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Generation In-Between: A Xennial Podcast
Xennial co-hosts Dani and Katie talk about their analog childhoods, digital adulthoods and everything in between. If you love 1980's and 1990's pop culture content, this is the podcast for you!
Generation In-Between: A Xennial Podcast
Xennial Christmas Memories, 2025 Edition
We trade holiday memories from being 80’s kids and 90’s teens - including some photo evidence of roller blades and wood paneling.
We also talk about the heaviness of the holidays that can crop up, especially this year for Dani.
Join us for some holiday realness - we’re holding space for you!
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Hello everyone and happy holidays. Welcome to a Christmas memories edition of Generation in Between, a Xennial podcast. I'm Katie.
SPEAKER_00:And I'm Danny.
SPEAKER_01:And we just have all sorts of memories to share with you today. We don't have any research for this episode. No. Other than research into our own past and maybe a few things we brought along for show and tell. I think what we're going to find, and we've talked about Christmas memories and holiday memories and Thanksgiving memories in other episodes when they came up. So some of these things we may have already discussed, but I think what we're going to find is that there's some shared experiences between Xennials, like people who grew up in the 80s and 90s, that maybe even some of like I wrote down some of the gifts I remember might be things other people remember too.
SPEAKER_00:I think fun. So what we usually do here, if it's your first time, hi. Hello there.
unknown:Hi.
SPEAKER_00:Usually we remember, revisit, and relearn all kinds of things from the 80s and 90s. And we're still doing that today. But usually we have research, like Katie said, today we don't. Uh, although sometimes fight figuring out our memories is like doing research for instance. I thought, okay, so it's crazy right now for everyone. Christmas is a less than a week away. I am not prepared because I've been so busy with just life. Plus, my husband's been super sick, which poor guy is not fun. And we had company. And anyway, I am so behind on life. So this morning I'm scrambling. I'm like, shit, I thought we were supposed to bring pictures. So 10 minutes before I was supposed to leave the door is when I was scrambling for pictures. And then I get here and I'm like, sit down. And Katie just has a notebook. And I'm like, did you not bring pictures? She was like, no.
SPEAKER_01:Uh and I was like, fuck, I could have just could have just winged it. Well, so I recently sent some like cell phone pictures of pictures to Danny that I found when I was going through some stuff from my mom. But the pictures I sent you, and they were like me by a Christmas tree at different ages with gifts, weren't like associated with memories, if that makes sense. Oh, okay. They were just it was just like, oh, here's me as a kid by a Christmas tree. Like they weren't. So I was like, I have them saved on my phone. We could share them on social, but I don't really have anything to say about them. Well, that's fine. Because listen.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I have I've just grabbed a bunch. And I think some of mine may be like that, but most of mine have stories. Some of them are just for the things in the background.
SPEAKER_01:Good point. Yeah. Yes, good point. There was a lot of wood paneling in the phone. Oh, god that I sent you. So many of mine, too. Well, speaking of gifts, let's start with this. Oh, our friend and listener and um was a guest on our beverage tasting episode. Sarah, no H brought us some gifts and we're gonna go ahead and open them. Yeah. Uh she just left. You want me to get them? I'll get them. No, you got them. So, first of all, they're wrapped in home alone wrapping paper that has it says, Merry Christmas, you filthy animal.
SPEAKER_00:Shout out to Five Below for the fun wrapping paper.
SPEAKER_01:She said it was Five Below. I don't know how well you can see it.
SPEAKER_00:Hey, you want to sponsor us Five Below? Let's do it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, let's do it. And it has like a little, it almost looks like a little nutcracker cutout of Kevin.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, yeah. It's it's pixelated image.
SPEAKER_01:It's cute.
SPEAKER_00:It's pixelated. It looks like an ugly sweater. Okay. All right. Let's open it up. So we just to go three, two, one, go.
SPEAKER_01:Three, two, one, go.
SPEAKER_00:Let's do it. Yay. But wait a minute. Why is there a bomb on there? Oh, it's an ornament. It looks like a bomb on the wrapping paper.
SPEAKER_01:I don't want to show mine until you're once it's the same thing. It is. Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Oh my gosh. What is this?
SPEAKER_01:Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_00:Oh my god.
unknown:Look.
SPEAKER_00:It's my little ponies. That is hysterical.
SPEAKER_01:I have star shine.
SPEAKER_00:I have Sky Dancer. It has leg warmers and a scrunchie. I cannot on its tail.
SPEAKER_01:Dead.
SPEAKER_00:Shut up. Sarah is so cute. Hilarious. She said she saw these at um Target and could not resist. I get it.
SPEAKER_01:They're so cute and they match our background. Hilarious. Because they're the neon that you would expect from totally rad anything.
SPEAKER_00:So yours is who what?
SPEAKER_01:Mine's Starshine.
SPEAKER_00:I love that.
SPEAKER_01:But also scrunchies and like warmer.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. So Katie's is white with yours have rainbow hair? Or does mine?
SPEAKER_01:Uh yes, it has rainbow hair. Me too.
SPEAKER_00:And mine's um bright yellow, which is appropriate.
SPEAKER_01:I love it. I love it. Well, we'll we'll have to take a picture picture with you. Yeah, we will go today. Thank you, Sarah.
SPEAKER_00:Thanks, girl.
SPEAKER_01:Um I have to live on the set too. Although I probably want to take her home for a little while.
SPEAKER_00:Tegan may want to play with her.
SPEAKER_01:Tegan wanna play with her. And I want to brush her hair.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, okay. Well, Katie may want to play with her. Also, listeners, if you want to give us presents, we're always open to them.
SPEAKER_01:Always. Always, always. Awesome. All right. Well, that was fun. Thank you, Sarah. That was where we go.
SPEAKER_00:Just throw it over around the corner with the wrapping paper. Ready? One, two, three. Wow. Basketball is not our strong suit. We just threw paper across the room in it.
SPEAKER_01:No, it's fine.
SPEAKER_00:We have no goals. That's adorable.
SPEAKER_01:Does your when your family unwraps presents, do you pick up the wrapping paper as you go? Or do you leave it till the end?
SPEAKER_00:Oh God. I can't stand it. True and I both, like we have a big trash bag in the room, and every few seconds I'll go around and put it. That's what we do too. I hate it.
SPEAKER_01:It's just too much.
SPEAKER_00:Well, you have so many people.
SPEAKER_01:I know.
SPEAKER_00:It'd be like a trash heap.
SPEAKER_01:And then the dogs try to come in there too. So if you're stepping on all the paper, it's a lot.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. I'm excited though this year. We don't have a lot of presents. Oh, that's good. Um, just because the kids are older and the things they want are expensive. Right. Or they just want money. So we have a lot of envelopes under our tree from relatives.
SPEAKER_01:But it's like, yeah, I don't think we're gonna have too many. I mean, the sheer amount of people.
SPEAKER_00:Well, just people, even if y'all had one present, it's a lot of stuff.
SPEAKER_01:Right. It's still a lot. And my kids like to get each other a little something. Oh, that's fine. Um, my kids with jobs just spend their own money. Uh my younger kids, I just I give them a little budget to pick something out, especially Tegan. Like, she loves to gift give, but she's 11. Like, she doesn't have a job. So, like, why not she? I don't know. I mean, I could probably know. So she, so she, but she budgets. I'm really was really shocked. Like, she had a list and how much things should be because she researched it, and then she had bought something for one of the sisters. If for some reason they listened to this, I'm not gonna say who or what it was, but she was maybe like five dollars under what she thought because the day we went, it was 20% off or something. So she's like, I gotta get one more little thing for this person to get to like twenty dollars or whatever it was. It was really sweet. It was really sweet. So we have a lot, even if there's not a lot.
SPEAKER_00:I wish I could say my kids did that. They don't really yeah, well, Cooper Cooper did when he was little. Yeah. Caden is not a a a um a gift gift. I'm sure he'll pick out something wonderful for your daughter, but he's like maybe like Cooper will stress about it, and like Cooper and I are doing a commercial this Saturday, which I'll tell you about later. Yeah, and we're getting paid for it. And he's like, I think I'm gonna use that money to actually buy real presents. Oh, that's like that's sweet. Sweet.
SPEAKER_01:Are you getting paid on the spot though? Yeah. Oh, you are? Yeah, okay.
SPEAKER_00:Sometimes it's like a delay to whether or not he actually does that once that money's in his hand.
SPEAKER_01:Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_00:Well, because we're just doing it. It's for our friend of our like our brother.
SPEAKER_01:A brother of a friend.
SPEAKER_00:Right. Got it. So it's not like he needed people like last minute, and he asked him. It's a friend of ours from the theater, and he asked him, I don't know if I'm supposed to say their name, so I'm just not gonna. Yeah. Uh he asked, he was like, Hey, do you have you know, have a mother and son performers who would be available like this weekend or whatever? Because he didn't have time to like put out a thing and then like do casting. It's much easier to be like, it's because it's just him. He he has his own production thing.
SPEAKER_01:Anyway, that'll be well, I guess. Moving on, I guess we'll see. Let's let's see what my kids say. I'm here for it. Yeah, I'll tell you about it later. Tell me about it later. Okay, so these Christmas memories, I have maybe like six or seven written down. I don't know if we want to just kind of go back and forth. If you want to start with a buttload of pictures. Okay.
SPEAKER_00:So go through the pictures. I tried to put them in order. We'll see what happens. I actually brought some New Year's ones too, so I'm gonna put those aside for our we're filming two episodes today. Hold on. This new year.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, yeah, so get the get the New Year's ones out.
SPEAKER_00:Also, uh I'm gonna try not to be crying, but it probably will happen. So we'll see.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I feel like potentially both episodes today may have some tears.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I'm not excited about that. But I have some, y'all know I have some funny stuff too. But my first picture. So Christmas, matching Christmas jammies are like a thing now. They didn't used to be a big thing.
SPEAKER_02:Right.
SPEAKER_00:But me and my sister used to have them. And then my mom got in on it uh later on in in life. But my mom used to give us matching Christmas pajammies every year, and they were a lot harder to find. Now you can buy them at Walmart, Target, online. First of all, we didn't have online, and second, it wasn't a thing. Like you had to buy, like it wasn't what is the word I'm looking for?
SPEAKER_01:Like easily accessible.
SPEAKER_00:There we go.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and you had to buy what was in the store, basically. Yeah. Like if you needed pajamas, you would just go to Kmart or maybe Walmart or maybe JCPenney or Sears, and whatever was there that fit your kid, those were the pajamas they got. Right.
SPEAKER_00:You know, and my sister's seven years older than me, so we were not even in the same category of clothing for often. Right. Yeah, that's true. You know what I mean? Yeah, okay. But this picture, I don't know where this was. I question mark, think we're in Christmas pajamis, but I think it was New Year's Eve. I think, or it may have been a Christmas party. Okay because I think this my my mom and dad had a family friend who we knew a long time, went to college with my dad, and his name was John, and we called him Uncle John because he was like a bachelor, he was like single. Yeah, and this was his house, and I remember we would go with them to parties and like go to sleep, and then they'd take us home when they were finished there.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, you know what I mean.
SPEAKER_00:So this is a picture of us on some kind of couch bed situation.
SPEAKER_01:Why we have little aunt like look this we had little that looks like that alien headband who wouldn't let me watch it.
SPEAKER_00:I know we had like little Google Google headbands, and my mine, my sisters had stars, and mine were just like little balls, and I'm so cute. This is I'm like super drooly. I always had a runny nose when I was a kid, and I'm a mouth breather, and so on the back it says wearing their Googles because that's like what I called them. I called them Googles. The headband says December 1982. Yeah, I called them Googles, and here we go. So if it was December 1982, there you go. Oh god, I was doing the wrong camera.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, uh, it's too wrong to do it.
SPEAKER_00:Why are you saying I have short arms?
SPEAKER_01:I'm just closer.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I was two. So 1982, I was two years old.
SPEAKER_01:I was so just turned two. Yeah. Newly two. That's super cute.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Super cute.
SPEAKER_00:Me and my sister. So she was I think she was eight, about to be nine. Okay. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Anyway. Beauty. That's fine.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, so go ahead. What else you got?
SPEAKER_01:Um, well, so I was just trying to. What do you have to begin with? Yeah, what do I have to begin with? I was trying to think of my some of my most memorable Christmas mornings. So one I remembered, and I looked up the year, and I was able to figure out the year because of a CD that I got for Christmas that year. And so I looked up the year that came out. Okay. So I'm talking about Christmas of 1995.
SPEAKER_00:Wow, okay.
SPEAKER_01:I was 13.
SPEAKER_00:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:And it was the year that I got Mariah. I was gonna say fantasy.
SPEAKER_00:Fantasy.
SPEAKER_01:A five-disc CD player.
SPEAKER_00:Five disc for my room. You're fancy.
SPEAKER_01:And it had like detachable speakers.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, girl.
SPEAKER_01:And rollerblades.
SPEAKER_00:Get it. Oh, do you have a picture of me and rollerblades? We'll get there.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, good. And I just remember, I remember where I sat when I opened these gifts. I remember, I mean, I was 13, so that was a big year. But like, I don't know.
SPEAKER_00:Like, I Well, you were really good that year, I guess.
SPEAKER_01:I guess so. I guess my family was doing okay that year because there were other Christmases, which we'll get to, where I didn't get much at all, if anything. So I just remember like every single thing I opened was was it. And so I would, and we've talked about this before, but I would play that fantasy CD and rollerblade, and not just rollerblade, but like we had kind of not a patio, but like um, sort of like a cement patio outside our and it wasn't huge, it was maybe like 20 by 20. I guess that is kind of big.
SPEAKER_02:Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_01:But it was big. And so I would like literally like skate in circles, like ice skaters would do, and then I'd skate backward, rollerblade backward, and then I'd do little turns all to fantasy. You go, girl. Yeah, I probably had super strong like calves and ankles at the time.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Um, so I just wrote that down because I just remembered it so clearly.
SPEAKER_00:That was pre pre uh joint problems.
SPEAKER_01:Yes. I mean, maybe it stemmed from that. I don't know.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, it could. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Roller plating's hard.
SPEAKER_00:I never could master it.
SPEAKER_01:It is hard.
SPEAKER_00:I have a picture of, let me see if the year's on here. Oh shit, it is 92.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:So around what'd you say that was? 95. Oh, never mind. It's supposed to few years ago. So that I was 12, which means I was in middle school, and you guys, I've shown this before because this is the awful. I had braces, so I close with my I smile when my mouth closed a lot because I hated my teeth. Y'all, let me just tell you what is on. My feet is rollerblades, purple and black. I also am wearing the suede jacket, the brown. Yeah. Why I had one of these in Louisiana is beyond. I love it. They were not functional because if it rained, that shit was ruined. You remember? I do. And I'm trying to see. I wish I brought reading glasses.
SPEAKER_01:Like you in later years, I remember getting like a spray for your spray. Oh, yeah, but even that.
SPEAKER_00:It was like all weather spray. I also see a bottle of exclamation perfume in the background. I know I had that. Do you see it right there?
SPEAKER_01:I do see it. Yes.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Um, what else is in the background? I don't know what else is there. But again, wood paneling walls.
SPEAKER_02:Yep.
SPEAKER_00:That uh green plaid couch. I will show the picture in one second. But I am wearing my sweatpants. I love it. It's so bad. I I was not a cute kid in middle school, as most.
SPEAKER_01:I wasn't either as most. I was not either. Oh, there we go.
SPEAKER_00:Oh.
SPEAKER_01:Yep. Oh. Oh, I love Danny.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, beautiful.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, there. There we go. It just had to focus. It just had to focus. I uh that was good.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I I'm trying to see. I just grabbed a bunch of pictures and I feel very like not intentional, which is funny because we're gonna talk about that in our next episode. Yeah. Um, okay. I have one just for you. You saw it, she saw it. Okay, I brought one just for Katie. So we I had a dog growing up who was crazy, it was a cocker spaniel. Her name was Sunshine. And I remember my sister got her for her birthday when I was like little bitty, but that dog was wild. We could not house train her, so she had to live outside, which is so terrible because we lived in Louisiana and it's hot. She had a little house out there, she also had a pen around the side because sometimes because she was so hyper, when we were like swimming and stuff, we would have to put her and the thing on the side because she was so crazy. Anyway, it wasn't super cold, but every now and then get chilly. My mom would buy her a sweater every year, which she would end up tearing to pieces by the end of the season. So this is a pic and she loved putting it on. She would be like, Yay, it's time for my sweater. So there's sunshine in her sweater.
SPEAKER_01:Oh my god, she's so cute, and that sweater is adorable, first of all. Yeah, I think we talked about this. How I had a cocker spaniel growing up. Yeah. Who was that color thing named Banjo. He was mellow, though. You know what's funny? Banjo reminds me of my little dog now. Banjo was kind of he didn't mellow. He didn't know your dog is not mellow.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, girl, what?
SPEAKER_01:Better than they think they're people.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, but she ain't no mellow dog.
unknown:No.
SPEAKER_01:No, she's a lot. So the other day, my daughter who doesn't really like the dogs as much, she doesn't hate them, but she's not close with them. She's making some scrambled eggs. She opts out. Yeah, she opts out. That's the best way to put it. She just pretends they're not there. So she's making scrambled eggs. And uh everything's fine. The little dog is like two rooms away in the front room on the couch, just laying there. Then my daughter opens the cheese drawer to grab some shredded cheese. This dog, who by the way, is six pounds, the dog is six pounds, uh, leaps from the couch, runs full speed, and jumps into my daughter's knees and they buckle like a little torpedo, because she wanted her to either give her cheese or drop the cheese. What a menace. My daughter's like, what the hell?
SPEAKER_00:So your dog is bullying your daughter for cheese.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and what a menace. And my husband's like, that's it. No one ever give that dog cheese again. I'm with you, Brant.
SPEAKER_00:And Katie's like, actually, I'm going to in five minutes.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I was like, Well, I'll do it when you guys leave.
SPEAKER_00:Wait, dogs aren't supposed to eat cheese.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, it's not great for them, but they can. They can have like cheese. It's not good for them. Yeah. But it won't hurt them either.
SPEAKER_00:Katie's like, I do it all the time. It's fine. My stepdad used to give my cat uh Fritos.
SPEAKER_02:I love that.
SPEAKER_00:And he cannot, my cat cannot eat people food. He cannot. It like it really he will throw up. Because he has all kinds of problems. So like he can only eat cat food. And I would, he would like, of course, he wants the food because he acts like a dog. He has food insecurity from when he was um a kitten. Oh so he's always like stressed out about food. But he he like will come by you and my stuff d would be sitting on my couch eating fritos. And he would get he'd be like giving, I'm like, you cannot give a cat Fritos.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So you give a dogs cheese.
SPEAKER_01:I I didn't say that I wouldn't have to be a good one. Papa D be giving cats Fritos.
SPEAKER_00:What is this?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I probably would.
SPEAKER_00:Take them to pet nutrition class.
SPEAKER_01:Yes. Okay. Yes. Okay. So here's another one I've got. Let's see. Um, okay, and actually writing this out made me remember I needed to order this, so that was that worked out. I was thankful for that. Every Christmas Eve, it wasn't called charcuterie at the time, but my mom would basically do that because she didn't want to make like a big meal, but we would usually be home or around or whatever.
SPEAKER_00:It's called Ores d'Orbs.
SPEAKER_01:Ores d'oeuvres, yes. We'd have ores d'oeuvres, exactly, exactly, on our little like segmented Tupperware.
SPEAKER_00:That's not really how you say that, guys. I know.
SPEAKER_01:She knows.
SPEAKER_00:I'm just being dumb.
SPEAKER_01:Uh, and so she would do like meats and cheeses and crackers and stuff like that. But I always remembered she would get Fannie Mae chocolates, which is Isn't that like a um Fannie Mae is like a foundation?
SPEAKER_00:Isn't that weird?
SPEAKER_01:They have the same name, but it's totally different company.
SPEAKER_00:Some kind of financial thing.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's like a student loan company.
SPEAKER_00:Wow.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. But they're not the same company. They're not? No.
SPEAKER_00:That's some scholarship chocolate.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, I suppose they could be. Just kidding. I'm gonna go out on the limb and say they're probably so two people named Fannie Mae, two ladies, came up with smart business ideas, okay? Chocolate loans. Oh, hey. That's it. That's all you need.
SPEAKER_00:That's all you need.
SPEAKER_01:So there's a certain one called mint meltaways. They're these little cubes, and that's just what they sound like. You put them in your mouth and they're mint chocolates, and they just kind of melt. There's this other one called a Trinidad that was like almost like not solid, it was soft chocolate, but it had like uh rice, like a rice crispy shell. Oh, so you bite into it, and there's like chocolate in the middle, like soft chocolate. Um, so she would always get those two things. It was the only time of the year we got them, and we had stores, it's I believe it's a Midwestern chocolate chain. Okay. So they're popular in Chicago and stuff. So when I first moved to Florida, I remember like looking for it at Christmas time because I was like, oh, that was really good. We should do that on Christmas Eve. I could never find it. So every year I have to order it. And last year I ordered it a little late, so then we had to do it on New Year's Eve, and it wasn't there on Christmas Eve, which is not the end of the world, it's just chocolate. But like I was like bummed about it because like I wanted my chocolate. Well, we only got a few days. So I ordered it last night. Oh, you did. Okay. I thought you said you had to order it. It said the last day to order for like regular ground shipping for it to get there by Christmas Eve was um today.
SPEAKER_00:You made it just in time.
SPEAKER_01:So I ordered the two kinds, and then I also ordered a different one this year because I was like, You were gonna try something new. And it's like a vanilla buttercream. All right. Maybe I'll bring you a little bit of each. And you know, I haven't been eating chocolate. I know, but I'm like excited about it.
SPEAKER_00:I've been eating everything, literally. I've not been doing well.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, quick side note getting old. I have always loved curry. Always, but yeah, I really have it. It's hard to make at home. Whatever. It's not, it's not, I've never tried.
SPEAKER_00:If I can make it, anybody can, guys.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, fair enough. But I haven't had it in a while. So Friday night my daughter had a concert. It was rescheduled, uh, my middle schooler. So it's just my husband and I and her, because it's a Friday night, it's Christmas season, everyone else was doing other stuff. So we stopped at a Thai place, and I'm like, you know what? I'm gonna get some curry. And I did, and it was delicious. I wake up Saturday, which was a little bit of a stressful day. There was a lot going on in the studio, and I had like sores on my tongue.
SPEAKER_00:Oh my god, from the spice.
SPEAKER_01:Well, I didn't I didn't even think of that. I'm like, oh, I guess I'm stressed. Sometimes it happens to me right before I get a cold. So I'm like, oh my gosh, but I got a busy day, so I'm like taking vitamins and doing all the things. By Sunday, had cleared up. So I was like, okay. Wake up Monday morning. You know, you know me in mornings. I decide for breakfast I'm gonna have some of my curry and rice. To be fair, I'd been up since like four and it was like 7:30.
SPEAKER_00:So it's lunchtime.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. And by lunchtime, my tongue was covered in sores again.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, how did we take this from being a Christmas episode to Katie's health problems and food reactions?
SPEAKER_01:What were we talking about? I don't know. We're talking about how we have a baby.
SPEAKER_00:As you're saying that, I'm like, what are we saying?
SPEAKER_01:I just think some of the listeners.
SPEAKER_00:So it's just sores in your mouth?
SPEAKER_01:Like just on my tongue. So I I looked it up and I was like, can you get this from curry? And just the answer is anything acidic or spicy, yes.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. That happened one because you know I love spicy, and I will get crazy spicy. And you know, you go to an Indian restaurant and they ask you what level of spice. Right. And of course, you know, considering I'm the whitest white person known to man, if you look at me, um, I will say spicy, and I'll be like, no, like really, not like white people spicy, because guys, our people don't do seasoning.
unknown:No, they usually play.
SPEAKER_00:They just they're terrible with bland food. I mean, they like love the bland food. Anyway, well, I went crazy one time and got like Indian level spicy, and I I had a s I thought I had a sore throat. No, it was like burned.
SPEAKER_01:Burned, yeah. Yeah, that's basically like a so you like burned your tongue. So, so the only reason I bring that up is like getting old, that's never happened to me with curry before. And it wasn't that spicy. That sucks. It was like medium spicy. That sucks. Yeah. So then I was like, so I like threw it away, like the stuff that was left, and I know.
SPEAKER_00:Unless it's a weird allergic reaction.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, it could be, I do have a citrus sensitivity. I I used to say allergy, but then people would think I needed like an epi pen if I accidentally ate it. It's not that. Um, but it's definitely like my skin will break. Or like an intolerance. Yeah. And so I'm guessing just because there's some citrus in that to get the base, maybe it was just that. Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Well, anyway, curry's out. What are we talking about? I don't know.
SPEAKER_01:Let's keep going. Why did we sometimes I was talking about candy and student loans? All right, back to you, Danny.
SPEAKER_00:Listen, y'all. You turned into our episode. Who knows what's gonna happen? Because I don't know. All right, let me see. All right, we're gonna show this one. Hold on. For the I have two, and I I've got a few memories associated, and then the next one will go there. I don't know. I guys, I just grabbed pictures. This is ridiculous. So, first of all, we talked about background. So, as you can see, I have wood paneling. We had that wood paneling in my living room forever. I've talked about it, but look, this was the first plaid couch we had. The second plaid couch was green, the first plaid couch was brown, orange, and yellow, which is beautiful. Okay, so a tradition we did growing up, we would always go to church on Christmas Eve, and we were always be late because of my mom.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:All right, because she would take forever to get ready. Um, and I would like to say it was because she was getting us ready, but it's not true. She just took forever and it would stress my dad the fuck out. And I always was like, I am never gonna be that person. Well, guys, here we are. Let me tell you what the universe does to you when you say you're not gonna be that person.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
unknown:Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I am never, let me, let me, I am never usually super late.
SPEAKER_01:I don't, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:But I am never early. I am either right on time or five minutes late. I'm never like my mom would be like 20 minutes late, an hour. Like, why we even still would go to church sometimes, we would like miss half church. Because we went to we were Methodist guys, in out in an hour. Like, you don't linger. Like right, right. Get it done. You go in, out and done. But anyway, Christmas Eve, I think she actually we were never late because they would do a candlelight service. Did you do candlelight service? Yeah. And this we would open up one present on Christmas Eve. Did you do that? Yes, and I had some dolls, so I'm assuming that is what my present was. But my sister has on. I think it's funny because me and my mom, my sister sort of blend, and then my dad has on blue, so I don't know what's going on there. My mom has on this red silk shirt and pants, which actually I feel like would be in style now. Even the hairstyle is like back. Oh, yeah, right? Isn't that weird? This is there's no year, but I'm gonna say it's probably like 1986-87 because I was little. I have on this white and red dress, polka dot on the skirt, and white tights. Ew, colored tights. Oh, I love it though. And then my sister has on, it looks like a wedding dress. I don't know what the fuck that is. She's got on like this white lace dress, big bangs. Uh, my dad has on like a blue suit. And I had a story about the tree. Oh, yes, I remember. Are y'all ready for this? Okay, so that that's just what this picture is. I'm not gonna, I mean, I guess I can show it. It's not that exciting.
SPEAKER_01:Hold on. You tell the show. Oh, yeah. Oh, sorry, troll.
SPEAKER_00:So this next picture, I think, was the year before because I look much live. No, it was a couple years before. And my mom was a procrastinator, and so it would drive me nuts because I always wanted to decorate for Christmas early, like right after Thanksgiving, because a lot of my friends' families would do that. And my mom was a full-time nurse, my dad worked full-time, he was a scientist, like they were busy people. And so my mom also procrastinated, and she would never do it when I wanted. One night, one Christmas, she waited. We did not decorate our tree until Christmas Eve. We would also always get real trees, so we couldn't get them too early.
SPEAKER_01:I had to get it later, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:But my dad always would volunteer, he was in Koanis. Do you remember that?
SPEAKER_01:Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Do they still do that?
SPEAKER_01:Kiwanis Club? Yeah. Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And they would have a Christmas tree lot as like a fundraiser every year, which is hilarious because Louisiana's like Florida, like, you know, which can we come back and talk about Christmas trees in a second? Remind me. I I have a thing I want to talk about with those. But anyway, one time I forgot this story until my sister told me. So there'd be times we wouldn't even decorate a tree until Christmas. One night, one Christmas Eve, we did not have a decorated tree.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, wow.
SPEAKER_00:And my sister said, My mom told us the elves came and decorated our tree. But it was really my mom in the middle of the night decorating a Christmas tree. No, that's not sweet. So that's like get your shit together, woman.
SPEAKER_01:Like, where were the ornaments? Were they not in the house?
SPEAKER_00:They were in the attic. My mom was also a control freak, so she wouldn't let anybody else do it.
SPEAKER_01:Because could she just like open it up and be like, here you go?
SPEAKER_00:She was a control freak. And so even when I was in high school, uh-huh, I would beg. I would beg and beg, mom, just let I will get the shit down. Like I am a capable person. I have a job. Like, and she'd be like, no, no, no, she wouldn't, because she had was a control freak. I'm like, but then do it.
SPEAKER_01:Like, if you're not gonna like you, kind of can't do both. I get that.
SPEAKER_00:Um okay. So also I would get stressed out because I loved as a kid having a traditional tree where we had like our little kitschy ornaments put on every other year. My mom would do that, and then she would do a fancy tree.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, which I hated. So it I got it. So you'd have one tree. Well, at first. Okay.
SPEAKER_00:At first. When I was a kid, we only had one tree, and one year it would be like, you know, we have like tensile and whatever. And um the next year she'd put like fucking bows and lace, and finally, when I was like in high school, we started having two trees, and she would put one in the front room, and that was like her dumb fancy tree, and then we'd have our traditional tree. Well, guys, I always said when I'm a grown-up, I am only gonna have traditional trees.
SPEAKER_01:No, how many trees you got, Danny?
SPEAKER_00:Well, right now I am back to one because I have gotten, but eventually I got two trees, and I would make all the kids put and the family ornaments would go on the crappy tree that was like out of the main area, and then I'd have a pretty, beautiful red and green glitter sparkly tree. And it they hated it. They hated it. So this year, you know, I was like, I'm not doing two trees. Like, we're doing minimalists. So this year, everyone, I am living up to what Danny as a kid said, where we would have a traditional tree with traditional.
SPEAKER_01:Everything on it. I have a fancy tree that we have so we've always had two trees. This year we actually have three. Where? Yeah, I know. It's shocking. Where? We cleared out some space by our front window, and that's where our normal big tree is. So what happened was, and you'll actually be okay with this, I think. Maybe not. Our tree from last year, it was not a pencil tree, but also not very thick. I don't know what that means. Um, the pencil trees are like the really thin ones that are like a triangle. Um, but it wasn't very full either. And my husband's allergic to pine, so we use artificial every year.
SPEAKER_00:Well, we also do a fake tree because my cat eats it. Yes.
SPEAKER_01:So that means we can decorate early and things like that, and we just put it in storage. So we've had, oh my gosh, how embarrassing.
SPEAKER_00:And it's a oh my god, Katie's phone again. This happened last time, too.
SPEAKER_01:I know. I need to remember to like just put it on do not disturb. Oh well. Anyway, um, okay, so our tree, our normal green traditional tree, our artificial one, has been kind of falling apart the last couple years. And at the end of the season, I always say, Let's just get rid of it and get another one next year, but we always pack it up. So this year we get it out of storage, and I'm like, damn it. Like, so we kept it and put it by our piano by a window, and it's just got lights on it. Went on Facebook Marketplace and bought um, I think it's like a seven-foot tree, and it's of an artificial tree for 40 bucks. Someone's just getting rid of it. Nice big tree. So that's in our front window. That's got all our like homemade ornaments, green and white lights, all the things. And then my fancy tree is a white tree. Ew. I know my husband hates it. Ooh. He won't admit that he hates it. He acts like he likes it, but he hates it because he won't turn it on. We have three trees this year. It's like a leg light. If that's your leg line, when we get home from like a rehearsal at night, two of the three trees are on. Guess which one wasn't turned on?
SPEAKER_00:This white tree.
SPEAKER_01:So the white tree, it's really pretty. I'm gonna send you a picture of it.
SPEAKER_00:I've seen it. I remember.
SPEAKER_01:And so I it is bright. That one I decorate alone. I see, I did my fancy tree alone. Yeah. I do like um symmetric with like the ornaments can only be certain colors. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Same. And like, and that one is like my tree, and nobody decorates that one with me.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I used to do that too, but I think I'm gonna be done with that. I think I'm done. Well, here's the reason why is because my husband and kids would decorate the one with the family ornaments while I was decorating the other one.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:That's probably I was thinking about it this year. I was like, that's not how I want that to be. That makes sense. And it and it, you know what? Like, it served his purpose for a few years, but also the older I get, the less I want to deal with.
SPEAKER_01:I get that. And to be fair, I had time this year. So the last couple years I've done Christmas shows at Christmas. True, true, true. And so it has been a scramble to even decorate one tree. Yeah. I just like open the ornaments and I'm like, I think a couple of my kids helped me with my white tree last year because I couldn't get to it. And of course, you know, I was like, oh, they didn't do it right, but whatever. But they did it. So this year I've been super busy this holiday season, but Thanksgiving weekend, I really wasn't. We didn't travel. The family who had come to town left. We didn't have anything that weekend, and so I had my husband and I went to storage earlier in the week and I put all the trees up and took two, three hours, decorated mine, the kids decorated the other one, and so they've been up this whole time.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, if you have a house with three trees, you're good. Somebody is participating somewhere.
SPEAKER_01:And the reason we have the three is just because we didn't get rid of the one that's kind of falling apart. Yeah. And we got one second.
SPEAKER_00:Mine is kind of a struggle, but I'm just like also I hate wasting stuff.
SPEAKER_01:I'm like, if I get rid of this, it's just gonna be like I'm like, we have we can squeeze it in somewhere. Right. I just don't I don't want to use it as my main one because it's not bringing me joy, it's bringing me aggravation at this point because it's just like I look at it and I'm not happy.
SPEAKER_00:Well, let's while we're on this note, let's talk about Christmas trees.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:I was listening to um NPR yesterday and they were talking about that like there's this viral video about washing your real tree before you bring it in. Like spraying it down to get all the dirt and bugs out, like with a hose, yeah, spray it down, okay. Or a power washer or whatever. Okay. And so they were just like talking to like what are the plant people called? Arborists or whatever. And I was gonna say herbologist, but that's wrong. No, that's something different. Herbologist, Katie?
SPEAKER_01:I said herb. Herb. She said herb. I said herb. I don't know.
SPEAKER_00:I don't know. Uh they were talking to them about like, you know, if you needed to do that, blah blah blah. And I'm thinking to myself, why do we bring outside things inside? Like the whole the whole reason we built, started building houses was to not be outside. But then we're like, let's bring something from the forest into our house and leave it there where it will wither. It's like plants and flowers. It's like what are we doing? I don't know.
SPEAKER_01:Humans, we'd be weird. That is a little strange. It is a little strange. I mean, I think about that with exercise sometimes. Oh, I know. Because I I like think about like even people from a hundred years ago, right? 200 years ago. I'm not even talking about like cave cave people. I'm talking about like of recent history. The amount of time and money we put into setting aside time to exercise. They would be mind-boggling to them. They'd be like, you do what now?
SPEAKER_00:Well, I mean, we don't have to hunt and gather and like places. Yeah, it's weird.
SPEAKER_01:Like it's just that we've gotten it's so far removed from most of our everyday lives now. Right. But it's the same kind of thing. It's like it's weird. Like we've progressed, but then also we have to like put all this energy into this thing that should just be naturally part of who we are as humans. I know, but it isn't anymore. Yeah. And now we're bringing like trees inside and plants. Yeah. I mean, you're not.
SPEAKER_00:It's weird. I used to love, I used to love having a real tree when I was a kid because I could it smelled so good, but I hated when all the needles and stuff. Oh god.
SPEAKER_01:My neighbors, I I'm always telling my my one neighbor, the mom, I'm like, man, you're savage. December 26th, that tree is on the curb.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I like I go out at like, I don't know, 7 a.m. to like walk my dog or something. It is on the curb.
SPEAKER_00:What do they do with trees?
unknown:I don't know.
SPEAKER_00:After like when they come pick them up?
SPEAKER_01:Well, I mean, I think it's the same people who pick up your yard waste. So wherever that goes.
SPEAKER_00:Landfills.
SPEAKER_01:Yard waste goes to landfills.
SPEAKER_00:Does it?
SPEAKER_01:I have no idea.
SPEAKER_00:Gosh, this episode is so enthralling.
SPEAKER_01:Well, I mean, you put it, you put it in a different bin, so I just assume it goes a different place.
SPEAKER_00:It's not our best works. Hold on. We gotta make it. Time for another memory. Here we go. We're like talking about how do you throw away trees. I mean, that's sores on Katie's tongue.
SPEAKER_01:That was because the aging folks can probably relate to that with myself.
SPEAKER_00:But for real, I don't know. We don't know what's happening.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, so here we go. Here's another memory I have.
SPEAKER_00:Part of that was my fault because I don't know where we're.
SPEAKER_01:I don't know if other people did this, but okay. We every Christmas after we would get up and do our presents and maybe see our grandparents, it was the one day we would have to go visit all of our aging relatives. Yeah, nobody lived by me. I swear it was the only time of the year we did it. So check that box. I mean, I think my I think my my dad was always close with his like aunts and uncles.
SPEAKER_00:Well, you had lots of people around you.
SPEAKER_01:Um, I mean, yes. Okay. Once we moved back to Indiana, because I was born in Michigan and then we lived in Ohio. We didn't have family then. Oh. But when I was like seven, we moved to Indiana, and that's where all of my dad and mom's families were.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, so both sides.
SPEAKER_01:Like going home. Yeah. To be fair, my mom's siblings lived other places, but like her parents were there.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, see, the only family we had, we had no family that lived by us at all until my grandma, my mom's mom moved there when I was like in middle school. Okay. That was it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. I mean, so my dad's dad had nine siblings.
SPEAKER_00:Holy bajolies. Yeah. So that's like my my dad's mom had they were eight of them. Yeah. It's at that time.
SPEAKER_01:And a lot of them stayed in that area. So we would literally go from house to house, and just remember it was like old people's homes. Some of them smoked. Oh, yeah. And we'd have to like talk, they're like, how's school? And like, and I just remember which is like a kid's nightmare. But I hated it. I just wanted to be home on my rollerblade and playing with your toys. And yeah. And my parents, and they were they were right, but they would like, no, this, you know, it's good to go see family and family who can't get out on the holidays.
SPEAKER_00:They are right, but also like if your kid's measurable.
SPEAKER_01:And I remember it's just always really hot in their house. I just remember I'm hot right now.
SPEAKER_00:Are you hot?
SPEAKER_01:I am hot.
SPEAKER_00:She got a blanket on, and I feel like I'm too.
SPEAKER_01:That's gonna come into play.
SPEAKER_00:I know.
SPEAKER_01:But later. So I just wonder. So you remember going to old people's houses smelling like Christmas morning, amazing eat brunch or lunch, and then the rest of the day was like done.
SPEAKER_00:Bomb, bom, bom.
SPEAKER_01:And there were a lot of them. I mean, maybe maybe four or five.
SPEAKER_00:Baby's face just totally changed. She's like, there's a lot of them, guys.
SPEAKER_01:As I got older, like I formed my own relationships with these relatives, and they were wonderful people. They had amazing stories.
SPEAKER_00:But no kid likes doing that.
SPEAKER_01:No. And so and then you gotta, and you know, I had two brothers, so you gotta put all three of us back in the car, go to the next one. And usually it's there's snow. Outside.
SPEAKER_00:We're bundling up and we're unbundling and we're and to be fair, your your parents probably didn't enjoy that either.
SPEAKER_01:No, I think it was like it was an obligation. Yeah, it was like we have to do this.
SPEAKER_00:That was probably the nice part about not living by family, is you don't have the obligation. And like when Troy and I had when we had Caden, and you know, we were military family, we said we will never be going anywhere for Christmas. If y'all want to see us at Christmas, you can come see us. But like we wanted our kids to have wherever we were, that's where Christmas was gonna be. And I that was a decision I am glad we did, except it's different now because they're older and people have died, which whatever. But we when they when it was just Caden and he was like the first grandkid for all of them, uh there would be like battles on who was gonna come at Christmas. Not not like knockdown, drag out, but it's like who's gonna get invited. Cause we would just come for two weeks, it would be rotation of family, and it was a lot. And then finally a couple years ago, and I mean my mom passed away this summer, so I can I feel comfortable talking about this now. Um, it was really hard to be around her, and we have a lot of baggage, and she loved Christmas, and she always wanted to now. I have a sister, an older sister, and then my stepdad, I have two step siblings, but my mom always wanted to be at my house for Christmas. I don't know why. But it was it was weird because she was miserable, and then she would make everybody else miserable, and then I would have anxiety for weeks before she came. And uh my kids, the older they got, they were like, We don't like they didn't like having her there. And it was finally my therapist was and y'all can think I'm terrible for this, but my therapist was like, Listen, the people, and I think I've said this before, the people under your roof have to come first. Yeah, and you have to set a boundary, and so I said, Okay, and I had to call them and say, and it's really hard to set boundaries with your family, it is really hard. And my mom was a person who you would lay a boundary and she would find a way around it, yeah, or just not acknowledge it.
unknown:Right.
SPEAKER_00:That's just how she was, and I was like, listen, uh we're just gonna have it just be us. Y'all can come at Thanksgiving, right? And Troy's, we used to have um Troy's siblings come for New Year's when they we were kind of in a place where everybody could kind of get to easier, yeah, but now it's not that way. But his older sister usually and her husband usually come for New Year's, but um we're like that's just y'all can come at Thanksgiving or you can come after Christmas, but we're not.
SPEAKER_01:I think that's good.
SPEAKER_00:But you know, it see this sorry, not to bring it down from mouth source to trauma.
SPEAKER_01:Would you like me to talk about curry again? No. Are we ready?
SPEAKER_00:No, but anyway, just I I should we should probably put a PSA to say, guys, not all the memories we share are going to be happy ones. True. And it is okay. I think we need to leave space. Like this podcast is usually light and funny. Um, but I think it's okay to say at the holidays there is space for you if you're not feeling joy-filled, or if you have conflicting emotions where you have happy memories and also really shitty ones, too. There is room for both. And I think we need to make sure we leave space for both, not just in this episode, but in your real life.
SPEAKER_01:So I agree with that. Yeah, I agree with that. Absolutely. Um, I just had like a quick one. My aunt was in the Navy when I was growing up, my mom's sister, and so she was always living in like cool places, like she lived in Japan for a while in Hawaii. So there'd be long periods of time when we wouldn't even see her. But I remember going to my grandparents' house one year, and we didn't live in Indiana yet, so we like drove from I believe Ohio to be there for my gosh. Stayed at my grandparents' house. How far is that? Um, that from where we lived in Ohio to where we went in Indiana, probably five hours. Okay. Not too bad. And she was home, she was on leave, and so she came and she brought us all gifts. And I remember she brought me of all the things to remember, it was a Barbie. I don't remember the Barbie very well, like which one she got me, but it was like a kitchen set for the Barbie where you like snapped thing into place. Fun. And it had like a glass top and little chairs. I know that sounds crazy, but I just remember sitting on the floor with her, like putting it together. Ah! Yeah, and it was like so fun. And when I had my fake Barbie dream house, the one my parents Oh, I had a fake one too, yeah. Uh, it lived in there for like years. Love. Yeah, yeah. So I just that was just like one that's a good one. That's a fun memory.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I will share a fun memory that I have a picture of.
SPEAKER_01:Yay!
SPEAKER_00:I got, and then I have this the same, I have a picture of what my sister got. I apparently took a picture with this camera. Um, when I got my American Girl doll, it was the first and only. And you guys, I feel like people don't understand when they first came out, it wasn't what it is now.
SPEAKER_01:American Girl. Yeah. Listen to it.
SPEAKER_00:We have a whole episode on American Girl Dolls. If there was one, and it was just bait, and you got a doll and a book, and that was it. There wasn't a lot.
SPEAKER_01:Like expensive as hell. And yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I have a picture of the Christmas I got Samantha. Yes, I want to see her. And look, this was I set her up for her photo shoot. Oh my god. I already fucked her hair up. Like, I loved to play with the hair. I know. There's Samantha sitting by our coffee table. She's so cute. I was so pumped, and I think I have a picture of me. Yeah, look, here's me holding her with her hat. That was Christmas night, I'm pretty sure. Or no, it must be Christmas morning because everybody looks rough.
SPEAKER_01:It's so cute. And she's got like little riding boots. Yeah, here, I'll hold it closer.
SPEAKER_00:I'm gonna stand up.
unknown:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Because you guys need to see the OG. This was 1988. 1988, okay. Here we go. 1988. Oh.
SPEAKER_01:Hello. Look at your dad in his little night shorts. I know, right? His little knees sticking out. Okay, but look at my dad, real quick.
SPEAKER_00:Tell me that does not look like Caden.
SPEAKER_01:Your looks exactly like Caden.
SPEAKER_00:His eyes? Yeah. Yeah. Exactly like my oldest. Yeah, I know.
SPEAKER_01:Like a mad.
SPEAKER_00:My dad wasn't a mad person. My mom was a mad person, but um It's just the look in that picture.
SPEAKER_01:I know. He was probably tired. He's probably like, why am I taking another picture? Um please.
SPEAKER_00:My mom hated taking pictures, everybody. It's very sad. She had, you know, we always talk about body dysmorphia. She thought she was ugly her whole life. And she hated taking pictures. And I I actually was shocked because she not only is in this picture, she doesn't have makeup on. I very rarely saw my mom without makeup. She would even sleep in eye makeup. It was crazy. Um, without like makeup on in her actually, she looks so cute. She does have eye makeup on. She slept in it the night before. Yeah, she does. But anyway, she hated taking pictures, and I can't believe she was in her pajamas in this picture. It's so crazy. But anyway, that was my American girl doll. But look what my sister got that year. I see. Y'all know, y'all heard me talk before about my sister. Sometimes I would get I was pissed off that one Christmas.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that you wrote about it.
SPEAKER_00:I wanted a TCR, which by the way is a TV with a VCR. And she got a stair stepper and a what else did I say? A Thighmaster or something. Um, well, this Christmas I got a doll, and this is the stereo system my sister got. Oh, that's pretty good. It was like with the stand-up speakers. Yeah. Okay, hold on. It has got double taped a record player on the top, guys. And then the two cassette tape thingies, because you could record stuff from one to the other. From one to the other, which I we all did listening to the radio when your favorite song would come on, you'd hurry up and hit record. Do you remember doing that? Yeah. On the tape to make mixtapes. But the speakers, like, how funny, like those speakers, look how tall they are. Can you see just the top of them? Man, she was living large. Um hold on. Yeah. She really was. And that picture is taken in front of the fireplace, which y'all have heard me tell the story about the cockroaches and bats.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, that's the one. That's the one. That's the one. Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Fireplace guys in South Louisiana. What the hell?
SPEAKER_01:What do you think's gonna live in?
SPEAKER_00:Um, but that same Christmas, or was that the same? Hold on, hold on. Because I have this other picture. I'm in the same pajamas, but I want to say that was a year apart. But we're gonna go ahead and talk about it. Katie, what am I wearing? Because I think this was my dad's present that I was trying out.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, it looks like you've got a Walkman. Yes. And the over-the-ear headphones. It looks like Star Lord's Walkman from Guardians of the Galaxy.
SPEAKER_00:Yes.
SPEAKER_01:Oh my god.
SPEAKER_00:I think that was my dad's because that was fancy. It's a picture of my mom letting me wear it. Probably that's why I think it was my dad's, is because she's like very close by hovering that so I don't fucking break it. Which is smart. Uh, he was a runner, and so he wanted a Walkman to take on his runs. And so that year it was a banner year in the uh Thompson household because we had a Walkman. I know. And do you see there's a cabbage patch kids box right next to my mom? And I think it had um, it was like clothes or something, but anyway, I just love the background of these pictures. It's so funny to see. And look, there's a trash bag for wrapping paper. We are just talking about that.
SPEAKER_02:And it's full.
SPEAKER_00:We need y'all to let us know if you are a trash bag opening presence person or just a chaos person.
SPEAKER_01:Just chaos will do it.
SPEAKER_00:Or if you are just chaotic and you don't know how to control your mess.
SPEAKER_01:That too. And and I assume you do this too, but we open presents one at a time, not just everybody just like people can open their stockings on their own when they wake up.
SPEAKER_00:That's what we do too.
SPEAKER_01:Just because especially they're a little older now, you know. My youngest is 11, but especially when they were little, that's a way to like get a little extra sleep and let them and give them a little something. Really, right?
SPEAKER_00:I mean, you know what though? I was going, I was shopping for stocking stuffers the other day. It's it's harder when your kids are older. Totally. Especially because I don't want to buy just junk.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Like if you're not gonna use it, I'm not gonna give it to you.
SPEAKER_01:I will say girls are a little easier. Oh, because people probably like makeup, and I just get like different makeups and like body gels and yeah.
SPEAKER_00:See, boys, they don't, and listen, I I also don't want to buy like I'm like, I don't want to give you like soap and stuff, because I will just buy you that normally. And they don't use fancy stuff. Right. So it's like, I mean, Cooper likes bath and body works, and so does Troy, but like they will like, I don't know. I so what I usually end up doing is just a bunch of candy and snacks. Cause I'm like, at least I know that will get used. Yes. So usually by the end of the day, my kids have eaten so much sugar, it is crazy. But anyway, I do love I love a stocking because I always like to see what my husband puts in mine. Yeah. Because sometimes it's very interesting. He's gotten better over the years, bless it. Now he just sticks to like consumables because that's the best thing for me.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_00:And he he will go to Bath Body Works and give me stuff because I spend too much money there.
SPEAKER_01:I do my own stocking. I don't even think my husband puts anything. I will say one thing. Was it last year? He puts an Arby's gift card in there. I love Arby's. But the thing is, I don't think I think he thinks to get me a gift, but he doesn't think about the stocking. Oh, yeah. So I just started doing my own. And it's and and honestly, I just put candy in it.
SPEAKER_00:I used to, I okay, I'm laughing at you, but I there's been lots of years I will buy myself something and give it to my husband and be like, add this to my stocking.
SPEAKER_01:So to be fair, and I will say I was with one of my daughters shopping the other day, and there was something she grabbed, and she was like, Oh, maybe this person would like it. And I was like, Oh, I love it. And she goes, Oh, she's like, Well, let me have it, I'll put it in your stocking. Okay. So that was cute.
SPEAKER_00:I will also get Troy like uh, we don't really do Christmas presents because we do birthdays and also like money. It's like we don't, it's fine.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_00:But um I will do like I'll go get I'll go to like Total Wine and get like our world market and get like fun beers or something, and I'll get like root beers or something for the kids and like that's cute.
SPEAKER_01:World market's a good place to go. We always do um a fancy out to dinner during the Christmas season, my husband and I. Yeah, because oh that's cute. Not fancy, but like we'll go to like melting pot or something, and we'll just so we're doing it the week after Christmas this year. Usually it's the week after Christmas because everything's too crazy before that. Yeah. Uh but we and we do a shopping day together. And usually I've got most of the stuff by the time we do it, but it's just like the last things. We just go together, get the stores. He's really good at rapping, so then we just have like a wrapping fest.
SPEAKER_00:Because y'all got a lot of people.
SPEAKER_01:We do, and y'all also have not just your kids, y'all got big family. We do. Yes. Thankfully, the grandparents literally need, don't need or want anything. So normally I'm just wrapping the latest framed picture of the kids or something, you know. But still, it's like you want to check those people off your list. But okay, let me see what I've got. I think I only have one. I have five. I've got some funny stuff left.
SPEAKER_00:But it's all gonna be together.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:But you can go.
SPEAKER_01:Let me go. Okay. So here's mine. I am holding a blanket. Let me set my notebook down.
SPEAKER_00:And we talked about said blanket last week.
SPEAKER_01:We talked about it before. If you listened before or listened to maybe don't remember, my mom hand crocheted me this. I'd say it's like a twin-size blanket. It's pretty big.
SPEAKER_00:It's seen so much love.
SPEAKER_01:It's seen so much love. It's like faded. I was like, man, I should have washed it before I brought it to. Because when you wash it, it perks it up a little, but then it like, you know what I mean? Yeah. And it's not a blanket I use necessarily for warmth. It's just like a comfort blanket. But my mom made this for us a year that my dad had lost his job, and it was literally the only things under the tree. I think we had candy in our stockings, and I want to say I was like 11. So that 13-year-old picture, look, we were doing better. Um that's when he he started his own business. He had to. And he still is still to this day, still has that business. Um, but I just remember her making these for us. And this blanket, like I said last year, has gone with me everywhere. So I call it my Christmas blanket, even though I have it year-round. It's been on every bed I've lived in. Um I don't live in beds, but every bed. Well, sometimes, sometimes, every bed I've slept in, everywhere I've lived, it was in my college bed. Grandpa Joe with my blanket. Come on in, Charlie. Um but yeah, so uh let's see, like my college dorm, my college apartment, my um, like when I brought my daughter home from the hospital, the apartment we lived in when we lived in Chicago. I mean, it's gone everywhere with me.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, how many dogs have been on it?
SPEAKER_01:Oh my gosh, great question. Well, our family, since I've been an adult, uh we've only had the three. Oh, I did have one out of college, so that's four. And then we had two when I was growing up. So six, seven, eight, something like that. Jesus, that is a lot of dogs. Yeah, she's like, not that many eight. Probably eight. Um, but I've had it for 30 years.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, but eight dogs ain't gonna be on none of my blankets.
SPEAKER_01:So it's funny you said that because my little dog, yes, um, she likes to sit on it. I'm sure because it's smells like me, like, I'm sure. So it was on my bed, so I took it off. I actually Febreezed it a little just in case because my husband said I think it smells like dog. He's like, Oh shoot, we should have washed it. It smells like dog. And I was like, Well, I'm not gonna use it. So I as I said, I said I won't get it too close to Danny. So I held it up and he like sprayed it, but there's like holes. So the Fabrizio kidding me. I was like, we are not on our game this morning. So I set it on the couch to get ready to go, and I come in and my little dog had been on it on my bed, and she's on it on the couch. So I just scooped her up, moved her over. I was like, I'm sorry. And I was like, Yeah, it was really cute. So lots, lots of dogs on this one. That's it. And I love this blanket, it's really nice. That's the end of that story.
SPEAKER_00:Katie gave a very in-depth comment uh explanation of it last time. We won't revisit because we're doing so good. We have not teared up once.
SPEAKER_01:I know. I'm proud of us.
SPEAKER_00:What's happening?
SPEAKER_01:I don't know. It's your turn, though.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, well, we're gonna we might tear up laughing because y'all ready? I'm ready. It's the star stage Christmas. Yes, let's go. I came across a photo adventure. By the way, I've talked about this gift before. There was this microphone that came out that was called the Star Stage. Okay, it was like a microphone in a stand attached. You could not detach the microphone. It had two pedals on it, one controlled the lights.
SPEAKER_01:I love it.
SPEAKER_00:It had lights on the front, and one make would make you echo.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, I love that. I love that so much.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, guys, I wanted this so bad, and I got it, and there was no stopping me with this star stage on Christmas morning. But um, I have several things to show you in these pictures. Uh I really hope my sister listens to this episode because it's a lot of it's about her. So, um, first of all, I've shared this picture before, but this was Danny and the Star Stage singing, and my sister making fun of me to the side. I'm guaranteed this I in my stocking that year was the New Kids on the Black Christmas album. Let's go. This is 1990. Okay. Well, no, that's when the pictures were developed. June 1990. So, well, who knows? Who knows? It was 88, 89, probably 89 is my guess. But I would I'll show y'all this. Hold on, hold on. The Star Stage, I'm sure I was, I don't even remember any of their Christmas songs. Um, but this was her fucking with me. And notice I am so serious and so done with her bullshit. I'm like, let me sing my song. I love it. And she's like, I'm trying to clean up these damn boxes. And then the next one she's just dancing, making fun of me on the side. Okay.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, I see it.
unknown:Then I'll show everybody.
SPEAKER_01:I love the like probably homemade ranger. Oh, yeah, the reindeer.
SPEAKER_00:I used to make art projects and hang them all around.
SPEAKER_01:I love it. I love it.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, so hold on, let me see. I'll get up because you might need to be closer. I mean, the look of utter annoyance on my face of my big sister. Oh, you can't.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's too.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, you can't really see it. Anyway, but look at also in the background of that picture is my grandma trying to drink her damn coffee. Just like, Jesus, will that child shut up?
SPEAKER_01:I swear that's what my grandma's looked like. Yeah. Just like that.
SPEAKER_00:She's sitting there and she's looking, I don't know if you can see, but she's we're probably fighting, which we did all the time because we're seven years apart.
SPEAKER_01:She's probably like, Yeah, you could zoom in on grandma's face, it would probably be exactly.
SPEAKER_00:She's like, shut these girls up. Oh my god. But I had a perm as well.
SPEAKER_01:So cute. I love it.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, so that was the Star Stage Christmas. We're in our matching pajamas. Like I said, they're ginormous on us. If you didn't, my sisters are tight rolled at the bottom.
unknown:I see that.
SPEAKER_01:Oh my god, how cute.
SPEAKER_00:Because you had to special order them and they were way too big, and the sizing was weird. But okay, speaking of, you remember one time when we were talking, we went to the thrift store and we saw those Madame Alexander dolls. Yes. And I said we had them on top of the piano, and when we play the piano, they'd blink at you. Look, there's some of them right there.
SPEAKER_01:There they are. Five of them.
SPEAKER_00:Behind my grandma, there's our piano. Okay. And well, there's only five. We had way more. I don't know. Also, at their feet are the Burger King reindeer babies. Did anybody have these? Uh, they were like almost like beanie babies.
SPEAKER_01:I have some in my office. Okay. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:The they were Burger King had them. They were almost like beanie baby reindeers, and I forgot about them, but they're there in that picture. There they are. Um, also, something else funny. About the background. Hold on, I'll show you this in a second. Oh, I didn't bring it. My grandma was hilarious because you talk about like putting away paper. She didn't live with us. She lived like um across town in an apartment, whatever. So she'd come over early in the morning on Christmas, and she was there with us all day. But as soon as she would open her presents, she would um put everything in a pile and go put it in her car. Like there was no just like presents. Like she would put everything in the pile and go put it in the car and get ready to go. Also, a funny memory that just popped in my brain. Something that was in our stocking every year was thank you notes. My mom made us write thank you notes every Christmas day when we were just sitting around while it was fresh in our brain.
SPEAKER_01:I remember having to write thank you notes as well. Maybe not on Christmas. Oh yeah. It was a big thing.
SPEAKER_00:But like that was like such an annoying thing to get in your stocking.
SPEAKER_01:I know, I know, I know. It's like because part of the point of Christmas is unconditional gifts. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_00:Yes. Oh, I remember now. What else is in the background? Okay, okay, okay. So this was the front room of my house that was supposed to be a dining room, but was like a playroom kind of area when I was a young kid. I want you to look on the wall and tell in these two pictures, and there's my Barbie house too. Oh, it's so cute. Look on the wall in these two pictures and tell me the things that are on the wall. On the wall. Okay, here we go. That's common in both pictures.
SPEAKER_01:There's like a motivational cat poster. Yes. I don't know what it says. I don't either.
SPEAKER_00:We had those stupid that you would buy at the book fair, like the motivational cats like hanging from a tree, like hang in there. We had so many of them.
SPEAKER_01:Those are so funny. Isn't that hilarious? And then your other wall just looks like drawings. Oh, wait, there's two more cat posters. Yes, that's what I was saying. We had I had so we had just like hand-drawn, whatever. And then it looks like maybe a rainbow backpack. Oh, that no, no, no, you know what that is.
SPEAKER_00:I'm so glad you saw that. Guys, that Rainbow Bright is making a comeback. And that was Rainbow Bright's little house. And I I wish I could um might have to look up a picture and put it on our socials. So it was like a um, it was soft. Okay, and you could, it was almost like a suitcase, so you could carry it around. Okay, and it was shaped like a rainbow, and the front would snap on to the rainbow arch so it would hold the furniture in it, and then you'd unsnap it and set it up and set it up. Oh, that's fun. But that's what that is.
SPEAKER_01:Wow, that's so fun.
SPEAKER_00:Oh my god, I forgot about that. I'm so glad you saw that because I was like, that's and there's a course of care bearer hanging out somewhere. The funny thing is, this room was like a mess, and look, more Madame Alexander dolls on top of a shelf.
SPEAKER_01:I'm pretty sure we had that chandelier too.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that's like every 1980s house. Um, and then of course, my dad's like weather hurricane tracker. That's what that was. And I'm sitting there, but also this is a funny picture because my sister and I were seven years apart. Okay, so she did, she was not very nice to me for a long time. Biggest regret of your life, isn't it, Tara? I know. She knows, but anyway, now we're best friends, and it's fine. But I this is such a great picture of me hugging my sister when she wanted me to go away. Hello. Oh, that face. She, I'm like, yay, big sister Christmas. And she's like, uh Yeah, don't touch me. Oh my god. It's hold on. Okay. Every this is not working out for the when I'm trying to show pictures, guys. It's not. Anyways, uh hold on. Ah. I was not a cute kid, guys. I'm sorry. I think you're adorable. I was not.
SPEAKER_01:Look how adorable you are. Um I have a smile. Two more funnier pictures. Okay.
SPEAKER_00:One is from the Christmas middle school dance.
SPEAKER_01:I'm sorry, what?
SPEAKER_00:Uh-huh. It was, I don't know what, let me hold on. If I can look, I was either in sixth or seventh grade. I want to say probably about seventh grade. It was the early 90s. And um for some reason I have like the sheet of like six pictures, and I'm gonna hand them to Katie so she can tell y'all what we're wearing.
SPEAKER_01:And I'm gonna find you. Oh, you'll find me. Oh, I found you.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So everyone is in Oh girl, there's no category of what we're wearing. That's true. Somebody's in um a cardigan. I think I have that red cardigan like currently. It's cute.
SPEAKER_00:It's probably back in fashion now.
SPEAKER_01:So Danny is in jeans and they look like little like boots, maybe that go to your ankles, and then you've got like mesh rings. They're black, mesh with white polka dots, but then the body part of the shirt is also black with polka dots, I think, but not mesh.
SPEAKER_00:Do y'all remember those shirts that was like just the sleeves were like well it's not mesh, that's like it's like uh rave wear. It's sheer like mesh, mesh, like the why I said that. Rave clothes, sheer. Yeah, it's like it the the sleeves were sheer, but they had like cuffs that were not, and then like the shirt part of it was not. That was like some that was a thing in the early 90s. Girl in the brown definitely has shoulder pads, yes, and also my shirt you can't see it tied.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, it's cute, and it looks like your nails are painted red, fancy. It also looks like you're growing out your bangs. No, uh what's going on there? They're like kind of parted to each side, but they're super short, so I don't know what's going on. They were, oh my god. Hello?
SPEAKER_00:Okay, this is so bad. I I wish I had a close-up picture of what I used to try and do with my bangs, guys. That was when big bangs were still kind of in. And I was uh okay, hold on. I gotta help. Hold on. Oh my god, they're so bad. I can't either. I tried to make them big, but I think I they were cut short, and so they when you curled them under, the this part, like the middle, was like really underneath, and the sides were not, and they there's hair there.
SPEAKER_01:It's there. I can kind of see it now that you sell that.
SPEAKER_00:But I had it, I my hair was like in like a half up situation, right? Girl, I was a mess.
SPEAKER_01:That's so cool.
SPEAKER_00:And you can see my other friend at the bottom corner, she had some weird bang situation going on, like a wave. Remember the wave where you do a wave it to one side?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, she did. So let's see.
SPEAKER_00:There's and then somebody looks like they dress for church in that little short suit.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, she looks like a little sailor suit almost. So there's seven of you, and one, two, three, four, uh, six of the seven have bangs.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, I'm gonna hold on, I'm gonna put on blasts, and I gotta put this on. Let me see if I can remember. So the people in this, I think I am still connected with all you girls on social media, which is gonna be funny. I it we've got, I'm not gonna say their last name in case they're like just in case, yeah. So the little girl at the bottom is Stephanie, and then we have Lindsay, Jennifer, Lee, Rebecca, and Lisa. Okay. 90s names. I love it 100%. Okay. Uh I don't know what shoes. I was also tight roll pants. Um, I remember those jeans. I hated them because they didn't fit me right. I can I still to this day have a hard time finding jeans that fit, but they were gap jeans, which I was excited about, but they looked horrible. Hold on. We gotta show as much as we can.
SPEAKER_01:All right, show that picture as much as you can.
SPEAKER_00:Only like one person looks maybe two look kind of put together. We are kind of a mess.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, the the girl with the shoulder pads looks like she's got her life together. Who is that? Is that Lisa? That would be Jennifer. Oh, that's Jennifer. Of course, it's Jennifer who has her life together.
SPEAKER_00:Of course, you guys look at her. I'm sure y'all can spot me. Oh my god. Oh, I found you. I mean, in the background. Winter Wonderland.
SPEAKER_01:I was gonna say, shout out to the background. That's I mean it's very it's it's almost like a tinsel background with white cut-out trees. It's cute. I cannot.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, there's my grandma with her pile ready to go.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, she's so cute. That's my nawny.
SPEAKER_00:Oh my god. I know. Um, hold on. Okay, okay, okay. I think the others or the other. Oh, this was a picture of my mom's Victorian tree, which I hated so much.
SPEAKER_01:It is fancy.
SPEAKER_00:I hated it because it just was weird. My mom decorated that whole room in the early 90s in a Victorian style. Why was that popular? I don't think so.
SPEAKER_01:I think it was, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:But it was like pink bows and like those satin curtains. It was so not. I hated it so much.
SPEAKER_01:It's like a little museum in your house, right?
SPEAKER_00:That's so weird. But guess what?
SPEAKER_01:Tell me.
SPEAKER_00:My husband was excited when I found this picture. I found a picture of the Christmas I got a Game Boy, and I am playing it.
SPEAKER_01:Oh my god.
SPEAKER_00:I am playing it, and I was so excited. I think I was in eighth grade. It says 94, but that's not right. That was the year after. Uh I was in eighth grade, and um, it was the early 90s, and there I am. Let me see. Oh, it's so cute. Playing Tetris. Why I have a bow in my hair at Christmas morning is anybody's guess. I must have got dressed early, but you probably can't see that, but I was pumped. Game Boy.
SPEAKER_01:That looks amazing.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, that's so cool.
SPEAKER_01:That's so cool.
SPEAKER_00:I know. And Troy's like, do you still have that? I was like, no, I don't still have that Game Boy. Get out of here. That's it. But yeah, you can see the box that it came in. It was like, and then I I guess I also got a Disney movie. It's Alice Wonderland in the collector's case. Oh, probably because that's when it like came out of the vault. Remember where they would do that?
SPEAKER_01:That was the the holiday one. That was the holiday one. Released that year.
SPEAKER_00:Um, and this one me and a turtleneck going to church.
SPEAKER_01:So good. We will have to share the one of me and like the turtleneck and the crazy vest playing the piano. Oh my god. Tell explain your outfit in that one.
SPEAKER_00:Because this is a podcast, guys.
SPEAKER_01:So I found a picture. Probably I was probably 12 or 13. There's this huge mansion in the town where I was from called Barker Mansion. It's like a historic building or something. It's like a historic building. So it had it had once housed this very wealthy family, and then they turned it into a museum, and you could like go do it. But every year at Christmas time, they would decorate it in all the Christmas decorations so you could go do a tour. They would have live musicians come. And live musicians, they would just like go to piano teachers and voice teachers or schools and be like, hey, do your kids want to come perform for free? So every year I would go play piano. So it's this beautiful space, but my hair is like bobbed kind of, and I'm in like a white turtleneck, but then I've got like a sweater, uh like a sweater vest. Love that's all the different colors. What would be considered like an ugly sweater now vest? And then I had like this very long skirt on, and it's just like me like hovering over the keys, like playing piano. It it was made me laugh. I was happy. See, I was happy.
SPEAKER_00:She's playing her free piano at a mansion.
SPEAKER_01:I I l I was like 12, but I look like a kindergarten teacher or something because I was super tall when I was young as well, kind of like Tegan. So like I I don't know, I was like, is this me or is this like a 35-year-old woman who's just on lunch break from school? Like, what's going on here? But we'll share that one. That one was really funny. But I was happy. So what do you got there?
SPEAKER_00:Oh, well, this is just my last picture. Uh, this one might make me cry.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, yeah. Well, we made it. Here it comes. I know we made it to the end. We did it.
SPEAKER_00:Well, the funny part about it that caught that I brought it, and then I realized another part of it. It's not funny, but I'm wearing do you remember wearing a denim vest with jeans and a white shirt?
SPEAKER_01:And sometimes the denims don't match.
SPEAKER_00:And obviously these did not.
SPEAKER_01:There's a reason I said that. Yes.
SPEAKER_00:This was 95. No, this is when it was developed. It was probably 94, or maybe even 90. It was probably 94. Actually, it was probably the same Christmas. I think that was the same Christmas I got the Game Boys. So who knows? Yeah. Middle school time, early high school, early 90s. Uh, my mom is wearing what we would call an ugly sweater, but it was like serious then. You remember? Like, uh-huh. Those were expensive. Uh-huh. And she loved her little Christmas sweaters. This, my mom's, this is how I remember my mom's hair my whole life. So she was a nurse, so she had to wear her hair in a ponytail. And which is why she didn't ever she had it short sometimes, but she most of the time kept it long so she could pull it back because you had to pull it back. She always had bangs because she didn't like her forehead. And then she had these bangs her freaking whole life. Where it's like just a little bit, and then some.
SPEAKER_01:It's so cute. Um, did she get her hair colored? She did. To be like that blonde.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Well, it part of it was gray too. But she did, yeah, she colored her hair. Yeah, yeah. But um in this picture, I'm laughing, and my mom's laughing. And I think the reason why it made me cry is cause we made it this far.
SPEAKER_01:I think I know what you're gonna say.
SPEAKER_00:Uh so she loved Christmas and she she wanted Christmas to be special, but she also made it pretty miserable too, because of that. And also, uh my mom had a lot of uh untreated like mental health stuff. Now I can look back and know like her whole life because she always thought everybody else needed fixing, not her. Right. And uh looking back now, I can see she had a lot of uh uh anxiety problems. Obviously, I just said she had a lot of like body dysmorphia and like um she had a lot of anger issues too. And but it was weird, it's weird for me this Christmas because I'm in this weird place of grief and relief. So I'm gonna just share a little bit about it just in case anybody else out there is might be feeling that because it's fun to listen along and laugh and stuff and think, oh yay, but this is real and how what we have to deal with. Um Christmas was very confusing in my house because it was exciting and wonderful, but also very stressful. I can remember a lot of Christmases of my parents fighting. Um, but I also remember a lot of like really fun things. Like getting a Game Boy was exciting. Getting you we all have a Christmas where we got like a big present. I remember getting a bike and we had it on video, and it was the first Christmas after my parents were separated, but my dad was still there on Christmas morning, which was weird. But on video, I just remember me screaming my face off because I had a bike, and all you could hear me say was, say it to new. I didn't tell anybody, which I probably did. I thought I didn't tell anybody I wanted a bike, but guess what? I'm probably told the whole world. That's so cute, and you just hear me freaking out, but behind the camera, my mom wouldn't be on the film. My dad was trying to film this, so and he sent it to his family in North Carolina, and they didn't know that my parents were separated. So it's like, I don't know. My mom was a lot, and I think that that you have to remember like you can miss someone and also not at the same time.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and not to trivialize it at all, but it's one less boundary you're gonna have to set, exactly, one less personality you have to manage, or one less thing to feel guilty about. And that may I don't mean to make like one less thing, like no person's not important. Totally makes sense, but it but I can understand what you're saying, like that intersection of processing all the memories, good and bad, and knowing you don't have to do those things that brought you stress anymore.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and then you know, you always have guilt that sits in because whenever I would try to set boundaries with with my parents about with my mom and stepdad about Christmas, and Christmas is always hard for my sister and I anyway, since you know my dad died um in October when you know, right before the holiday season when I was 11. So Christmas that first Christmas was weird, and you just your body can't help but remember that.
SPEAKER_02:Sure.
SPEAKER_00:And um I forgot I was gonna say. Oh, and it might but when I would try and set boundaries with my parents, but my stepdad always try and tell me, like, well, you know your mama loves Christmas and she doesn't have you know, we're not gonna be here forever, so now I which is not nice, you should never pressure someone pressure someone to say that and to be fair, eventually he did say, Well, you know, it's your family, you gotta whatever. But uh but then it's like, well, shit. I should have had her here.
SPEAKER_01:But then uh you know what I mean? Yeah. Yes and no. I mean, it sounds like you spent a lot of Christmases with her or around the Christmas season. No, we did boundaries. We did still saw her during the season. I mean, I'm feeling a little bit of that myself because I haven't been to see my parents since June. And like, I won't see them for Thanksgiving or Christmas this year. And in my mind, I'm like, okay, because I have a show mid-January, I'm like, I I just need to go after that. But you know, knowing that like my dad, you know, is doing this whole season alone, like trying to help her, because um my one brother's around and does help. My other brother's incarcerated, yeah. My niece, who my dad was really close to, his granddaughter, you know, she joined the Navy, good for her, and she's in Texas, so who knows if she'll be home. Yeah. And so same with me. I'm like, okay, we're like, and and sometimes I get resentful even towards my husband's family, and it's not their fault. No, I get it. But it's like we see them on Thanksgiving, we see them on Christmas. Because they're here, yeah. And if I were to even suggest, and I say this to my husband sometimes that he doesn't know that he does it, but like I'll be like, oh, like offhand, oh, maybe we could try to get there for Christmas. A hundred reasons we can't immediately out of his mouth. Oh no, because we have the blah blah blah blah blah. And and to hit his, he'll defend and say, and he's probably right, I'm just telling you the facts. We do have this thing to do, that thing to do. And you have the studio and you have it, and there's seven of us, and like, and also like you know, Emmy's already traveling, and you know, but I'm always like, you just don't even want to try. And that's me projecting, right? Right? Like, that's not him saying, I don't want to see your family. Right. So it's in it, and my dad used to at least bring my mom down once or twice a year, but traveling with her by himself is hard. Like the like things you don't think of the bathroom. She can't go to the bathroom by herself. So you're traveling, you're in an airport or you're at a rest stop. A grown man can't go into like And not everywhere has companion restrooms. Yeah, if they do, great. But if you're on the road or you're whatever, you might not be able to find one.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So just things like that, or or her getting disoriented and lost, yeah, and my dad not knowing where they are to even like look for her. So it's uh not to like hijack your story, but like that feeling of guilt where it's like it's it's that feeling of like, well, am I doing enough to like see these people? Yeah. When really so much energy, especially when you have children at home, right? Or young adults who come home around the holidays, that is really where your energy is supposed to be.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. And everyone else can kind of like work around that. Yeah. You know?
SPEAKER_00:Well, and I think it's hard to not like leaving space. I think a lot of times when people pass away or even a situation like your mom. You know, where you're grieving while she's still alive.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Right? The mom you used to know, right? Right. A lot of times we don't leave space for the bad memories and we just focus on the good, and which is fine. But I really do think you have to, and then because what happens, I think. Ooh, I bet our friend Jen is having a field day with her psychology on this.
SPEAKER_01:She's like an hour and ten minutes into this thing, and they go all like deep on me.
SPEAKER_00:Um, I think I fucking forgot what I was gonna say. Uh I think it's important. What we do is like we focus on the positive, which is good and great.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:But I think you have to remember the yucky too, because that completes the person. Yeah. And nobody is all one thing. And you can choose to just focus on the good too, but I think what that does is makes you feel even more guilty.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And it's like, sure, I could have had her here the past two Christmases, but what would that have meant for my family and my house?
SPEAKER_01:Right. Right. And it is a trade-off because one day, and that day is here for one of your kids. Your kids go off and form their own memories. And yes, it's we it's not our responsibility to make a perfect anything for them, but it is our responsibility to like honor that family unit first. Yeah. And holidays are included in that.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:You know, and so it's more important to start there and work outward. I think as in Glendon Doyle's book, um Untamed, yeah, she talks about when she first started dating her now wife, that her mom, it's she's this metaphor of like putting the drawbridge down, right? Yeah. And her mom came across carrying, oops, sorry, guy, carrying um fear and doubt. And what about the kids? And what about this? That she kind of had to pull up that drawbridge and say, if you're on our islands, you can't bring those things right now. Right. Because we're like fighting all this stuff already. You can bring support and encouragement and love and non-judgment, then you can come, but if you're not, like you're not welcome. Yeah. And that that was a hard boundary to draw, and that she understood why her mom felt that way. Yeah. Because, like, as a parent, you're gonna worry about huge life changes and all these things. But I I always think about that. Yeah. I'm always like, all right, who's who do you let into that fortress? Yeah. And when, and what are they bringing with them? Right. Right. And that's important, especially anytime. Oh, of course. Holidays just tend to bring that up. And um, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Well, well, I I I will say I I have an idea for us to close the episode too.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:That's gonna be fun. Um, I will show this picture because I think it's also it's I think it's a fun. I don't know, I'm opening something and we're laughing. And I think it's a and the my fashion is so good. It's it's decent. I think it's important to remember you can uh a snapshot is a snapshot.
SPEAKER_01:Ooh.
SPEAKER_00:It's not a full picture, it's a moment in time, and that moment was a good one, regardless if the very next one and the next frame that could have happened was us screaming at each other or crying. You know what I mean? Like, uh, and I think it's good to have both.
SPEAKER_01:So I I agree with you. Hold on. I'm gonna And it's okay to look happy in a picture, right? It's okay to post something on social media of a happy moment, even if the rest of the day was shit. Like, that's okay. Yeah, right. But remember, I think the most important thing, especially for like me, is to remember when I see that to not feel bad about myself. To know, like, hey, I had a shitty moment that day. Like this this past Thanksgiving, we had a couple things like go down.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Um, but we've got a great family picture from that day. And you know what for everybody else's great family picture from that day or from Christmas, they have shit that went down too. You know, and just to remember, like that snapshot is is again, it's that fortress. It's what we it's what we let the world in to see.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And that's okay. You know, and some people are more open, they share the the the icky stuff too. Um, but Hello me to not feel I mean, and I do too. Like I talk about my mom's illness and how I feel and for sure um, you know, freaking have a whole book coming out now. For sure. I know part of that. And so I just think all of that, like if you're if you're having a moment like you said, it's okay to remember the bad. It's okay to like be like, hey, I'm feeling um, I'm feeling some relief, but also this picture of us laughing that year that I got the Game Boy is really special. Yeah, and I think you know my sister has gotten I hope she hears this.
SPEAKER_00:Keep listening, um Tara has gotten really good at remembering the good things. And she told me a few years ago that she started writing it down because we do have a lot of yucky memories and baggage and stuff. And she was like, she told me she started writing it down when she remembered the good things about my mom because there were a lot that weren't. And that picture, that picture's a good thing. Um, my mom was funny, like I, you know, her last probably decade, she wasn't really anymore, but something that I think I got from her is my humor because I have a very sarcastic wit, and so does my sister. And we laugh a lot in life, and usually when we're with people, we laugh a lot, and that is definitely from her because I don't remember much of my dad. And my sister's like, oh no, he was like very bubbly and funny, and everybody loved him and stuff, but I don't remember that, right? I remember my mom mostly, and she could. I mean, I had got a lot of her bad traits too. I'm a yeller and I hate it, and that's but and I work really hard to not be, even though my kids might say I don't.
SPEAKER_01:No, you a yeller girl.
SPEAKER_00:I really try, I I am, I like I have to apologize a lot because I am a yeller, but so seeing that reminded me of like, yeah, my mom's funny. Like she she really was back in those years, and we did laugh a lot in my house. And I think my sister and I learned how to cope with trauma through humor. Good or bad, I know that can be masking, but like we did it even when my mom was on her deathbed, we were laughing at in her deathbed because like I mean, like the sarcasm doesn't it didn't die, like it was dying with her, but like my stepdad on the whole, I told y'all the story about him talking to Siri on the phone.
SPEAKER_02:So funny.
SPEAKER_00:And it then my sister, like I was singing, and my sister cannot sing, and she started singing with me, and I was like, Look at that, mom. It just took you dying to get Tara to sing, and like, you know, like that is I I felt I felt that when I looked at that picture, and I'm like, Yep, it's all part of the story, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Like you said, it's not as black and white or as polar as good, bad, right? It's all the nuances and and not necessarily making a positive out of a negative, because I don't know that that's like no. I think just letting them coexist, but letting them be both be there, and and and acknowledging they both are there, right?
SPEAKER_00:At different points, and and grief be weird, and grief be weird. It hits you in the weirdest times and moments. Uh yeah. So, okay, let's end this. Okay. And I have a fun thing. We're gonna do a lightning round for each other, okay, and we're just gonna ask each other like random questions about Christmas, but you can't you can't think about it.
SPEAKER_01:Don't think about it and not a long story, just a boop.
SPEAKER_00:Like I will say, for instance, all right.
SPEAKER_01:Am I answering this? Because I gotta be ready. I'll answer.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Go ahead. And don't think about it.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. Favorite Christmas candy. Candy caney. Okay, I know. That's I did a easy one just to see how you went.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, all right, so I've got one for you.
SPEAKER_00:Um favorite Christmas TV special. Oh, um claymation.
unknown:Hold on.
SPEAKER_00:I don't remember what it's called. It's called it was the Claymation holiday special that came out in the late 80s that has the California raisins.
SPEAKER_01:I did not think that that's what you were gonna say.
SPEAKER_00:You said special.
SPEAKER_01:It is, it is I love it.
SPEAKER_00:And Cooper watched it with me last year and he's like, Mom, this is so weird.
SPEAKER_01:And I'm like, Oh, I thought you were gonna say he liked it. No, no, okay, and it has two dinosaurs that they're they're doing the thing.
SPEAKER_00:Please Google it, guys.
SPEAKER_01:All right, all right. I will. All right, give me a one.
SPEAKER_00:Um, favorite Christmas song.
SPEAKER_01:Uh Carpenter's Merry Christmas, darling.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_01:The one that we talked about. I love that song. Okay, that's it. Just something in her voice. Yeah, like it is that like sad Christmas kind of feel. I like River, too, Joni Metro. I guess I like sad Christmas songs. That's okay. I like them all, but those are like my favorites.
SPEAKER_00:I like that. All right.
SPEAKER_01:All right. Um, let's see. Best Christmas gift your spouse has ever given you. Or one that you can remember that you liked.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, okay. Well, back in the day, Troy wasn't the best at presents. Um, but I remember the year that the things turned around. It was when I was really into like crafts and I would like do a lot of crafting and stuff, and he got me a cricket, like the first edition cricket.
SPEAKER_01:Nice. Oh, that's good.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, I did tell him to buy it, but he still did it.
SPEAKER_01:He still did it. He's probably like, I don't know what that is, but here I go. Yeah. I'm gonna get I'm gonna get you this, and crafts are going to ensue. And one time he surprised me.
SPEAKER_00:Um he went. I didn't know he had bought this for me. Um wait, no, that was a birthday present. Never mind. Go ahead.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. Um I went. No, you Oh, can we do one more, two more? What do you think?
SPEAKER_00:I said go ahead. Um, okay. Hold on. Favorite. Oh, favorite Christmas movie.
SPEAKER_01:Oh gosh.
SPEAKER_00:Uh Love actually.
SPEAKER_01:I know. You don't like that one. No, I love that movie, but I've okay. Yeah, that's my favorite. Really? I really like White Christmas too. Okay, so you don't like that one. I like both. I feel like I can't have the holiday season without watching both of those. And of course, I'm up at Christmas Carol. So I'm not sure. I know. I was like, wait! Okay. And I do like um the Christmas vacation. That's funny. Uh I don't like anything Grinch.
SPEAKER_00:It's a wonderful life.
SPEAKER_01:I do like it's a wonderful life. I like most Christmas movies, but I'd say love and anything? No, I don't like Grinch stuff. Especially the animated one. I leave when my my husband and my kids love it. I go do something else. I do not like it.
SPEAKER_00:Damn it. I should have worn my Grinch costume today.
SPEAKER_01:You should have. Um, all right. Got one for you. And you didn't even say Christmas story. What? I do like Christmas story, just not my favorite. I like I haven't watched it yet this year, and I probably won't. I can go a whole Christmas without watching that one.
SPEAKER_00:Oh my god, that is blasphemy in my house. It is on all day on Christmas Day. Wow on repeat.
SPEAKER_01:Well, because I do it on the you know they do, they do the marathons. All right. Um, let's see. How about favorite Christmas drink? And it can be alcoholic or not.
SPEAKER_00:Oh my god, I have a new one.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:I'm gonna say this wrong. When we, Char and I went to Epcot like last week, and we went to Germany and got, he wanted a German beer, and I wanted like something Christmassy, but I didn't want something super sweet. They had like this hot mold wine. It's called Gluevine. Okay, okay, it was so good. I've never had that. It's good. Oh, you would like it. It's a red wine and it's like spiced, and it's but you drink it hot. And it was freezing that night, which was wild because it's Florida, guys. It was freezing, and I was like, I want something hot, I don't want a beer, like, and I don't want like and I was like, if I could find like I felt like Clarence on It's a Wonderful Life, I'll have a mold wine. Um, I was like, I want like a spiced wine, and he's like, Okay, like they had it, and it was it would just hit the spot.
unknown:That sounds good.
SPEAKER_00:So I'm gonna get a total wine and see if they sell it. I'm sure they do. Yeah, glue vine. It's it's like that's not it's not spelled like American way.
SPEAKER_01:It's like got a W in it somewhere.
SPEAKER_00:And like a little U with the thingies over it. What's that called?
SPEAKER_01:Um, an um lot.
SPEAKER_00:There you go. Really?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. The little dot. I thought that's what the thing in your mouth is.
SPEAKER_00:Oh no, that's a U, Vila. Never mind. Yes. The hangy down in your mouth. All right. All right. Do we well? I don't really know what to say about this episode. I feel like it was a weird one.
SPEAKER_01:Look, if you're still here, like God onya's real one. And if you're not, you aren't gonna hear this anyway. We understand.
SPEAKER_00:Did I just say God on you? What is that?
SPEAKER_01:Also, I like really have to pee, guys. I did too. So bad. And I'm sweating. But um, thank you for listening to our Christmas memories. We'd love to hear if any of yours matched up. If you're having trouble with curry, please back me up. Okay, please back me up.
SPEAKER_00:If you know how to make if you've had gluevine, yeah, let us know. Now I'm scared I'm saying that really wrong.
SPEAKER_01:You might be, but if if you're saying it like it looks, then people will know what you mean.
SPEAKER_00:Well, Merry Christmas, happy holidays.
SPEAKER_01:And we will see you next time on Generation in Between. Bye.
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