Pulling Up To Family Functions

Thanksgiving is all about family, food...and the chaos that comes with it. Whether it’s debates over politics, getting grilled about your life plans, or feeling wiped from juggling multiple families, we’re sharing the awkward, hilarious, and sentimental stories that make this holiday unforgettable.

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Transcript

Hi, hello. Welcome back to another episode of the Unrelatable podcast, and happy Thanksgiving. I'm going to release this the day before Thanksgiving so that if you have any sort of travel plans or maybe you are not actually spending Thanksgiving with family, you're doing it on your own. This is the season of family functions, pulling up to family functions or avoiding them entirely because maybe it's just better that way for your mental health.

And so if that's the case, then I hope that you can, either way, enjoy this episode as today, I'm going to share some very awkward Thanksgiving day family stories that we're going to laugh or cry about. And we are also going to be mentioning the things that you guys said you are grateful for because I did have a little question box on my Instagram stories. Thank you so much, by the way, for participating in that because it is so helpful, and we got some submissions. So at the end of the episode, we episode. Jeez.

At the end of this episode, we're going to be mentioning just some of the some of the things that we're grateful for, some of the things that are simple but really mean a lot. And, for example, my one thing that I'm grateful for is the fact that I can continually play songs over and over and over and over again. Have you ever thought about that? I remember when I was a kid and the radio would come on, and I would just belt it out and wait the entire road trip for it to come back on again. And usually it would come on, you know, 2 or 3 times if we had a long road trip to see family in California or something.

And I would wait the entire car ride for these songs. And when it came on, you just you belt it out. Yeah. Anyways, I'm just so grateful that you can just push start as many times as you want and over and over and over and over again. And I know I know that that's something that has been this has been happening for a long time.

I mean, cassette players used to not be able to rewind those, and then we had CDs. My siblings are not old enough to remember CDs, but my friend in, I think it was 1st grade, she did indeed have a CD player, and she would share an earbud with me. And in 1st grade, we would listen to Evanescence on the buzz, on field trips, on the way to the Salt Lake Flats to collect brine shrimp. So, yeah. Anyways, I am just grateful for being able to listen to songs over and over again because it's the little things.

It really is. It's a very it's the little things that matter. It's the day to day things that we enjoy that I find we usually say when we're sitting at the table, when everyone says what they're grateful for. Do you guys do that? Do your families do that?

Ours does, of course, every year. And what is off the table? Family is off the table in any and all regard because that is the easiest cop out. So yeah. Okay.

Before we get into today's episode, we, of course, have to play our intro. So with all that, welcome back to another episode of the Unrelatable podcast. Alright. Jumping right in. 15, we're coming over for dinner.

I was advised that the adult son of 1 of the couples is vegan. Oh, boy. Do I know a little bit about that? I go out of my way to make sure he can have almost everything on the menu by using vegan butter, etcetera. I made separate mashed potatoes, gravy, as well as a portobello and chestnut Wellington for a substantial main.

This is insane. This is spectacular. Please be my chef. A half an hour before arrival time, I receive a call that they are not coming. That's right.

A half an hour notice that vegan and his parents are not attending, not even with an acceptable excuse. Lovely. Here's the kicker. The parents are invited for Easter a year and a half later. Show up with their vegan son who immediately tucks tucks into the pizza rustica, which is cheese and meat and deviled eggs that are all out for appetizers.

They tell me it was just a phase he was going through. Guess who never received another invitation? Okay. So this is something where food is something that is if you are so specifically unable to eat something, then you should bring it. That's my opinion.

Unless somebody asks you, hey. Do you have any dietary restrictions? You should just plan on, I don't know, bringing bringing a few things you can eat. Is that wild of me to say? I mean, I say that with my experience of not eating meat for 7 years, and then I was vegan for, I think, 5 of those years.

And there was never a time where I ever expected anybody to have veganized anything. I mean, it was really, really awesome because most of the time, they already would. As for example, they would leave out some mashed potatoes without butter, which I can't believe that I used to be that strict where I wouldn't even eat butter. If there's anyone that's vegan that's listening to this, go you. How do you do it?

How did I do it? I really don't understand it. But, anyways, they would leave out the butter, which I felt was so kind. It was it was just like a kind gesture. I just didn't expect it.

And the fact that you made beef wellington or not beef wellington, a portobello and chestnut wellington, that is insane. When any when anyone would ever make a main dish that was vegan friendly, I was always shook. And, typically, it'd be one of those what is it called? It's from, Harmon's, I think, has it. Trader Joe's.

It's like a Thanksgiving meat replacement, and it was just always so thoughtful and kind. But you do wanna know do you wanna know what ruined my day? It ruined my day when a typically vegan or vegetarian dish was meatified, which is what I'm gonna call it. When literally meat was put in it unnecessarily. And this was a lot of the times done with bacon.

Bacon in the macaroni and cheese, bacon in the baked beans, bacon in the salad. That is when I would get annoyed because I'm thinking these are just toppings. Can you not put this on separately? And I would never say it, of course, but I was always a vegetarian vegan who I would always just bring my own protein and or I would eat it before going to the function. So I don't know.

People that expect it are insane. And not even to mention the second part of that of just not showing up. This is why if you are planning on going to a friend's house for a dinner or anything where they are hosting you, do not cancel last minute. Do not cancel last minute. If you're gonna cancel, give them a week so that they at least don't go and waste the groceries on it.

I mean, I am, of course, guilty of doing that before, but it's definitely something I've worked on in the last few years. And I feel like I feel like I'm I've done a much better job at holding to my commitments because it's just such a bummer when you do end up hosting and people don't show up. And everybody thinks, oh, but everyone else will show up and then sometimes they don't. Sometimes they don't show up. Okay.

Next story. My mom was known for taking on anyone who didn't have a place. She would make enough food for an army. My cousin shows up with 10 extra friends. Didn't even ask.

This isn't saying that it was the it was the cousin. Come on. These aren't young people either. All were in their mid thirties. You're telling me of the 10, they couldn't have planned something?

My mom was frantic at the point and telling my sister and her boyfriends not to eat until the others do. She wasn't even eating as she was worried about how much food was there. It gets better. They are slobs and just grabbing all of the food. My mom's holidays are always very dressy and normal with good or not normal, formal with good china.

She is a great host. My mom is putting out food and they won't even wait for everything and begin opening items to see what's there. Everyone gets settled. My mom is finally sitting down to eat and 1 guy one guy turns towards her asking her for drinks. Very demanding.

Like, we don't even know who the f you are. I've had enough and say, if you really want something, get it yourself. My mom has been cooking a great dinner all day, and she is going to enjoy it. Hey, why don't we open the wine you brought? Oh, wait.

That's right. You brought nothing. Perfect. We need the honest the the honest family member at Thanksgiving is always needed. Okay.

They continue. 1 of the others tried to give tips on how to make better food. My aunt and uncle of the cousin who invited people were beyond mortified. My mom was extremely pissed, but didn't let it show. My cousin, definitely an entitled brat and thinks the world revolves around her.

Next year, my mom made sure to tell her if she plans to invite anyone to do it at her house. She didn't see what the big issue was. Oh, and they all brought Tupperware to pack up the leftovers you guys won't want. I mean, you clearly have enough. I don't even eat leftovers from Thanksgiving, but my mom does.

Don't come into her home with such disrespect. The many layers that we have here is insane. This is diabolical. A lot of the times, you know, we listen and we don't judge, but these people need to be judged. Literally bringing over Tupperwares to a stranger's house to pack up the food.

I get it. I actually told my sister this the other day that I can't wait for the day after Thanksgiving because the food is always the absolute best the day after Thanksgiving. And it's just blowing my mind that people would think that they could go over to a stranger's house and take it home. Are you kidding me? And to say that the food is not good and giving tips on how to make better food, this is something that has always surprised me.

In fact, one time this happened at one of my family thanksgiving. So we all went to my grandparents' house. They're my grandparents whose home I lived with lived in a few times. And so I don't know why I told you that. Basically, I'm close to these grandparents.

Right? I call my nanny, my papa, and she is already kind of self conscious about our her cooking because she's just very she just critiques herself a lot on that on that area. And this is back when my mom was married to my ex, stepfather. I've never called him that before. His name is John Doe.

If you know, you know. Anyway, so John Doe has several children. I think he has I sometimes forget, actually. I think he has 4 children or 5. I don't remember.

Anyways, they all come to my grandparents for dinner because, guess what, John Doe had his kids. So we had to have a merged Thanksgiving. And this was probably the first one, I'm thinking. I think this is what I think this was our first one altogether after my mom got remarried. And one of the sons, literally, we get through Thanksgiving, we're eating the food, everything's going well.

I don't remember anything from there, but what I do remember, we pull out the pies and they say, Da, where's the pecan pie? Keep in mind, there's no pecan pie. No one brought pecan pie. No one made pecan pie. But do you know who didn't bring a single dish?

This guy. You know how old he is? He's in his mid twenties. So you're telling me as a man who's close to your thirties, who didn't bring even rolls or orange juice or literally a lick of anything. He was literally sitting there saying, this is the first time that I will not have pecan pie for Thanksgiving.

He went on and on. He said every single year of my life, I've had pecan pie. This is gonna be the very first one that I don't have pecan pie. And I was like, well, then next year you can bring it with, like, a big smile on my face because I don't like contention, but you're not gonna sit there in my grandparents' house and make my mom and my nanny and papa feel bad for not having pecan pie when you showed up empty handed. And I don't like you anyways.

You're boring. Okay. Next. Sorry. My, intrusive thoughts are coming out about that experience.

They're not family anymore, if you couldn't pick up on that. Okay. This next story says, 1 year, I invited a friend and her family to our vacation home for Thanksgiving. When they arrived, her husband took over the remote in the in the family room, turned on YouTube, and put on, oh my gosh, pimple popping videos. While they all sat there watching it, like this is totally normal, my daughter walked in and said, w t h, while looking at me.

I rolled my eyes and said nothing. So it's time to eat. I set a beautiful table and call everyone to sit down. And suddenly, the pimple popping husband had to use the bathroom. 10 minutes later, we're all still sitting there waiting while food gets cold.

I finally say, let's just go ahead and start. He finally comes up and we're all almost finished eating and he dares to say, gee, guys. Thanks for waiting for me. That was the last holiday these people were ever invited to. I no longer speak to any of them.

You could not make that up. A pimple popping man. I'm so sorry. I understand that some people do this as a profession. Some people wish they did it as a profession, so they spend all of their extra time in their day watching videos.

I have never been able to understand it. It gives me it gives me no sense of satisfaction. Not one. Not one. You know you know what it does, it does for my dad.

I'm pretty sure my dad used to I mean, like, when you know, when it was trendy to watch those? Yeah. He he did watch those once in a long a long time ago. Okay. So next one.

A friend brought his new girlfriend of 1 week to our house for Thanksgiving weekend. On Thanksgiving morning, they took a 45 minute shower in our only bathroom, during which he impregnated her. Oh, there's not enough shower cleaner in the world. More than the turkey got stuffed. That is insane behavior.

Oh my gosh. The fact that's another thing is being a guest and taking extremely long showers. Oh my goodness. It reminds me of my Airbnb experience I was telling you about in my last episode when I went to go see Billie Eilish, if you didn't know already. I, stayed in this Airbnb where it was extremely cheap.

I think it was 45 or $50 a night, and it was in someone's house while they were home. And they had another Airbnb guest, and all 5 of us adults shared a bathroom. And this bathroom was teeny tiny. They didn't even include a hand rag in that bathroom. It was the most minimal Airbnb I have ever stayed at in my life.

Anyways, sharing the shower, I basically got a message the night that I was supposed to arrive, and I wasn't going to arrive until 1 AM because your girl this was a cheap trip. I got extremely flight extremely cheap flights from Frontier, and so I had an 11 hour layover in Denver. And in my mind, I thought, oh my gosh. I'm gonna go explore Denver, be like a cutie little mountain girly, you know, going from the Utah mountains to the Denver mountains. I didn't even think about the fact that it it's November, and, of course, there is snow on the ground.

So I ended up just staying in the airport. Anyways, I get a message at 10 PM, and they say, please wait till the morning to take a shower until 8 AM. So, basically, quiet hours were 10 PM to 8 AM in which they didn't even want you to shower. There were shower rules, and I just remember messaging them being like, I am literally begging you. I take the fastest showers ever.

And I'm not talking about when I wash my hair, but just like a quick little rinse off, wash my body. I am quick. I'm as quick as a whip. Okay? And I basically begged him.

I said, I've been sitting in my filth all day long. Can you please let me shower? And they let me. They let me. I left him I left him a good review.

Let they left me a good review. But, yeah, I didn't have flip flops, so I was in I was on my toes in that shower. Okay. Next story. My brother and his newish girlfriend show up.

It's always the brother and the girlfriend. Oh my goodness. We are already a little bit wary of her from previous interactions, but overall, it's fine. From our kitchen window, we see them pull up and get out of the car. As she gets out, we see a wine bottle fall out and shatter.

Oh, no. My mom runs out to help them carry stuff in. They enter the house and the girlfriend is is carrying on and on loudly about how she just lost her favorite wine, Sutter Holmes white mer merlot Merlot. I think you pronounce that Merlot. Look at me.

I'm learning wine terms. She kept going for 10 minutes about that wine. Then she pulled out the side dishes that she brought that she wasn't asked to bring. Okay. Well, listen.

That's nice. Okay? We've been talking about this in this episode. It's nice to bring something. She asks that one of the ovens were fortunate to have 2 to be set to 3 5th to be jeez, Hannah.

English. To be set to 350 to bake her sides. That messed up that messed with my planned sides timings, but fine. I'll do it. Side dishes get put in the oven, and the meal timing gets pushed back to accommodate this.

Yeah. What we don't do is plan on cooking the food at the host's house because you already know they've got every thing booked. They've got the stoves booked. They've got the refrigerator full. They've got the microwave taken.

They've got the air fryer cooking. You've just got to heat it up at your place and cook it at your place. Okay. Next thing. They say during the meal, she raves about her side dishes.

Doesn't mention anything about the other dishes that we had spent all day cooking. Nothing about the turkey. But weren't her veggies amazing? I'll admit they were good, but come on. After dinner, my 3 month old daughter started fussing.

I got up to feed her previously pumped milk, but the girlfriend insisted that she would be able to give her the bottle. She said she loves kids and had worked in a daycare. I agreed. My husband prepped the bottle and they settled in. Within a few seconds, the bottle cap came off and spilled milk all over my baby and the girlfriend.

She freaked the f out. And by she, I mean the girlfriend. She started screeching. O m g. I am covered in titty milk.

Titty milk. Sorry. This is what I imagined her sounding like. I immediately came over and she practically threw my baby at me and continues screaming. I am covered in titty milk.

It's everywhere. It's on my clothes. It's on my butt. While she screamed, I took the baby from her, handed her to another family member, got a towel, and offered it to the girlfriend. Offered her clothes to change into and helped her into the washroom just off the dining area, and she was still screaming.

My brother just sat there looking embarrassed. She came out of the washroom still ranting about being covered in tittymilk. Tittymilk. Can we call it that? Finally, my mom who does not say anything ever says enough with some Meredith Marks, you can leave energy that seemed to snap her out of it.

We all sat there silently, completely in shock. Brother and girlfriend left not too long after. The front door closed, and there were a few moments of awkward silence. And then I said, well, girlfriend's name is interesting. I some people are just so dramatic.

Some people are dramatic, and I get it. I can be that way, but that's because, honestly, we listen and we don't judge. But when people are crazy, sometimes you have to out crazy them. You know, if you know that you're about to pull up to a family function this week, and you're gonna have either extreme extreme left or extreme extreme right family members there spewing off the most insane nonsensical things that you've ever heard, you just have to out crazy them. They say the earth is flat.

You say birds aren't real. If they ask you if you've heard of who controls the weather, you tell them that you were just hired. I mean, come on. I I think that that that's what we have to do. We have to out crazy them, and then they will be more resistant to bringing it up in the future because they'll know that they've got nothing on you.

They've got nothing on you. Next story. This is the first Thanksgiving I ever cooked. It was for something like 13 people. My mother-in-law graciously gave up her kitchen, though she was very concerned about my high heat roast turkey would turn out.

So my husband deep fried one just in case. I've been addicted to watching Iron Chef and decided to use a secret ingredient in every dish, which was honey. I had a few jars of local honey from the farm my husband kept his cows on. Honey butter for the mashed potatoes and rolls, honey glaze for the turkey, fruit salad with honey in it, even vanilla honey lemonade. It came out great.

See, these are the positive thanksgiving stories that keep us afloat. Whether it's not your family function, it's your friendsgiving, whether it's when you get home with your partner or yourself or your roommates, and you sit there and you eat the Thanksgiving leftovers while you watch your shows together, those are the moments. Those really are. But we do love we do love crazy Thanksgiving stories. So let's continue with another one.

Are you guys getting sick of this? Are you guys getting sick of this? I'm enjoying it. So we're just gonna keep going. Okay.

We had just moved to a new state a few months before Thanksgiving. My family was trying to make friends in our area, specifically in our church. So they invited pretty much everyone to our house for a Thanksgiving potluck and or Thanksgiving dessert. We also had about 3 family units visiting from out of town and staying with us, about 10 extra people. So we had a very large turnout, especially around dessert time.

All was well and good until somebody exited the bathroom and informed my parents the toilet was backed up despite several plunging attempts. Here's your trigger warning if you don't like this type of stuff. Then someone says it's happening in our other toilets. Nothing is flushing. So the men get to work.

It's nighttime, and about 10 men are running all over their house doing their MacGyver best to solve the mystery. Nice friends, to be honest. It's the South. The mystery gang ends up outside septic tank downright exploded on Thanksgiving with about 50 people in our house at night. With a lot of those 50 people being kids who can't control their bad bladders or bowels very well, the only place to go is behind our shed.

We quickly set up barriers, one side for men and the other for women. Not even porta potties on Thanksgiving, but your bare butt is just hanging out in the wind. The party files out far later than you'd expect after such a hazard occurring, but we still have a lot of people staying the weekend. The septic the septic tank guys can't make it till midday Friday. So we end up destroying the back of the shed with our I can't even say this.

With our post feast blowouts by the time the toilets were working. That is insane. That is that might be the most insane Thanksgiving story I have literally ever heard. Oh my gosh. Okay.

Just the fact that I just could not imagine that happening. I've never had that experience before. I've never experienced a septic tank being blown out. I just counting my blessings, I guess, because that is insane. Okay.

Next one. My wife's family lives on a small farm. Like any small farm, they have a barn full of cats that become progressively more inbred with each passing generation. Perfect. 1 year, they, her family, not the cats, decided to get a turkey fryer for Thanksgiving.

I personally find the idea appalling, but there's an entire turkey fryer industry that exists because there are people who refuse to eat anything that hasn't been fried in oil at least once. Hey, you sound like me. A few people went outside to fry the turkey. My wife and I began making bets about which family member would be responsible for inadvertently setting the house on fire. We waited with anxious anticipation for someone to come in screaming that the porch was on fire.

Instead, someone came in and casually said, one of the kittens jumped into the fryer. I didn't even give you a trigger warning. I did not expect this. We all froze and looked at him. There may have been screams as well.

The bearer of this news, though, didn't even seem upset. He was bewildered as to why we were all horrified. Then he explained that it happened before they turned on the heat. They were able to fish the kitten out and set it loose. No harm done.

We all breathed a sigh of relief. I bet all of us did too, honestly, listening to this. Then my mother-in-law pointed out that they had basically coated the kitten in delicious oil and set it loose in an area filled with coyotes. Happy Thanksgiving. No.

Wait. That's what I was thinking when you said that you just took it out and let it go. Shouldn't you rinse off the oil? Couldn't that kill an animal? Oh my goodness.

That is the most insane thing I've ever heard. Maybe maybe not more than the septic tank one. I think that one for sure is number 1 so far. Do any of you guys do this when you are out of family function? And we always grow up thinking our family is normal, and then we go to other people's homes, and you kinda see how other people's homes are different than yours.

And, of course, you know, there's good things, there's bad things. But then there's what happens between your siblings. There's there's how your parents raises each and one of you individually. I saw a video the other day and it said, me and my siblings arguing on Thanksgiving about who had it worse growing up. If that isn't more accurate and doing it in front of your parents, and they're just sitting there like that never happened.

There's no way. Or they'll say, I didn't even know that was happening because I had the 4 other children and nah nah. And it's just so funny. Does anyone else ever do that? I think it's I think it's hilarious.

It's true though, because we've talked about this many many a times before, but birth order has such a big difference in how you were raised, especially for the oldest, in my opinion, because the oldest, we are the first try. We are the one they will mess up the most on, and we are the ones that they have when they're the youngest and the least experienced, the first timers. And, of course, there's gonna be things that go wrong and things that they didn't expect. And, plus, when you have your first child, usually, you're younger, so your finances are not as great and all those things. But then again, it changes, and it's different for everyone, especially the middle child.

I mean, everybody, honestly. And the youngest, I mean, my little sister is at home all by herself now. And, hey, that's really sad. Right? I if you're listening, love you.

But, yeah, it's just funny. Me and my siblings arguing on Thanksgiving about who had it worse growing up. Let me know if you guys do this too. Okay. Next story.

Not only did one cousin show up with a baby that he hid from the whole family and make my grandmother faint while she was out, my other cousin shows up 6 months pregnant. So my grandma woke up to that, locked herself in her bedroom, and wouldn't talk to anyone but me or my mom. All meanwhile, my uncle is burning the turkey in the deep fryer, so we end up having venison. That's all that was in the freezer. All the while, my grandpa is listening to the Blue Jays game, sitting in the chair with a moles Molson Canadian in his hand.

Oh, must be like an alcohol. Telling us all to shut the f up. Rip grandpa. He died of a heart attack earlier this year. I wish you were still around to yell at me for watching too much say yes to the dress.

That's sad. I wish grandpa was with us too. And then they say again, 6 month old pregnant cousin also had surgery on her brain because she was having an aneurysm. So she had to wear a bandana on her head to hide the fact that half of her skull was missing. Okay.

This I don't even know what to say about this story. This is a lot, and I hope that you're okay. I hope that your pregnant cousin is okay. I hope that their baby is okay. And I hope that the cousin with the baby he hid from the whole family is okay and the grandmother.

Rip grandpa, but I hope you're all doing alright. I know that the, the trauma around the holidays can become especially, especially a lot. And so, yeah, rest in peace, grandpa. This one says, half of my family didn't show up to our Thanksgiving dinner, so my dad started doing impressions of them. We love a funny father.

We love a funny father. Okay. Next one. A large mixing bowl full of yams disappeared into nothing while everyone was trying to get the food on the table. We have looked absolutely everywhere there is to look, and it's gone.

9 people seriously questioning their sanity now. There are lots of things that could have happened to the yams themselves, but the bowl being missing is the real head scratcher. You know, one of them are pretending. 1 of them went home with a nice new bowl and lunch for the next few days. 8 of you were questioning your sanity, and one of them was pretending.

What is that game called? Not This Is Us. Why why why do I think that it's This Is Us? It's the one that everyone loved a few years ago. They're like little blobs, and you pretend that you're not the little murder, and you go around killing the other blobs.

Okay. I I don't even know what it's called, but you get the point. That's hilarious. This one says my cousin unfortunately came out as a flat earther while I was showing off my brand new telescope I bought recently. You're all showing them the curvature of the planets, and they're like, no.

You have a filter on that. That's insane. We love a good flat earther. We love a good flat earther because you can just say anything you want, and they'll say, exactly. You can't prove that you're wrong, so you must be right.

It's just a bit it's a bit fun. Okay. This one says, I don't have any drama, but the big conversation this year was my dad revealing he sick secretly quit smoking in April. He has smoked for 60 years. Oh my goodness.

Congratulations. That is a huge accomplishment, especially for a habit that you've had for 60 years. So go, dad. Next one. My sister-in-law revealed to her ultra conservative Christian parents that she's part of a throuple less than 6 months after she separated from her husband.

My husband and I sat back and watched the drama unfold. That's that's a room I wanna be sitting in. I want to be sitting in a room where you tell your parents that you are a part of a throuple because that is hilarious. And I feel like that's a scenario that most parents don't think that they will ever be in. Kinda reminds me of when my parents found out that I had been having the s word in high school.

Don't worry. It was just with my one singular man, but literally, the shock. The shock. It's just something that some parents don't ever expect to be true. And, honestly, I prob I probably would have reacted the same exact way.

So, actually, maybe not the same exact way, but, yeah, I understand it. You literally never know what you're gonna do until you're put into that situation. This is not a juicy or dysfunctional story, but it's kinda sweet so I have to share. My boyfriend and parents met for the first time. So it was a combination of family celebrating.

My parents hardly speak English, were Vietnamese, and his parents hardly speak Vietnamese. They're white. But his family loved my mom's cooking. Our parents were able to somehow chat and have a 3 hour long conversation in broken English. And I got to play GTAV with his nieces and nephews and her brother, who will be my brother-in-law.

And when everyone was leaving, my parents and his parents took photos together. It was so cute, you guys. Okay. That is the cutest thing in the entire world. I love it when people can just get together and have a good time, and there's literally no stress.

I think that that takes people acknowledging the fact that, yeah, there are stressful things going on in the world, but let's leave it at the door, and let's talk about our fun similarities. Let's talk about the movie that we all watched the other day. Let's talk about the fact that styles and trends go in and out, and now I can wear my jeans from several years ago that I thought would be out of style forever, and they're not. Anyways, I just think that that is the cutest story ever, and I love that for you. Well, these were absolutely adorable stories, and some of them were quite atrocious.

Quite atrocious. But let's go on to your submissions because they're so cute, and they're so they're just they're just real. Basically, what I did is I asked you guys to submit any silly or just normal day to day day to day things that you find really grateful for recently. You know, anything niche or small, just the simple things. And the very first one that I got was, I'm grateful for crisp morning fall weather that makes you feel so cozy in a hoodie and sweats, and that first sip of coffee that warms your belly.

Mhmm. Yep. I completely agree. I think I'm a fall girly now. I think I am.

I have embraced it. Ask me in 2 weeks how I'm doing, but I have really enjoyed every morning going out on my balcony and sipping my actually iced coffee. So it doesn't warm my belly. It it cools it off even more. But as you all know, I am very warm blooded, so the cold is alright.

But it's so true. In a hoodie and sweats, I would love hoodie and sweats recommendations if you guys have any of that because I'm wanting a new set. I got the camo Abercrombie hoodie or not hoodie. It's a crewneck, and I wear it all the time. But the problem is is that it's camo.

And so number 1, it just looks really basic and trendy, which is fine. I don't mind fitting into that. Whatever. But second of all, you can't wear it all the time, like, consistently, just all the time. I mean, I have been, but it's it's something that's very obvious.

It's like wearing, like, the same polka dotted shirt all the time. You know what I'm saying? So yeah. Anyways, I would love some more sweat suit ideas. And by the way, sorry I'm stuttering so much in this episode.

I am hungry, and I am actually cold because I self tanned before recording this. I shouldn't even tell you this. I self tanned before recording this episode. So I'm, like, sitting on my bed with no socks and my and no sweats. And so I'm just, like, a little bit chilly here.

You know what I mean? But it's okay. I'll put on some socks in a minute. Okay. This next one says, I'm grateful for when I've been hunting for an hour at the thrift store and suddenly spot the most beautiful Carhartt quarter zip in the men's section.

Look at the price tag, and it's $4. Ding ding ding. It's literally your lucky day because, oh my goodness, there there really is it's really underrated, the feeling that the thrift store gives you and those good thrift store finds. I have not been thrifting in probably probably an entire year. It's probably been an entire year since I've gone thrifting.

And now that I live in Salt Lake, I should honestly be going to the Goodwill bins, especially in the winter time, because people are gonna be getting rid of those winter items, or maybe they'll get rid of them in the spring. But $4 is pretty incredible, so I'm very happy for you. I would be stoked. Okay. Next one, Pregnant.

I'm definitely grateful to mix different cereals whenever I want to eat. Yeah. Honestly, that is that's hilarious. Actually, I wanna know what cereals you're mixing. I have never once in my life mixed a cereal, but you saying that you're grateful for it, I think I need to do that.

I think I need to do that. And you are gonna be so proud of me, but I stopped buying ghost protein. We talked about this, I think in the maybe not the last episode, but a few episodes ago, I was buying Ghost, which is a protein company. They make protein cereal and they have a peanut butter flavor. It is way too delicious, and I think I've bought 2 boxes.

They're $10 each. Yeah. I know. They're out of my budget. I already know I stopped buying them, but that submission reminded me of that.

I'm also grateful that you're pregnant and that you get to mix different cereals. I wanna know what they are because I wanna try it. Okay. This next one says, grateful for dogs, coffee, and good friends. Amen.

We can just end it at that because oh, no. We have more. Yes. We that is honestly same. I have nothing good to add to that because dogs are just I I I used to only be a dog person, but I've actually really started to like cats now too.

And so I feel like I am now I have ascended to the final level because I like both dog dogs and cats and can see why certain people would want each one. And sorry. This is a rant, but cats are just so chill. They're so laid back. And if you get it when it's a kitten and you cuddle with it, then it then it likes to be held and it likes to be cuddled.

But some people don't want to hold their cat, and they're just happy with that because they have a companion and they're super low key. You don't have to teach them to go to the bathroom, really. They learn really quickly or so I've heard. And you can leave for days on end, and they're just fine. That sounds really nice.

It really does. But dogs, I just, I love dogs. I love my baby. Crew is just he turned 8 years old last weekend. Yes.

The big 8, I love him so much. Anyways, going to the next submission, this one says, I am so grateful for ambient lighting. This is something that is so underrated. I love a good warm light. My sister thrifted this really cute light stand where it's like spotlights.

So one spotlight is red, one's blue, and one is white, and it makes her room look so cute. And I bought a few of those sun lamps. I know. TikTok shop got me. They were $5.

I only bought 2 of them, and they really they just it puts an aura in the room. It puts a nice vibe. I also got another lamp where it reflects, like, wave looking patterns on the ceiling, and you can change the colors. I have it on every night. So all of these combined, they just give off the most loveliest vibes, and they're really calming.

And, yeah, I just have to agree with you. Ambient lighting is to die for. The last one is tea. And I have I would say I have to agree with you, but I'm still trying to learn to like tea. I feel like I feel like that is actually the final the final level is when you graduate from coffee to tea, because coffee, let's be real, you can add so much sweetener.

If you don't like it with creamer or milk or sugar free flavoring or whatever flavoring, you do. If you don't have any flavoring, okay. I get it. Your your soul is black. No.

I'm just kidding. But if you if you do, it's like, yeah, it's like a little sweet treat in the morning. You know what I mean? It's like it's like those of you who drink soda every day. Okay?

Think of it as that. It's like you go to your soda shop and you get yourself a soda. It's the same exact thing. Right? But those who drink tea, I think you figured out the secret for life.

You really have because I it's not like LaCroix to me. I can appreciate tea, and I actually really do love a cup of tea, but I could never wake up in the morning and drink it. I think that I'm just so used to having my coffee in the mornings, and I use the Chobani Stevia sweetened creamer, which, by the way, make sure the creamer that you get if you drink coffee, I'm sure 80% of you do not. But if you drink coffee, make sure that the creamer you get is not oil based. Make sure it's not oil based, it's milk based because you would be surprised, you guys.

So many coffee creamers, soybean oil, canola oil. Isn't that disgusting? That's so bad for health. Are you kidding me? Anyways, I forgot what I was saying, but I do love some good tea in the evening times.

And my grandma makes really good tea. My dad recently got married, and she makes really yummy tea. I just I gotta have the honey in it. So once I can graduate from that, I will have made it. But in the meantime, I appreciate those who like to drink tea more than I appreciate tea itself.

I think that's the conclusion that I'm coming to now. Okay. So that is all of the submissions that I have from today. I know that sometimes the holidays can be a little bit stressful. Juggling homes, if you're married, juggling houses if, you know, your kids have divorced parents.

Believe me, I've been doing that for the last 8 years, I think, 4 different houses. So I 100% understand. And I just wanna say, go you. And I hope you have a relaxing and good day. And, honestly, just know that it's okay to disappoint people sometimes.

It's okay to say no. We're just gonna go to 1 house this year. Or, hey, what do you think of doing Thanksgiving the Thursday before Thanksgiving or the Sunday after Thanksgiving? And then having one of your family events on those days. Because at the end of the day, it's just about coming together, creating a delicious meal together, and spending time with one another.

And the date doesn't really matter in my opinion. And the people that are gonna be disappointed are just that's just how they're gonna be. They're gonna be disappointed, and you can't live your life trying to not disappoint anyone because then you'll just end up disappointing yourself, and you'll end up being exhausted. Listen. I think one time, we went to 3 different Thanksgivings in one day.

And each time we arrived to someone's house, they'd say, oh my goodness. You're finally here. You missed out on this and this and blah blah blah, or we've been waiting for you. And then each time we'd leave, they say, you're leaving already. Where are you going?

I just wish that you could stay. You're not gonna be able to have dessert and blah blah blah. And I know it's out of love, but sometimes it can be exhausting, especially when everyone else is texting you. Like, when are you coming? Are you gonna get here soon?

And, obviously, these things are trivial because at the end of the day, so grateful to a family to care, you know, to care enough about us coming and whatnot. But I guess I'm just saying this for the people who have family, who have very high expectations of them to always show up and always bring something and just know that you are free to create new traditions with your little family. You're free to draw boundaries and not do everything for everybody else and to think, okay. What do I wanna do this year? Who do I wanna spend it with?

So, yeah, hopefully, that gave you a little sense of empowerment to do exactly what you wanna do this this holiday season because there's nothing worse than the holidays being over and you being glad about that. You know? We're we're throwing that out the door. This is gonna be a good holiday season. I hope that you guys have the most wonderful week, the most wonderful Thanksgiving because you are wonderful.

So corny. K. Thank you so much for listening, and I will talk to you guys very soon. Bye.