The Boys
Welcome to "The Boys" podcast, where business partners Jeremy, Stuart, and Dwayne come together after two decades of collaboration to share their expertise and passion for all things decor, home design, business, and floral design. Join this dynamic trio as they delve into the world of aesthetics, offering valuable insights, practical tips to elevate your living spaces, and a few laughs along the way.
But it's not just about design; it's about spreading joy and making the process enjoyable for everyone. The podcast is infused with the camaraderie and humor that comes from years of friendship and collaboration. Expect lively discussions, entertaining anecdotes, and a genuine passion for creating spaces that bring happiness and comfort.
The Boys
S1:E34 The Boys at Christmas Time
In this episode, The Boys discuss their anticipation of the Christmas Season and what the holidays are like for them and how they deal and process it all! It's got everything! Fallopian tubes, match box cars, play kitchens and a few other fun stories along the way! And now we're figuring out what songs will tap dance to during our televised Christmas Special!
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Let's start with some goofiness. Again, I'm going to show you that. Do you see that picture? It looks like, uh, maybe fallopian tubes or something. kind of, Okay. Well, that's the bottom part of a sink where, you know, you'd hatch the faucet on top and this is the under workings of the sink. And so, one of my 20 minutes I wasted yesterday emergency was with the client. Who was lovely by the way, and the plumber, not so much wanting to know where all the other pieces were for, to assemble the sink. It's a new sink. And all I did was just pick out the aesthetics of it. And I said, I don't supply the guts. I just supply the aesthetic of it. You're the plumber. And it doesn't come with that. I said I could have made arrangements if you wanted me to bring the workings of it. Most of the time, you know, it's a remodel. I do. So it's already there anyway. But this was happening to be a new one and it didn't come with the sink. And he was just a little snippy with me. And I said, well, Jerry, brother, It didn't come with it, obviously it was a breakdown, of which in 30 years, I personally have never had to find the workings of a sink for the plumber. They either show up with it, or they go to fucking Lowe's, I didn't say fucking Barber, you go to Lowe's and you go buy it. I don't know what to tell you. I just don't know what to tell you. Anyway, he went and got it, and the client called, and she said, I'm sorry, she said, she said, that was, I didn't think that had anything to do with you either, and I said, it didn't. So, moving on. Bye. So, that was 20 minutes
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:I mean, who knew that a sink had fallopian tubes?
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:There you go.
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:That's what they look like. It looks like spaghetti junction.
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:It does, doesn't it? It does. Well, you know, you do have to clean out your plumbing every once in a while. There you go. So boys, I got a little, uh, little, little experiment for us this morning. And I'll let Stuart go first, and then Jeremy will answer second. You ready? Okay, first question, Stuart. You ready? Best sandwich.
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:Like ever,
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:Yeah. Or the one that you want to go to, or what makes you happy, or First thing you think of.
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:I kind of like a prime rib sandwich, a
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:Jeremy? Best sandwich.
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:Um, it's the Reuben from Selma's
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:Okay, Stuart, what's one thing you own that you really should throw out?
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:t shirt that says cheerios that I've had since, uh, college. That is so thin. I don't know how it's staying together.
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:and he still fits in it.
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:And it still fits in. That was the other thing that was in my head too, yes. Okay, Mr. Rice.
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:Um, I have a, I, I wear undershirts every day and I have one undershirt that I don't know. What happened when I cut it, um, but I cut the sleeves out cause I'm just hot natured. And for some reason it is basically spaghetti straps on one side.
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:That's called a wife beater. Okay, number three, Mr. Rice, what is the scariest animal?
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:Oh, snakes for me. It doesn't matter what it is. Yeah.
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:Don't matter, yeah. You there?
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:Me?
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:Yeah, are you the same animal or are
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:Oh no, honey badger. Cause they don't give a fuck.
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:I love it. I love it. Okay. Okay. Here's an easy one. Number four. Apples or oranges?
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:Apples.
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:Rice?
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:Apples? No. Uh, no. Na neither. Naves.
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:Okay. Well, that's an unacceptable answer, but we'll go with oranges then. It's close. Okay. Stuart, have you ever asked anyone for their autograph?
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:Yes.
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:And who is it?
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:Hulk Hogan.
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:Say it again.
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:Hulk Hogan.
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:Oh
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:Paul Kogan. Okay.
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:Well, I was like 10 and we saw him in the airport.
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:on,
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:knew automatically that this was when you were young. I knew. I knew He
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:Well, it could have been last week. You never know. Okay, Rice, who's yours? Did you ever ask for one?
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:No, I've never, I've never got, no one.
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:Okay, fair enough. Okay, this is a deep one.
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:Oh,
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:Okay, Mr. Hurts. Yes, what do you think happens when we die?
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:Funny, as my, as my five and a half year old believes, as we're trying to, you know, navigate all the death things, because, you know, everybody in my family's dead. So, We talk about it often that you go in a pretty box so people can say hello when they walk through the room,
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:There you go! Well, that's not too far
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:which ironically, when Jeremy was there last week, he walked through the living room and he was like, hi, Bill, and just kept on going,
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:Absolutely.
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:Love it. Love it. That's sweet. That's sweet, I think, truthfully. Okay, Mr. Rice. Well,
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:I'll try to make it a quick answer. Uh, I know that we're not alone, because, similarly to Stuart, we have lost quite a few members of our family and, a running theme through a lot of it, especially with my grandfather. Uh, the day that he died died? Uh, he looked at me and he looked past me. I could see that he looked over my shoulder and he said, he said hello to me first, and he said, who are all these other people? And I said, I don't know, but I'm glad they're here. So,
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:look at you bringing it down,
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:no, no. no. I'm not trying to bring it up. I'm just, I just know that, um, yeah. So I, you know, I'm, I am not ni, I'm not naive enough to think, uh, that I understand how the world works or how the universe works. So, Mm-Hmm.
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:I, I get it. No, I, I get you. Okay, Mr. Mr. Rice. hurt. Uh, what's your most used app on your phone?
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:um, honestly, probably, probably a Facebook app, but then one that actually I should use the second most is it's a pro care app, which is, you know, It basically tracks Allie throughout the day at school.
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:Like a lifeline thing. Well, you should just be at school though. Uh,
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:Well, she is, but they still track it.
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:That's odd, I think. Okay, Mr. Rice,
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:Sadly, TikTok.
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:uh, one older, elderly. Okay, you get one, now you don't have to listen to it all the time, but it can be on occasion, or if you can listen, if you want to, right? You get one song to listen to for the rest of your life. What is it?
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:Well, I'm really bad at knowing names of songs. I'm, listen, if we, if you ever go on a game show, I'm not the person that you want to call about name of a song or a singer or the lyrics. I'm not.
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:Kathie Lee.
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:I make, I make up my own lyrics and all the, all the stuff. And I just sing along with the melody. Uh,
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:Okay, we'll make it easier. What one artist would you like to listen to? That's the only artist you ever get to listen to the rest of your life.
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:Okay. So, well, okay. So I'm trying to think pragmatically, right? So like very, so like there are many artists that I enjoy. I'm thinking if I have to listen to this the rest of my life, I have to have, um, it either has to get me going or I can get emote, like get, get, get connected with, right. So I have to pick one of two, one Brandi Carlile, who I just adore and I'm just amazed by her ridiculous voice. Um, but that'd probably be like, if I was like, like on, if I was going to sit on the edge. The rest of my life. Emotional because it can be,
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:I love this, if, easier than if he'd be on the edge, please.
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:the other one I think would be do, you know, you know, would be Dua Lipa and not that I'm a gigantic fan of Dua Lipa, but when we were, um, A couple of summers ago or a summer ago when we were working outside in the backyard, Jeremy took out the speaker and he was playing her newest album and every song was a bop. And I just wanted to dance to every one of them. And I thought I could, I could listen to this all day long. So
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:She's a happy. little, she's a little pop queen, happy little thing.
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:happy\
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:I mean, I don't know that I'd want to listen to it every day.
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:You don't have to, but if you get to turn on the music, it's Groundhog Day. This is who you, the song you listen to or the artist you listen
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:Like I love imagine dragons. Like there's not one song of theirs that I dislike. So. It would be that, probably.
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:They know judging. Well, a little bit, but not much judging. Uh,
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:What's yours, Dwight? I think I know, but what's
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:Janet Jackson.
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:Dream, dream.
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:well, and now Fleetwood Mac.
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:Oh,
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:Ah, classic in every single way. So, it's not a person, it's a group. So, I don't know. Is that fair?
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:that's
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:can I, can I be fair. Is that fair? Okay. Okay.
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:I could do it if I could wear her, her sarong or her, her thing every day. If I could say in the wind with her poncho, I
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:Oh, it's a mess. Okay. I'm just going to ask Stuart this question. Okay.
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:Okay.
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:I'm listening.
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:Then, I had to think about it. I had to
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:Oh, oh, I thought you were going through a list.
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:Yeah, no, it was a mental list in my head. Uh, what number am I thinking of?
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:Three, three, three.
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:56. Uh, now, here's the last thing. This might take just a thought. We'll start with Stuart. Describe the rest of your life in five words.
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:I need more than five.
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:That's all you get.
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:Well,
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:I'll give you seven. He's long winded.
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:so it's deep.
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:Okay, here we go. Well, you get this whole thing across your tattoo. There's something about birds and flying and life and it's like a whole verse on your body.
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:I'm not writing my resume. I'm writing my obituary
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:Lords, tell us what you mean by this. Wow.
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:because
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:You ever heard of deep, deep thoughts?
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:I've worked hard enough. I don't need a resume to get a job, but I do need to leave a legacy. I
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:That's a good one. It's a good one. That's, that's beautiful. That's beautiful. Okay. Rice, Raceroni. Can you follow up better with that one? That's pretty good.
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:Um, I think, well, it's going to be, yeah, I think I can do it in four words.
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:Okay.
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:Oh, what a ride or it's going to be fun. Yeah.
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:Listen, the audience, we got to know the boys a little bit more. Fascinating. I got to know them a little bit more. This is, this has been fun. Okay. Now let's get to the real thing. What are we talking about today, uh, moderator? What are
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:even know.
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:Today we are, if you, whether you can believe it or not, we are going to start discussing, and we'll all take a little breath before this, Christmas. Because it, uh, for us anyway, especially, it is, it is here. It is, it's our time. Um, when we start thinking about it and which is, this is insane to even think about that there are other, um, people that we know in the industry or other stores, they're actually starting their Christmas. Extravaganza in October, like 4th, 3rd, 4th, 5th. Now? Listen, I love Christmas. I mean, I do, I do, I do love it. Um, a lot of, a lot of our friends will say, um, you just have, you have to hate Christmas and my response is no, I don't hate Christmas. Christmas is different to me than it is to them. Right. So for me, I know that it's a lot of work. A lot of exhaustion. And just keep going until it's over. Right? Um, but that's also why we put ours up really early compared to what probably we normally would do. Just because if I, if we don't, I'm not home and I'll get to enjoy it. Um, but, I do, I think we just enjoy it differently. Like, would I love to, like, go shop, well, probably not. But, I was going to say, What I was going to say, Jeremy said to me one time, he was like, You know, you're not home and we can't go, like, Christmas shopping together. And I'm like, yeah, that sounds like hell to me. You know, not, it has nothing to do with him, but that whole, like, um, all I can see is that scene from, the Griswolds from a Christmas vacation where the whole family goes Christmas shopping. And they leave Clark in the attic and I'm just thinking, Lord, that has to be a horrible time, just absolutely horrible.
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:You're just going to be Clark in the attic. Don't you really?
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:yeah, I'm fine with that. I mean, yeah, tur, turban, poncho, and
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:putting on a turban and a fur, fur wrap.
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:Uh, you know, you said something during this and I, we go the complete opposite. Uh, of course yours is a different schedule because you're going a lot, but you said that you put yours up earlier so you can enjoy it. We put ours up late so we can enjoy it. That, um, I, and I do love Christmas. The but is for some reason I really don't want much. I mean, I have to do a little bit, I have to do a little bit, but I don't want much Christmas up in the house until after I eat that turkey. Lot of times we used to put the Christmas tree up, which were exhausted, but when the kids were young, uh, we put the Christmas tree up, Thanksgiving night after everybody left. So imagine doing Thanksgiving dinner, cleaning up and all this, because it's usually at our house and then put the Christmas tree up that night. The other part of that layer is, uh, my lovely bride in that, um, our Christmas tree is a collection of memorabilia. It is pretty and it's got some big ornaments on it and it's got a big hat on. It's got some ribbon on it. So it looks, you know, decoratory, right? But it doesn't have what we do here so much of the picks and the greens and big giant flower arrangement. It really is a memory tree. And so, With that said, as you know, you're unboxing these boxes and she'll slowly unwrap it and she'll go. Now, do you remember this ornament when we bought, we were in San Francisco and we wrote the cable car and then we went to, um, the beach and I got this ornament and you remember, you know, you've got this. paper turkey ornament with its head falling off that this was a little baby Ian's hand when he was five years old and I'm like I remember all of these but we cannot talk about 247 ornaments and lament over every single one of them or we'll never get done right let's do the tree and let's go back and then have memories about them because I got to go to bed because tomorrow is a busy day retail at the store Right. So that's, but, um, that's what we've landed on is doing it the night of, or even a couple of days after, um, Thanksgiving. I, cause I just really can't handle it. And the, um, what the guys know is I typically, I will, um, take off, uh, right after, uh, Christmas that week of the last week of the year, typically. And part of that is that's actually my Christmas for me. That's when I sit and look at the tree. That's when I really enjoy Christmas, and I get up early, and I'll go to bed late, and I'll have that, I'll have that tree on all week long, and that's when I really ultimately enjoy Christmas, is the day after Christmas, or is my Christmas.
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:When do you put yours
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:got, Stuart?
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:Well, growing up much like you did with your family, we always put it up right after Thanksgiving dinner. Let's just kind of win it. That's when it happened. So, um, you know, through the years I kept that a little bit, but then, you know, as we started traveling and for work and getting things in, then it's sometimes it got up before I started traveling. Sometimes it got up in between trips back and forth. Um, now that I, you know, have a, a small little person, it's a little bit more important for her to get.
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:It changes everything,
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:Yeah. And it's, um, honestly, it's the last thing I want to look at, but I also know that it's the first thing she wants to look at. So that's why we just kind of, we get it up. And I think last year, last year was so weird because I was in between two houses, but we had Christmas trees at both houses and we did it like right before Halloween. And then to see it. you know, through the duration and then got to pick one. And, um, I know her papa's house. She has a little tree in her room that she gets to decorate. So she asked if she could have one in her room at my house to do that as well. And I was like, sure, fine. So this year she has to pick out her own little tree. I'm telling what that will look like, but
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:Don't, and don't, don't worry
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:yeah, and it doesn't, yeah, it, yeah, it's just like, just let her pick out what she likes and that's what makes her happy. So, so, yeah, just kind of all over the place. Really?
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:So for us, we've always had Christmas as. Part of Thanksgiving. It wasn't anything different to me or had to wait until after. And then the other thing that kind of changed it was in our friend group, we, my husband and I would host our friends giving, if you will. So we all, and we'd call it Retox by the way, this is my favorite thing is because a lot of our families didn't drink, so everybody would go home and spend Thanksgiving with their family in a very dry, um, Stressful time. And so then we'd all get together the Saturday after that. And then we'd have it at our house and there would be plenty of cocktails and lots of good food. And so we'd call it Retox. So you detoxed with the family. We retoxed with the friends. Um, so we wouldn't a lot of times because we were busy, people wouldn't come back over the house. So we wanted our house done by then. So it was always done by Thanksgiving. Um, So we do it, I mean, it's probably the first or second week of November. Now one year, if y'all know that the video that I did teaching how to do the mantle garland, or not the mantle garland, the stairwell garland, I had to do that at some time in October. So here it is, Halloween, and we're opening the door, handing out candy. And all these people would, I'd open the door and they'd look in and our, our stairwell was all ready for Christmas, lights twinkling away, and they'd just be like, Trick or, uh, treat. I'm like, here's your candy, leave. ha
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:You gave them a full bar of candy, so they couldn't say
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:but we do so much. I think it's also the reason why I feel like I have to do so much or we have to start so early because, you know, we only do one tree in the sunroom, um, but it's done up. Then we have another tree in the living room with a mantle and then the big stereo garland and then the outside. That's the one thing I'm trying to like. Every year I look at, I look at when it's still warm outside or not frigid. Let's just say not even cool. Let's just say just like decent and it's dry and I say hey, hun We don't have anything going on this weekend before the craziness starts. Why don't we just go ahead and put lights in the bushes? We don't have to plug them in but let's get them on the bushes So we don't have to do it when it's 10 degrees outside and it's wet. Mmm. I just think it'll look tacky every Year, so I'm determined to try to get them on early because, you know, I was like, we don't have, we're not gonna put the garland up on, we don't put the garland up on the front door until I usually, I'll put it up on Christmas or Thanksgiving. Um, but I'm like, uh, we don't, if you can put it when it's nice, that way you should do it.
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:and I don't understand why this is a conversation. It's just, you just go do it or do it because you can't see it. You
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:There's so, there's so much we, it's, there's so much, it's hard to do it by yourself. I mean, we like every box would, we, their lawn is lit. We have to wait until after it's done being mowed for
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:you do half of it.
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:That's why I said, let's just do the bushes.
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:and do half of it when it's not warm. I don't know
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:I have, I begged,
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:this, right? He's like, okay, then i'm going out and i'll do four bushes today Well, it's pretty at least the four is done. I don't have to be out in the cold. But hey, that's just me being smart uh
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:do y'all do, do y'all do stuff outside or do all the mostly interior stuff?
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:Uh, most of the interior. Um, I did the spotlights and reese on the windows and big pots and call it. I used to put lights on the shrubs. Forget that. I'm done. I don't like to do it outside. You know, I've done that subdivision, which is not a complaint for about 30 years. I get used to two of them. I got enough of that. I'm done with that. So I love it. I am done with that
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:just reads on the gate really because then you can't really see
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:Yeah. You're going back off road.
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:terror is real, real big. Uh, so we'd take a lot of work. You just write a little less is more kind of thing. Here is big. You know, about, uh, Little Baby Girl. It is, when I was much younger, I don't know if I was hungry, or I probably just needed the money, truthfully. We, you know, we wouldn't, wasn't rolling in it. Uh, I did a lot of houses at Christmas time, and it was exhausting, right? I think we all did, truthfully. I'm not sure. I think we've all kind of walked away from that, for the most part, because we are older. And because the store becomes much busier and we've learned that if we're not here and engaged primarily, it usually doesn't go well, um, all those things, right? And you all travel a lot. So there's lots of reasons. But one of the things that happened, um, was probably Ian was about seven years old and, Basically, it goes something like, how come we don't get Christmas like everybody else does?
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:hmm. Mm hmm. Okay.
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:it hits
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:was, yeah, that was not a great feeling. And I was like, okay, then, uh, I didn't get this right. So we said that, so I went back and I revisited. I thought, okay, we can't do this ever again. This is, this is not good. My career choice should not have an impact on my family at the holidays, right? And that's what was happening. And, uh, so I went back and I reached out to all my clients and said, look, this is what's happening. I will figure this out, but you've got to give me a commitment. You got to give me commitment to the date, the week, you know, I gave lots of things and I did it in the summertime. Uh, but you got to give me an answer by, uh, Let's say mid September or end of September, right, plan it out. And everybody responded. They came back and said, this is the date, and so I was able to kind of put the schedule together to where it was doable, and I was able to be home and, and, and, you know, be normal, live, except for one person. Well, I may go out of town to my family, uh, or well, I haven't committed, they may come here and well, I may not decorate this year. Well,
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:gonna miss
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:not decorate it. Well, you must. And I said, I hear you. I said, but if I don't have a date. By I think it was mid September. I said, I can't do it. I mean, I just I'm just can't do it. And that they came and go went and now we're November the 1st. Well, I've decided I will be in town and the family's coming and they do. I'd need to do this. And it's like, and the answer was no. No, and that was not received well. And there was guilt and was like, I've been your customer for 20 years or 10 years. How long ago I did so long time ago. So 10 years then. I've always, always you need to help me. And I was like, no, if you'll revert back to I made this and I am not doing this to be difficult. I'm doing this because I need normalcy in my life. I need a boundary, but more importantly, I need to make sure that my children are not feeling neglected. And that's more important than you or anybody or anything else. I just, I don't know what else to tell you. Right. And needless to say, she was not pleased with me. Fast forward. The very first person that got on the books the next year was that person. Now that isn't, I told you so moment, but it did. Paint a lesson to me, uh, hold, stick to your guns. Don't, don't just say, okay, and that's not easy for me to do. Um, but it also is set boundaries, but also set your priorities. What that, whatever that priority is, you know, it can be anything in life, but if you, you give people enough warning or enough information and they choose not to be respectful enough of your time. Right, then they don't necessarily have to be in your life and that was something a long time ago. And this is not ugliness. This is really just setting boundaries. And again, I'm not great at it, but I've gotten better and better and better at it once it's all said and done. And I think ultimately people respect that because then you're not over promising something that you can't do because you know what your schedule is. And so that was something that really came from a badness that turned into good. Ultimately, once it's said and done for me, at least.
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:Yeah. I, you know, we're recording this the day after Hoda, announced that she's gonna be leaving the Today Show.
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:Oh, did she announce that today?
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:yesterday. She announced that yesterday. Um, and so she's still, she'll be there until after the beginning of the year, I think she said. Um, but what, you know, what she, and all this all goes back to, um. Evaluating your time, right? Evaluating what's important to you. And basically what she said to her was that, you know, she just had her 60th birthday and there were lots of factors that were part of this, but for her, she felt like she was on top of the wave. That's what, how she phrases. She said she was on top of the wave. Like it was never going to get better than this. And that she always looks at is as your life as a, as a pie. And she was like, you know, I've got my kids later in life. And so I always kind of look at how much, what, what size a piece of pie I have left and what that means with my kids. And so she's
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:We also have to acknowledge Stuart's also in this phase of life. So he's, his pie's slowly dwindling.
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:Yeah. Oh.
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:Um, but it, it.
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:left
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:No, I got some ready whip over here. I'll give you some.
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:Mm-Hmm.
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:you go.
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:Um, but, uh, you know, I respect her so much. I've always loved her because she's such a seems like such a bright light. Um, but you know, you need to take care of you and you take care of the people that are closest to you and do that. And so I think that's why all three of us, especially the holiday time, as far as like our, Cause much like you used to, or Dwayne, like when we bought this house, like, you know, listen, I took every job that every person that needed something done because I desperately needed the money. So we'd have the down payment to put on the house and, and do all that kind of stuff. And, you know, now the situation is a little different, um, thankfully, um, but I'm tired. And, uh, I only have so much of me to give and I'm a lot more protective of that now than I am back
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:hmm. A hundred percent. A hundred percent. Yeah.
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:and it doesn't mean that I don't love my people. Yeah. I mean, I mean, I love every one of them, but I just don't have time for, I just don't have the time to commit to, to you, to give what you need. So
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:of that. I really do. I mean, there's Um, those are in your corner get it. They they they understand I mean i've just days ago somebody I was at their house and she said You need to stop you've had a long day. You need to go home to your family and I was like, well, thank you But there ain't nobody home to go home to tonight
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:Oh God. All my babies are gone,
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:join. Dwayne, Dwayne said that he did, I know the third tree or like family ornaments. What do y'all do at the house? No, I know this is first Christmas at the new house. So I know it's going to change a little bit, but how do you all handle Christmas?
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:There is. To what I would call formal trees, you know, designer trees. Um, last year,
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:I stop you there? Um, let's tell the story first of how blessed you are to actually have a tree. Because there were years on top of years that I kept stealing and selling Stuart's trees out of his house. Would you like
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:multiple years in a row. He would knew I would have this exact tree that one customer or here and there wanted that exact tree. And he'd be like, Ooh, is that in your living room? Yeah, can my customer buy it? So I would be treeless and have to get a different one. Well then ironically, somebody else wanted that one as well. So Duane just kept selling the trees out of my living room. Um,
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:Saved you a lot
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:Is, is that worse? Is that him doing that? Was that worse than me selling the swags that you made to put on your mama's grave? What?
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:Oh, I didn't know this. I did not know this.
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:my God. This is so long
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:did not
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:back in the day at the other place that we used to work together, they were hanging on the wall, ready to go done. And I guess I didn't put a name on them. I thought I had talked about where they were going to go multiple times, but Jeremy just sold them.
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:Well, there was this
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:mama had no swag, no Christmas shoes for mama that year.
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:Oh, no.
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:We There had been issues of arrangements being made with no names on them. And so, it had been very pointed that if an arrangement doesn't have a name on it, You know, we had a very short selling season. If there's not a name on it, sell it. And so,
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:Sounds like, oh boy, he's trying to make a
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:I don't remember. No, I didn't know. Then I felt horrible afterwards. I thought, poor mama. By the way, Stuart's mama just had a birthday, isn't that right? Not too long
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:She, yes. Uh, yeah, it would, it was, it would have been Monday, the
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:Happy birthday, mama. Happy birthday. Happy belated birthday. Okay, I'm sorry. You go back. How do you, how do you
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:Well, so last year, uh, Like I said, I did have a tree at, at the lake house. And that one was more of a alley. You can put on it what you want to put on it. So it was little things she made from school. And it was like, if we were at target and she saw, you know, mermaid ornament or something. So that one just kinda, that kind of started, I guess, a little memory tree for her. I don't know if she remembers what's on it. She probably does. Cause she remembers everything. She's like an elephant. So, um, we'll get those things out and that can go into her, her bedroom this year, you know?
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:You got a, you got a fancy tree and a fancy tree and the beginnings of a family tree. Is that what I'm
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:yeah, and there's one ornament that I always put out that I've had Since 1984 because it's dated 1984 and it's this little Convertible car with Santa Claus in it and some packages on the back and that was the first ornament that my parents got for me And it was the Hallmark car collection, basically. And I don't know if that's when it started or if it started before that. I don't know, but that's the first one I remember. And then every year since then, I got a Hallmark car. Ornament up until my
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:And those that don't know, Stuart is a car fiend. He gets a new car every two years or something. I can't even turn around. It's like, he gets more cars and shoes than anybody I've ever seen in my life. I can't keep up with it. Jeremy and I keep cars for five, ten, twelve years. He's got twenty two cars since I've known him. So, I think it started with that little endeavor there.
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:and it is, you know, and, and I got one of those every year up until my mom died. And then, um, I actually had a friend from high school whose mother knew that, you know, I'm in my late twenties and early thirties at that point. And, uh, then at Christmas, I would get a random box from Donna That was her name. was the Hallmark car ornament that she, she sent them to me. Cause she knew my mom would always give me one. And then Donna passed away about five years ago, maybe, maybe six. And, um, One of her daughters, who was my friend in high school, sends me a Hallmark car ornament. So,
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:Are you serious? How
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:so that was, that's pretty cool.
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:Wow. That is amazing. No, that's amazing. That's love. That's love.
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:But I don't have a tree for those, but I probably need a tree for all of those.
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:Sounds like you do, uh, you know, you're all working harder We get we'll get one tree up and i'm done. You all got you said you had two trees, right?
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:Two, two, for
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:yeah,
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:Yeah.
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:and I have to, ours are both, ours are both decorator. We don't have any family
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:Yeah, well, one tree and that's what we wanted to, of course, it has also always say, um, our tree cries a little, um, when I put that last ornament on it because it's so much on there. You don't know. Is there a tree under it? I mean, it's probably 1001 on this tree because it takes 2 days for truthfully put this thing up. It's got too much crap on it, but she's shaking rattles. Like, is there a tree under all that? Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. So, so Stuart, so Jeremy, you might be in a little different vein. You just said this, Stuart, well, I'll say it this way. Is those card ornaments your favorite ornament or do you have a favorite ornament?
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:That, that very first one, it's my favorite one. Cause that's the one I always
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:I, that's all you remember. So I thought, I thought you were going to repeat that and say that. So that my favorite ornament is an old teal colored iPhone, really real iPhone. That's a Christmas ornament. And so how in the world, what does that mean? So this is a story about forgiveness and it'll be okay, right? So I always get emotional because I always say it'll be fine. Don't worry about it. So, Ian was probably I don't know, 12 years old, and we were, winter break, fall break, and we were on a vacation, and we were going to fly out later that day, and I wanted to get my feet in the ocean one last time, and I said, buddy, let's go get in the water, let's go in the water, let's go in the water, and he was sitting on the side at the beach and didn't want to get in. Finally, me badgering him, imagine, and he, runs and jumps and gets in the water and we're just having the best time. All of a sudden he gives this crazy shocked look and I instantly thought he got jellyfish stung is what I thought. No, he jumped in the water with his iPhone in his pocket. And of course you know that whole thing about go
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:is a long time ago. Yeah, this is before they were waterproof. Yeah.
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:Yeah, yeah, oh, no, well, I mean, he ends 24, so 12, 12, 12 years ago, prior for range, right? And so we get, you know, go to the little grocery and get a bag of rice, because that's how you fix iPhones, you know? That iPhone never came back, right? So, sweet mama Kathy remembered this and she kept it. And, um, of course, he was beating himself up. He, he said, I can't believe I did this. He was just, I said, no, you wouldn't have done this if I hadn't encouraged you. And I said, I wanted you to end here with me. And I said, but the other thing is. It was an accident. It was truly an accident. You didn't do anything on purpose, right? And I said, but you wouldn't have done it if I hadn't bothered you, but it was an accident. So she took that iPhone and she brought it out the night of, you know, we're putting Christmas up for the 4, 000 stories, and she had bedazzled it with little, little, um, beads on it, and it says, um, we heart you.
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:Lord. That's when she was in her craft room phase, wasn't
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:That's right.
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:was in her craft room phase. And I thought how, what a beautiful gesture that was to think about saving this, turning what was really ugly and really bad and a really hurtful moment. And it hurt him so bad and it made him beat up on himself to take this and turn it into something good. So I will gladly get that teal colored phone out with this bedazzled I heart you every year. And I'll just lay it in the back of the branch and I go, yeah, everything will be okay.
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:We, we, we don't have, uh, like a, like all, all of our ornaments, I love, I guess there's, there's not like a special thing. And mom had, you know, she didn't buy a bunch of new stuff. So a lot of those were like older ornaments. Um, but none of them really stick out in the memory. But the one thing that does stick out to me that's, that is a favorite of mine, and it's only because it's granny's Papa Granny's, was that she, granny always decorated their tree and red and green and silver. That was the only color she ever used. That was just like what Christmas meant to her. And she would use, sometimes she'd use multicolored, sometimes she'd use white lights, but um, that was how she decorated the tree. And so for me, anytime I see that, like that's where we spent Christmas. And that was, it just always felt like that was Christmas
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:No, you have some figures. That's hers. That's
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:Oh Lord. Yes. So, so granny, so when Papa passed away, Um, you know, that was the first like family death. Right. And so, you know, it kind of changes dynamics in a lot of different ways and it makes people think about things. And so granny, uh, was very adamant of like, you know, if there's something you all want, when I, when I'm, when I pass, you know, let me know what it is. And I was like, granny, there's, Like, I'm not worried about that course. This was a long time ago, and I said, however, I was like, there's one thing that I just, they make me smile. Are these little choir figures
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:The little
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:little, little, They're these little, little angels. Boys in choir robe singing with a little thing. And she'd had them for as long as I could remember. Like they've always been there and they were always in their bedroom and they were always on the TV stand. And so I didn't know what the story about them were, but I knew she always had them. And so to me, they're always, again, something special that I associate with Christmas. So she, so one Christmas she goes, Oh, this brings up a question I want to ask after this. Um, uh, She wrapped, she wrapped them up and gave them to me for Christmas and as I'm opening them up, I see them and then I'm like, Oh, I was like, Granny, thank you. You know, I was so excited because then we came home and put them down and then, um, I happened to pay more attention to them when I got them home and then I realized they were from Walmart. So like, they were, like, They're no family heirlooms. They're nothing, you know, like, that she's got from her grandmother's grandmother or something. They're from Walmart. So every year, I'll put the little choir boys out in her wet bar and then she had little things that she put in the kitchen, uh, like, uh, trivets or little things that she crocheted and, um, stuff like that. And I'll use those in the kitchen at Christmas time too, but, um, what was the, and I'm going to use the best or most memorable Christmas gift you ever got because I have a great, uh, I have a good story and I can tell mine if you want, while you're thinking.
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:No, I got it. It was, um, a sled that we bought at, um, what's, what's one of the old fashioned hardware stores that was nationwide,
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:True value
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:true value, true value. It was a true value in Rogersville, Tennessee. And, um, my, my dad and I went to there in Rogersville, Tennessee, is, um, probably an hour outside of Knoxville. My grandparents, lived, near there. So that's the reason that, so in that area, a little, little farming community, and, we went there and he actually was Christmas because he let me pick out, and because, They had a couple of choices and I just remember he let me pick this one out. And the reason this is so important is we, those who don't know, I am a hillbilly and I grew up in the Eastern Kentucky in a mobile home, in a trailer. Right in the back of a hauler. True story. But what that got is, remember when it used to snow, feet, some feets of snow? It really did snow a lot when I was a kid, right? I remember there was one winter, I was seventh or eighth grade and, we didn't go school for, I think it was three weeks, they would, we had that much snow. True story. Yeah, no, true story. So, with that said, if you live in the back of Holler, you have a mountain, right? It's sledding. And I was the only child, and I had to occupy my time, so that sled got heavy, heavy use. And, that's the one I remember because it, that one gave me a lot of joy. Uh, and I just, I just remember going with dad to pick it out too. But, uh, my sled, I loved my sled.
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:Well, of course, mine reverts back to cars once again.
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:There's a
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:A specific car and a specific brand that Now you can hardly find them and it was a brand called pocket cars and they're made by Tomica. So any viewers can send those in to 1 industry, Lexington, Kentucky 40515. Um, it'd be greatly appreciated. Uh, but it was a Navy blue Cadillac Fleetwood.
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:Ooh.
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:are all like pocket car. They're all matchbox car sizes, but this particular brand was called pocket cars. And
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:Was it like a better brand or more well done
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:I guess a term today would be they're more bougie because they did like Cadillacs and Volvos and Volkswagens. And, you know, of course in the genre of that time, because that's what car existed back then. I still have that car and it is in the nightstand in my room to this day and has been on
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:you're just a, you know, stop right there. You come across as such a goonter sometimes, right? But my god, you are the most sentimental fool i've ever met in my life You just live your life with your little heart. I just love
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:I mean, every now and then people get to see it.
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:I love it. You've got a good heart. You have a good heart
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:Um, for For me, it was, you know, Jeremy and I had been together for a long time and we had bought house that we're in now, it had been our plan to, to renovate the kitchen for some time. And so it was actually like, okay, we are doing this. It's planned. We're. We know that we're starting this in like March or April. And so when it came to Christmas, you know, we're adults, we, you know, we make our own money with, if there's something we need, we'll buy it. So, you know, it's, you always hear people say, once you get become an adult, it's hard sometimes for Christmas gifts. And so of course, you know, the family's like, what do you want? What do you need? What do you want? And I was like, we don't need anything. We need a new kitchen. Right. So that's what we did. I was like, we want to redo our kitchen. I was like, so you don't need to give us anything if you want to, you know, if you want to give some money for that, whatever, that's fine, but you don't need to give us anything else. So of course, nobody in our family listens, which I'm sure is the same with every family that's out there. And, So that Christmas, we went down and they, we opened up some gifts and then my mom pulls up this big Christmas, this big gift and brings it over to me and sits on the floor. And I'm like, what in the world is this? Cause you know, at this point of our age, we don't get big Christmas, like big boxes, right? Unless it's like, you know, you're getting like a mixer or something else, something like that. And, I started to unwrap it. They had bought us a toy play kitchen, like one that like Allie would use and they had put it together and they had put money all inside. So in the frying pan, there were money and all the little measuring cups, there was money. And it was the sweetest and cutest gift ever. and I thought it was so funny. I said, well, you said you needed a new kitchen. And I thought that was hysterical. I don't know who, I said to this day, I don't know who thought of that. but then we donated the kitchen to a kid's charity and then we went from there, but that helped and the fun,
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:Wow. Yeah, that's a good story. You know, what I think we've learned from this is how we're telling the world how we figured out how to navigate Christmas and we've all relatively unscathed, but it all hangs on to beautiful memories that, uh, you've just are obligated to create, right? It's, it's not about the stuff. It's about the memories attached to, you know, Stuart's favorite thing is a glorified matchbook. That's when it says it's not stamped. That's what is in this nightstand. That's what's important. It's the memory attached to that. And that's what we got to keep learning, uh, is, is, the action of reaching out to people, checking on them. Um, you know, I'll tell the story. I recently, I did a design project about five years ago, and there was a coffee table book, and it was beautiful photographs of Appalachia, and I commented on, you know this story?
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:You just told this in the last podcast,
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:Oh, well, we're
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:Well, great. So thank you. That wraps up for today.
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:Yeah, that wraps it.
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:I mean, Lord have mercy. I'm going to leave us with this
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:it's touched my heart. Yes. What's
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:this podcast
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:What have we learned?
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:what the hell are we going to talk about for our Christmas special?
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:Well, I'm gonna get out my tap
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:want to talk about a book that a client gave me that was a gift that just touched my
stuart_1_09-27-2024_085908:At the end of the stairwell painted on a Tuesday.
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:Well.
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:I'm consistent, right?
jeremy-host121_1_09-27-2024_085908:We'll, we'll try to figure the, the, our Christmas special out before we come back, as always, everybody, thanks for listening new podcast drop every Wednesday, if you haven't downloaded our house floral app, be sure you do to participate in our fun live sales that we have every Wednesday. And between now and then we will see you here. Thanks guys.
dwayne-guest157_1_09-27-2024_085907:let me tell you a story about something. Somebody gave me a book.
