Sleigh the Holidays! How to Plan a Joyful Christmas in Your Twenties | S7 EP14

Stephanie Muiña:
With the stress of the holidays, oh my gosh. This is our only chance. We only have 7 days to go get rest. This is what we're gonna do, and it's final. But then we didn't actually see that the reality was we had plenty of time to do both.

Gaby Alessi:
Well, hello, everybody, and welcome back to the family business podcast with the Alessis. I am Gabby Alessi joined by my 2 sisters, Stephanie Muina Hello. And Lauren Alessi. Ladies, how are we doing today?

Stephanie Muiña:
We're doing great. Doing great. Having a I'm excited to be here with you guys to have this conversation.

Gaby Alessi:
I know. We haven't been on in a a long time, the 3 of us. I think the last time the 3 of us were on was the modesty episode.

Stephanie Muiña:
That was about a year ago, I think. It's about

Gaby Alessi:
a year ago, and it got some really, really good feedback. So we encourage you to go back and listen to that one because it's amazing.

Stephanie Muiña:
I think that's when they called you a yapper, or they said, this girl doesn't know what she's talking about.

Gaby Alessi:
That no. People just say that all the time.

Lauren Alessi:
I was just

Gaby Alessi:
saying that about real people. Was Chris. That was Chris. Sorry. No. That was the dating podcast that dad and I did. And we were talking about teenagers, and people thought I was talking about adults, and they got their

Stephanie Muiña:
They literally said this little girl does not know what she's talking about.

Gaby Alessi:
And that's where the original Yappuccino originated. Wow. Proud of you here today.

Lauren Alessi:
And I walked down Yappuccino.

Gaby Alessi:
Still Yappuccino. I walked

Stephanie Muiña:
down the streets of Miami and people are like, Yappuccino.

Lauren Alessi:
I'm really famous around here. No. You don't you don't walk down the streets of Miami. You don't walk

Gaby Alessi:
up your home alone. You can't even walk in Miami.

Stephanie Muiña:
Where where do we watch streets?

Gaby Alessi:
I know. Well, today, we wanted to, have a conversation about the holidays and specifically even going into Christmas. You know, we just got out of Thanksgiving and maybe somebody just had a really rough Thanksgiving. And so now we could talk about how to redeem Christmas, but we all know that, especially Christmas, if we're gonna focus on this, Christmas is really fun when you're a kid. When you're, like, 10 and under or maybe even when you're a teenager, it's really exciting because you're still with the family and your parents are making the plans and your parents are telling you, hey. We're going to, this house. We're gonna go here, and everybody's really excited to be there and you get still fun presents and there's excitement around the holidays when you're in your teens.

Stephanie Muiña:
Yeah.

Gaby Alessi:
But something shifts in your twenties.

Stephanie Muiña:
Yeah. Yeah.

Gaby Alessi:
And your expectations, it's like you still have, like, those childish expectations and, like, those teenage expectations of what Christmas is gonna be like. And and I'd also say social media just makes it so much worse.

Stephanie Muiña:
Yes.

Gaby Alessi:
Because, like, you're scrolling on Instagram, and they're like, this is what Lake Como looks like on Christmas. And you're like, I live in Hialeah, and this is what Hialeah looks like

Lauren Alessi:
during Christmas.

Gaby Alessi:
So you're seeing these places and you're seeing what other people are doing.

Stephanie Muiña:
Yeah.

Lauren Alessi:
And

Gaby Alessi:
so you have these great expectations and then they're not met because reality is never gonna meet the expectations that you have. Yeah. But, specifically, when you're 20 in your in your twenties, it's difficult because you have those high expectations. Now you really have to take control of, like, making the memories and making plans. And then also you go through a lot of transitions in your twenties. So let's talk about how to plan the holidays, but in your twenties, how do you as a 20 year old, if you're in your early, mid, or late twenties, how do you go about your holidays? How can you even plan for yourself Christmas time? How you're gonna celebrate, who you're gonna celebrate with? But let's just talk about that a little bit because all of us are in our twenties.

Stephanie Muiña:
Yeah.

Gaby Alessi:
Steph, you're how old?

Stephanie Muiña:
28.

Lauren Alessi:
I'm 26. And I'm about to be 25.

Gaby Alessi:
So we're all we're all there

Stephanie Muiña:
in

Gaby Alessi:
the thick of it.

Stephanie Muiña:
No. And we all are in such different seasons too. It's because and the reason why the twenties is so difficult is because it's a transition season. Yeah. You do spend 10 years transitioning. And for some people, it feels like every 6 months, there's another change. There's another addition to your life. You move out of your parents' house.

Stephanie Muiña:
You get married. You have kids. Your your family is dwindling. Yeah. Your siblings move away. So you're just with your parents,

Gaby Alessi:
it's just you and maybe

Stephanie Muiña:
one other sibling alone with your your family. So it's just a transition season, and it could be tough especially if you enjoyed those younger years of Christmas time. Yeah. I know for me, as a new mom, it's been difficult because it is my responsibility to recreate these experiences for my kids

Gaby Alessi:
Yeah.

Stephanie Muiña:
To bake the cookies, to decorate the house, to watch the movies. But the biggest competition is simply my time. Yeah. There's times that I don't have the time to do that, and I don't really feel this mom guilt because my kids are 2 and 1. That's it's I I understand that they're not waiting on me to bake them Christmas cookies. It's okay. But what I constantly question is, how did my parents do this? How did how is it that I can't recreate this for my kids? Like, how did they do that? How did they slow down time and just enjoy the Christmas time and create these amazing experiences for me? Because I don't seem to get a grip on my schedule because I I haven't we finally put a Christmas movie on last night, but we watched the first yeah. Right.

Stephanie Muiña:
It's November. It's not even November or it's not even December. But we because this year, I finally feel like I'm getting a grip on it. Yeah. And I would say it's because I've accepted that who this change in the Christmas season is a doorway to new memories and new joy. You know? It's not gonna be like Sorry. It's not gonna be like it was 10 years ago.

Lauren Alessi:
Yes, sir.

Stephanie Muiña:
Alan and Ashley have seen me at

Gaby Alessi:
my worst the past few days.

Stephanie Muiña:
The garlic. It's the garlic. No. This is better too.

Gaby Alessi:
What? That makes it worse, Lily.

Stephanie Muiña:
Oh, are you serious?

Lauren Alessi:
Oh, okay. No. I keep it because the viewers need to know it. 70 made a sauce.

Stephanie Muiña:
It's like

Lauren Alessi:
6 cloves of garlic in it, and I have to sit next to her.

Stephanie Muiña:
I'm sorry, everyone. Okay? Podcast. I was trying to make a nice Greek dinner, and it required 6 cloves of garlic. So just embrace it.

Gaby Alessi:
How much sauce did it make?

Stephanie Muiña:
Not that much, Gabby.

Gaby Alessi:
It's crazy. It's

Lauren Alessi:
a garlic.

Stephanie Muiña:
Little crazy.

Lauren Alessi:
Clove to sauce right here.

Stephanie Muiña:
I'm trying to create Christmas memories. Okay? I agree. And it requires lots of garlic.

Gaby Alessi:
Yes. Plan Christmas in your twenties. 6 cloves

Stephanie Muiña:
of garlic. Of garlic in your Greek Greek dinner. Anyway, I'm learning that it's even though it just looks different, there's still joy to be found in it. And I think we're starting to believe this lie that our parents did it so much better, that they, like, something that thought their lives was easier. Yeah. When I think they were going through the exact same thing we were going through Yeah. Life was actually exactly how it is today Yeah. 10 years ago.

Stephanie Muiña:
There's not just the situations have changed. Your environment has changed, but it's still it's it was just easier for us when we were younger to be happy.

Lauren Alessi:
Yeah.

Stephanie Muiña:
It was easier for us as kids to just choose joy.

Gaby Alessi:
Yeah.

Stephanie Muiña:
Now it's it's gonna take a few more mental hurdles

Lauren Alessi:
Yeah.

Stephanie Muiña:
But it's possible. And last night, we had a great night. We watched 20 minutes of Santa Claus, and Gia loved it. And we had dinner on the couch, and, we it's a great choice. Gia loved all of it. She didn't understand what was happening half the time. It's okay. But it was just a matter of getting over those mental hurdles.

Stephanie Muiña:
And I feel like I have to do that almost every night of the week because the expectations are so high. But it's if I could just continue to just choose to relax Yeah. Slow down, enjoy what comes, enjoy the busyness even if it is a busy season, just embrace it, it is what it is, then it makes those mental hurdles easier to to jump over.

Gaby Alessi:
Yeah. And I think the whole idea is, like, it's different. So, like, Christmas in your twenties, it just changes because every year, like you said, it's more and more different.

Lauren Alessi:
Yeah.

Gaby Alessi:
Different isn't bad.

Lauren Alessi:
Yeah.

Gaby Alessi:
Do you wanna talk about that a little bit, though?

Lauren Alessi:
I think it's the your twenties are weird just regardless Yeah. Of Christmas. Is it irregardless or regard whatever? No. You're regardless. Regardless. Okay. Your twenties are weird. Okay.

Lauren Alessi:
Now I got nowhere. I got Regard. Regardless of Christmas or not, your twenties are weird because you have, like, responsibilities and obligations. Yeah. But, technically, no one can tell you what to do, you know, because you're in your twenties. So you kind of you have responsibilities and obligations to be with the family, to show up to Christmas dinner, to do this, but you

Stephanie Muiña:
still parents planned everything for you, so you just kinda follow their lead.

Lauren Alessi:
You follow their lead, but you also have freedom in that, okay. If I want to not be around my entire family, I can get there a little bit later. Yeah. But it it's it's such a weird time because when you're a kid, everything's planned for you. You don't think about it much. You just show up. You open the presents. You do the thing.

Lauren Alessi:
It's all about you at that age. Your twenties, you're either in a position of like, I'm gonna be with my family and I'm just gonna be surrounded by family, do everything the family does, or you're like, my family doesn't plan anything. So I'm kind of all alone. Yeah. And the truth is there's no better or worse situation. Being alone on Christmas is definitely really sad if you don't have a family that doesn't plan anything. But the truth is whether you're surrounded by family and friends, whether you spend the holidays alone, you do have to reach a point where you're like, I have to choose to be happy despite this situation, and I have to choose to plan something. Because there are people who are surrounded by family and friends, and, like, their family and friends are just not the family you'd wanna be around.

Lauren Alessi:
Yeah. So there's people surrounded by family, and they'd rather be alone on Christmas. And then there's people who are alone on Christmas, who are dying to be with family rightfully so. You know? So we all have to reach this point where we're like, okay. We recognize we have this freedom. We have this choice, but we do have obligations because we are reaching adulthood. Yeah. And we have to make that choice on our own.

Lauren Alessi:
Okay? Yeah. We're gonna plan and choose to be happy, regardless of what situation is, it is we're in. Like, we have a friend. She did this really simple thing. She didn't want to be around, like, a certain family member on Thanksgiving. So she booked an Airbnb by herself on her trip. Yeah. And she's like, I know I love my family.

Lauren Alessi:
I'm not being disrespectful. I just know my peace. Like, and

Stephanie Muiña:
I know

Gaby Alessi:
my What it can turn into.

Lauren Alessi:
What it can turn into. She's like, I have no problem spending a couple $100 so that I can truly enjoy my holiday and that my family can truly enjoy me Yes. During the holiday. And I

Gaby Alessi:
think it's the balance. Like, I think she learned the balance of because what I don't agree with is when people believe that the holidays about what they wanna do and what I wanna do, and if it makes me happy, I'm gonna do it. Mhmm. You have the rest of the year to do that. Yeah. You have any other day, any other time of year, you have the entire summer to go on any vacation you want. The holidays is a time that you do spend with your

Stephanie Muiña:
family.

Gaby Alessi:
Yeah. And so it's a it's a it's a perfect mix of, I'm gonna go to the city and I'm gonna stay in the town where we're all gonna get together. I'm gonna go to Thanksgiving dinner with everybody. I'm gonna be there, but I'm gonna stay by myself. Yeah. So I'm gonna alleviate the stress in the house because so many people on top of each other by the by the second day of that trip, you're probably throwing hands and it's just getting assy. But when you can say, I'll be there with family, but I'm also gonna do it kind of on my terms and I'm gonna make it better for everybody Yeah. I think that's the perfect balance.

Stephanie Muiña:
Maturity.

Gaby Alessi:
It's maturity. Yeah.

Stephanie Muiña:
And can I say that we ran into that issue a couple years ago because we are with family all year long? Yeah. Like, we work with each other and we do life together. And I remember we were we had a full week from Christmas Eve, Christmas day, all the way up to New Year's Day. Mhmm. And we thought, hey. Let's go do our own thing. Well, I I wanted to be with the family. I'm a big family person.

Stephanie Muiña:
I I that was a big struggle for me to transition from doing Christmas every year with the 6 of us Yeah. To now doing it on our own. That was a that was really tough for me. Now I'm over. I get it.

Gaby Alessi:
Did you have kids at this time or no?

Stephanie Muiña:
No. This was just him and I. I think Gia was born. Gia was born. So you guys had planned a whole family trip. And I remember at that time, we thought, well, what do we do? Because we're with the family all year long. We go to Stuart all the time. We we take our beach trips together.

Stephanie Muiña:
We take our Yeah. Middle of the year trips. But this is our chance to do something with the family. So we decided, let's go and be by ourselves. Let's do a camping trip. They're gonna go y'all went on your own trip to Charleston Mhmm. And we did our camping trip. And I remember we were 3 days into our camping trip, and I thought, why did we put our foot down? We had plenty of time to do both.

Stephanie Muiña:
Yeah. And we got so, like, hell bent on what we wanted, on what we needed, that we weren't even realistic on how much time we had. And we overwhelmed ourselves with the stress of the holidays. Oh my gosh. This is our only chance. We only have 7 days to go get rest. This is what we're gonna do, and it's final. But then we didn't actually see that the reality was we had plenty of time to do both.

Gaby Alessi:
Yeah. There's 5 days between Christmas and

Christopher Muiña:
Yeah.

Stephanie Muiña:
New year. And some people go back to work on January 3rd Yeah. And you get off on Jan or December 22nd. So you can have 10 full days. Yeah. Yeah. So something that really helped us was taking a step back and saying, okay, do not get overwhelmed by what's coming. Don't let the heaviness of the holidays and the pressure of what to do on holidays to get your rest kind of, mess with your judgment Yeah.

Stephanie Muiña:
Of your planning. You can do all of it. You can get your rest. My we realized our family, like me and Lena and the kids, we are really good with 2 days, 3 days alone. And then we feel refreshed, then we can go participate with the rest of the family. But you have way more time

Lauren Alessi:
You do.

Stephanie Muiña:
To do the little things that you wanna do. If you if you know how to plan it well, don't overwhelm yourself with Yeah. The the pressures of all that planning. You know? Yeah.

Gaby Alessi:
And can we also acknowledge it's just like one Christmas? Like, let's just say you don't like your situation right now. Let's say this Christmas, you're you're preparing for it. The trip didn't work out or somebody is sick in the family or something is happening this Christmas that last Christmas it wasn't like this and it's not gonna be the same. It's just one year.

Stephanie Muiña:
Yeah. You're gonna have another opportunity Oh my gosh.

Gaby Alessi:
Next year. I remember when you guys got married, you and Christopher, our brother got married, separate to separate people. I just realized that that's happened. But when

Stephanie Muiña:
brother and I got married,

Lauren Alessi:
which is weird because your husband's name is

Gaby Alessi:
Is Chris.

Stephanie Muiña:
Chris and I got married.

Gaby Alessi:
Which Chris? So but when that was the first Christmas that it was just Lolo, me, and mom and dad. Yes. And we're blessed with parents that they can sense when, like, things feel different and they're red they're gonna make a memory for us. Yes. But they were talking about what do we wanna do this year, and it was just kinda sad because it's like, it wasn't the same, you know, all 6 of us in the house, and we kinda don't wanna be at the house that year. So we picked up and we went to to Charleston and we had, like, 3 or 4 days, just the 4 of us, in Charleston. We stayed there on Christmas day. This was Just

Stephanie Muiña:
to clarify, this was mom, dad, Gabby, Lulu.

Gaby Alessi:
Yes.

Stephanie Muiña:
And me and Kristen moved out of the house.

Gaby Alessi:
Yes. And we went and we something completely different. It did not look like Christmas at all. It didn't really feel like Christmas. Christmas day didn't feel like it as much because we woke up, had brunch, and then we drove back to our, like, vacation home that we have. So it wasn't even really, like, a normal Christmas feeling. But number 1, it was so exciting. Like, we had such a blast.

Gaby Alessi:
I think that was one of my favorite trips we've ever been on because it was just the 4 of us.

Stephanie Muiña:
Spontaneity is so fun.

Gaby Alessi:
It's the best. You're all adults, so there's not, like, kids you're having to to consider of, like, this restaurant, that restaurant. We just had so much fun, and we made no plans and just ate, like, all day every day.

Christopher Muiña:
Oh my gosh.

Gaby Alessi:
But then when we got back to the house and you guys still weren't there, yes, we just had this great trip, The blue started to hit or like that. The low started to come. But I remember thinking, I was like, this is just one Christmas.

Stephanie Muiña:
It's just one Christmas.

Gaby Alessi:
Next year will look different. And the same is is true about this Christmas. This Christmas might look a certain way, but next year, it's gonna look different. And I think that's just a good perspective of, yes, make the most of this Christmas, but don't dwell too much Yeah. On this Christmas if it doesn't look the way that you want it to look. Yeah. Bring fun. Make memories with your family.

Gaby Alessi:
But if it's a hard Christmas, just embrace that too

Lauren Alessi:
Yeah.

Gaby Alessi:
And just do what you can to enjoy it and get through it. And then next year, you'll bring it'll bring new joy and new opportunities and and more fun.

Stephanie Muiña:
Well, because did you wanna say something? Finish what you're saying, Melissa. Because I think the reality of it is you were sad when you were alone at home, not married yet. And then I got married, and I was having my own Christmas with my husband, and I was sad because I was missing my family. Yeah. So I think that no matter what season you're in, there's going to be a sadness attached to the holidays.

Lauren Alessi:
Yeah.

Stephanie Muiña:
Just like a birthday, you're met with reality on the day of your birthday. How much have I achieved? Yeah. Have I gotten married yet? Do I have kids yet? Have I have I achieved enough yet? But don't let the holidays do that. It's it's not a barometer of your life. That's not what the holidays are for. It's really a barometer of the people that are in your life. Mhmm. And it's it's just a day on the calendar, really.

Stephanie Muiña:
It's just a day on the calendar where you exchange gifts, you eat the cookies, you watch the the movies, and don't allow your thoughts to drift to, I don't have enough in my life yet or I don't have that thing that I wanted this year for Christmas. Like you said, it's just one day that goes right past. Yeah. Yeah. And don't let it hyper analyze the things you have or the things you don't have in your life. Yeah.

Lauren Alessi:
And what's funny is that the it was 1 year that we're like, oh, how sad they're not here at home anymore. And then now every year after that, when we all get together, we're like, how did we all live together under one house?

Stephanie Muiña:
Yes. We

Lauren Alessi:
are so annoyed of each other. Yes.

Gaby Alessi:
It's so weird

Stephanie Muiña:
how that happened. Did I tell you how I read my journal a couple weeks ago? No. And I read the journal entry from COVID when we all stayed in Stuart together, all 6 of us in a tiny little condo.

Gaby Alessi:
Oh my god.

Stephanie Muiña:
And I wrote in my journal, we've been together for 1 week and we're already sick of each other. I think we're gonna go home because we need a little bit of our lives back. And I wrote we were Yeah. The the days that I longed for so bad where I missed my family, they weren't as amazing as I remembered. No.

Gaby Alessi:
And you even said in that journal that you were writing about, like, God, bring my husband because you you hadn't known Chris yet, and you're like, God, bring my husband. Like, I just want this. I want that. He's gonna change my life forever. And now you're reading it in bed with your husband knocked out, and you're probably looking at him like, you're so annoying.

Stephanie Muiña:
Like, this is a great divorce. Yes.

Lauren Alessi:
But I do wanna ask I do wanna ask because, like, we always have had a big family. Always. We've always had something planned for Christmas. What do we say to people who are like, this is great, but I'm all alone for Christmas. And their family doesn't plan anything fun. They they they just don't have that. And even if they have a family, maybe their family doesn't plan anything. Yeah.

Lauren Alessi:
Yeah.

Stephanie Muiña:
So what do we have to say

Lauren Alessi:
to people who are maybe in that predicament for Christmas? Yeah. You wanna go?

Stephanie Muiña:
Yeah. I would say well, it's because I now have in laws and the way I've I'm that's my family now. I've been married for about 3 years, so it's really felt like they are my family. And I learned that the way the Alessi family has fun is very different from how the Muina family has fun. And for a year or 2, I thought that there was something wrong. Like, oh, this isn't fun enough. Like, they're not doing it right. This isn't how I like to have fun.

Stephanie Muiña:
But I had to really shift my perspective, and I had to see, okay. What do they like to do? Mhmm. What makes them have fun?

Lauren Alessi:
That's a good point.

Stephanie Muiña:
Because for us, I would, like, I what did we do? We did puzzles. We did games.

Gaby Alessi:
The house.

Stephanie Muiña:
We chill at the house. We we baked. We football. We watch oh my gosh. And my, in laws, they don't watch football. They didn't really like puzzles. Some of them like board games, but something that they really love to do is arts and crafts. They love that.

Stephanie Muiña:
Like, that is how we enjoy our family time. They love to just sit outside and watch the kids play. And I had to shift my perspective and realize, okay, I I just want to enjoy this Christmas season how my family enjoys it. Just like you said, it is about the family. It's not about what you want. It's about everybody getting together and making a memory. So a way to go about that is to ask the unit that you're a part of, whether that's your family or a group of friends, because there are people that don't have a lot of family, or they've lost some family members, a good way to to approach it is to ask, how can we have fun in this as the with this family or in this season? Yeah. A lot of people are gonna be spending the Christmas season with lots of medications around them, maybe in the hospital Mhmm.

Stephanie Muiña:
Maybe at home with a nurse by their side. We don't know what that situation's like. So a good way to confront that is just to ask, okay, then how can we have fun? Just us. Maybe Yeah. We we however it is that family unit enjoys their time. Yeah. Embrace it. Yeah.

Stephanie Muiña:
And expand on that. They like arts and crafts, then I'm gonna go to Michael's, and I'm gonna buy the best arts and crafts that we can get. I'm gonna go all out and enjoy it how the rest of the family enjoys it.

Gaby Alessi:
Yeah. And I'd say go outside the box of what you think Christmas needs to be. Again, like, the expectation. So I know we have a friend that she might not get with her family often or maybe they they don't initiate Christmas or maybe this Christmas, they wanna spend time with all of them and their kids and they don't get together as a big family. So she she could be facing a Christmas alone this year. If that's you, if you're alone and there's no opportunities, there's nobody getting together, then where can you go? What what different event can you go to? Like

Stephanie Muiña:
Yeah.

Gaby Alessi:
There are football games now. And I know this might sound, like, super practical, but, like, there are football games on Christmas day. There are big events on Christmas day. Like, you're I could tell you if you are alone on Christmas, you are not the only person that's alone on Christmas. Yeah. And so maybe take this time to do something different. Maybe take Christmas day to think about people that are either less fortunate than you, how you can give back on Christmas day. Go and serve people.

Gaby Alessi:
I know here in Miami, we have, like, a big the Miami Rescue Mission that does a big Christmas thing, but just kinda get out of your own box of Christmas and what you expect and what you feel like you need. And if you don't have the family for it, go and bless somebody else. Make it about them. Because we also know when you refresh others, you'll be refreshed.

Stephanie Muiña:
Yeah.

Gaby Alessi:
When you give back to others, you'll feel good. And so you might not have the family unit, you might not have the people around you, but what can you do for other people? And if you do have the family unit and they're not pursuing and they're not pushing to plan something, be the initiator. Yeah. Get on the family chat and say, this is what we're doing. Make the schedule. Send it to the family.

Stephanie Muiña:
Yes.

Gaby Alessi:
Say whoever wants to come, get your friends together. Send it to your friends. Don't just wait to be pursued when it comes to that. Don't just wait for Yes. Your parents, your siblings, your friends to do it. Yes. Be the initiator. Be the fun bringer.

Gaby Alessi:
Yeah. And it was funny because I was talking to someone yesterday about our the last Christmas, the 6 of us spent together. And our parents, when we were growing up, we did Santa. We were big Santa people.

Stephanie Muiña:
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Gaby Alessi:
So love Santa. And we wanted to give mom and dad the Santa magic. In case there's anybody listening, we wanted mom and dad to experience Santa because they hadn't experienced it since they were kids. So us 4 worked with Santa.

Stephanie Muiña:
Santa, we sent him a letter?

Gaby Alessi:
We sent Santa a letter, and we created Santa and Christmas morning for our parents. The last morning or the last Christmas morning, the 6 of us, it was just the 6 of us. No spouses, nothing. And we had the best time. It was funny. It was just sweet. We made them, breakfast that morning, and Santa sent them a letter that led them outside, led them to a gift. It was

Lauren Alessi:
the whole thing. We were I'm really enjoying

Gaby Alessi:
it now.

Stephanie Muiña:
Like, just remember they woke up and they were like,

Gaby Alessi:
and she's, like, in her her I think she's almost 40. She has 3 kids. But her parents, her dad is sick at home. Her dad can't travel, can't do anything. He lives about 2 hours from her. And because of his illness, they can't just bring everybody around. And he's not even that old. Like, he's, I think, in his, like, sixties, seventies.

Gaby Alessi:
So it's really a burden on her because she's like, how do I make Christmas special for my kids? Yeah. Sure. And how does Santa stop by our house and we have Christmas morning, but then leave my dad at home?

Lauren Alessi:
Mhmm.

Gaby Alessi:
And so when I told her about it, she was just like she almost started to cry because she's like, I wanna do this for my dad. Mhmm. And she's like, you know, my family is not a very fun family. And I was like, this is interesting because the truth is there's a lot of people that don't have a fun family. They don't think about

Stephanie Muiña:
No. Their version of fun

Gaby Alessi:
is sitting down watching a movie.

Stephanie Muiña:
I would even say almost the majority of families are like that.

Gaby Alessi:
They're just, let's just chill. Let's do what we always do. And she was so encouraged that we would do that, and she's like, I think I wanna create that for my dad because he's had such a hard year.

Stephanie Muiña:
That's sweet.

Gaby Alessi:
I think I'm gonna do something like that. So her and her siblings are working together. But it just it made me realize not everybody, like Lauren said, has family like us

Stephanie Muiña:
Yeah.

Gaby Alessi:
But the family you do have or the friends you do have, the community that you have, how can you enjoy the season with that community?

Lauren Alessi:
Yeah.

Gaby Alessi:
And don't be nervous to put yourself out there and ask somebody, hey, can I celebrate Christmas with you?

Stephanie Muiña:
Yes.

Gaby Alessi:
Can I can I do can I bring something to your house and and can I be a part of it? Don't be afraid to put yourself out there.

Stephanie Muiña:
Yeah.

Gaby Alessi:
And if you have a

Stephanie Muiña:
big

Gaby Alessi:
family and you do something big every year, then open up your home to someone you know that might be alone Yes. And invite them. Yes. Especially all of us, all of these Cuban families in Miami, you guys invite cousins 7 times removed. Yeah. So Yes.

Lauren Alessi:
Like, this is my second cousin's ex boyfriend, but we love him. He's coming he's coming

Gaby Alessi:
the same way. And she's coming with her husband.

Christopher Muiña:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Gaby Alessi:
There's no drama, but it's fine. But invite that person. Have them stop by even if it's just for 2 hours. That way they can just be around family It's true. In a good environment.

Stephanie Muiña:
Yeah. No. And there's nothing better than sitting around. If you're if you're spending time with people that are older that can't really move because of age or whatever, there is nothing better than just asking them, what are some of your favorite Christmas memories? Yeah. And maybe repeating those Christmas memories. If if it was making an old, dessert Yeah. Then look up the recipe and look that up. And the best thing you can do is get in the car and just go drive and look for snow.

Stephanie Muiña:
Yeah. That's true. That's another fun thing that you can do. Christmas snow place. Just go drive and see what your city offers. Yeah. But I love what you said about initiating. Yeah.

Stephanie Muiña:
Because we can easily get in our head thinking, I don't wanna put myself out there and embarrass myself because Yeah. That's gonna admit I don't have anybody. Or you get insecure. Just you you get these thoughts that really isolate you. But put those aside, pick up the phone, ask somebody, what are you doing this year for Christmas? Can I join you? Let's do something.

Lauren Alessi:
Yep. It's really special.

Gaby Alessi:
So let's plan a great Christmas time, girls.

Stephanie Muiña:
Yes. Let's

Gaby Alessi:
What are you gonna bring to the table at Christmas? What are you gonna plan?

Stephanie Muiña:
Oh my gosh. I haven't even thought about it. I'm gonna bring, I wanted I don't know. I haven't even thought about it after this whole podcast.

Gaby Alessi:
Lola, what are you planning for?

Lauren Alessi:
Oh gosh. Now I'm nervous. I have no idea. I would like no. I would like to do, like, a cooking night with my friends. That's put on the calendar for, like, a soup night specifically. Me too. She's jumping off.

Stephanie Muiña:
I wanna do that too. I'm doing that too. How'd you I I was just gonna say that.

Lauren Alessi:
No. And she just did this in the office, by the way. She was, I have an idea. I wanna make lasagna for people. I'm like, you mean what I did last year? Last year.

Stephanie Muiña:
Oh my god. So I guess, can I join you? I forgot what was

Lauren Alessi:
soup making night because soup's not very easy to make. You think it is. It's not

Gaby Alessi:
That's a great But,

Lauren Alessi:
yeah, we all make soup, and then we take it home.

Stephanie Muiña:
That's a good night. I have an even better idea. No. I did say I forgot. I wanted to, look at the the less fortunate. I'm just kidding. I wanted to bring lasagnas to, some of the widows in the church. Okay.

Lauren Alessi:
Let's say that again because we're laughing.

Stephanie Muiña:
Thanks for saying that. You're such a.

Gaby Alessi:
Okay. Let's start again. Can you use it? What? What? You said the less fortunate. And then he said I was like, I'm gonna help the less fortunate. No. I'm kidding. No. And then she's laughing and saying I wanna bring a lasagna.

Gaby Alessi:
I

Stephanie Muiña:
just wanted to try and just had to say it. Okay.

Lauren Alessi:
Go ahead. Pull it together, Lauren.

Gaby Alessi:
Okay. Stephanie, what are you doing for Christmas?

Stephanie Muiña:
I will I actually had it on my heart to make lasagnas with my sister, which is the idea I stole from her from last year. I forgot she did this last year, but she's doing it again this year

Gaby Alessi:
and I'm joining her.

Lauren Alessi:
There you go.

Stephanie Muiña:
For some of the widows in the church and, just make them little frozen lasagnas. That's what I

Lauren Alessi:
was doing.

Stephanie Muiña:
Gabby, what are you doing?

Lauren Alessi:
What are you doing? So funny.

Gaby Alessi:
I'm thinking, like, the week of Christmas.

Stephanie Muiña:
Like, when we're family, what are we gonna plan? Yeah. What are you planning?

Gaby Alessi:
So I was gonna

Lauren Alessi:
be, like, late night, like, dance parties with the family, and then you

Gaby Alessi:
guys are, like, giving back. And I was like, oh my gosh.

Lauren Alessi:
I think that's great, though.

Gaby Alessi:
But I think it would be, like, making plans for the family of either reserving a dinner, like, finding a nice restaurant because we are gonna go out of town as a family.

Stephanie Muiña:
Yes.

Gaby Alessi:
So reserving the dinner or finding places like that, like, making plans throughout the day because sometimes you go on vacation and then you want loose plans. You don't want, like, a strict, agenda. Yeah. So finding the loose plans, that way we don't leave it all on mom because, you know, mom, she plans everything, and she does an amazing job. Yes. So

Stephanie Muiña:
we gotta

Lauren Alessi:
we gotta

Stephanie Muiña:
do this. Lights. None of the things is Christmas lights. I really wanna do this.

Gaby Alessi:
Are so fun. And s'mores. Last year, we did that, like, s'mores night at the house over at Christmas. So something like that. But I love the idea of of getting friends together and and pulling people together. Because Christmas doesn't have to just be on 25th? Nope. No.

Stephanie Muiña:
You can make it whenever you want.

Gaby Alessi:
Alright. Well, that is it. That's how you plan Christmas in your twenties. We hope you guys enjoyed this episode of the family business podcast with these Alessis and Muenas. Have a great day, everybody. And on the count of 3, let's say Merry Christmas. 1, 2, 3.

Stephanie Muiña:
Merry Christmas.

Christopher Muiña:
You've just enjoyed another episode of the family business podcast with Violetsis, and we can't thank you enough for being a part of our podience today. Now that you've learned more about us, here's how you can join in in the family business. 1st, make sure you're following our podcast right now, and download this episode so you can hear it at any time. 2nd, think of someone you know that might need or enjoy this episode, and share it with them. You'll be helping them, and helping us to spread the word about the family business. 3rd, go to alesseefamilybusiness.com, and tap the ask the Alesses button. This is really cool. You can use it to record a voicemail comment or question, and we can add your voice to our conversations.

Chris Alessi:
Finally, while you're on our page, tap the reviews tab, and you'll see a link to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. We love reading your reviews, and we might even share them on the show. Thanks again for joining us, and we'll see you next time at the Family Business with the Alessis, because family is everybody's business.