More Christmas Foolery!

Very good. Good morning. Good morning. All right, so this is the kind of mother that I am. I knew when I said at 10 PM last night, let me sit down for just a second. I knew that I was going to fall asleep, and I knew that because I was going to fall asleep— oh, I should take this off— that I, uh, probably should give the kids a bedtime. I knew that that's what I should do because I knew that if I did not give them a bedtime, I knew they were gonna stay up way too late. So when I woke up at 2:30 in the morning and then, um, decided to just piddle a little bit, I know that I should have gotten up to go see if those little jokers were up. I knew it. So an hour later, because I'll wake up in the middle of the night and just piddle, just piddle, just move things, clean things up, move things around. You know, check email, whatever. I knew that I should have gone to go check on them. I knew it. So at 3:30 AM, I went in there and they're just in there, just wired in, as the people in The Matrix would say. They were totally wired in. And then I was like, I said, I said to them, I just opened the door and they all just looked caught, opened the door and they just looked like, and I said, I just stood there and just looked at them for just a second, just looked at them, I said, Really? Really? And then the youngest boy said, "What?" I said, "Did I really have to tell you that 3:30 is not okay?" Then the middle one said, "But it's Christmas break." I started to walk over towards him. I just started, I just started like a step or two. And then he turned to the other and said, "Y'all just shut it down." Yes, shut it down, shut it down. So, and then I said, as they went up the stairs, I told the middle one, 'cause the oldest one was upstairs in his room. I said to the middle one, I said, "You're too old for this and you know better than this. And even if I do fall asleep, that should have no bearing on whether or not you are a responsible human being. This is irresponsible human behavior, even for you as a 16-year-old." And he just said, he kind of just did like this and he's like, "Sorry, I just thought it was a prank." I said, "You know better." Then I went upstairs. And I got the oldest one open the door. He's on his phone. He's in bed on his phone watching YouTube. That's it now you know for a second, for a hot second, I was like he's 18. He's been to college. He's had freedom. And then I was like no! No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, this your house. This yo' house girl. This yo' house. You tell them what the rules are so I opened the door. I was nice. I just said, babe, I know at school you have freedom, but at home, no, you don't lay in your bed and watch YouTube at 3 o'clock in the morning. Sorry. We have a whole situation downstairs on a floor that I don't have to climb the stairs to see what you're doing. I have a whole little area for you all. Veg out down there, but in my house, with visibility, there does need to be a level of accountability. I'm sorry. Maybe in a year or two I'll graduate, uh, but right now it still is what it is. And your younger brothers are watching. And so what you do is an indication to them of what's permissible. And I'm not there yet where I want screens in solo bedrooms with young men. I'm so sorry. And he was so great. He said, that's fine. He said, that's fine. Because yesterday I confiscated all the devices, all of the devices. And we went to Costco after church because I'm about to go— this, my life right now needs rhythm. It needs some doggone rhythm. And I was like, every Sunday for years, I've gone to church and we have gone to Costco so that I can fill up on the eggs and the milk. And so that I also can make sure my tank is filled. I am so sick. Of getting in my car on a Thursday and I'm on E because I didn't fill up my tank on a Sunday. Like, I have a rhythm. So I went on Sunday and I just said, y'all, we're going to Costco. They were like, what, are you serious? I said, yes, y'all are more than welcome to stay in the car. They said, yeah, we're staying in the car. And I'm thinking, joke's on you, confiscate the devices, you can stay in your car if you want to, but you will not sit in the car playing video games while I'm in the grocery store getting groceries. I said, so I just said, I said, pass the devices. I said, your brain needs a break. Your brain needs a break. So we came home. Of course, I came out of the grocery store with the groceries. They loaded up the car. We came in and they had to clean up because a couple of nights in a row I did some of the cleaning and then I was like, I'm not doing that. So we had a, we had a pile from the, the I'm not doing that decision. And so, yeah, so yeah, so yesterday these wonderful children of mine cleaned the mess out of my kitchen. When I tell you we had one washing— because they were like, can we put it in the dishwasher? Heck no, y'all have hands, dry these dishes and put them away. I love y'all, I do. So we turned on the music, I was all smiles, I was engaged, I was cleaning out the fridge, throwing away old food, but were washing the dishes, drying the dishes, and then while they were waiting for the dishes to be washed, I had two of them sweeping the floor. And the kind of mom that I am is that my, uh, my nephew came over to spend the night last night. And, um, yeah, and so when I was growing up— backtrack, let me tell you a little story— when I was growing up, we would have friends spend the night, and on Saturday morning we cleaned. And if you were a friend And if you were present on Saturday morning, guess what you did? You cleaned. So my friends to this day are traumatized because Lois was like, oh, you're here? Great. Help your friend make the beds, do the laundry, vacuum the floor, polish the furniture, uh, pledge, put some pledge on that knob, clean the kitchen, sweep the floor, do the dishes. Oh yes, clean the toilet. Like, whatever we were doing, you were doing. And so my nephew came over and I was just like, hey babe, we're gonna be cleaning. He said, okay, okay. So they cleaned for a while, we folded clothes, then they went outside. And then I said, if I— if you would pass the Chrystal Mommy test, let me know when you're done. Don't let me know when you're done. Let me know when you're done, and you will pass the Chrystal Hurst test. Because if I check it and it's not right, oh, it's worse. It's, it's much worse for you. If I have to— if I can't glance quickly and go, oh, you did a good job. If I see one thing and then if I enter the room, oh, then I'm gonna take it to another level. So you don't want me to enter the room. So the best way for you to be quick about it is for me not to even have to enter the room, which means at a cursory glance Things need to be all right in there. So y'all, my kitchen is spick and span right now. My dishes are done, the food has been cooked, the clothes are put away. And then last night, last night at 3:30 in the morning when I was making those jokers go to bed— y'all can tell I'm on a rant right now, I'm a little hype right now. Oh, because when I was putting those kids in the bed, when I walked them up the stairs and said, oh Yes, it is time for you to shut it down. And I went in the rooms and I was just, you know, getting— helping them get situated. And I opened the closet door. Y'all know what those jokers did. You know what they did. You know what they did. So today, on today, on today, we have a different level, a different level. Of cleaning that will happen because I entered the room and found what they had done. I found it. I found them out. Y'all, this is my life. This is my life. And I just believe with all of my heart that they will love me and remember these memories later with laughter. On today, they will not be laughing though. Chrystal Hurst, Mommy Clean, has entered the building. Yes, yes, y'all are with me. Y'all are like, peace be still, not the closet cleaning. Oh no, they didn't. Listen, they did. They doing all the things, all the things. Listen, I'm the kind of mother, and I used to, I used to say this about my mother. She'd be so offended. I think, I don't think I'm offended. If y'all are old school enough, you'll remember that movie Mommy Dearest. Now I'm not, I'm not slapping and beating my children with hangers. However, if they want to get over on me, it's worse if I find out what you did to get over. It's worse. So if I find a few things stuffed in a drawer, the whole drawer gets dumped out. It has to be not worth your while to try to screw me over. Basically. That's what I'm saying. And so y'all are like, oh my God, I'm so triggered right now. Listen, oh my goodness. Yes, they will, Valerie, be saying that mom was crazy. But I tell my children this. I tell my children, there is a crazy Chrystal in here. Do not push the wrong buttons because when she comes out, I have absolutely no control over what she does. And I have no recollection of what she said to you, of what she did to you. And of what she made you accomplish in your life. I do not want her to come out and literally, literally— that's what I will do to them. I'll be like, crazy Chrystal is knocking. I'm trying to hold her back. She's gonna come out and she's gonna take care of business. I don't want that to happen to you. So in order for you to be okay in your life on today, I'm gonna need you to stop pressing the buttons. And I say it with a smile, and the lower I go in my tone is the more afraid my children get. So yeah, we're about to do some major clothing reorganization today. Today on today. Oh, I love that. Clarissa said, I would tell my boys that mom's dad— mom stood for me no mom, MOM. Oh, this girl here on Instagram said, oh my God, I remember having to dump the drawers. Let me call my therapist. Oh my Jesus, Lord, help. Save your children. Save the babies, Lord. Let your Holy Spirit come in and hold me back. This is what happens between the week of Christmas and New Year's. All of the excitement about the holiday, it has peaked. And while it is still on a high, the reality of the backside of the mountain starts to happen. Oh no, y'all will eat what's in the refrigerator. Oh no, you will, uh, uh, uh, crack all these boxes and take them out to the recycle. Oh no, you will help me to understand what happened while the house was full of people and help me put that right. Oh no, all the things that now we've been needing to fix that are broken, oh boys, you will get a Phillips screwdriver and a hammer and help put that back together. Oh yes, you will discover that you're handy. I had a kid last night on a coffee table changing light bulbs. My husband was like, what are you doing? I said, One light bulb was out, one light bulb. And I said, there were 3 in the ceiling thing. And I told my son, take all the light bulbs out and change them. And my husband said, why? They're not all out. And I said, oh no, but they will be soon. And I'm only gonna hit this one time this year. That's all I'm gonna do. That's all I'm gonna do. Take them all out, replace them all. The one that is jacked, we're gonna dispose of that one. The 2 that are working, you're gonna put those back in the box. Box. So if we do need somewhere random in the house, a filler bulb, we have a filler bulb. But I want them all to look the same, and I want them all to be changed at one time because I believe in efficiency. Inefficiency. I'm gonna hit this thing one time and we're not coming back to this for a while. Hello, listen, I believe in efficiency. My husband was just looking at me like, you're replacing all the bulbs? Yes sir, yes I am. And then he knew that crazy Chrystal was on the horizon. So he just said, okay. He just said, okay, because he knew. I was like, it is what it is. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Yes. So yes, my husband— somebody says, does any of this apply to husbands? It does, but in a more gentle, quieter spirit. Way. The list is long, very long. But let me explain what I learned from my mother and my father. They did teach me this too. So number 1 is I create a list so that I'm not a nag. With the list is also a deadline, like in a very sweet way. Like, Jesse, do you mind? Like, these are some things that are driving me crazy. And I really have been trying to get to them. I cannot, or, you know, it's not my expertise, not anything I want to do, but can you get to this? And do you think you'll be able to get it done like by Friday? Because the week after that I have this, this, that, and the other, or the weeks after I have this, this, that, and the other. And if it's not done, not only will it drive me crazy, but also I won't have the time to come back and do it. And if it's okay on Friday, if it's not done, I know that you have some things going on. Then I'll just call in for reinforcement. Like it's a list with a sweet demeanor and a date. And then either I will take care of it or my boys will take care of it, or I'll call for reinforcement, you know, if it's that kind of thing, you know, but I just believe that, um, a lot of praise with your male children and your male spouses goes a long way. Thank you so much. I saw that you, I saw that you did that. I really, really appreciate it. Thank you. And I know, I know, I understand that as a woman, what you want to say is, do I have to thank you for the things that you're supposed to do? Nobody thanks me for all the things I do on a regular without reminder and without lists. I do understand this. I understand this. I understand, are you serious? Did I have to, did I have to even make a list? I understand that what you're saying is, did you not see that the door to the cabinet or the door to the pantry was coming off the hinges? I understand. I understand that what you want to say is, really? Do I have to put this in black and white for you? Seriously? Does nobody do anything in this house unless I tell them to? I understand. That that's what you want to say. But what I want to encourage you to do is to be sweet, not to nag. I want you to write it down. I don't want you to be a Stepford wife. I do want you to be honest. I want you to be clear. However, I do want you to put it in writing and back away. And back away. Somebody said, thank you so much for speaking to me. Listen, do you see the smile here? Do you see the levity in my voice? Do you see the appreciation? Do you see thank you? Now, I'm not gonna tell you, I'm not gonna tell you, I'm not gonna say, I'm not gonna say. Jacqueline said it's exhausting. Yes, I understand. I do understand. But here's what I want to say, and I love this. Okay, okay. Khledra, who's in the inner circle, said my husband says every man has a king and and a fool inside, and you choose who you speak to. That— I couldn't have said it any better myself. I'm gonna put this on the screen. Listen, Kledra is trying to get to y'all. Now I want to remind you, if you're on Instagram, you get all the things of me, but you do not get anything that I show, which is why I normally am not on Instagram, because I can't do all my foolery and fun on Instagram. I can only do it on YouTube and Facebook. Like, literally right now, Instagram, you're not gonna hear. Yeah, here we go. So if I say something and you're like, I can't see it, I can't hear it, just know I'm here for you. I just— I can't— I can't— Instagram doesn't want to play. So yes, there you go. You have to lift your, lift up your, lift up your head, oh ye gates, and let the joy enter and let the, let the levity enter and let the appreciation enter. Somebody on Instagram, y'all, said, where was this pep talk yesterday? Yesterday I totally snapped. Listen, yeah, I mean, you can only hold it together so long, you know, you know, and that's when You disappear. That's when you decide for your own sanity what you do for your own life. Listen, you need to have some dark chocolate almonds in the back of your fridge, or whatever that means to you. What I'm telling you is you need to make sure that in your home that everybody knows what mom needs to be okay. Good morning, Cilla. Good morning, Priscilla. You know how they would say good morning Vietnam? Good morning, Priscilla Shire. You always coming up in here just stirring things up. Listen, I don't know if Priscilla— Priscilla's so godly though, you understand. She's, she's the prophetess. The Lord speaks directly to her. He gives her a word on today and every day for her to impart to the people at large. I know you hate me right now, but here's what I'm saying. I know that even Priscilla Shire, or Shiver as some people want to call her— look at her, she's mad right now. Listen, even she every now and then has to let her man children understand who's boss. Do these dishes, clean this up, fix this, and take care of your mess. Get your act together, okay? So anyway, so anyway, it's time for some tea. Listen, what we want, we want, we want people, we want mothers, we want friends, we want wives, we want daughters. Who don't lose it, okay? Who don't lose it. And the way you keep from losing it is to let out a little steam before you get to the end of the line, okay? Before you get to the end of the line, you just want to let out a little steam, okay? Let me tell you what that means you need to do. You need to know when it's time for you to take a walk, okay? This is— I am saving the people this morning, okay? You need to know when you need to go outside and take a walk. You need to know when thus saith the Lord that this is it, she's had all she can stand and she can't stand no more. This is what Popeye said. This applies to people that are of the female dimension, all right? You need to know when you're boiling, when your pot, when your cup is about to run over, and it is not with anything that is healthy for you or healthy for other people. You need to know when you just need to look at your people and say— they're gonna say, where are you going? I'm just going out for a little bit, just going. And you say it with a smile. Kim Gaffney said, I can't stand you, honey. I can't stand me either. And I sometimes can't stand them. So I got to get myself together and go outside and say, I will. I'm gonna go. I'm just gonna go out for a little bit. I'm gonna go out. Listen, this is not about your children only. This is not about your spouses only. Listen, if you live with your mama, this might be about her. This, this might be about your 24-year-old daughter who has been driving you crazy since the day she arrived. And you just need to get out. It might be, it might be your 2-year-old. And let me tell you what you need to do with your 2-year-old. You put your 2-year-old in a stroller and you strap them in and you give them whatever will keep them quiet. Give them an iPad, give them a peach. You know, oh, as peaches aren't in season, give them a banana. You give them whatever you need to get, give them some juice, dilute that joker, but give it to, and you put them in the stroller and you strap them in, you strap them in and you go for a walk. Listen, the gift to the body of Christ is a woman who is not losing her ever-loving mind. So you need to know how you can save your mind. You might be 21 and your mother is about to drive you insane, you know. And I tell my boys all the time, I'm like, listen, especially the oldest one who's back from college, you went off and changed, B. You went off and changed, boy. I have not changed. I have not changed. I have not. Things are the same yesterday, today, and forever. So, so here's how the rule— let me remind you of how things go in this house. You want to hear it? Here it go, here it go. And you see how I said that with all of the, all of the Ebonics removed? All of the correct vernacular in place. The switching is in full effect right now. You want to hear it? Hear it go. Hear it go. You know, listen, because there's the, there's the full-on version of Chrystal Hurst from the cliff. I'm not, I ain't playing with you. I'm not playing with you. And then there's the other one that knows how to behave when she's strolling through Northport Mall and she has to serve on somebody who didn't see it coming. I can do it either way. Oh, so anyway, I just want y'all to know you have to save yourself. That's what I'm saying. Because really, virtually, if you save yourself, what you're doing is saving them. Ha! You're saving them from you. So on today, this week, when you're still at home with all the people, okay, this is what I need you to understand. I need you to understand that when you feel yourself rising when you feel the part of yourself rising that is not the part of yourself that the people need to see, right? What you have to do is back away. And you just need to back right out that door and go for a walk. Or you need to back yourself right up to that fridge and get your dark chocolate almonds in the back that are labeled for Mom and better not nobody touch it. Or you need to make sure that you saved yourself some Welch's Sparkling Grape Juice, okay? So that the people know they drank the other 3 bottles bottles. This bottle is reserved for you. They need to understand that when you pull out your water bottle, your wine glass, your special whatever, that whatever you put in there that is for you, that people need to understand that this is a moment made for Mom, a moment made for the She-Ro in you, a moment made for the daughter, a moment made for the friend, a moment made for whoever. They need to understand that when you say, I'm going out, y'all, I'm going out, y'all. Where are you going, Mom? I'm going to Sonic. Sonic? Well, we wanna— no, no, I'm going by myself. Well, that's not fair. Life isn't fair, and I want to be fair to you right now. In order for me to be fair, that means a little unfairness that is bent in the way of the benefit of me. That's what we need in our lives right now. So I'm gonna go to Sonic and I'm gonna come back with a Route 44 sweet tea, and you bet not taste it. You bet not suck it, sip it, get it, whatever. Hmm, no, 9 should be good. Yeah, 9 should be good. Listen, y'all, I am pushing things back for y'all. I am pushing things back because I have other things I need to say. Say. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Let me sip this tea. When you don't have a spoon, you use what you have. Okay, listen, I'm out here saving people today. Hey, I'm out here saving people. Good morning, welcome to the week in between. This is, this is where we're at right now, the week in between. I have gone live 3 times, y'all, with all the foolery and all the fun because I promised you I would, because I know the people need it. I know we all need a word from the Lord. This is not actually a word from the Lord, this is a word from Chrystal Hurst. You might find hints of Jesus somewhere in there. So let me not even bring Jesus into it. Jesus came and he was in a manger. He wasn't nowhere in the foolery, uh, on today. But I do love a good foolery, and I am doing this because I know we need it. And I actually miss, um, I actually miss— I see you, Kim— I actually miss, uh, going live with you all. We have so much fun in the Inner Circle every week, and I try to, you know, bring the levity before I bring the serious. But I have to tell you, I don't even know, I don't even know if there's any serious in the tea today. I don't even know. I know that there are some serious things that I can talk about. There's some serious things. I read a book by Desmond Tutu about forgiveness, very small book. You should read it. You should get it. And you ought to encourage, like, you know, I'm gonna go serious for just a second and then I'm gonna come back because I have some other foolery things I want to talk about. But I also just want to say, and then y'all can help me out in the chat here. So when I say things and y'all know there's a link, y'all put the link in there. Inner Circle, somebody knows what it is. Share it in Instagram. Because I don't want people to say, hey, listen, I didn't know the Inner Circle opened and then it closed. And I, you know, I didn't know. I didn't know. Yes, you knew. I've been telling you for 3 weeks. Okay. I love y'all. Y'all, Brit said, child, you just saved 100 families from blowing up. Okay, so, but Desmond Tutu, back to that. When we have— when you are old enough to be familiar with who this is, but maybe you haven't read their work, maybe you haven't read their books, maybe you were unfamiliar apart from them being something good in the universe, why you should know who they are? Okay, they're passing is an opportunity for you to learn. Don't go, oh yeah, I kind of sort of knew who they were. And I'm not talking about, you know, like movie stars passing away, although, um, you know, we've had some people, um, the one of the stars from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang passed away. Y'all, I love that movie. All the Shirley Temples, all the, you know, all the Technicolor films that had to be redone in Technicolor, like all those, they're great. Old movies are great and they provide cultural relevance when you're looking for movies to watch with your children. Um, we did not do cultural relevance this Christmas. I just straight up watched Die Hard. I was like, yeah, I have male children and this is horrible. It's horrible. The language is horrible. So Chrystal Hurst did not go tell you to watch Die Hard with your children. I did not just tell you that. I did just tell you though that I watched 3 of them with mine. And, um, cultural relevance, you need to know who Bruce Willis is. In your life. You're old enough. You're old enough. And you're old enough for me to say, if I ever hear that language coming out of your mouth, you may not live to tell the story. So anyway, don't, don't follow me there. Don't follow me there. Go with— go as the Lord leads. But I am saying that there are other movies, and we watch old movies. Of course, It's a Wonderful Life. But I'm not gonna lie, we have watched that 3 times. See, now y'all are going to be all in the rears because she was watching Die Hard. Y'all just Saints come up a little bit. Just relax. But we have watched, um, It's a Wonderful Life 3 times. Every time they're upset about it. But here's the thing, I have to be honest and tell you, I, I have not watched it 3 times. You want to know why? You want to know why? Because every time I fall asleep. I'm sitting there in the recliner with a blanket. We get all settled in. I make them popcorn. So my thing is, let's watch a movie every night night, I will make you something good. I'll make you some chocolate chips, I'll make you some hot chocolate, some chocolate chip cookies, I'll make you some hot chocolate. I might even let you have some ice cream, definitely popcorn. And you know, I was lazy this time, I let them pop the microwave bag. Y'all, let me digress. Hold on for just one second to talk about popcorn. You need to teach yourself, if you do not already know, if you do not already know, you need to teach yourself how to make popcorn from the kernel of corn in a You need to learn how to do this, okay? Get a YouTube video, you know, Google it. I don't know, teach yourself. In these streets, you can learn anything you want to learn. Learn how to make your own popcorn, y'all. First of all, it's cheaper. The second thing is you control the fat. The third and the best thing, the best thing ever, is that you can control what it tastes like. If you have never made your own kettle corn, if you've never controlled the level of butter like to the nth degree. Not control in a lesser way, but in a more way. You need to understand how to do this for yourself. Um, listen, I believe in— I believe in— can I just confess another thing? Today is a day of confession. Can I just also say— and I'll— then I'll get back to Desmond Tutu, because really I've totally gone off the wagon— but can I just say, when you are broke, listen, just, you know, nod to the theater, pay the ticket to get in. You might even want to buy a large drink for y'all to share, but I'm not gonna be mad at you if your popcorn is better than the movie popcorn if you bring your popcorn to the theater. That's all I'm gonna say about that. Will a man rob God? No, he will not. And I'm not telling you to rob the theater, but I am saying if you need to tithe to the theater by buying the drink, I'm not gonna be mad at you if you brought your own popcorn. Just bring a big bag. Don't tell nobody I said that. I didn't say that. I will delete it. If y'all say I said it, I will deny it and I will cut this part out of the video. Okay. Y'all super serious, super silly. It's too many things. All right. So back to Desmond Tutu. My point is when anybody passes and you go, I should have known more about them. Um, then that is your time to remember because after they passed and after all those pleasantries are done with honoring them, right? They go into the history book. And once they're in the history book, you and I both know you're not going to do it later. Do you understand? So if you have not done it yet, if you have not researched, read about their life, watch the movie, um, done the Google, you know, if it was not something that you researched when you were in college and you don't know, like if you don't know who Marcus Garvey is, the reason why I know who Marcus Garvey is because I had to do project in high school. And I learned about Marcus Garvey and what he was saying about what Black people should do in the United States of America and whether they should even be in the United States of America and all these different things. And I know who that is. You probably do not know who that is. So when you realize that somebody has crossed the front lobe of your mind and that you think, oh, like that's your signal, like that's your time. Time. Okay, that's your time to do the work and to say, I should know who that is. So I'm telling you that Desmond Tutu wrote a book on forgiveness. It is very small, it is very easy to read. If you don't read anything else, you read that. Okay, you, you read that, you learn. You— K. Leo said Marcus Garvey. Listen, y'all, there are all these people. Like, it's January. Listen, let me, let me just— we're gonna have different opinions about this. Y'all gonna say what Chrystal No, my kids don't get a day off for Martin Luther King Day. Absolutely doggone not. No, no, no, we're not doing that. Let me tell you what Martin Luther King would've wanted you to be doing on Martin Luther King Day, reading and writing. Now I can guarantee you that. No. And then we roll right into, from there into Black History Month. And then all the things that, you know, we're supposed to remember all in one month. Listen, Y'all, it's a great, it's a great thing to have a focus of time. Cause my kids, even one of my boys said, you know, why do we have to have like History Month? I was like, boy, cause you Black. But anyway, the point is, um, there's, it's a good time to focus, right? And then there are so many resources that are brought to your attention, um, and, uh, that are front of mind and in your face during the month. That's great. What I'm telling you is along the way, there are going to be moments where someone passes your— passes across the front of your awareness and you don't really know that much. And that's your cue to learn why they were here, what they did to better humanity so that you can tell your children so that you can be educated. It's not about Black History Month. Okay. It is about, um, taking the opportunity whenever the opportunity presents itself for you to learn, that for you to be educated so that you can share the information with other people and for you to be able to transfer that knowledge to your children. Okay. So wherever you are, so yes, there we go. Kimberly Knox said, I just found the Desmond Tutu, the Book of Forgiveness. Yes. So there you go. Now, you know, if you don't know anything else about Desmond Tutu, pick up that book and then, you know, do some Googling, educate yourself, right? Pick up his writings, which by the way, by the way, every beginning of every year, usually I get my kids a journal. I encourage them to write. I have one kid who journals every day. He just is wired like that. Do that. The other two, I have to make them do it. And then the oldest one, now of course he's at college, I can't really make him do a whole lot of anything, but I still encourage them to do that. Here's why I'm saying that is because when you think about what will last beyond you, um, you want to think about the ability that you have to write things down. Because I may or may not remember what you said, I may or may not remember what you did, but I will be forced to remember what you wrote down. So Yeah. See, somebody said, thanks for sharing about Desmond Tutu. I never knew he wrote a book. We've all been, we've all been taught today. All right. Yes. Okay. Now here's a couple of other things by way of announcement. Don't come for me. All right, here we go. The workshop that I'm doing January 8th is still open. It is only open without spending more money till December 31st, Reinventing. So basically, come vision board with me. Let's think about who we are. Let's find language for who God created us to be. Let's take some tests, share our findings in groups together. Let me talk to you about finding your gifts, abilities, your interests, your nature. And if you want to do that in a workshop form with me and finish with a vision board, that is January 8th. We start at 9:00. We'll go for 3 hours in the morning with teaching and for 2 hours in the afternoon with vision boarding. We'll be done. It's a whole day affair. Set aside time to work on you. Okay, wrap up 3 or 4 o'clock at the latest. And if you want to do that, go to chrystalevanshurst.com— thanks, Deb— boom bop, uh, forward slash Reinventing. If you're on my email list, I've been giving you a code for 10% off. If you are in the Inner Circle, I've been giving you a code for more than that off. But on December 31st, all of that ends. And the reason is because after that, if you sign up, I think we'll have it until— I don't even know— the 3rd or 4th, something like that, then I have to overnight you your box. So now I gotta spend more money overnighting you your box with all of your swag, your stickers, your shirt, all the stuff you need for the vision board. So, um, here's the deal. It is virtual. Somebody's asking. It's virtual. Um, and, uh, I may have a couple of people in the room with me doing it so we can record it and have fun. But if you, um, yeah, 9 Central Standard Time. But if you'd like to join me, that is there for you. And all the discounts go away on the 31st. So we'd love to have you join us. There's not going to be no 600 people in there. We were thinking we're going to have 100, 150 women in there tops, but probably more like 100. And so, and it'll be in Zoom so we can see each other. So it'll be very interactive and very personal. And we would love, love, love, love, love for you to join it. It's just live. We're not recording it and making it available later, at least not initially anyway. So it's kind of a one day you're there, you're not. And you, I mean, you get a replay if you're there, you get a replay, but I think it's like short, it's like 7 days maybe. So, um, Dr. Mom said, how do I get on your email list? Well, you just go to my website, chrystalhurtz.com, and right underneath my picture, you will see a box for you to put your name and you can put it in there. And then we will be sending out, I think, 3 more emails this week because I have some encouragement that I want to give. If you're on your email list, y'all listen, I've been sending you the emails. So you've gotten pictures, you've gotten recipes, you've gotten links to things. Don't miss out on the podcast with Toni Collier. That was the most and the best in the best of ways. And so I put links to all that in my last few emails. So check your email if you didn't. All right. So let me change this back. I told you about that. I'm trying to think, what else am I supposed to tell you about? Oh, Coffee with Chrystal Hurst. Let me change this link real quick. Now that's free. Reinventing is not free. Okay. But coffee is. So on Sunday night, next Sunday night, January the 2nd, I will be going live to talk in a lot, a lot less about fun and foolery. There will always be fun and foolery mixed in because that's who I am. But, um, that's the time of year at the beginning of the year. We used to do this in person, and maybe one day we'll get to doing it in person again. But, um, where I just talk to you, you know, and talk to you about what, um, usually it's, you know, I'm thinking about a word for the year, a theme for the year, and talking to you about what God wants you to know about your life this year, just generally, you know, like just a word of encouragement. Um, and so that you do have to register for. It's free, but you do have to register for it because we have it in a private space. And the reason why I have it in this private space, y'all, is because I like to play music, and I gotta figure out how to play music without YouTube dinging me. I know you can do it. I know you can do it because people do it all the time. They work out online and they'll play like pop music, or the other day I was listening to, um, somebody who was singing a worship song or whatever, and they didn't get dinged. So I know there's a way to do it, but y'all know we have to figure these things out slowly. Um, so anyway, so coffee is free, but I want to play music. I like to have a good time. I like for us to chair dance because I can't really dance, but I do the most in a chair. So in order to play the music and not get dinged by YouTube, I have to go to another space. And until we figure out how to do it on YouTube, we'll be in that other space. So I want you to register and I want you to join me in our fun space. We do a lot of fun things. Okay. Okay. So now you know about the workshop on the 8th. Um, that's chrystalevanshurst.com/reinventing. You know about Coffee with Chrystal that is free next Sunday night. Okay. Coffee. Um, that will, you don't have to be there. There will be a replay for that, but we do take it down after about a week and we put that, um, that teaching inside of the Inner Circle for those who are at the coffee level and higher. Okay. All right. So let me go back to this. The inner circle link so that y'all can have that on the screen. All right. I think I said everything I need to say. If I didn't, if I missed something, Debbie or Jasmine, y'all can tell me. Okay. Now, what did I really want to talk to you about? Oh yes. I have pictures to show you about all the foolery in my house in the last few days. Let's see here. Let's see what had happened on today. Okay. So this is a picture of my dad and all the people in my family on Christmas Day. Sorry, I can't, I can't, I can't do it, but I'm showing you a picture. And here's the deal. On Christmas Day, um, we gather together as a family to open gifts from my parents to my children. And we continue that tradition this year. And before we open gifts, when the children are highly attentive, captive, when their ears are perked and the carrot is dangled and their eyes are interested, because we have to listen to somebody talk about Jesus before we open a gift. This is when the audience is captive. And my father, for years, every Christmas since I can remember, tells the Christmas story and talks about the reason for the season, remembering and sharing again what's important with the children who are listening. I'll never forget, there was a year when, um, I was working on scripture memorization with my children and I went to this— I was at a homeschool book fair and I was talking about how, you know, I was trying to get my kids to memorize scripture. And he said, well, you know, have you ever considered rewarding them for memorizing scripture? And I was like, really? Like, you should do that. And he said, Charles Spurgeon, who was a famous theologian and a famous same writer and a lover of Jesus Christ, his grandmother used to pay him for memorizing scripture. So to dangle the Christmas gifts in front of the children, to remind them of the reason for the season, to tell them about Jesus' story again and why it's important to celebrate him and to remember him and why it's important to have this focus and to dangle the gifts so that they are totally listening There's nothing wrong with that. It worked well for us. Even home, before we go to my family, we read the Christmas story. And this year one of my sons read it, and they know, they know. They just say, "So who's going to read this year?" You know, they all settle in and there's this moment beforehand. And of course there are all these other things. You know, Christmas is year-round. It's, you know, it's not just volunteering at the the homeless shelter the week of Christmas. It's all year long. They need your help. It's not just providing canned foods to your food— the food pantry at your church during the week of Christmas. It's what you do all year long. It's not about being kind to people who need your help or noticing the person that is not doing well or tipping the waitress big. It's not just that during Christmas time. It's that any time of the year. It's the spirit of Christmas with you. It's Jesus coming in a manger, right, and saying in very, very small ways, in ways that people may never even know about, and many people are not even seeing. I come and I bring all the power of the Father God, the Holy Spirit, and the Son of God, the Son of Man, in a manger. And you walking around with Jesus in your head and in your heart, you have the ability to bring the power of Jesus with you in the most inconspicuous, unexpected places at any time. This is the message of Christmas. And at Christmas time, we're just reminded of the things we should be doing to honor Jesus all year round. Okay? So anyway, let me show you some more pictures because this is what I do. All right, so this is my brother. Like, literally, he was in tears because my son was home from college, right? So he hugs my son, and there's nothing better, right, than showing up for the holidays and people who love you saying, "I so, I'm so happy to see you. Things are not the same when you're not here." That made me want to cry. My brother was crying seeing my son. This is, we went to and spent the most money. It was stupid, but it was fun at a place in Dallas, Fair Park. We went to Enchanted. It really is very enchanted.. And so I made my husband and my children take a million pictures because you will remember this moment when I'm not here any longer. And we took that, but you know, you do all these things for the wonder of the kids, right? Really? You do these things for the wonder of the children. They are excited about the lights because it's their first time, or this is their experience, or this is something that they look forward to. The teenagers are like, how much longer are we gonna be here? But even them, you know, they had a good time because of course you spent money to get in and then you had to spend more money on nachos and Pepsis and things. But you feed them, they get pacified. And really, the things that I talked about last week where I was talking about the wonder of Christmas and the work involved— listen, you cannot, you cannot, you cannot get more excited about the wonder and small child's face, okay? When they are like, oh my gosh, this is the best thing ever, the best thing ever. And again, making the kids pose, it is what I do. I want you to know that if you have not made your children, made your brothers, made your sisters, made your friends mad at least one time because you made them take a picture— look at my husband, he won't even look looking at the camera. He was like, oh my God, she's making me take pictures. If you've not made them mad at least one time, then you have not taken enough pictures. The wonder, y'all, listen, look at this. The wonder of Christmas. Also that week we celebrated a birthday because Ellie Bells, turns 6 the day before Christmas. So we actually celebrate Christmas Day, Christmas Eve with my nuclear family. And of course that's her birthday. So now every birthday, you know, as long as they are coming, um, we'll have a cake for her. So she gets a birthday cake on top of all of our other things. And so that was fun. So the day before was about our time as a family together. And it was also all about her celebrating her birthday. And you know, it's a lot. Like Christmas is a lot, trying to remember all the things, get all the gifts. And can I just tell you, like, this was one of those Christmases where really the joy of Christmas is found in the little kids because the big kids, there's nothing that you can really get them. It's very hard to get them things that you can afford that they're excited about, you know? Um, and that's, I remember the age when I was so disappointed at what came for Christmas, but that was because I was past really, this is what I'm thinking I'm going to propose to my family. I think I'm going to propose. Those that at a certain age, like, it's not about you anymore. Like, we're not waiting until you become 18. Like, I'm thinking, I'm thinking of all these ideas. Like, maybe the big kids, when we get together as a family, they shop for the gifts for the little kids. Like, it's not just the parents doing the things. It's— or an elephant gift exchange. Like, at a certain point, you don't have to wait until you're 18 for this. Like, you can join the adult realm when you're 15, you know, and stop making it all about— at the time when you are the most selfish figuring out ways to invite you to be selfless. I think that that's, that's where my brain is going. We'll see. We will see. This is Ellie Bells for her birthday. We took her out to a fun, fun dinner. There are a couple of— oh, and then we had— we take our annual— well, anytime we get together, we always take our girl pic. The keepers of Evelyn's great-grandchildren So in that picture, I've got my sister, sister-in-law, sister-cousin-in-law, sister-cousins-in-law, new sister-cousin-in-law, and my oldest daughter, because she was like, I'm grown. I should be included in these pictures. And because we are who we are, we believe in making funny faces because if we can't have a good time, then why should we expect the kids to have a good time? Couple of videos I can show you because they're just fun. Make sure y'all can hear all the things. Me producing my own morning show. Here we go. Let's see here. Look at that tree. I was, uh, and y'all, they were literally blowing snow. So the kids were just dancing around. This is amazing. And see, the teenagers are just standing there like, we've seen lights before. And the little kids are like, this is amazing, this is amazing, amazing. So I just want to remind you, the fun of the Foolery was designed for two It was designed to give you a little levity, okay? Relax. Let them know who's boss. Come into yourself. It's good. Let the people help clean up the kitchen. It's good. Um, it also was designed to remind you to take care of yourself. Take the walk. Eat the dark chocolate and rice. And remember that, you know, these memories that you have made The memories that you have made this Christmas, however you made them, right? They will stick, but they also stack. Okay? This one Christmas, what went right about this Christmas? What went wrong about this Christmas? It's not only about this holiday. It's about what you do year after year after year after year to bring joy into the lives of other people, whether those are your grandchildren, your children, or your friends, or maybe it's an older woman who's a widow who you went— we went to see and brought her a baked good or brought her a meal. It's every year, it's becoming who you are and becoming more of who you are and having a track record of grace and giving with the people that are not your family, but the people who you love and who you see, with the people that are your friends and with the people inside of your home. So this is the time to take notes on what I did that worked, on what I did that didn't work, and then to decide what you're gonna do next year to get better at giving the gift of you. Remember, the holiday seasons are all about an overflow of you. And at this point, we're tired, we're worn out, things are messed up, we're realizing how much money we spent. Okay, so this is the time where you say, what did I love about this holiday and what did I not? And make a note so that next year you can be better at the overflow of you, that you can be better at, at you enjoying it, that you can realize what drove you crazy and do less of that this year, or communicate better next year what you need, or what the family needs, or what your friends need in order to do it. This is the time to say, as you go into the beginning of the new year, what will be different next year? And start with what you just finished. Acknowledge the crazy, laugh about it, make sure you enjoy the fun and the foolery about at it, and then decide who you will be in the new year. I've got some thoughts about what I'm going to change next year, about how we do Christmas, and it's always evolving and it's always changing. You got to give yourself grace to do that. I've got some things that I want to change about how I do the week in between, but at the end of the day, this is the time of year when you have the small breather to decide what's going to change. I look forward to talking to you more about on our coffee, right? Um, about that, about what you should be thinking about, what you can be thinking about, what I'm thinking about in the new year. But I also want to give you the freedom and permission to do that for yourself, to do it for yourself. Get out a journal, get out a notebook, a spiral notebook, a pad, something, a page in your Bible, put a sticky note in there and write down What was good? What was not so good? And what joy am I gonna bring? What wonder and work and worth am I gonna bring to the next season? Decide now. Don't lament it. Just learn from it and be better next year. Listen, I hope that if you have the bandwidth to join me in the Inner Circle, that you do. There are some changes coming and I'll be talking to the Inner Circle, those who are in there right now, about those changes. Um, there's changes coming for you if you're not in the Inner Circle too. There's a lot of changes coming that we're very excited about, and I look forward to telling you more about that. But for right now, here's what I want you to do. Make space this week to take a walk. Put something in the refrigerator that you like, okay? Make sure you communicate with your people. Smile and give grace to them and to you, okay? And whatever you need, the ache in your heart, the thing that's not right, or whatever you love The thing that warmed your heart, write it down so you don't forget. If you have enjoyed this video, as I always say, share it, make sure you share it. Okay. And I would love to see you on Sunday night and you can find me there for free by going to chrystalevanshurst.com/coffee. And yes, Instagram, I will leave this up because the foolery was the most today. I might have to take it down because later, because maybe I'll watch it later and be like, girl, why'd you say that? There's so much more I want to talk about, but I will save it. I will save it because I gotta go. I have things to do today. I started late and then I have things to do. I hope you have things to do, even if they're things that are just for you. You. Okay. All right. As you were. And, um, I will see you on Sunday night, Inner Circle and everybody, but don't forget to register. Peace out. I know I don't want to go either, but I messed around and I have a podcast that I gotta record.