Anna's Guide Bringing In The Holidays
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If you are watching this episode at midnight on October 31st, turning into November 1st, congratulations. You are a part of the elite. You've made it. We've done the thing. We survived the year and are officially entering the most... Finish it with me. Wonderful time of what? Of the year. And that is Christmas. It's Christmas. It's the holidays. It's winter. Whether or not you celebrate Christmas, it is...

The season of giving, the season of a little bit of thanks, but let's be so for real. I'm not trying to be that girly. We skip Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is the pregame of Christmas, okay? The holidays, the winter season, whichever holiday you celebrate, even if you don't celebrate any holiday at all, it is Santa season. And we have arrived and I am sad. I am sad in this podcast and I have been waiting for this moment.

Does anybody hear anything? What? What is that? The bells? Oh yeah, the jingle bells? Let them rock, baby. I'm dialed in. I've never been more prepared. And today we're talking about how we're going to ring in the season. I am going to start sweating because I live in L.A.,

I'm underneath the softest, fuzziest, fluffiest blanket I could find in my home that made it feel like Christmas. I put on my favorite little red cozy sweater. And on top of it, my building asked all the units in my column not to turn their air conditioning on because the person in the bottom of the column is having some perspiration develop on their pipes. So I have no AC right now because I'm a rule follower. And if they told me not to turn it on, I'm not going to turn it on. So it's a little toasty.

It's a little cozy up here. This light's not helping, but I wouldn't change it for the world. It almost feels like I'm sitting in front of a fire. I'm going to pretend that I am. I'm putting it on my frame TV. And guys, I am so happy that you are here. Welcome to Anna's Guide, my podcast. I'm Anna, your host. And today we're ringing in the year. We're ringing in the end of the year. You survived.

We did it. We're almost there. We have two months left. And the truth is they're going to fly by. And I'm not somebody who sits around waiting for the holiday season to really kick into full swing because I feel like every year that I wait, I feel like it went by too fast and I didn't actually get to enjoy it. I want to see my tree every day. I want to start nestling presents underneath it for the people that I love.

I want to bake. I want to cook. I want to do a little bit of shopping. I want to be annoyed at the mall with how many people there are and how little parking spots there are. I'm truthfully looking forward to that experience. And every year I complain about it. And this year will be no different. But deep down, I'm really loving every second of it. So guys, we did it. We're here. And I'm so happy that it's officially November 1st and not weird for me to put up my 12-foot Christmas tree.

Now, that being said, we're going to be talking about all the things that are happening this season, including decor, how to gift shop, where to start. What does this season mean to you? What traditions do we have in store? I doubt this will be my only episode regarding the holiday season. I know not everybody celebrates Christmas, so I just want to say this real quick that

This isn't only for people who love Christmas or come from a faith or from a religion that celebrates Christmas specifically for that reason. There's something about the end of the year that I've loved, whether I was in school or out of school, that feels like the time where everything slows down. I talked about it in my Winter Arc episode. This is our hibernation period, and I think that's why I love this season. The truth behind the holidays and Christmas is...

or whatever you want to title the next two months is that it's about spending time with the people you love. All that hard work slows down a little bit and we dial into the start of a new year. And I love new beginnings. If you know anything about me, it's that I say you can begin at any point in life. Every day is a chance for a new beginning. But this is like the actual new beginning. And I'm not going to waste the couple of months that come before it. That really are my time to just

The holidays. I love them. Okay, before we get into this major topic that we're about to be covering, we're going to talk about something else first. Our rosebud thorn. We couldn't miss it. Why would we go without that? Now, actually, I think my rosebud thorns came very naturally to me today. It's also going to stem into a different conversation that has nothing to do with the holidays. So if you don't want to hear about the holidays, the good news is I have some stories for you now. Okay? Thing number one, I feel like I could have multiples of this rose.

Oh, I don't know which one to tell you guys. Maybe I'll tell you both because why not? I mean, this is like a special episode. It's midnight. We're doing it. Okay. My rose of this week is two things. Thing number one is that today I went for a walk because I had to film a video for a brand deal. So I went for a little walk and as I'm walking, I noticed there was like a tent set up outside of Petco and there was a bunch of puppies in cages. And I was like, what is this? And it turns out twice every two weeks, twice a month. Okay. Okay.

The Hearts of Ace or Ace of Hearts, and maybe it's called Ace of Hearts. Ace of Hearts checks out more than Hearts of Ace. Ace of Hearts is like an organization that does like fostering and sheltering puppies. They like allow donations so you can go into the Petco and if you're shopping for your pet, just like pick up an extra leash and you can donate to them. Guys, I didn't know this existed. I've lived in this neighborhood for a year. I didn't know this existed. So I was like, um, sign me up. I immediately signed.

I hooked it and went into Petco, bought all the things I would have bought a puppy that I had right now that I don't have because I love animals. And I took it out and I donated it. And that was the peak of my day. It was just like, I don't know, it just like felt good to get to like walk in there and like do a little bit of shopping. And I kind of romanticized that I would have a puppy one day. And I was like, what if I took one of these dogs home right now? And I was like, no, you literally can't because what my butt is, is that I'm moving to New York for the month of November.

I'm moving there for three weeks. So I'll be gone for a majority of the month. My sister lives out there. We're doing our holidays out there. At least Thanksgiving, our Christmas pregame we're doing out there. So I will not be home. And with that, I cannot have an animal. It just sucks. I want one so bad. If I had a pet, it would travel everywhere with me. My pet would be sick of me. It would also be Christmas every day for my pet because I would literally buy it stuff all the time. It'd be very dangerous for me and my bank account. Okay, but...

either way that was kind of my rose that's also my bud another rose that I had is kind of a crazy story um and I'm questioning if I'm gonna leave this in I kind of want to talk about it on TikTok I kind of feel like I should just say it now I don't really know how to approach this story because it does get very serious but it was kind of a crazy thing and I really want the lesson of it to get said at some point because especially while it's fresh on my mind and fresh on my heart I just want to speak it out into the

A moment that I had was yesterday I was on a flight home. I'm going to make this a super long story, super short, okay? The night before my sister and I were talking about my career, what I do for work, we're talking about life right now, all these things. And I had kind of opened up about a lot of emotions that I've been feeling lately and maybe that mentally I was struggling with this idea that potentially I am fearful that I've already done like the big thing in my life, okay? Like sometimes I get afraid that like

I've already lived my best years. Okay. I know. I know. That's something that I preach about quite often. Not being the case that, like, life only gets better. Doesn't mean I don't have intrusive thoughts of that happening for myself. That, like, I don't know. Sometimes I just become afraid that, like, I did it and this is it. So, I was kind of having that moment with my sister and just talking about life. And...

I'm on my flight home. The seat next to me is open and I'm in, it goes one seat, two seats down the middle of the plane and one seat on the far end. So I'm in the middle. So it should be me. And then somebody next to me, very intimate setup. Um,

The seat's empty until about five minutes before takeoff, a guy comes and sits down and we kind of have this sweet banter where he makes a joke because I'm wearing a Dodgers hat and he's wearing Yankees shirt and I didn't realize that was the day of the game yesterday. So he sits down and he's like kind of giving me a hard time, but like in a very nice joking manner, not in like an actual like mean, like angry at me manner. And as we're visiting, I'm asking about what he does and what he's doing. And he asks me about the book that I'm reading and I'm telling him about the book I'm reading. And listen,

I'm saying this so upfront. This is my disclaimer. Whether you are someone of faith or someone of religion or someone of the universe who's like, I just believe in like higher power and I believe in the universe. Maybe you don't believe in any of that stuff. And that's also cool too. Sometimes I think the universe has divine timing. Okay. Whatever you believe in does not matter. This is what's insane about this experience. The night before I'm telling my sister about like feeling like I don't have a purpose and like sometimes I just don't know why.

Who I am and what do I like? And that's been a conversation and we're like, I, some days I wake up and I feel so sure of myself and some days I wake up and I'm like, life is over. This man doesn't know me, doesn't know what I do for work. At no point it came up. We never talked about what do you do for work?

even tell him what i was in new york for i told him i was there for a day and that's all we talked about we're five minutes from landing we didn't speak the whole flight by the way either we talked for the first 30 minutes i ended up reading falling asleep and then waking up and 10 minutes before landing he looks over to me and he goes you know and i will i'm gonna also open he said it in a way of faith he was like god just put this on my heart okay so he just says it's on my heart and i want to say this to you this man doesn't know me okay he's spoken to me for 30 minutes

Okay. And he looks at me and he goes, I hope that you know you have such a purpose. And I hope you don't rip the pages out of your book before somebody finishes writing your story. What? I tried not to look shocked. I had chills over my entire body. And I was like, how did you know that? I didn't have anything on my phone. He kind of like looked over. There was nothing. But something about this man he knew. Interesting enough, this man was a preacher. So he shared those words of wisdom. He also continued to tell me that like,

It doesn't matter where you start. It matters where you end. And, like, have faith. And I was like, thank you. And then deep down, I'm like, holy crap-oly. How did this man know that that was something that I, like, literally just had a full breakdown about the night before? Anyway. So I wanted to share that tidbit with you. Don't rip the pages out before somebody finishes writing your story.

Because they've got a good one for you. And even if you feel like you're not doing well enough, even if you feel like this holiday season is coming around and you're worried that, you know, another year has passed and you still feel like mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually, you're exactly where you were last year. Somebody's moving with divine timing. Okay. I said to get that off my chest. That to me was a rose of this week.

For some reason, I had it on my heart that I wanted to share that with you. I also want to talk about it on TikTok. So if you see the video again, let me know if you heard it in the podcast first. Or maybe you'll hear it on TikTok because I could post it before Thursday. But nonetheless, that was a very interesting thing of this week. What's my thorn? Glad you asked. We're just going to divert that conversation. I just want to say I don't really know what to say about that. I'm just shocked. I don't know how that man knew. I don't know. Sometimes things like that happen in life.

And it makes me literally just say to myself, like, there's no way we're, I mean, I know what I believe, but like things like that happen and it just feels like a little like, okay, pop off. Anywho, my thorn of this week.

is interesting actually also a weird one we're like getting into a bunch of little baby stories before we even talk about the real juicy part of this podcast episode but my story for today is it's not even a real thorn it's more of a confusion it's something that i'm trying to navigate myself i had to go out and film in public today like i said i was walking to go shoot a brand deal and that's when i walked by the petco and then i went and sat in the park to film a video because guys i'm partnering with kindle oh

and kindle obviously um and i'm not paid to tell you that on the podcast but it's gonna happen this week on social media anyway and i am freaking losing my marbles because they sent me one of the color soft kindles and my best best best birthday present that i got was i got a kindle last year from mr brew on the radio and i'm obsessed with it and they like reached out we're like do you want to have the new color soft we'd love to do a partnership with you and i was like guys

I love an authentic partnership. This is so for real right now. I couldn't wait. So I went and filmed a cute video like out in public sitting in a park reading because I was like, that's a cuter backdrop than, I mean, this is a cute backdrop too, but I just wanted something different and new and kind of like, you know, you kind of have to like market it in a way in my brain. I'm like, you know, I want people to know how versatile this is. And like, I'm somebody who genuinely carries my Kindle everywhere. This does not even apply to the story. Anywho.

I'm out in the park with my Kindle and I'm alone. So to film this video, what do you have to do? I take out my little baby tripod. I plop her down. I hide her between the trees. I sit between the trees also kind of hiding because like I don't really get embarrassed. But like there's always a little bit of like a weirdness. Like I know my job looks weird and I just don't really like giving people like, I don't know. I'm not really trying to be like super weird.

Like, look at me film in public. I'm just kind of trying to like get my shot and get out of there. Okay. Because I actually become more fearful that I'm making other people uncomfortable that I'm filming. I don't know. It's a weird thing. So I set up my little tripod. I put my camera in, I go and sit down to my video. And as I'm taking my video, I like look over and people are filming me film myself. And this is something that I just don't understand. Okay. Okay.

It's a me problem. I know it comes with the job. It's part of the territory. It's not that big of a deal. I get it. Okay. But also I'm not like in the middle of the street doing the renegade. I'm just trying to get an aesthetic little artsy cutie girl video of me reading my Kindle in the park. And for some reason, I just don't really understand. I even tried to put obstacles between me and the public to film this video. And people just walked around the tree to get a better shot of me getting the shot. I was kind of like...

Why did you need that video? Like, I know why I needed my video. It's kind of part of my job. But it just is always that thing where I just kind of get like... That kind of makes me feel awkward and weird. Because I'm like, are you going to use that to bully me? Because I don't really like that either. So...

I guess my thorn is my overthinking of whatever that was that happened today. And listen, I'm going to take my video. I'm going to mind my business and I'm going to get the shot because I looked cute as hell and so did the shot. And honestly, cinematic. I posted on my Instagram story already because I'm obsessed with it. I was like, this is so beautiful. I don't even want to miss this moment. I was just trying to get like a cute little cinematic serendipitous moment. But it always makes me feel weird when people like start recording you and they see you recording yourself. Like,

I'm not that salty if I end up on influencers in the wild, but I'm also just kind of like, can I just do my job in peace? Anyway, I'm not hurting anybody. I'm minding my, I'm not even like taking up the park. I'm like deep in the corner. You wouldn't even know I was there unless you were looking for me. Anyway, that's my rant. That's all I have to say. But let's talk about what's really important today. November 1st, the holidays.

It's that time of year. It's that season. It's come around. And listen, it's going to fly by. It always does. So don't let your fear of decorating too early stop you. The first topic of today is why I love the holidays. And I think I kind of disclosed this a little bit at the beginning of the episode. I love it because it feels like our hibernation period. It's our time to connect with our family. It's our time to feel more like ourself, to slow down, to sit on the couch, to light a fire, to buy gifts.

To also be a little bit stressed honestly because I feel like this is also a stressful time of year because you want to be a good gift together You want to treat your family? It can be difficult to be around family. I totally get that but wow, I feel like I always look forward to the season because i'm like i'm so thankful that like This is the time that I feel like in my life. I really get to slow down and really just get to Disconnect a little bit and that's exactly what i'm gonna be doing this season so

How have my holidays evolved since I was a kid? I mean, when I was little, Christmas, I grew up Catholic. So Christmas always had like that 9 p.m. or midnight mass on Christmas Eve that I hated going to because it always felt like it was seven hours long. But what I love about it is my family had really cute traditions that they still do. I might even have to take this blanket off because I'm cooking. Also enjoy my leopard pants. I'm obsessed with leopard print right now.

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My family had some traditions that I really love that we still uphold and that they've actually evolved since then, which I'm really happy about too. One of the things that my family does is we do a name exchange on Christmas Eve and then Santa comes on Christmas Day. So on Christmas Eve, actually on Thanksgiving, we exchange names. We throw all of our names into a cup. My family of five. There's my mom, my dad, me, my sister, and my brother.

Throw our names into a cup, mix them up, and we all pull a name. Now, how has it evolved? My sister got married.

My brother is single now. Sorry, Michael, to expose you like that. And I have a boyfriend. And for the first time last year, my parents implemented, because all the kids were in a relationship last year, my parents implemented that we were allowed to have our partners in the name exchange. In previous years, it was not allowed to be until you were married. So what's funny is my sister got married and then everyone's like, okay, you're all included. Nevermind. Like it was like the year to do it. So yeah.

Now we have the whole family included, which means that we will have seven this year. It will be mom, dad, me, my sister, my brother, Brew, and my sister's husband, Michael, my brother, and me.

doesn't matter they don't have a girlfriend he's still involved in it okay if you find someone before then maybe she's involved who knows um but it's kind of a rite of passage in my family to be a part of the name exchange okay stunning time of year stunning wonderful like it's exciting you're kind of texting the family it's also like a big quizlet of like who has who you don't know who you're asking you have to be careful who you tell that you have because they could have you and then they're going to be able to piece together who everybody has favorite thing

So normally my mom will make like a big dinner. We'll do our name exchange. We'd go to church and then we'd all come home. We'd go to sleep. Santa shows up.

And then we chill the whole day of Christmas just doing whatever. Now, as I've gotten older, our holidays have shifted a little bit as we have partners. Now, I previously had never really spent a holiday with a partner because, I don't know, I was just kind of like too young to do that. There was no reason to separate because I was never married. And my sister and her husband, I think, would do a divided once they got married. But once they got married too, it was kind of like,

It set the tone for the whole family of siblings. This year is actually a Michigan Christmas year. So my family has decided that the siblings and the children will all do Christmas at home one year and away the next year. So last year was a home Christmas and an away Thanksgiving. This year is a home Thanksgiving and an away Christmas.

So my parents will be empty nesters on Christmas, except I've heard through the grapevine this year that my parents might be going to like New York or like obviously my little brother might be with my parents this year and they might go and spend it with my sister in New York. So I'm like, OK, so everybody's going to hang out without me.

What? Anyway, it's fine. I don't have, um, I don't have, I don't, I don't, I'm not going to finish that sentence. It doesn't bother me. Why would it? I'm kidding. I get Michigan and I'm really hoping it snows this year. That's my dream. If I could have one wish for Christmas, it's a white Christmas, a snow filled, like flurry blizzard. Like I want to wake up to a foot of snow on the ground now.

In my adulthood, when we have Christmas at home in my parents' house, now they live in California, we also will go surfing on Christmas. And we'll go surfing as a family on New Year's Day. It's very California of us. But the things I'm looking forward for this holiday is this is my second Christmas in Michigan because it's actually my and Brew's third Christmas. That's a lie. This is our fourth Christmas dating. Wait, that's crazy. Also...

There's another element of this too. I did not celebrate Halloween this year. Hot take. I skipped it altogether. I didn't mean to. It wasn't intentional. It just didn't really work out. Truthfully, I didn't get invited to anything.

And I was, like, traveling right before this weekend and, like, all these things. So if you're coming right out of your, like, Halloween high, you just had, like, the best, like, cool spooky weekend, I'm really excited for this chill season for you. I've been, like, kind of slow burning chill season for, like, the last two weeks already. I, like, have slowly brought out my little Christmas mug. I'm literally going to bring it up here to drink with it because, like, look at it.

It's adorable. So I'm like slowly actually bringing in Christmas sooner because I didn't really celebrate Halloween. Like, Brew is gone on a boys weekend in Vegas right now. It's like next week Thursday, the day this episode comes out, I'm going on an anniversary trip because it's Brew and my three years. So I don't know. I didn't celebrate Halloween.

but I'm really excited for this next season. And the fact that this is our fourth Christmas together is crazy. We're going to Michigan to be with his family and my family name exchange will still take place, but we're,

I just kind of get to experience what it's like having a holiday with another family, and that's always so interesting, too. It's like getting to experience how other people see the holiday season. I'm obsessed with that. It's so wholesome, and it's so cute. And that they have, like, little foods that they love to cook, or, like, Brew's favorite, like, things that his mom makes around the holidays, or, like, what do they do on their Christmas Eve, or when do they see all the kids? All of those little things bring me so much joy, and getting to experience them with a different family makes me so excited, and also...

one day getting to have those different traditions with my own family. So that's the one thing I'm truly counting down to and waiting to see evolve, especially as like family members and my family start having kids or like, you know, just as our family begins to grow more, my siblings get married. Maybe I get married. Maybe Bruce families get, gets married. Maybe there's a season where our families have Christmas together. I mean, you have, I have no idea what the future has in store, but how exciting is that? So, um,

Setting up begins November 1st. Is that too soon? No. No, it's not. I would begin October 1st if I could. I am putting up my Christmas tree. Brew gets home tomorrow. I'm putting up my Christmas tree tomorrow. I will be clearing out my house and putting up my tree because, first off, why wait? And also, it just brings me so much joy. The season is short. We have two months that we get to look at a beautiful, sparkly tree. I want to be sick of it. So I will be putting up my Christmas tree on tomorrow, which is even earlier. I mean, that's going to be...

October 27th, my Christmas tree will be up. I have no regrets. Then we actually end up leaving for some of November. So obviously I won't even get to experience my tree firsthand on my own in my house. So I kind of have to start decorating early. I think if it brings you joy, you should do it.

I also usually regret that I don't listen to more Christmas music around the holiday season. That's something that I'm going to implement this year. But something that I think we face as adults is it not feeling like Christmas. It is what it is. Sometimes I feel like the holiday season comes around and it just doesn't feel like the holidays. Not that you're not in the mood to experience it. It doesn't feel the same way that it was when we were kids. And I think that a lot of that is that, like, we live for the nostalgia, right?

of what we had and it really isn't the same you don't live with your siblings anymore the magic isn't really there I've heard that it kind of comes back once you get to be a parent and you're creating the holiday season for your children I've heard that completely changes the dynamic of Christmas

But until then, you fake it till you make it. Even if it doesn't feel like Christmas, I'm going to pretend like it is. I'm not going to allow it this year to not feel like Christmas. I'm going to play the music until I'm sick of it. I'm going to the Mariah Carey holiday special kickoff at the Hollywood Bowl. That's for sure going to bring in the season. And I think that I'm just going to try to be super ready, prepared, and thoughtful about the way that I spend my time this holiday season, like with my gifts.

I think that gift-giving season is my favorite season because I'm naturally a gift-giving girl. I say that all the time. And I love Christmas because I feel like a part of it that evolves is the fact that now I get to be a part of the gifting of Christmas, the gifting of the holiday season, the gifting of this special day of December 25th. And with that, it's so fun to feel like I got people gifts that they weren't expecting, one, or that they didn't know they needed, two.

So, with this holiday season, if you haven't already, open up your notes app right now while you're listening to this podcast. Create your note that says Christmas gift ideas and start writing down your friends' names and things that you would get them or family members' names or partners' names, whatever. And listen really closely to what they talk about over the next two months because it's going to fly by, but just make a little note even. Like, Brew will say random things like, oh my gosh, I saw this t-shirt at Abercrombie that I really liked that was a button up. And I'm like, oh.

Google's it. Okay. Add to cart. Now I'm ready. I already have three Christmas presents for Brew. I'm probably going to give them to him for his anniversary. Just as like a little like side, like also by the way, these, because I was thinking about him, but a lot of the times the best gifts you're going to find are things that you kind of hear in passing or things that you accidentally see that makes you think of them.

Now, I love a gift guide. I Pinterest gift guides to come up with ideas for other people. When I have somebody like Josh's little sister, Rachel, who is the cutest little nugget ever, she's so Gen Z. I feel like what she loves for Christmas is like fun, trendy, cool girl things from this year that are like things you just didn't want to miss out on or like fresh lotions or really nice perfume or like...

Getting gifts that kind of center their personality or things that you know they're going to love, that's the easiest thing to get them. People like my mom love, love sentimental things. So kind of just thinking now about how I can be creative before Christmas. Can I order her a coffee mug? Can I order her a notebook? Can I get her pictures framed? Can I get her a fresh, really soft, cozy little spa-like robe? Okay, every mother loves a robe. Don't ask me why. Shoot, I love a robe.

I am a mother. All these things matter when you're coming up with gifts. Where else do I go? This is not even an ad. I really do love the Google Holiday 100. I work with them during the holiday season, and I genuinely mean it when I say, like, they create great stuff. Also, everybody loves... I just made a joke about a robe. Everybody loves comfy clothes. I skims. I get, like, barefoot dreams. I mean, this blanket is...

oh what is this blanket tezza just did a partnership with them and i don't remember the name of the brand hang on i'm gonna look oh lola lola blankets softest thing i've ever felt it's expensive don't get me wrong but you don't need to get people a lot of things to get people things that matter i also think that's a huge part of the holiday season it's easy to buy people not i'm not gonna say crappy gifts okay that's not not what i mean either

It's easy to just like splurge on a bunch of little items that like might be great for instant use or like short term, like knickknack kind of vibes. But I really do think investing in like long lasting, amazing gifts that are going to like survive not only the year ahead, but are going to be things that they use constantly. That's what I love in a Christmas present. I think last year I fell into a rhythm of like I would see cute things. I'm like, oh my gosh, I just thought of my mom when I saw that. I picked it up.

And then she ended up having like so many things that I was like, these are all great gifts. They were cute to open, but like, will she really use them? Will she really enjoy them? And the truth is, I don't know. I think she'd much rather like one of these blankets. And like, I splurged instead of like spending $5 on 10 different things. Okay, that's a lot of things. That's 50 bucks. Okay, $5 on 10 different things. Get her one really nice gift for $50. Wow, that math just seemed like it, like $5 on 10 different things seemed like it would be more expensive.

In my head. I don't know why. Inflation. Anyway. But so I've just been trying to be more thoughtful about that instead of like getting things that somebody might not really need or they already have a lot of. Even if it's something that they like, maybe thinking outside the box a little bit. So if you haven't started holiday shopping, you're not behind. I don't think you're behind by any means. But I do think if you want to start making your little list, that way you can think of your friends for when that time comes.

It's the perfect time to start now because we're a month out to where like if you are really short, you still have a month to figure it out if you don't know what you're going to get them by December 1st.

Now, all that being said, what's on my winter wish list? I don't know yet. I'm truly my gifting right now is super centered around my anniversary. I have no idea what I'm getting for my anniversary. I don't I know what I got brew for our anniversary. By the time this is out, he'll probably have it. So I'm going to tell you, OK, between us. So what did I get for our anniversary? I'm actually doing something really cute where I did all the love languages as a gift. OK, so I got him a

This isn't really... I'm not sure if this one fits in acts of service or quality time. I'm not sure yet. So take it with a grain of salt. I got him a travel case for his golf clubs because he really wants to start traveling with them so he can go golfing when we go on vacation. So I got him a really beautiful, like, stunning hard shell case for his golf clubs to travel with. Easy. Love. How wonderful is that? So...

That was one of my gifts for him. And I actually kind of put that as acts of service because I'm servicing him by protecting his golf clubs. Okay, listen, that's how I'm going to justify that one. Then for quality time, I got us an excursion together while we're on vacation to go ziplining.

What? For words of affirmation, we have an inside joke about the game Uno. Okay, I might be a little bit competitive. Let's just leave it at that. And so I got a deck of Uno cards and on every single Uno card on the back, I wrote something that I love about him.

which is easy for words of affirmation for his actual gift giving I got him a like cute duffel bag travel again like with the travel thing but I feel like he always loves the videos of the guys walking into the football games like the Louis Vuitton bag

I got him a little travel case and I tucked in a fresh pair of sunglasses and a fresh pair of shorts for the trip that we're going on. A fresh pair of like swim trunks for the trip we're going on. And then my last thing that I got, oh, and then for physical touch, this is funny. For physical touch, I got him a yearly subscription to go get massages every month. Isn't that so creative? Okay. So then he has all five love languages.

implemented as gifts for the next year. Also, it's our golden anniversary because it's three years on the third. So I think it's kind of wholesome too that I was like, okay, this one feels really special. So that is my gift for him. I hope maybe that inspires you a little bit for what you can do for Christmas. But I don't really, I have trouble with gifts because what I really have to do this year, and this is what I'm going to do. And this is my idea for you too.

I don't like receiving gifts really because I have this weird anxiety that it's going to prove that somebody doesn't know me very well when they get me a gift. That sounds really ungrateful and I don't mean it like that. I don't mean that I don't love what people get me. Of course I'm upset. Like I'm so thankful that people thought of me at all in the first place. But just from a weird like internal area, I'm navigating it in therapy. There's a part of me that just becomes nervous about gifts or like grand gestures that what they do

proves they just don't know me very well. So because of that, it makes me a little bit sensitive to gift giving where I just become a little bit nervous. I think that makes you a hard person to shop for. But this year what I'm going to try to do because of that, I end up just being really guilty of like, if I see something that I like,

I'll be like, okay, once I finish this work or this brand deal or this, you know, once I get back from New York or once I like hit this accomplishment, I'll treat myself by getting myself that thing. I am going to just start writing them down and not buying them for myself for the next two months and being like, okay, okay, listen, I just saw this. What am I going to think? What's a good thing I can think of? Mm-mm.

Oh, I would love a really beautiful dishware set for my dining room because I really want to start actually seriously hosting. I would love...

I have one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight spots at my dining room table that people can sit. I would love a set of eight, like full set of eight dining wear, you know, like actual like plates and bowls that match. I do have all matching plates and bowls. I have four, four plates, four bowls. I'm one person. I don't need a lot. But yeah.

for if I were to ever have like a little dinner party I would want them all to be able to be matching and so that's something that I would love for Christmas is like a little matching set of like a bunch of really beautiful like teacups and base like salad plate big plate main course bowl whatever so um like that's a good example of something that's like that's a very expensive gift but um something that I would love for Christmas is like something like that um so

So that's like an example of something that I could see being like, that would be a really great gift idea. And I could go out and go shopping and go look around and be like, okay, I want to use this for Christmas. I'm going to buy it now, but I'm going to be patient. Or, oh my gosh, I love socks that have like really cute things on them, like little ruffles or like socks that have like little hearts on them. So like when people see your socks, they're like really creative. I love, I love socks like that. So that's going to be on my Christmas list.

And truthfully, maybe I really want to get a real triathlon suit, like, for swimming. That might be on my wish list is, like, little sports things or, like, workout equipment. So, yeah, those are my wish list things. I like things that I know I'm going to use and that, like, are going to have a place in my house. Like, when I know that I need something, that's when I – it's a good thing for me to put on my Christmas list. So, yeah. Guys, the holidays, we did it. We survived the –

the last 10 months of the year and we have two left and I'm so excited to get to celebrate them, share life with you, share experiences with you, have stories, create traditions, and even more importantly, just get to see how you guys blossom in these last two months of the year. I'm so happy that you're here. Don't forget to follow this podcast at TheAnnaGuide on Instagram and TikTok and at Annexatar for my

personal account. Also, you can subscribe to our YouTube channel to get the video versions of all these podcasts. And don't forget to rate us a beautiful five stars everywhere that you get your podcasts from listening to them. I appreciate you so much. I can't wait to see you next week. And I hope you have a wonderful start of November 1st. I love you. Bye.