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Pardon the Mess with Scarlet Hiltibidal - Christian Motherhood, Biblical Parenting, Raising Christian Kids

Q&A with Ella DeFeo and Landry Smith

Pardon the Mess with Scarlet Hiltibidal - Christian Motherhood, Biblical Parenting, Raising Christian Kids

Scarlet Hiltibidal and Christian Parenting

Christianity, Parenting, Religion & Spirituality, Kids & Family

4.9850 Ratings

🗓️ 18 December 2025

⏱️ 45 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

What a thrill to interview my oldest daughter and one of her very best friends. Ella and Landry have been friends since 3rd grade and it’s so special to hear from two young women that are keeping their faith a priority in college. I ask them about their “favorites” from tennis shoes to rom-coms and then we get into some more serious topics.

My favorite moment is when I ask each of them, “What is God teaching you right now?” I was blown away by their answers and also felt so thankful that they are both engaged in their college church communities. Ask your kiddos that question this Christmas break and let them share about their faith. I am always astounded when I learn how much depth and wisdom is in these teens. They are wiser than you know.

You also don’t want to miss my opening story about an “elf on the shelf” adventure gone wrong. I am still feeling a little rattled from it.

00:00 Introduction and Guest Introductions

07:05 High School Experiences and Advice

10:02 Navigating Junior Year Challenges

14:54 Senior Year Reflections and Relationships

18:26 Maintaining Faith in High School

23:35 Parental Guidance and Support

25:37 Navigating High School Dynamics

26:56 Understanding Teen Communication

28:04 The High School Experience: Challenges and Growth

30:51 Transitioning to College Life

33:35 Building Friendships in College

37:48 Spiritual Growth and Lessons Learned

43:18 Legacy of Love: Lessons from Grandmothers


Connect with Pardon The Mess:

Christian Parenting

Pardon The Mess 

Courtney DeFeo


ORDER YOUR 2026-2027 PRAYER JOURNAL NOW


Resources from today’s show:

Ella’s new sneakers - Back 70

Yahtzee Game

Nertz Game

Quiplash (on Apple TV)

New Morning Mercies devotional


Prefer video? This episode is on YouTube!

Pardon The Mess is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcast Network. For more information visit www.ChristianParenting.org



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Transcript

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0:00.0

Christian Parenting.

0:03.5

Christian Parenting.

0:12.4

Hey friends, welcome back to Pardon in the Mess.

0:14.5

I'm your host, Courtney Defeo, and I have a story for y'all before we get to our amazing guest today, Ella Defeo and one of her besties,

0:22.1

Landry Smith. So if you've got kids in the car that love Santa or kids in the car that love

0:26.7

the elf or kids that are young, you may want to just pause and put some AirPods on or pause

0:33.0

and listen to this later. But y'all won't believe this. So it was like at the beginning of this month, like probably end of November, one of our dear friends, Megan Jones, said, hey, can you come over and leave a banner? Larson paints these cool banners, leave a banner that basically says the elf has arrived, your, you know, your elf Piper is arrived, it's time, and then we put put the elf out and we did that last year for her so

0:54.6

was like yeah great she's like by the way we left the elf so they went to dinner we went over snuck in and we're like we're going to get in get out you know go unnoticed we got this so we get there and she's like oh and i left out the elf babies i'm like what the heck are elf babies how do we have, there's more things we've got to deal with.

1:10.9

And then she was like, oh, and there's this little kit.

1:13.0

Well, she left us boxes, like these clear I'm like, what the heck are elf babies? How do we have, there's more things we've got to deal with?

1:28.1

And then she was like, oh, and there's this little kit. Well, she left us boxes, like these clear cellophane boxes that we needed to put together and then put the balloons in and then shove the elf in there. And we're like, oh my word. And we loved it. We were just crack it up that we're like, we didn't sign up for all this. And then we're putting the banner up. We're putting the boxes together.

1:28.5

We're getting it all set. We're like manhandling the elf. And I feel eyeballs. I'm not kidding you. I was like, you know when you just know someone's staring at you, I turn around to the front door and there was a little girl staring at us. And I'm like, I stare at, I was like flabbergasted. I look at Larson, she looks at me.

1:44.4

I wish it had been recorded because we were like frozen.

1:46.8

And so I'm like, I stare at, I was like flabbergasted. I look at Lars said, she looks at me.

1:44.4

I wish it had been recorded because we were like frozen.

1:46.8

And so I'm like, I opened the door and said, yes. She's like, oh, I was just dropping this off for Mary Cam. And I was like, oh, thanks. And they're like a little advent calendar. So I shut the door. And I said to her before I shut the door. I said, you don't know us, and you've never seen us.

2:00.0

And she said, okay, and ran out.

2:02.0

And so I'm texting Megan.

2:03.3

I'm like, help, I said, you don't know us, and you've never seen us. And she said, okay, and ran out.

2:02.0

And so I'm texting Megan. I'm like, help, Mayday, Mayday. Something has gone wrong in our mission. We've had a little girl show up. I think we just ruined Christmas for this little girl. So she handled it. We were all dying. She said she texted the mom. The mom was covering. It was like, oh, those are her aunts.

2:16.9

You know, they were doing a little Christmas surprise for them.

2:19.2

I'm like, we have the elf in her hand. Like, I just can't wait to hear this girl's virgin in like five years when they're like, hey, when did you know Santa wasn't real? Or when did you know your elf wasn't real? And she's like, when two, when an old lady and a teenager were literally swinging them around this person's house.

...

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