Growing up, did you have to people-please and perform to earn your spot on Santa’s “nice” list? For many of us, we learned that gifts had to be earned, and there wasn’t much room for a good person who screwed up sometimes (i.e. a regular ol’ human). We were labeled as either good or bad, worthy or unworthy. For a jolly fellow, there sure were a lot of strings attached. And we got the pleasure of carrying those beliefs into our actual relationships—who needs that gift?

The point of this podcast isn’t to villainize Santa, but rather to acknowledge how our childhood impacts our current relationships so we can identify patterns of behavior. As kids, we bought into those stories about what we deserved and where to look for validation (under the Christmas tree), but as adults, we get to challenge—and change—them.