Tis' the season to be jolly! In this festive episode, we dive headfirst into the magical world of holiday decorations, exploring the age-old debate of decorating for Christmas early. Thanksgiving may traditionally mark the beginning of the holiday season, but why wait to deck the halls with boughs of holly?
Join us as we carve into the traditions, flavors, and the anticipation that sets the stage for the holiday season. Dive deep into the kitchen chaos as we explore the art of cooking the perfect Thanksgiving turkey, and as the dinner table empties, our attention turns to the thrill of Black Friday sales... does the excitement for them still exist?
Wrapping up the episode, we can't help but feel the tingle of Christmas excitement in the air. Listen in as we share what we're most looking forward to this year.
From the first slice of turkey to the last ribbon on the gift, this episode is a celebration of the joyous journey from Thanksgiving to the enchanting world of Christmas. Tune in for laughter, inspiration, and a sprinkle of holiday magic that will leave you eagerly counting down the days until Santa's sleigh bells ring-in the most wonderful time of the year.
Thanks for joining us for your weekly dose of confidently unqualified advice!
Let's keep the conversation going! Connect with us below!
Instagram: www.instagram.com/lifeunmasteredpodcast
Email: lifeunmasteredpodcast@gmail.com
Website: www.lifeunmasteredpodcast.com
Tis' the season to be jolly! In this festive episode, we dive headfirst into the magical world of holiday decorations, exploring the age-old debate of decorating for Christmas early. Thanksgiving may traditionally mark the beginning of the holiday season, but why wait to deck the halls with boughs of holly?
Join us as we carve into the traditions, flavors, and the anticipation that sets the stage for the holiday season. Dive deep into the kitchen chaos as we explore the art of cooking the perfect Thanksgiving turkey, and as the dinner table empties, our attention turns to the thrill of Black Friday sales... does the excitement for them still exist?
Wrapping up the episode, we can't help but feel the tingle of Christmas excitement in the air. Listen in as we share what we're most looking forward to this year.
From the first slice of turkey to the last ribbon on the gift, this episode is a celebration of the joyous journey from Thanksgiving to the enchanting world of Christmas. Tune in for laughter, inspiration, and a sprinkle of holiday magic that will leave you eagerly counting down the days until Santa's sleigh bells ring-in the most wonderful time of the year.
Thanks for joining us for your weekly dose of confidently unqualified advice!
Let's keep the conversation going! Connect with us below!
Instagram: www.instagram.com/lifeunmasteredpodcast
Email: lifeunmasteredpodcast@gmail.com
Website: www.lifeunmasteredpodcast.com
Hey guys, welcome back to Life Unmastered. We're so glad to have you here with us again for another week. If you haven't already, we would appreciate it if you please hit that subscribe button and leave us a review. We love you so much for that. I cannot believe that we are already halfway through November.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's flying by.
Speaker 1:I feel like I say that every single month.
Speaker 2:No, but this one you really feel it. You know why? Because every neighborhood has that guy that just decides to put his Christmas decorations out way too early.
Speaker 1:They're the worst.
Speaker 2:I am so excited about being that guy. I love the fact that all of our neighbors see our decorations go up and then they get nagged by their wives like, hey, we got to put stuff up. Mike and Sean have it up, let's go.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think this year was extra funny because we put out our decorations, our Christmas decorations, and our neighbors still had their full Halloween decor up right next door.
Speaker 2:They had spider webs up and we're like, yay, oh, snowman.
Speaker 1:So we did end up decorating early for Christmas this year, and I'm not mad about it. We had an extra weekend well, not an extra weekend, but we had a weekend where we had nothing planned, which just happened to be the first weekend in November. And we took advantage of it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because every other weekend from here on out is busy. Yeah, and we got stuff.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and so and I kind of like that it's done now we're able to enjoy it. This season goes by so fast.
Speaker 2:That's what I was going to say. I think we're tricking ourselves into making these excuses, but the reality is is it's getting earlier and earlier for us.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but for everybody. I feel like everybody is embracing Christmas earlier and earlier. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean, why only celebrate Christmas for one month? It takes so much work to put it up. It took us an entire weekend and I don't want to take it down in three weekends from now.
Speaker 1:Yep and it's just. Everything feels so cozy. And. I just I love it. I love it so much, I want it as long as possible.
Speaker 2:I wonder if it's the first snow Like we had a decent snow we did In like a week or two ago, where everything was covered and just it was cold and I was like I got cocoa. We needed Christmas tree, yes, yes.
Speaker 1:Speaking of cocoa totally random, but we were making coffee the other night and Jason's like I cannot drink coffee that will make me throw up. Yeah, I love it, but I will only drink cocoa.
Speaker 2:I think I saw his little pinky raise when he said that.
Speaker 1:But we did get a text message from our neighbor directly behind us because we always have our windows open and she could see our tree through our window and she's like thanks, shauna. Now I have to put up our tree because you know, her daughter was like mom they've got their tree up. I want my tree up.
Speaker 2:So mission complete. Like not only am I upsetting the husbands, but we're also upsetting the wives. Yes, look at it.
Speaker 1:It's Christmas, everybody wins, I'm just saying. But also our Christmas lights went up. Yeah. Which the kids love. Yep. So I have always, for years, seen signs of people advertising like we'll put up your Christmas lights, and I've always like, when I'd see them I'd be like, why would you not? Why would you pay somebody to put up your Christmas lights? Do it yourself, just do it yourself, yep.
Speaker 1:And then we moved into a two story house, absolutely. So we're driving by and we look and see our neighbor hanging from the top of his roof, His Eve.
Speaker 2:yeah, like his roof comes to a point and he was like straddling it, hanging over the edge.
Speaker 1:Yes, and his wife is standing there in the driveway with her hands up, as if she's going to try and catch him.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like that's going to work out great yeah.
Speaker 1:And so we saw that and both of us are like at the same time. We're like we got to figure out something else.
Speaker 2:I was so confident that I would be able to do it which is funny because I'm terrified of heights Like when we were like in a one story rental. I was Tom Cruise. I was out there on the ladder doing my own stunts. Everything was good. As soon as I saw him hanging from that, I was like no, this is Ron Weasley, I'm just going to cower in the back and let Harry do everything.
Speaker 1:Like it's not happening. Yes, yes, and you know what? I'm actually okay with that. At first I was like I don't know, do we really want it?
Speaker 2:I think we calculated that we actually, like, took our like emergency room deductible that we would have to pay versus putting them up, and we're like, mathematically, we have to pay someone, exactly.
Speaker 1:And so our neighbors. Actually, they got a quote from these kids and they were in college at the time. Yeah. That we're going around and offering to put up lights and we're like, okay, we'll come to our house next and like quote us. And these kids are great. I'm so impressed by them every year.
Speaker 2:Nothing excites me more than like young people with drive.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:They are hustlers, Like they do all sorts of stuff and just like rotate through the seasons. It's not only lights like what's popular this season. That's what we're going to help people do.
Speaker 1:Yes, we get text messages all throughout the year Like let us clean your gutters, let us wash your windows, let us pick up your dog poo, like they do all kinds of. They're just like true hustlers.
Speaker 2:Because of word of mouth. They're not doing. It's not like a neighborhood kid coming from across the street, Like they're doing it for an entire community.
Speaker 1:Yes, they sent this year. They're up to 800 houses, that's nuts. Which seems crazy. But then they come to our house to put up the lights and they are lightning fast.
Speaker 2:Literally, they're almost like they'll knock on the door to tell me they're here. By the time I get back to my desk to sit down, they're knocking on the door to tell me they're done.
Speaker 1:It is wild.
Speaker 2:It's crazy.
Speaker 1:And in fact he was curious. He's like did you tie me Cause?
Speaker 2:we've made comments about how fast they are. He's like bragging yeah. These kids man, they know they're good.
Speaker 1:You've got a little crush on them. It's not a crush.
Speaker 2:He's a kindred spirit. Okay, like that. When I was that age I was this cocky and brash, like, I think, the first time they hung up our lights I wasn't there for like the reveal.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But like I'm pretty sure you told me the story and if I'm exaggerating I'm sorry, cause in my head it was dreamy. But like I think he knocked on the door and when you answered he was half hanging off a ladder like ready to plug in the final cord, so everything would light up. And he kind of just looked at you like are you ready? And you were like yeah, he's like, let's light it up.
Speaker 1:That's, that's exactly how it happened.
Speaker 2:And then he like plugged it in and everything was like no, yes, that is completely how it happened.
Speaker 1:I think you told me that story.
Speaker 2:I was like that's my hero, that's it. Like I'm never, I'm never going to be more impressed with an individual than I am with this kid.
Speaker 1:And I remember being like that happened. I'm like I cannot wait for Mike to get home to tell him this he is going to love this kid, I knew it.
Speaker 2:The guy he's got drive, he's got swagger Like ah it was so.
Speaker 1:he truly was so, like the, where we, when we built the house, we specifically put in an outlet.
Speaker 2:They sell you on it. They're like if you want Christmas lights, you want an outlet up here. I'm like, okay.
Speaker 1:So he, it was, it's up high and so he's on the ladder, but he's still trying to like talk to me at the door and that. So he truly was hanging half off a ladder and he just like, I'm just like, how many times have you practiced this in the mirror.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I hate going back to it to like Tom Cruise again, but I just like feel like it's mission impossible with him, like hanging off the side of that mountain when he's like rock climbing or whatever.
Speaker 1:like let's do it Like oh yes, yes, yeah, and he definitely kindred spirit Like that kid, he knows he's got some swagger yeah. So, although we are fully ready for Christmas and happy about it, we do have Thanksgiving coming up first, and I would say we're equally as excited for Thanksgiving.
Speaker 2:Thanksgiving is a big deal for me. It always has been in my family.
Speaker 1:I know I wish I could have experienced these Thanksgiving's that you talk about with your whole family and hopefully one day that we can, or that we can again get the whole family back together. But I am glad that we're at least able to have some of that. Yeah, yeah, like mom and dad come out and yeah, yeah so we did get the turkeys this week, which I Never knew would be such a big deal.
Speaker 2:It is like. It's like this weird Secret society with these turkeys.
Speaker 1:So so we get our turkeys from Trader Joe's which I never even heard of. Yeah well, we don't.
Speaker 2:we're not big I feel we're not Joe's, we're not Joe'sers if people love Trader.
Speaker 1:Joe's they do we're not those people. No, I have nothing against Trader Joe's the parking lot.
Speaker 2:It's too small, it is and all the spots are on the right. It's also very.
Speaker 1:It's also just far away. I'm not gonna go out of my way to go there to go there, but when we signed on this house, our realtor was nice enough to give us to gift us a turkey that year. Mm-hmm and it was this kosher turkey from Trader Joe's and she's like I'm telling you this is the best turkey ever. You need this turkey.
Speaker 2:It came with instructions on like a secret handshake and everything else to make Sure the guy gives you the kosher one.
Speaker 1:Right, so we actually have to call ahead every year now to make sure to find out when the delivery day, because there was a team of people Waiting for these turkeys.
Speaker 2:It's, it's the weirdest thing. How many you got them this week. How many turkeys were?
Speaker 1:I did. I got there and I thought I was going early. There was four turkeys left and there are three people standing in front of them and they had arrived that morning yes, and the guy is on the phone with his wife and he's like there's only these kosher turkeys left. And everything in me was like to tell him, like, don't be discounting these turkeys, like they're the best. But I said nothing. And then he kind of moved away to see, like to talk to her, and I swooped in and I grabbed two of them.
Speaker 2:It's like. They's like hey, this is Thanksgiving, not Christmas. I'll be generous next season, so I swooped in and grabbed two.
Speaker 1:He turns around. There's only two left now, so he grabs one.
Speaker 2:He's like oh. I don't know about this kosher.
Speaker 1:He's like but my wife's gonna kill me if I don't come home with the turkey.
Speaker 2:I think kosher is Latin for haunted. Like they just disappeared.
Speaker 1:Maybe. And this other girl is there with her mom and she goes to grab a turkey and she's shocked because she sees, you know that the Turkey's like 50 bucks and she's like mom, the turkey says it's only 349. How come? It says it's $50. She goes that's per pound.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there was. There was like she was a teenager a generational moment right there where the mom was like where did I go wrong? Yes, that was exactly how she answered in her tone. She's like okay.
Speaker 1:So she, the mom, actually says you thought the turkey was only gonna be $3 and 49 cents.
Speaker 2:What are they teaching you at school? Different episode.
Speaker 1:Yes, but anyway, so that was kind of funny. So anyways, by that time I walked out of the store there was one turkey left, mm-hmm, but yeah. So anyways, I did say turkeys, we got two which this is our second year that we'll be making Two turkeys one for Thanksgiving and one for what is friendsgiving?
Speaker 2:friendsgiving- Unfortunately.
Speaker 1:Unfortunately, last year we were only able to enjoy one of those. Hopefully, we can enjoy both turkeys this year.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we spent all day cooking this turkey. And I say we because I help with like watching the clock and I also like tilt the pan when we need to baste. Yes but Um, we're just beyond sick.
Speaker 1:Well, okay, no, we were not cooking a turkey sick, we had, we were recovering. Oh yeah and we thought we were feeling better and so we made this turkey. We had every intention of going and, I think, just being like cooking all day.
Speaker 2:And it's an all-day thing.
Speaker 1:It is an all-day thing, yeah and you know, we were just, we were just wiped by the time that we were done and we're like we cannot go to this thing, we would be miserable. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:And so fortunately we had a friend that lived in the neighborhood and he came and picked it up and took it, and so I was bummed, but everybody did love it and at least they got to enjoy it. They brought us back the tray, remember that and I was just like bones, like the way that he brought it back Kind of made it seem like we had leftovers and go to pull off the foil and it's literally like a carcass.
Speaker 2:It looked like dogs got to that turkey man.
Speaker 1:But I was also like so glad, I'm like that they loved it. It was like better sweet. It was like we didn't get to.
Speaker 2:We didn't get all the compliments from like being there, but like, obviously people enjoyed it but they text you all, your guys, like so.
Speaker 1:I was really I was really happy about that. But, like I said, the first year our realtor gifted us that turkey and it was just the four of us. But we decided to turn that into kind of like our practice.
Speaker 2:Well, we were getting this house and we knew like one of our goals and getting we're building the house we were building was we wanted to host like holidays, and so it's like, well, we might as well practice on this one when it's just the four of us. So if we burn the house down or whatever, at least it's a rental.
Speaker 1:Yeah, nice, but yeah. So we made a full Thanksgiving dinner that year for just the four of us, and I think we ate that for like a week straight.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there was a lot of food.
Speaker 1:But yeah, I've always I love hosting, that's totally my thing, and so I knew that's what we wanted to do and I'm glad that we got to practice that first year and now this is going to be our third year hosting in this house. Yeah. But like our, like sixth turkey or something like that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we just burned through them now.
Speaker 1:Growing up, I remember seeing my parents prepare Thanksgiving my mom and my aunts and it always seemed so intimidating that I swore I would never be responsible for Thanksgiving dinner.
Speaker 2:You need a full on Excel spreadsheet to keep the times and the temperatures and I never put it together that all that food doesn't cook like in one oven, like to come out ready at the same time.
Speaker 1:I do have a full time schedule, yeah, that I use every single year and I'm so proud of it. I would be so sad if I ever lost that.
Speaker 2:But everything is done at the same time Well, I think that's why there's so many fires during Thanksgiving is because not everybody has your system down. Maybe, I mean seriously. I was doing some Googling on this because I just wanted to know how impressive we are, but apparently on average there's 2300 residential fires on Thanksgiving, which is over two times the average, like on any other day. Like more than Christmas, which is weird. I would think Christmas would be more, because like lights and trees and you know?
Speaker 1:just yeah, I need to talk to Casey about that and see if he's ever worked on Thanksgiving yeah. But that would be. That'd be fun to have him on and talk. I'm sure he's got tons of stories.
Speaker 2:Bad stories. I've heard some of Casey's stories.
Speaker 1:I think I wonder if the whole Thanksgiving issues or not issues, but like tragedies that happen with the burning, the turkey, is from those who want to attempt the whole like deep fry thing. That. That seems wildly intimidating and something that I wouldn't. I don't think I could ever try.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I get nervous like tilting the pan so you could grab like hot butter from the bottom. I don't see me being like, no, just stand over the boiling oil with me as we do a squat with a 10 pound turkey, whatever it is Just drop it in.
Speaker 1:If it splatters on you, just drop it real fast.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you just rub your hands together real quick.
Speaker 1:So that's why we don't do it that way, but we did. But it's funny. I'm sorry.
Speaker 2:I didn't want to. One of the things I love about our neighborhood, and I have to mention this, is like on Thanksgiving I'll take one of the dogs on a walk or whatever, and you can just smell, like all the differences. Like some people are smoking turkeys, some people are deep frying turkeys, like the entire neighborhood. As you go by house you're like oh, you're deep frying, are you?
Speaker 1:It's so awesome. I remember you telling me that last year. And didn't you actually see somebody out on their driveway with their Like they were full, but that I appreciate.
Speaker 2:Like, hey, they had like four or five people on the driveway watching the process, not just walking away from this like open flame, Like oh, let's make sure we don't burn down the neighborhood.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so that, yeah, that seems super intimidating and scary, but if you know what you're doing, then kudos. But we did. We found a recipe on Pinterest that we love. I don't. We just kind of we had no idea where to start. We're just like let's do this one. This one looks great and it's turned out great. Every single time. I love it. It's always perfect, and your dad was a little hesitant, though, the first year that he saw me make the turkey.
Speaker 2:He's a little nervous.
Speaker 1:He was. He doesn't just make a turkey for Thanksgiving. They eat turkey throughout the year.
Speaker 2:It's one of the weirdest questions you've asked me, I think, is I think I've brought up because we did we make. When we were growing up, my dad would make turkey all throughout the year, but it was like in the middle of I think we were looking for like an Easter dinner or something. I'm like why don't we do a turkey? And you like honestly, looked at me and you're like do they sell turkeys right now? I was like what are you talking about?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I've just like. I've always just been like you only eat turkey on Thanksgiving, unless you go get like a turkey leg from the Renaissance Fair or something.
Speaker 2:But like mentioning that I don't remember seeing like piles of turkeys in the grocery store like any other time.
Speaker 1:So yeah, I still don't really so, but because he's used to making them so often, he's got a process that he follows and what I was doing was so so different than what he does. And so I remembered I was second-guessing myself that first year because I'm like, are we Should?
Speaker 2:I do it that way.
Speaker 1:And then I think eventually I was like this turned out good last year.
Speaker 2:We did a test for a reason. Yes, let's stick to the plan.
Speaker 1:And he and they ended up loving it so much so that he's adopted that recipe.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he's like great. Now I gotta do it Shana's way.
Speaker 1:I feel pretty proud about that.
Speaker 2:You should.
Speaker 1:It's not my recipe, but you know I mean you had to go to Pinterest.
Speaker 2:You know that evil website that is just a taskmaster for men across the United Nations.
Speaker 1:You really have it out for Pinterest.
Speaker 2:I despise Pinterest, Pinterest I honestly, I think about it as a terrible site.
Speaker 1:And I'm like how did anybody function before Pinterest?
Speaker 2:You might as well say when you log on to Pinterest, underneath Pinterest it might as well say, crap, your husband needs to do.
Speaker 1:That's not true. I have all kinds of crafts and stuff that I do. What do I task you with?
Speaker 2:Well, you, I refuse. Okay, yeah, but you tried. I was like that's not happening. I didn't go to Pinterest and then, like you know, I slept on the couch and we worked it out.
Speaker 1:You're so nuts. Just FYI, that is a joke. I do not make you sleep on the couch, my goodness. But anyway, I love everything about Thanksgiving. I love that we, you know, just sit around and chat all day. We're all gathered in the kitchen, which. I love that I'm not in there by myself. I love that you guys all hang out there with me, sure, and so last the first year, I made this big, huge charcuterie board, which you know I love. I feel like you've got to love hate.
Speaker 2:I'm pretty sure you saw that on Pinterest, didn't you?
Speaker 1:No, I mean, I Tammy's made charcuterie boards for a really long time.
Speaker 2:Oh, that makes sense.
Speaker 1:Um, and they're just like. They're very popular on their own. But I made one that first year and we sat there and like we all snacked on it all year.
Speaker 2:It was a big one.
Speaker 1:All year all day. It was a big one. And then we kind of got to dinner and we're like oh we'll force this down. I'm like y'all better eat. So then, last year we didn't do that and it was almost like. This year we're going to have to find this happy medium. Yeah. Because we were all just like starving by the time dinner came last year it did not work out yeah. So we're going to just try and do a little one which I struggle with.
Speaker 2:You can't. You're like my dad.
Speaker 1:This is how it is with how I get ready in the morning to. I can either not get ready at all, like zero makeup, or full blown face of makeup. I don't know how to do anything in between. It's like all or none. So we'll see.
Speaker 2:I'm going to try it, which is funny if you think about it, because, like you're really good at starting tasks and forgetting about them.
Speaker 1:We're not talking about that right now. That's completely different. Everything else, that's just losing interest. I don't lose interest halfway through. I don't think it is.
Speaker 2:I think you just forget that you were doing. But I guess that makes sense If you're staring in the mirror like you're not going to forget that you're doing that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, very different, but thanks for pointing that out.
Speaker 2:I mean, I had to work it in there, just so people know what I'm dealing with.
Speaker 1:Okay, I guess that's only fair. I love sharing all of your weirdness with people, that's true. But yeah, I mean, it takes all day to cook and everything turns out great and I'm always happy about it, but then everyone's done eating in like 10 minutes. Yeah. Which is just like. I know that that's just how it goes, but I'm like I wish it would last a little bit longer.
Speaker 2:I know, but like it's the same thing with, like Christmas, when you think about it, all the gift wrapping and stuff, like the kids like devour the paper and it's just like all of a sudden, like all those pretty gifts are just that's true.
Speaker 1:I think the difference between the two of those is that once you're done unwrapping the gifts, you have a toy or whatever it is. You have things to open up and play with and figure out, and then also we go and have breakfast and we spend the day like that's like a full thing.
Speaker 2:And when you're done with Thanksgiving, all you have is indigestion.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and hard work and you're just like you need to go. Put on your sweatpants, yeah, but and then, once you're done with dinner that you've been cooking all day, I feel like I'm pretty good about cleaning up as I cook.
Speaker 2:We have a very good system.
Speaker 1:Yes, we do.
Speaker 2:I try to like help you. That is where I do legitimate job of helping out. It was like let's clean this or let's keep going here so we have more room for more stuff.
Speaker 1:I agree and that is very, very helpful and we have also implemented where we start the day with an empty dishwasher.
Speaker 2:Yes, you got to plan for success.
Speaker 1:Yes, so, but it's more so, just like after you're done, you have to clean everything up, gotta, you know, scrub down all the things, and I love waking up to a clean kitchen, so it's like I don't want to go to bed. It's hard to enjoy the rest, knowing it's there, it's hard to enjoy the rest of the night, so you'd have to like fight through that. But the good thing is is that once all the cleanup is done, you're ready for dessert.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 1:So you know, you kind of get a reward at the end of it, but also you get to start Black Friday sales. Is that still a thing? They are still a thing. I would say that I'm probably not as excited for them this year as I typically would be, because there's so many sales throughout the year and there's been like prime day deals and deals, prime, whatever Walmart have, like a holiday kickoff they're sales constantly and now they start their sales so early.
Speaker 2:And they're kind of like encouraging you to do them online now, right, like they got tired of all the bloody noses and black eyes and stuff of people like wrestling to save 20 bucks on a DVR or whatever.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that a few, probably quite a few years ago now, there was some really big issues on. Black. Friday, with people getting trampled and all kinds of craziness.
Speaker 2:I remember kids people would like camp out for like two days.
Speaker 1:Or like a week I remember. They would actually bring tents and stuff. I would see them like wait, you're giving up on your Thanksgiving to hang out in front of a Best Buy.
Speaker 2:You're not going to see Taylor Swift to like go have Thanksgiving.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we can understand it for Taylor Swift. We can not understand it for the big screen TV.
Speaker 2:Exactly. But yeah, I think that. But if you have a big screen TV you get a big Swiftie.
Speaker 1:I don't know what that means.
Speaker 2:I'm afraid to ask Isn't that her?
Speaker 1:name Taylor Swift, doesn't she go by Swiftie? Well, I think she calls her fans Swifties.
Speaker 2:Oh, got it but.
Speaker 1:I don't know where you're going with that. I'm just going to. We're just going to kind of pass over that you can watch her on the TV. Oh, that's what you meant.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:My brain went in a different direction.
Speaker 2:This is a family show, Shana.
Speaker 1:I just didn't know what you meant. Anyway.
Speaker 2:Why does one translate to the other?
Speaker 1:I don't know. So anyway, moving on from that, I think that they are trying to encourage people to do the whole online thing. I think it's just easier all the way around and they're just so used to everybody. Well, you don't have to pay employees too, but also that's true, but also I think it's easier for people to just like double click the side of their phone and make a purchase and then, rather than like thinking it through, like by the time I pick this up in the store and walk over to the cash register.
Speaker 2:I've changed my mind. Buyers remorse.
Speaker 1:Or the line is so long, like, do I really want to stand in this line?
Speaker 2:Yeah, if there's like two people in that line, I'm not standing in it.
Speaker 1:I remember when I was younger still living at home, but old enough to be at home on my own my parents would leave while we were sleeping and go do some Black Friday shopping and then they would come back before we even awake and I had never done it, except for one year. I was living on my own. I had a roommate and we decided to go out. That year we made it to one store. You have to basically choose where you want to go and then be willing to get that one thing and stand in line for it, and by the time that you get out of that, everything else is already taken. I was like I'm never doing this again. This was not fun. But yeah, now it's like you get all these deals by shopping online. But I will say I feel like partly why I'm not excited for it this year as much as I would typically be is because, one, I started shopping in like September when they already had the other sales, and two, I don't even really know what to get the kids this year.
Speaker 2:They're getting older and so I think we've talked about it and there's only so much entertainment. They get from toys all the time now, and it's not long before we just end up stepping on them.
Speaker 1:I think it's weird to me because the kids do not seem they're really not that old. They're four and six, Carter's almost five. She'll be five a few days after Christmas, and so that's. Another thing too is I'm not just buying her Christmas presents. I'm very I make it a very conscious effort to separate her Christmas from her birthday, and so I feel like I need all these ideas, and they're really. When we look around at the playroom, it's just a mess because they don't really play. It's like they get their enjoyment from dumping a basket of toys and walking away, and we have gotten really good about making them clean up their toys.
Speaker 1:And if they don't, we clean them up, and when we clean them up, we throw things away.
Speaker 2:Or donate.
Speaker 1:Yes we get rid of them is what I mean, and so they have gotten better, but also they are okay with us doing that. They're like, yeah, we're over this.
Speaker 2:That's the thing. Like they know. I don't know if they know like well, when I get rid of one, that means something else is coming, but also I think it's. They're at a weird age and culturally I think like kids are growing up faster and I think we living in Colorado did I didn't do a great job with like the sports and like stuff like that as they were getting older, because it was always cold outside or snowy or what have you, and I think we kind of like switched gears. We were like let's focus more on like outdoor activities or like sports or like stuff we can do outside with them, instead of just like I don't know monster trucks.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean. So we actually just a few days ago we sat at J-Stand I'm like, hey, look at all this stuff right here and decide what things you're okay with giving way to other kids that don't have as much as much and I was actually surprised by the things that he was willing to part with.
Speaker 2:I was surprised with how mature he was about it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, at first he was sad, I think he thought he was in trouble. Yeah and so we had to make it clear that you're not in trouble. Mm-hmm. We just you're not playing with these things as much, and you know you'll probably get some new toys for Christmas.
Speaker 1:Yep there are other kids and aren't gonna be, and so we tried to explain that to him and I think we've been noticing that we Are needing to do a better job at Having the kids understand how blessed they are, yeah, and so, yeah, I feel like that is probably very true, that they're like, okay, yeah, I get rid of these, I'm gonna get more like that. So maybe we even need to switch gears a little bit more, but I, yeah, I think that we're at this point where it's like they're in this transition phase.
Speaker 1:Yep and it's like I want. Like I want to get them things that they're gonna enjoy, but things that I'm not gonna like be walking through the house and just be frustrated by you all over the floor.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you want to get them things they're gonna enjoy for more than 20 minutes.
Speaker 1:Right and I feel like we did a good job with that last year for some things and then some things we did it and so we're just trying to find that. But I feel like for me, the thing I'm most excited for this year which in typical years would be gifts, because I just love seeing the joy on their face is More of that, like settling into our family Christmas traditions this year.
Speaker 1:And then being like ours, yes, yeah and what I think what you mean by that is we kind of, over the last few years, have Adopted the traditions of our families, which is great.
Speaker 2:That's what a tradition is, but it's like, well, we did this in our house or we did this, and it was kind of like this weird blend to kind of figure out what worked with our family and our circumstance.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I feel like I'm pulling in traditions from both sides of my family you gotta, there's three right and I and part of me wants to fit all of those in, because there's good memories for my childhood.
Speaker 1:But there are things, too, that I thought for sure I was gonna do, that we ended up not doing like the Santa footsteps and that was just me being like I don't want to do it the mess, but I think in that, in doing that, we have kind of found our own traditions and things that we like and we're going forward with them this year, yep. And so I'm really excited about that, and also, too, I feel like the kids are such a fun age for the Experience of Christmas.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and they grasp what's going on, and a lot better now. But to your point, I think it's cool that like we, we, we mastered Thanksgiving. Yeah, like we're like star adults at Thanksgiving now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're having ourselves on the back. Yeah, if you can't tell.
Speaker 2:But and then this would be the first year I feel like after this year at Christmas Like we're going on to the next one, like we're running out of holidays to master. We're like next level adulting right now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean five stars. We're just like so proud of ourselves. Sounds so funny, I think what you mean not mastering, just like feeling content in in the way that we're celebrating like not well, yeah, nothing burned down oh that's true, yes, but I think I think too. It's just like, for example, carter walked in the house just today and Saw all the Christmas decorations. She's like, oh you guys, I just love Christmas.
Speaker 1:It is the best yeah and I'm like that's it, like I'm so happy that she's just like finding joy in just the season. So, anyways, I just kind of hope that we can, yeah, kind of bring that Thanksgiving into our Christmas celebrations and it's just like this one giant Season of joy, yeah, and if not, and about a month and a half, will have one wild episode to share.
Speaker 2:Oh gosh, I hope that we don't have anything exciting to share.
Speaker 1:I hope we have nothing exciting to share after Thanksgiving deal. Yes, all right, guys. Well, thanks for hanging out with us as we talk about our holiday plans. We would love to know what you guys have planned for the holidays. If you have any fun traditions that you do each year. You guys can reach out to us on Instagram at life and mastered podcast, or send us an email at life and mastered podcast at gmailcom. We hope that you guys have a wonderful holiday season and we'll talk to you next week.
Speaker 2:Remember, light it up oh gosh bye guys.