Traditions Part 2: Presence over Perfection

In this follow-up to our traditions conversation, Stephanie reflects on Christmas with her girls and the quiet moments that mattered most — pajamas around the tree, opening one gift at a time, and a simple comment that changed everything: “We should call each other more.”

This episode explores how traditions evolve as kids grow, why presence often matters more than perfection, and how small moments of connection become the traditions we carry forward.

Stephanie also shares a practical winter glow-up focused on hydration, sleep, and simple self-care, introduces a meaningful New Year reflection ritual, and revisits the power of intentional words — including this week’s focus on presence.

This is a gentle, grounding episode about listening closely, choosing connection, and allowing traditions to grow alongside the people we love.

Champagne Smiles & Magical Miles is a podcast about living with grace, choosing joy, and celebrating the moments — big and small — that make life meaningful.

Hosted by Stephanie Parks, each episode blends mindset, self-care, family traditions, and everyday intention with a touch of Disney magic and real-life reflection. From the words we use and the habits we build to the kindness we extend to ourselves and others, this podcast is an invitation to slow down, show up, and live on purpose.

You’ll hear favorite segments like Words Matter, Magical Miles, Sparkle & Glow Up, and Sip of the Week — each designed to inspire, encourage, and help you leave every episode with simple, practical takeaways you can easily implement in daily life.

Whether you’re in a season of growth, rest, or celebration, this space is for you.

Because every mile matters, every word counts, and life is meant to be lived with grace, joy, and a whole lot of celebrating. ✨🥂

🎙️ New episodes weekly. Follow along and join the celebration.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:14

Let's start this episode with one goal to make your day better than it was five minutes ago. This is Champagne Smiles and Magical Miles, and I'm your host, Stephanie Parks. If you're new here, welcome. If you're returning, I'm so glad you're back. Today's episode is a continuation of episode three on the topic of traditions. I wanted to record, edit, and drop episode four last week. Some of our loyal followers actually reached out and asked where it was. Honestly, I chose family. I chose being present. And it didn't hurt that I also lost my voice. Larangitis forced me not to record. But I do love you all, and I do not want to let you down. So here is episode four. Last week was Christmas. It looked a little different for our family. As you all know, my big girls are at Disney making other families have magical experiences, which I'm so proud of. So we loaded up our suitcases and headed for our temporary home in Orlando for a few days to try to keep traditions as much intact as possible. So today I want to talk about what stayed with me after we headed home, after we took down our temporary decorations and headed back. It wasn't a gift. It wasn't something I had spent time meticulously planning for our family. But it was something that my girls said casually that shifted how I'm thinking about traditions in this season of motherhood for me. So our Christmas mornings are simple by design in very busy lives and very not simple schedules. We try to slow down on Christmas morning and meaningfully like go through one gift at a time. We don't rush. We sit around the tree in our pajamas. We have multiple rounds of different types of snacks. We laugh, we play, we linger. Somewhere in that quiet, in those fun moments, one of the bigger girls said, Mom, why don't we talk more? We should really call each other more often. She wasn't dramatic or emotional about it. She was just being honest. And later the other one said it. Different at a different time. They didn't even know they were both saying it. And then I realized that the tradition they're asking for now is not the same tradition as what they once needed or wanted. It's not something elaborate. It's just connection. Connection with her mom, connection with her family. We're many state lines apart and thousands of miles apart, and what they need is a connection to what they know. This hit this mom hard. This season of motherhood feels like long distance running. When they're little, you're pacing every step right beside them as they grow, the miles stretch. You don't stop showing up, you just show up differently. It's a phone call instead of sitting in carpal line. It's a check-in instead of a calendar invite instead of scheduling their calendars. It's being present instead of planning. Just like running, consistency matters more than intensity. It's one kile call, one mile, one moment at a time. Okay, so switching subjects for a minute, sparkle and glow up. I love this section of the podcast because I like to talk about taking care of yourself, taking care of your body, and taking care of yourself helps you take care of others. So winter is hard on your skin. It's hard on our energy level. The holidays definitely you have less sleep. I know the last week, I mean, obviously I got laryngitis, probably because I wasn't taking care of my body. This season reminded me that glow-ups don't have to be complicated. Sometimes it's just what do we talk about? Hydration, drinking more water than you think you need, putting extra thick moisturizer on before bed and not rushing through it and forgetting, choosing sleep over scrolling or continuing to shop online while you're trying to think of last-minute plans or last-minute gifts. And then one thing we did when we were staying on our trip for Christmas is we switched to satin pillowcases, and that protects your skin while you rest, your skin and your hair. I think the satin pillowcases are our takeaway for the glow-up this week. These small habits aren't about vanity, it's about sustaining your life and building quiet confidence and resilience. So this week, think about switching to satin pillowcases. Don't forget sleep. I actually just had a doctor's appointment and said I sleep about six or seven hours. And she said, make an appointment to sleep eight. Eight's hard. I've been trying to count the hours, especially during the holidays. And if I get four, I've been lucky. So eight hours. Drink more water and moisturize. So moving on to recurring segment sip of the week. This week's sip is about listening. It's not fixing, it's not correcting, it's not reframing what you think you've heard. It's just listening. Listening to what people around you are asking, what they need, what they're saying, whether it's your kids, your family, your friends, your colleagues. Listen. Sometimes all they need is for you to be more present in the moment. Okay, for words matter, which is one of my favorite recurring segments in Champagne Smiles and Magical Miles. Words matter because they shape how we show up. Some of the words that have been with us through this podcast: grace, purpose, and kindness. This week, the word that keeps surfacing for me is presence, not presence like gifts, presence like being present in the moment. Be there. Don't be distracted. Don't be playing on your phone. Don't multitask, which is really difficult for me. Don't already be thinking about the next thing. Just be here in the moment. So between being thoughtful about being present, listening, and switching to those satin pillowcases, I hope this has been worth your time listening today. Okay, so New Year's reflection. As we look toward 2026, I want to share something that we as a family have done for years. And it's something that we cherish. So for many, many years, we've always taken a New Year's trip. We usually typically are home around the tree for Christmas. And then we take a trip, usually somewhere warm, but we take a trip somewhere. We've gone to Turks and Kecos many times. And on New Year's Eve, before we start celebrating the New Year, we write down this reflection moment. We read last year's, share it out loud, and then we quietly, privately write down next year's, put it into a bag, seal it up, and we wait until the next circle around the sun until we read these again as a family together. This year we will have to do it remotely, but it's okay. So the first thing you write down is a prediction for the coming year. What do you see unfolding? It could be something on the world front, it could be something personally, it could be something about a family or friend, but some prediction that you see for the coming year. And we've had some funny ones like someone with Piper having her first boyfriend or someone having their first kiss or someone learning to read. We've had a lot of funny ones. Many have come true over the years. We also have a reflection moment of one thing that surprised you, something that happened over the last 12 months that was a complete surprise, a goal for the upcoming year, a goal personally. Intentional, honest, not doesn't have to be complex. And then my favorite is your word for the year, something that anchors you and gives you direction, something that could be a filter for you. Words like presence, intention, grace, purpose, kindness. It's not perfection. It's truly a discipline for you to follow. One year mine was to be kinder and gentler. And I repeated it throughout the year every time I wasn't kind and gentle. I retracted, filtered my thoughts, and tried and made a conscious effort to be kinder and gentler as a human. And those that you that know me have seen that evolution, I hope, over the years. So in the next episode, or in the next episode or two down the road, I'm going to bring the girls into discussing how this reflection New Year's tradition has evolved. And maybe they'll have some stories that I don't even remember. And they can talk about how it's how it has shaped their years because they ask for this tradition every year, even if we're not together. This idea also of being present shows up everywhere in your life. So as we're talking about word of the year, if you choose presence, which I don't know what mine is yet, intention, grace, purpose, kindness, presence, I'm not sure where it lands yet. And I hope over the next week it becomes more clear to me what that word should be, and for you as well. But the idea of presence shows up everywhere in your life. It shows up in not just in how we parent, but how we lead, how we make business decisions, how we negotiate. Being present, understanding the other person across the room, looking them in the eye, listening to their words. So as you move forward into the new year, I want you to think about this. What tradition in your life is asking to evolve, not disappear, but shift? We've definitely had a lot of traditions this year shift. What's worth hanging on to, what's worth allowing to evolve. And maybe it's about doing less instead of doing more. Maybe it's just about being there and being conscious of being there. Well, that's it for this week's Champagne Smiles and Magical Miles. Thank you so much for being here and listening to episode four. You can always reach me by texting directly on this podcast, which will actually show up on my phone if you have any questions, ideas, positive, or some other type of feedback that you want to give me. You can just click and message me. You can message me through any of my social media channels, Stephanie in the Parks. And you can also email me at Stephanieintheparks at gmail.com. I'd also love for you to check out my curated finds on my new like to know profile or Amazon. Super fun being able to do that. Just a little side fun. Thank you for being here. Thank you for listening and letting me share my heart and some of the foundation of our family's traditions. If something in today's episode resonated, share it with someone who might need a little joy, a little purpose, a little encouragement, or even a little hydration and moisturizing green. This is Stephanie in the Parks. Love you. Hug, kisses, cheers. Go drink some bubbly. Happy New Year. Book the trip. It's Matty Joe time.