getting me out. So same thing, go to hello@chrystalhurst.com. Chrystalhurst.com. Now, did you know that this is 2 Daddy's piano? Yes, I did. Okay, so anyway, that is my grandfather's piano. So inner circle peeps, in just a moment we're going to be going to the extra special private after-party link you got so we can hang out a little bit, sing some carols, listen to some of Mariah's stuff, maybe. Anyway, you know, dance a little more silliness because we're not meeting in the morning, so we got to get the fun and foolery in tonight. But before we do that, we hope you've had a good time. Most importantly, y'all, this year we were intentionally— oh, can I have that lollipop? We didn't talk about the lollipop. Just one. Oh, maybe two. Let me see. Come on, Ellie. Just give them to me. No, no, no. Give me both of them. Thank you. You said one. Yep, but now I'm saying two. Thank you very much. Here you go. Thank you. OK. Lollipop. This year, I literally told Daddy the other day, I was like, I just— I'm sick of gifts. I'm sick of gifts. Are you sick of gifts? Not really?

No. Like receiving them?

You know, like, the hullabaloo with giving them. Oh, 100%. Yeah. It's not— it's not— it's not because, like, my kids are older. That's not it. It just feels like— and we talked about this last year— that so much about the holidays, obviously, can be around things and money and gifts. And we know that that's not what it's about. But even tonight, we wanted to talk a little bit about just our memories of Christmas and the things that matter. 'Cause at the end of the day, we have our favorite things. We have our— we have gifts that we want to tell you about. We hope that you've gotten a few ideas, but the most important thing is that you spend time with the people that you love spending time with, that you have a good time, that you laugh hard, wearing Depends if you need to, but making memories. Because when we talk about baking, when we talk about memories, when we talk about kids, when we talk about our time together, I don't really remember what I got on any given Christmas. There may be one or two things that are meaningful. What I do remember is what the house smelled like. I remember the togetherness. I remember wanting to go to my mom's, 'cause my mom's house was Christmas. I remember the dog I gave you that I took back, but anyway. Terrible. I remember that. But as far as the memories that we have, the memories that we have are not ever surrounding things. They're always surrounding people. Surrounding memories and surrounding consistent tradition. And so we just want to encourage you to, yeah, get a few gifts and do some meaningful things, but definitely put more of your energy and effort around the company that you keep and the memories that you're making. Um, because really, if I— I'll say this, every year I give my son-in-law— what's the name of that gum? Double Bubble. Yes, every year, y'all. And every year I can give him cologne, I can give him some clothes, I can give him— and have given him— a gift certificate to his favorite camera store. You want to know what he gets most excited about? That doggone Double Bubble. He still eats the Double Bubble. The kids know where the Double Bubble is. I know you know where his stash is at. You know, who knows, this year he might get some Olipop, or you might get some Olipop because that's what you love.

This was the first time I had it tonight. Did you?

And it was good, wasn't it?

It was good, which is great because I usually drink kombucha and that thing is running my pockets. So this, I feel like, is gonna be a more affordable option.

But if I know that she likes Olipop and just make sure that I go to the store and put a couple of cans of Olipop in a bag or in a stocking, she will feel more thought of than if I bought her something random that cost me a lot of money that she doesn't appreciate. So here's to knowing your people, here's to spending time with your people, and here's to making memories that last. So this is the 2023 Christmas collection. Buy a few gifts but make more memories, and we'll see you next time. Bye-bye!