The Lazy Genius Podcast - #448 - How Wonder Shows Up When You Slow Down

Episode Date: December 15, 2025

It’s easy to stay in prep mode after being in it for so long. But today, I want us to remember that the wonder of any season, Christmas or otherwise, often shows up when we slow down. We’ll talk about what it looks like to have eyes of wonder, and then I’ll share some practices to help you notice the sparkle and wonder of the next couple of weeks and then some other practices to help you cultivate that practice of noticing all year long.  Helpful Companion Links Order my book The PLAN or ask your library to consider carrying a copy. Find me (and our episode playlists) on Spotify. One Line a Day Journal One Second Everyday app Yearbook Playbook Sign up for our every-other-week podcast recap email called Latest Lazy Listens. Sign up for my once-a-month newsletter, The Latest Lazy Letter. Grab a copy of my book The Lazy Genius Kitchen or The Lazy Genius Way! (Affiliate links) Download a transcript of this episode. Want to share your Lazy Genius of the Week idea with us? Use this form to tell us about it. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome aboard via rail. Please sit and enjoy. Please sit and sip. Play. Post. Taste. View and enjoy. Via rail, love the way.

Hi there. You're listening to the Lazy Genius podcast. I'm Kendra Adachi. This show is not about hacking the system to find more time or hacking your energy to get more done. Hustling to be the best or to make the most out of every. opportunity is exhausting and unsustainable. So here we do things differently. On this podcast, we value contentment, compassion, and living in our season. We favor small steps over big systems. Here we are lazy geniuses, being a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things

that don't. And I'm so glad you're here. Today is episode 448, how wonder shows up when you slow down. You've been managing last minute lists and tending to holiday gift giving and figuring out how to host gatherings all while trying to tend to the regular things like meals and carpools and chores. And maybe there's some rest and fun occasionally in there. It is so easy to stay in prep mode after being in it for so long. And today I want us to remember that the wonder of any season, Christmas or otherwise, often shows up when we slow down. wonder does not come from what you plan or try to manufacture. Wonder comes when you notice. Wonder and holiday magic and memories. They come from the most unintended places. So we need to have

eyes to see that. We need to slow down enough to be able to see that. That's what we're going to talk about today. We'll talk about what it looks like to have eyes of wonder. And then I'll share some practices to help you slow down and notice the sparkle and wonder of the next. couple of weeks. And then some other practices to help you cultivate that noticing all year long. After that, we'll have a little extra something where I teach you how to never run out of food, out of party. It's one of the only times I love math. And I'm going to teach you my full proof party food math. You'll know it for any gathering that you have in the next couple weeks, but you can also tuck it away as something really helpful. Any party, any time. Parties should happen

way beyond December, so you'll be all set no matter when you're celebrating something. As always, we will celebrate the lazy genius of the week, which made my jaw drop the first time that I read this. It's a great idea about gathering mementos from traveling. Can't wait for you to hear this one. And then finally, we're going to close with a mini pep talk for when you're not enjoying the holidays. Before we get into all that, I wanted to make sure that you knew about our Spotify episode playlist. So if you, you, you, use Spotify. You can search my username. It's my personal username. It's my name. Kendra, Joyner, J-O-Y-N-E-R, Adachi. Joy-like, happy, joy. I mentioned, it was maybe last week when I talked

about my favorite holiday music, I mentioned the playlist, my Spotify playlist. I have tons of playlist under my username. But what I also have are what we call podcast flights. There is a folder in my list of playlist called podcast flights and inside are curated collections of themed lazy genius podcast episodes. And there is one of those lists entitled holiday sanity, which you might need right now. Episodes on that particular list include how to holiday road trip, 10 steps to creating your own holiday traditions, nailing your holiday vibe, and one of our rare episodes with a guest, how to decorate for the holidays with The Nestor. Y'all might know Michael Lynn Smith,

aka The Nestor, who is the lazy genius of home decor for sure. You probably already have your decorations up, but you might enjoy listening to that episode now to prepare for when you take everything down and pack it away. It might change how you see what you pack away. And if you're like, you have guests on your show? We used to. And all of those episodes, they have their own list.

Like that's also in the podcast flight folder. It's a list called guests. It's revolutionary. And you will find all the episodes where I have talked to other people on my show. People like James Clear, Kelly Corrigan, Breemich, Breemich, Emily Freeman, Largermaine, the sisters from the band Joseph, Kate Bowler, Hillary McBride, Aaron Moon, Kate Strickler, many others. There are a dozen or so curated episode playlists that await you in that folder. that I do want to point you to one in particular, and it's called margin.

These are episodes that help you create margin in your life, whether in your time or in your soul. You will find episodes like how to know what brings you joy, how to rest when you're caring for someone else, how to still have a weekend and how to rally on a bad day. I bet there's an episode in there that could use like a little refresher in your life, especially as you come to the end of another year and might be moving into a quieter January. Like you always want to prioritize feeling like yourself, but it can get pushed out because of all the other things that are in your life. They eat up your margin. I want you to hold the line on your

margin. And maybe one or two of these episodes can help you do that. You can see all the podcast flights on Spotify under my profile. Again, Kendra, join her a dochi, join her with a why. You can even create your own episode playlist of episodes that you want to revisit in the coming weeks, right? You just create a lazy genius podcast playlist in your own account. And then you search my podcast and you drag whatever episodes you want to listen to soon over to your playlist. And then you have a personalized list, like ready to go. So I wanted you to know that was there.

I hope it helps. All right. Let's take an ad break, which makes this episode free for you to listen to. So we're so grateful to our sponsors. we get into the episode. In case you would like to remember what is in this episode, just a reminder, we have a podcast recap email. It goes out every other Friday called latest lazy listens. It summarizes the episode. It shares the lazy genius of the week as well as the other segments we have on the show. There is a little extra note from me to help encourage you through the weekend.

And it's also where we'll share visuals of things from episodes that you might want to see, like the carpool poem from the guy in Central Park that I mentioned a few weeks ago. So if you like this podcast, I think you really enjoy getting the podcast recap email. So you can sign up for that at the lazy genius collective.com slash listens. The ride that steals the spotlight every time it hits the road, that's the Volkswagen Tiguan. It's sleek exterior makes a first impression you can't ignore. Step inside to find available full leather seats and wood accents. Under the hood, the available 201 turbocharged horsepower engine gives it a fun to drive edge.

The refined Tiguan, you deserve more style. Visit vw.ca to learn more. SUVW, German engineered for all. Aw, isn't something we need to travel for. It's something waiting for us in everyday life, whether in a city street or a moment with a work of art. I'm Dr. Keltner, host of the Science of Happiness podcast. Join me for Cities of Aw, a special series on how our public spaces can spark awe, wonder, and enhance the quality of public life. You can find us wherever you listen to your podcasts.

All right. Let's explore how wonder shows up when we slow down and talk about a couple of practical ways to help you actually do that. All right. magic and memories and wonder do not come from what you manufacture or plan. They don't. Wonder comes from looking around with curious, intentional, grateful eyes and just noticing what's around you. That is the gist here. That's what we're trying to get at. Now, plenty of wonderful, magical things happen without you noticing them, right? It's like the truth. It's like the truth. that falls in an empty forest, you know, does anyone hear it? If it falls and no one's there,

if you don't see a moment and take it in, did it really happen? I mean, I don't know, maybe, maybe not. But wonder, it's not a physical thing that exists outside of you. It is within you. It's how you interact with whatever is around you, no matter what it is. Let that be a comfort that you don't have to plan your wonder. It's just what's in front of you. You guys already know that our family was in New York for Thanksgiving because Sam, my oldest kid, he got to march in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, which was so amazing. So we had gone hard the day before Thanksgiving and then got up early, early, early on Thanksgiving morning to make it down to the parade, right? Then after that, we went to Central Park. We walked around for a couple hours.

then we had plans to go to Chinatown for Thanksgiving dinner. That was the plan. And I had been looking forward to Chinatown. Noodles and buns were in my future. I was very, I was very excited. But then around like three o'clock when it was time to transition from Central Park to Chinatown, we did a group check-in and our group of 10 people. Everyone wanted to keep going except Annie. Annie was done. Girl was done. Now, I did not want to force her to keep going because we gave everybody the option. And anyone could certainly take it that I did ask when she's the only one who took the option. I did ask her. I was like, hey, you know, do you want to take like a longer break and get a snack maybe? Do you think that might change your mind? And I reminded her that when she's hungry, she's not as enthusiastic about things. But she said no. She's like,

no, I'm really done. And then her best friend who was with us did some of the same, kind of being like, hey, it's okay if you don't come, but like if you do come, we'll have a really good time, you know, like trying to get her jazzed about it. And still, Annie said she wanted to go back to the Airbnb and rest. She was done for the day. So we split up in Central Park. The whole group went to the station at 57th and 7th to take the Q train downtown. And Annie and I went to 59th in Columbus to take the C-Train train uptown. It was very like official in New York. The minute we left the group, that girl started to shift. She got lighter. She walked faster. She was really enjoying it just being the two of us. I think she'd been carrying some of the like low key anxiety of keeping a group of 10 together in the

city over Thanksgiving weekend. She even commented when it was just the two of us, how much easier it was to get around. We talked about the city. We talked about school. We talked about how tired of our feet were as we rode the train back to Manhattan Valley where we were staying. Then we walked up to Columbus to get a couple slices of pizza from a shop near our place because she wanted pizza, which was shocking because she never wants pizza. And then we went back to the apartment. We put on cozy clothes and we watched football while we ate pizza. And it was maybe the best part of my trip.

I just kept looking at her like she was the greatest thing. We enjoyed each other so much. We just laughed a ton. She kept getting comically grossed out at how much I was burping because I drank a Coke from a glass bottle really fast. I splurged on that at the pizza place and it cracked her up. She would ask me the rules about football and then she would shut me down if my answer got too long. It was just like the best time. I will never, ever forget it. And it was not planned. It was not planned. In fact, it was against the plan. I think that if I had left the group kind of huffy and frustrated at Annie because we were going against plan, the experience would have been completely different.

She would not have relaxed. We would not have really enjoyed ourselves. I would have been too tied to the plan. I would have felt guilty for leaving the group. I would have held on to my disappointment about not getting to eat, you know, pork buns or whatever. That would have changed things. the circumstances themselves would have been exactly the same, but my lens, my attitude,

my desire to just be where I am with gratitude and kindness, it changed that pivot into something that I will remember forever. Now, I don't know if she's going to remember her forever. In fact, you probably won't, but that doesn't matter. She loved it then, and it's not my job to force memories on her forever. It's not your job to force memories and magic and wonder on your people. It's all about the experience and the interaction with what's happening around you, the attitude you have about it, and you cannot control that, not in other people at least.

You can't control it in yourself or at least have a little bit more authority over it in yourself. You can choose your own attitude, which will likely, not always, but likely positively impact the attitudes of other people. You can be a lightning rod for wonder. This is why I love traveling with my husband with cause. He is a clown. He is just a clown. He is so happy to be everywhere he goes and is just goofy and joyful and content and just a good time. He does not get disappointed by things because he's just happy to be there no matter what. It doesn't matter. Like we can make any time a good time. And because of that, he is not impacted when one of our

kids or me, let's be honest, has a bad attitude about something that's gone against plan or is boring or whatever the case may be. He is unfazed by our grumpiness. Instead, he stays light and silly. And eventually it changes the rest of us for the good. He doesn't try and force our attitudes along with his. He just, like, enjoys himself. And then most of the time we all kind of catch up to him. This is why unexpected, even disastrous things can make us laugh and have the best memories, right? It's all about how you see it.

It's all about your attitude. We've all been in circumstances that were on paper less than ideal, you know, like about burned cake, broken Christmas lights, bugs in the real Christmas tree. If you've yet to have a Christmas where somebody has not dropped a pie that shattered across the floor, have you even had Christmas before, like many circumstances do not naturally generate holiday magic or memories or wonder. They just make a mess. But your perspective matters. How you see what's going on and how you respond to it. No matter what the thing is, that's the wonder generator. That's the laughter generator.

Like, you're allowed to drop a pie and burst into tears. Of course you are. But I'm curious. I'm curious how you're feeling when you drop that pie or when the disaster happens. Like, have you previously been running around the kitchen or whatever, like a headless chicken, trying to create an amazing memorable meal for your family? Have you been stressed out? Have you been Michelle Pfeiffer in that new movie that I keep seeing trailers for everywhere

where like you're doing all the things for your family and then they like kind of home alone you, don't even notice you're not there. If you're in that headspace and you drop a pie, you're absolutely going to start crying. Of course you are. But if you're enjoying yourself, if you're holding things loosely, if you're slowing down all with eyes that are just like content here in this moment and then you drop a pie, you might laugh. Like it's a distinct possibility.

contented people are just unmoved by obstacles. In fact, they often find them to be a great source for like an anecdote or a great story that they get to tell later. You know, I just want to remind you to not force the issue, right? Don't force the experience. Let people experience whatever they would like in the moments that you're sharing together and be a person who's a lightning rod for wonder. I think most people would agree that kids are naturally that way. They're naturally full of wonder, at least little kids are.

If you are spending any time with kids during the next couple of weeks, I encourage you to let them experience and notice what they want. Don't force how they see things based on how you see things. Like don't force your lens on them. Kids often notice different things than adults do anyway. So just let them notice and find wonder in their own way. It might show you something too. I saw this a lot when our family was at the Met at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The day after Thanksgiving, we all split up, all 10 of us, we enjoyed, actually it was 11 because Sam was with us at that point, and we just enjoyed the museum, right? I spent the morning with the two little girls. They were tired, but they were game, and we had a really great time. But the things that they noticed about like different pieces of art were so different than what I would have noticed. They could see shapes where I didn't. They connected certain pictures with things that they were like.

learning in school. They counted how many dogs they could find in one room of paintings. It was so cute. Like, I mostly stayed quiet, not at first, but I noticed that when I would talk, it would tamp down on what they were noticing. So I stayed quiet and let them lead. Like I moved at their pace, which was pretty slow. And in that slowness, there was so much wonder. There was time to see and enjoy and laugh and like just have a good time. It was a great memory and not a single part of it was manufactured. Something else I noticed while we were walking around the Met was how many people, like groups that were going around the museum together,

how many people would point out different things to someone in their group without acknowledging what the person was already looking at? like time after time after time. I would observe a group of like two or four people. They would enter a room. They would enter one of the small galleries. And all of their eyes would immediately land on different things, right? But someone would say, oh, guys, look at this.

And then the other people would kind of extract themselves from whatever they had initially seen to go see what this other person saw. But often the rest of the group wouldn't respond to that thing the same way the original person did. It was like a weird dance of manufactured sharing rather than just like letting people see and sit with what they enjoy. In fact, there was one family. There was this one dad who was essentially like giving his family a tour through the entire

impressionist wing. And he didn't let anyone look at paintings except for the ones that he thought were important. He probably thought he was doing a good thing, like educating his family on different works of art or the artist themselves or pointing out was like the most famous or something. But there's no wonder in that. His teenagers were like, they seemed at least, I don't know that they were, but in observation. They seemed incredibly bored and disengaged. And I'm guessing that's because they weren't given the space to notice things for themselves. The experience was dictated for them. And as a result, it wasn't a good experience. Because we are all different people, we're all

going to notice different things. And we should. We should be given that opportunity. And the noticing is where the wonder happens anyway. We can notice different moments and experience wonder even in less than ideal circumstances. The circumstances themselves are not what create wonder. It's how we interact with those circumstances that creates a memory or a moment where we stop and smile and we think, like, this is really good right here, right now. It sounds a little bit like those moments and cheesy rom-coms where, like, the city girl realizes she's a country girl all along and she does want to marry the son who's trying to save his family's struggling Christmas tree farm and she does that like thoughtful faraway look and smiles. Honestly, that's kind of the feeling we're going for here,

just like minus the hallmark movie plot. You know that feeling though. You've had it. You have had moments where you just stop and smile and think, man, this is like a really sweet moment. right here. That's not something that you prepare. That's something you notice. So how does this whole thing, this ambiguous idea, work practically? Here are three simple things that you can do to help you notice the wonder around you as you move through the next couple of weeks. Number one, look around, like literally, slow down enough to look around. Notice what everyone is doing. Notice how your kids are interacting while they play with like the fidget toys they got in their stocking or whatever. Notice how the sunlight comes through the window.

Notice the lights on the tree or the smell of the pine, the oven. Notice how cozy someone is on the couch bundled up. Notice how your teenager is not looking at her phone right now and what a sweet thing that is because she's like right here with you. Just look around. You cannot notice an experience wonder if you don't slow down enough to look around. That was actually the best piece of advice I got for my wedding day. I don't remember who told me this, but somebody said to pause every now and then and just look around. Like slow down enough to notice and take it in. See what you see. Don't force it. Just notice. So number one is look around. Number two, stay quiet. This one is especially helpful for me. I'm a talker. I'm a talker. I'm a

often like social glue and I'm the showrunner in my house. If I could live life with a headset and a clipboard, I might actually be tempted to do it. In other words, I am not often quiet. Being quiet, though, is such a gift. Slow down enough in your speech to stay quiet. Stay quiet. I walked through the met with two little girls and I mostly stayed quiet. I let them talk. I let them notice. I was simply like a and person to whatever it was that they were noticing and wanting to do. Staying quiet. It keeps you from accidentally directing the group on what they should notice. It also keeps you from trying to manufacture the wonder. You're just smiling and happy to be there, slowing down and staying quiet. I think it's a really nice practice. And number three, let things happen. You can prepare and

create an environment for memories and enjoyment, but you also need to let things happen. I think about puzzles. Puzzles are like such a nostalgic activity for so many people, especially around like the cozy, slow holidays, but people might not do them. Like you could put it out and nobody does it with you. And that's okay. Like you can put a puzzle on the table. But if no one does it, you did not fail at creating a memory, people just didn't do the puzzle. The circumstances are not the primary thing here. Your lens and your intention to notice is what will help you experience the wonder and magic of the holidays. You don't have to manufacture it. You don't have to plan at all. So it's okay to just let things happen. Don't try and force them into a certain

shape. All of the circumstances count because you can find wonder in any of them. So those are the three things that you can do right now to help you slow down so that you can notice what's around you and experience within yourself the wonder of the season. So look around, stay quiet, and let things happen. Like be the rock in the river. Don't be the river. Okay. Now let's close out with some things that you can do throughout the year that can help you notice the wonder and goodness and beautiful things in your life. I do believe that this is a practice. The more you do it, the better you get at it and the easier it is therefore to do. So number one is to use a one line a day journal. I've used one for over five years. I love it so much. And it's maybe the main thing that started

helping me notice the small things that make life beautiful. Truly, that daily practice of just writing down a couple sentences has been massive in teaching me how to see and notice. So my one line a day journal, it's next to my bed. And every night before I go to sleep, I jot a sentence or two down about like what happened that day or just whatever I want to say. Like some days I write, I am so tired. And that's all I write. Occasionally, I share some of those lines in the latest lazy letter. And everyone who sees them knows how terribly ordinary they are. But that's usually the point of a one line a day journal. You're capturing whatever is happening. And usually that's really ordinary. But what is so fun is that you get to see what happened on December 8th

the last few years and how all of those ordinary things build up to a life that has rhythms and patterns and surprises. And it's just all so great. Start small in all things and especially with noticing. And you can easily start small with a one line of day journal. There are tons on the market. They're all pretty much the same. Just get one that you think is pretty. All right, the second thing that you can do throughout the year to practice noticing is a one second a day video. This is an app I've talked about before. I've been using it for years. It really is so good.

You can record a short video any day that you remember to. It doesn't even have to be every day. And the app connects all of those short videos into one. Our family will go back and watch our one second a day videos all the time. Like they're just so much fun and a great way. to notice all the ordinary things with a truly magical lens. Okay, the third thing that you can do throughout the year to practice noticing is just taking a photo.

Emily Freeman takes photos where she looks up and then she looks down. She takes a photo up and takes one down. Shannon Martin, she takes photos of the same street on different days. During Annie's first year of life, my daughter, Annie, I took a photo of her every day. And it was the best thing ever to just look back and watch her grow. They weren't posed or anything. It was just a photo. Just take a photo.

You can even set a timer to remind you to take one like an alarm every day and you just take a photo of whatever is happening around you at that moment because the wonder is not manufactured. Remember? The wonder is just in how you see where you are. The fourth thing you can do throughout the year to practice noticing is to intentionally choose something you do every day and be in it. Maybe you could even commit to doing that thing with no phone if that keeps you distracted in that thing. So like maybe you make your coffee every morning without a digital companion and you just do it in the quiet. Maybe you walk to the mailbox and every time you intentionally look around at where you live. Maybe it's a walk to school or from your car to your office or a particular subway ride.

Maybe it's making dinner or making your lunch for the next day. Maybe it's changing a baby's diaper or it's during a kid's bath time where you're just really there with them. choose something ordinary that you do every day and be there on purpose. Practice noticing there. And then the fifth thing that you could do throughout the year to practice noticing is to use the yearbook playbook. So we have a line of playbooks, which are small, portable, versatile little notebooks that work as companions to or even substitutes for your favorite planners and calendars.

Essentially, these help you look at your season or your projects or your travel or your year through a lazy genius lens. Something that most traditional planners and tools don't naturally do. That's why this is a companion. It's a good companion to help you see what you already have through a lazy genius lens. You can explore all the playbooks on our website at the lazy genius collective.com slash playbooks. But the yearbook playbook is one of our new releases and its purpose is to help you notice, to help you have fun with what you notice. It has pages for favorites. things, things you want to remember, stuff you watched and discovered, whatever you like to put in there. There are even blank pages for photos if you want to take those inside. But having a place to put all

of the things that you notice throughout the year is a really nice practice. And then you have a collection of all your ordinary wonder for the year in one place. It's just really lovely. Now obviously there are way more than these five things that you can practice noticing throughout the year. These are just ideas. But the point is to do something small and simple for as many days as you're able. It's okay to skip days, many of them even. This is not a competition. You don't have to be a completionist in order for noticing to count. The only reason that daily noticing might be helpful is because it helps you build the practice. And it helps you see how ordinary thing after ordinary thing is actually kind of extraordinary.

It sounds like a Hallmark card, but it's true. So to recap, wonder is not manufactured. It is something you notice. That's the gist and hopefully helpful permission to let go of your tight grip on planning your memories. Over the next couple of weeks, as you live inside this winter holiday season, no matter what it looks like for you, remember these three things to help you notice. Look around, stay quiet, and let things happen. Don't force it, right?

And then if you'd like to develop a practice of noticing throughout the year, some great ideas that could help you see and capture your wonder are a one-line-a-day journal, a one-second-a-day video, taking photos of any kind, and then enjoying them on your phone or print it out or whatever, being intentional during something daily and ordinary and using the yearbook playbook. All of those things do not require speed. In fact, they promote slowing down because that is really when wonder shows up. And that's how wonder shows up when you slow down. All right, it's time for a little extra something.

And today I'm going to teach you how to never run out of food at a party. So I shared this math on the website years ago. one of my favorite pages in my book, The Lazy Genius Kitchen. That book is a treasure trove of kitchen ideas, and this one for sure is a winner. So figuring out how to make food for a party where you have enough, but not too much is literal math. And one of the reasons why hosting can sometimes feel too overwhelming. So I am here today to mystify this math for you. Here's all you need to know. Okay, you ready? Here's your first equation. Your first equation is six bites per person per hour. six bites per person per hour. Okay, that's your first equation. Your second equation is three choices per

10 people. Three choices per 10 people. So you want six bites per person per hour and then three choices per 10 people. Okay, let's practice the math. Let's say you're having 15 people over for like a chill Christmas party this weekend, okay? So you need six bites for 15 people per hour you're together. And if you want three choices per 10 people and you're having 15, let's go with five choices. You can certainly get away with four, but it might be kind of close. So we'll go with five. We'll cheat up. So that's six bytes times 15 people times two, let's say if they're coming for two hours. Okay. So six times 15 times two is 180 bytes, not servings, bites. Okay.

Now you're going to divide those 180 bytes across five dishes because that's how many dishes you need for the number of people you got. So that's five dishes of 36 bytes each because 180 divided by five is 36. Okay. So let's break down what that choice might look like. let's say you're making something that's easy to measure in bites like a meatball have 36 meatballs cool if you're making like a spinach artichoke dip you want about 36 bites let's say one bite is like maybe a tablespoon okay there are 16 tablespoons in a cup so you want like a generous two cups

of dip which is usually one dip recipe cool all right so you're making a dip recipe now if you have something that's multiple bites like little individual moose cups or a cooking or something that's more than one bite as itself. You don't have to make 36 cookies. You could probably make a dozen and be fine. Do that with the final two dishes as well and you've got your menu and you're not going to run out of food. There will always be enough food, I promise. Now the only thing that transcends this math is anything wrapped in bacon. If you wrap something in bacon, you've got to double the bites. Just go ahead and do it because they go so fast. You could honestly make the same argument for meatballs or sausage balls, depending on how tasty they are. Those puppies are

always a first to go. But in general, you can rely on this math. Six bites per person per hour and three choices per 10 people. You're talking bites, not servings, and you're not going to go wrong. This math has been my math for years. It has been the math of other people who have used it from the lazy jeans kitchen for years, and it just works. I promise it works. And that is how to never run out of food at a party. Also, quick plug to grab the lazy genius kitchen if you don't already have it. It is full of helpful things like that, like the food math, and a great reference for all things kitchen. I have lists of ways kids can help in the kitchen without making a bigger mess, how to choose essential tools for your kitchen, 28 ready to go cooking related answers to the magic

question. What can I do now to make dinner or this food easier later? Plus, it's the origin of the lazy genius method, the five steps to lazy geniusing anything. It's just a really great book, you guys, and a great gift. So if you have anyone in your life who's like on the verge of some sort of life transition, like a college student or a new mom or someone getting their first apartment or someone who's moved into a new house, this book makes a great gift. It's hardback. It's illustrated. It's just the happiest little kitchen companion. I love it so much. So that's the Lacey Genius Kitchen. Okay. Now for the Lacey Genius. Lazy Genius of the Week. This week we have Megan with a fantastic idea. Megan writes, four years ago,

our family moved to Bocata, Columbia. We have been able to visit different cities and other fun places there, and I wanted a little memento of each place, but don't like the clutter of kitchen magnets, mugs are too heavy and breakable, et cetera. So at each place, I buy a small keychain that I like. I take the chain off and replace it with a hook and use it as a Christmas ornament. Once a year, we get to be reminded of these family trips, but they aren't cluttering at my house year-round. I love how they look on my tree since I buy them with that in mind, and I wish I had thought of this years ago. I would also consider buying one for every family member and the kids so that when they move out, they have their own sets. Y'all, is that not a fantastic idea? Key chains are plentiful in gift shops

anywhere you go, and usually one of the cheapest things there. So converting them to a Christmas ornament, which might not even need the whole hook thing if the chain has a good enough ring on it is such a great idea. It's such a great idea. Such a great way to remember a trip without adding clutter to your home. I love this so much, Megan. Thank you for sharing and congratulations on being the lazy genius of the week. If you'd like to be considered for lazy genius of the week, you can find the submission form link in each podcast recap email. All right, let's close with a mini pep talk for when you're not enjoying the holidays because that happens sometimes. You might never enjoy the holidays. Like this might be your least

favorite time of year. Maybe you don't live close to family or you're not emotionally close with them. You don't have any family at all. Maybe you get really annoyed at the consumerism of the holiday and you just close your eyes and wait for it to be over. Maybe you have been putting so much energy into everyone else's experience of this holiday that you're not actually having any fun yourself. Or maybe you just don't like Christmas. I don't like Valentine's Day. There's nothing wrong with me. You cannot like Christmas and there's nothing wrong with you.

In many ways, that could be the pep talk. You don't have to like it. And if you tend to not enjoy this time of year, there's nothing wrong with you. We all have different preferences. Insane. But if you are not enjoying the holiday because you're overwhelmed by it, because you have been putting everyone else's enjoyment before yours, or because your expectations are not being met,

remember that all of that is okay. It is manageable and something you can step out of if you slow down enough to do it. If you are overwhelmed by all you have to do, I want you to listen to the last week's episode on last minute lists. If you are struggling to enjoy things because you're moving too fast, hopefully you already feel better from this episode. And if you're not enjoying it because your expectations are not being met, remember that good is here right now. You can be honest about what you need and what you hoped for for this season while simultaneously having eyes of gratitude and contentment. When we were in New York and going to the Macy's parade, my expectations were not met. I thought I had prepared us to get good seats to see the actual street and therefore my kids' face,

and we did not. There were. were way more people there than I expected. And we had to adjust in the moment big time. And I was disappointed. I cried. And while I cried, I also was able to see that we did get a good spot, that our friends and family were there, and we were like bundled up and having a good time, that things didn't have to go exactly as planned in order to be okay. It did not go the way I hoped. But that didn't mean that the whole thing was a bust, right? Plans are not all or nothing. They're not pass fail, neither are expectations. So if you're not enjoying the holidays because of unmet expectations, be honest about them, feel them, and also keep going by remembering that good

is here right now. It just might not be what you intended it to be. And that's a mini pep talk for when you're not enjoying the holidays. If this episode was helpful to you or if you've been looking for a way to support the show, it would mean so much if you would share this episode. with a friend or leave a kind review on Apple Podcasts. Both are small, actionable ways to help the show grow and reach the people who are excited to be lazy geniuses. They just don't know it yet. This podcast is part of the Odyssey family and the Office Ladies Network. This episode is hosted by me, Kendra Adachi, and executive produced by Kendra Adachi, Jenna Fisher, and Angela Kinsey.

Special thanks to Leah Jarvis for weekly production. If you'd like a podcast recap every other week, be sure to sign up for the latest lazy listens email. that goes out every other Friday. Head to the lazy genius collective.com slash listens to get it. Thanks y'all for listening. And until next time, be a genius about the things that matter

and lazy about the things that don't. I'm Kendra, and I'll see you next week. Do you ever felt like you were living just a B or B plus life? It's so dangerous to live that. More dangerous than a B minus or a C plus life because when you're living a B or B plus life, you don't change it.

You think it's good enough. Is it? I'm Susie Welch. I host a podcast called Becoming you. People think, okay, an A-plus life is not available to me, but there is a way. We are all in the process of becoming ourselves. Listen to Becoming You wherever you get your podcasts.