cToday we're talking about redefining Thanksgiving Traditions in midlife. This may be especially relevant if your tradition will necessarily change due to a change in status. This could be due to divorce, loss of a parent, being newly empty-nested or simply that you want to try something new!
Traditions are great, until they're not. I think sometimes we fail to recognize this. We expect the 'Norman Rockwell' painting during the Holidays, when in fact, that rarely happens; it's a complete illusion!
We want you to embrace new traditions. Take what you enjoyed from past traditions and let go of the rest. Expectations can be joy-killers.
Cam and Amelia give you a humorous, heart-warming look at what creating new traditions can look like.
02:10 Traditions: Paternal grandparents, husband, separate opinions.
04:45 Large family gathering without alcohol and games.
07:29 Family traditions can change as kids grow.
11:34 Holiday plans with family may change, adapting graciously.
13:51 Thanksgiving with kids: hike, breakfast, brewery, fun.
18:11 My daughter went, relatives can be stressful.
19:58 Father uncomfortable on holidays, no need to entertain.
23:12 Little considerations during the holidays for hosts.
26:26 Downloadable guide with episode references available.
Mentioned in this episode:
Star Bradbury
Listen to Episode 127
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1803976/13906666
November Book Deal: Save 35% in November -Use CAREGIVER at checkout
https://starbradbury.com/november-is-national-family-caregivers-month/
100 Episodes, 100 Tips
Listen to Episode 100;
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1803976/12715126
100 Things PDF:
Click HERE
Stay Connected!
Amelia
Cam
Midlife Mommas IG: https://www.instagram.com/midlife.mommas/
Please share, rate, and review the podcast. We appreciate you! ❤️
cToday we're talking about redefining Thanksgiving Traditions in midlife. This may be especially relevant if your tradition will necessarily change due to a change in status. This could be due to divorce, loss of a parent, being newly empty-nested or simply that you want to try something new!
Traditions are great, until they're not. I think sometimes we fail to recognize this. We expect the 'Norman Rockwell' painting during the Holidays, when in fact, that rarely happens; it's a complete illusion!
We want you to embrace new traditions. Take what you enjoyed from past traditions and let go of the rest. Expectations can be joy-killers.
Cam and Amelia give you a humorous, heart-warming look at what creating new traditions can look like.
02:10 Traditions: Paternal grandparents, husband, separate opinions.
04:45 Large family gathering without alcohol and games.
07:29 Family traditions can change as kids grow.
11:34 Holiday plans with family may change, adapting graciously.
13:51 Thanksgiving with kids: hike, breakfast, brewery, fun.
18:11 My daughter went, relatives can be stressful.
19:58 Father uncomfortable on holidays, no need to entertain.
23:12 Little considerations during the holidays for hosts.
26:26 Downloadable guide with episode references available.
Mentioned in this episode:
Star Bradbury
Listen to Episode 127
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1803976/13906666
November Book Deal: Save 35% in November -Use CAREGIVER at checkout
https://starbradbury.com/november-is-national-family-caregivers-month/
100 Episodes, 100 Tips
Listen to Episode 100;
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1803976/12715126
100 Things PDF:
Click HERE
Stay Connected!
Amelia
Cam
Midlife Mommas IG: https://www.instagram.com/midlife.mommas/
Please share, rate, and review the podcast. We appreciate you! ❤️
Hi. I'm Cam, Holistic health coach, mom to 2 humans and 4 pets. Hi. I'm Amelia, laboratory scientist by day and food scientist by night. Welcome to our show. Join us as we share our holistic approach to life after 50. You can expect Real life stories with a dash of humor and a ton of truth. If it happens in midlife, we're going to talk about it. So hit that subscribe button and Follow along. We're the Midlife Mommas. Hello, everybody. If you couldn't guess by The turkey call. We are talking about holiday traditions today and specifically things around Thanksgiving. Yeah. The holidays are, like, right here, Amelia. Are you getting excited? Are you getting ready? Like, how does it feel to you? Well, I am super excited, Cam, because I get to see my Kids, both of them and their gentleman people are coming to my house in a little over a week at this point, so By the time you guys are listening, we will be in full Thanksgiving mode. Yeah. I'm excited. My father's coming up from Florida, So we'll have him here all week, so I'm excited as well. But no kids is here, which makes me sad, but that's the season I'm in. There you go. And that's the way we're gonna be at Christmas. Right? So I think there there like we said, there is a season and, so let's just kind of talk about what season we're in and traditions and how they might change and You know, how we're feeling about that? Yeah. So do you do you have traditions around your Thanksgiving? Oh, yes. Mine are mine run very deep. Man are born, from when the children were little and we've pretty much stuck with it for probably 20 years now. That's amazing. I feel like growing up, we had traditions, but I will be honest. When my parents got divorced, I was, a newlywed at the time. I think things changed in my family, so we'll talk a little bit about that. And how can you make it, like, work even though it doesn't look the way you think it should look, which is Sure. Sure. A judgment, like, anyhow. So yeah. Right. Exactly. And I'm with you on the the childhood Thanksgivings. My Every holiday revolved around my paternal grandparents when I was growing up. So whatever they established is kinda what we went with, but my husband and I chose slightly different traditions. We did not mirror those as we, kind of our family grew, but yeah, so let's just jump in. So tell us Tell me how you're how you're feeling about Thanksgiving, and we can separate that from Christmas or combine it all into 1 if you want to or just How how your opinion has been formed around this idea of holiday traditions? I love the idea of cooking and having people here and music on and, like, festive, and I love that. But I will say, like, through my parents' divorce and then my divorce, you know, things have to look different. You can't Make it fit into, what is it? A circle on a square peg or whatever whatever the saying is. It just doesn't fit anymore. And so I love the idea of family and being around and just I love that idea. How about you? Well, same, but I got a question. I mean, was it Hard for you to let go or was it very liberating and freeing to say these things that I experienced or maybe that were expected aren't working for me, so I'm just gonna do something different. Yeah. So when I was newlywed the first time and my kids were young, we would drive to Saint Louis after School on Wednesday night. So that's like a 6 hour drive. We would get there. Time chain you know? We were the one traveling. So Wednesday night, we get there really early Thursday morning, And at that time, my parents were divorced. I had 2 small kids. Often, we took the 2 cats, which I still have. So it was 2 cats, 2 kids driving across, Indiana and Illinois. And, like, you know, I was tired. You you know, we didn't get Wednesday off. I feel like the kids get Wednesday off now, But we did not, and I was a teacher. Whatever. So when we got there, you know, we would, stay at my mom's house most of the time, but, like, they were very It was I mean, their divorce was maybe fresh, and everything had to be split, like, in half equal time between the 2 houses. So that meant, like, Eating full meals at both houses, making sure no one got their feelings hurt, and, yeah, we were the ones with the cats and the kids driving across the United States. You know? So I felt there was a lot of pressure, and, I really felt like no one was happy at the core. Like, what I view holiday as this beautiful getting together, talking, eating, drinking, watching football. Like, it's cozy, And it didn't feel that way. So I totally understand that. Like I said, we did my paternal grandmother's, And we were local, but my aunt lived in Tennessee, and so she came with her kids and my uncle and sometimes my Grandfather's brother and sister, so it was a large house and everything. My grandmother was the matriarch, and so it always went exactly how she wanted it to go. My dad's family were not alcohol consumers at all, so they were teetotalers, so there was none of that. So the the football aspect was there, But there wasn't, like, outdoor games. You know? I I her I've got a coworker, and he's got a bunch of siblings and his they, you know, throw the football outside, and I love the of course, I'm an active person, so anything with activities is very appealing. So I think aspects of my childhood Thanksgiving are pleasant, And I remember the good stuff, but I'm kinda with you that it seems somewhat stressful because it revolved around someone else's timetable. Yeah. And it's not in my mind, it's not supposed to be that way. I I don't know. And fast forward when I got divorced in my forties, My kids were, like, middle school, high school at that age. I did not wanna put pressure on them, but splitting houses, splitting meals, all that Craziness, and so we kind of like my ex and I are on very good terms, and I feel like we are on decent terms at that point as well. And so We just picked a day. It wasn't actually Thanksgiving Day, and we just said, okay. You're there to stay, and you're there to stay. And it's still, Quite honestly, it was probably not fun for the kids, but it was at least better than what I experienced. Yeah. I don't know. That was my intention. Yeah. And I think that's fantastic. My husband often reminds me that we build up things in our heads, and it could be Christmas. It could be birthday. It could be anniversary, but life happens. And if you're able to get together with your family and celebrate, It doesn't matter the actual date. It's about just what you said, Cam. It's about getting together and the fellowship and the coziness. So If we can kinda get past this cultural expectation of December 25th is Christmas and you can't do it any other time or like I just Got my haircut today, and my girlfriend who cuts my hair, she's like, yeah. I'm going to my mom's house this weekend to celebrate Thanksgiving because she was gonna be elsewhere on actual Thanksgiving. And I, You know, I'd like to to hope that our listeners can embrace this idea of to not have to be so rigid with things. I I was just thinking embrace, not brace. That's so funny you said that. Literally, let's be flexible and, like, let's enjoy and be present with each other versus Some ideal that probably got passed down to you. You don't have to pick it up and carry it around with you. I don't know. Yeah. Even if it's a tradition that you started with your family as your kids grow up and as they leave, that can change too. You know, what I found with mine, Thanksgiving's been easy, Cam, because my children are with men whose families value Christmas above Thanksgiving, which is workout great for us, so they are free to celebrate Christmas with their husband or partner's family. So Thanksgiving is ours, but even so, for instance, last year, my one of my daughters, her dog got attacked, Like, 2 weeks before Thanksgiving, she was like, mom, I just can't come. And, I mean, you know, the dog lived and it's Okay. But it was a huge downer. You know? I mean, all of a sudden, they're not coming. Of course, we have the COVID years where nobody was getting together. So I think being flexible and understanding that you can still love and care for one another regardless of the date on the calendar And celebrate that. And if you wanna have turkey in July or, you know, if you wanna have burgers or pot roast on Thanksgiving, who cares? It's just about being together. Yeah. It was funny when I got for divorce, like, we had traditional southern. We had the sweet potato casserole with marshmallows, and we had The green bean no. It wasn't green bean. It was broccoli casserole, Aunt Carbell's great Aunt Carbell's broccoli casserole recipe. And at my divorce, I was, like, to get all that ready and I was excited. We're cooking you know, I was cooking in the kitchen with my daughter and she's like, no. We're not doing that. She's like, I've been I never liked it. I don't like casseroles. So it was kinda funny, like, well, okay. Let's change it. So we did roasted stuff instead instead of casserole stuff. I love that she was enough to say, no. We're not doing that. And I did I did similar because, you know, my grandmother did like yours, and it was all super calorically dense. Even now, Cam, I talk to friends or I talk to coworkers and that when they tell me, about all of the super rich And carb laden tables that they sit at, I just have to smile and nod because that is not my table, and that is not that that doesn't bring me joy. Right? So, you know, I do roasted things too. I do roasted brussels sprouts, and one of the young men that comes to my house, I make this Really cool kale avocado salad, and he loves it. So I make it to him every year. I will say I do a sweet potato casserole. It's just not the fat and Sugar laden one like my grandma used to do. It's like, you know, and I do a a vegan pumpkin cheesecake. It has no cheese in it and it you know? So variations on a thing, basically. Yeah. So, yeah, I've I've done that too where I've had, like, paleo, quote unquote, paleo thanksgivings, Which has been fun. I feel like I've done at least 3 of those since in my time. Last year, I explored and I tried. My dad was here as well and did a lot of, like, I don't know. Just challenged myself, like, dairy free stuff. Oh, yeah. Yeah. It was really fun. Do you have any recipes other than sweet potato casserole that you brought forward? Well, this I'll I'll be completely honest with you with you. The original sweet potato casserole that I use in an amended version is a Weight Watcher Recipe. I did Weight Watchers in my thirties. Yeah. It used some fake sweetener, which I, of course, don't use anymore. But other than that, honestly, Cam, no. Not the vegan pumpkin cheesecake I do, I got from a friend about 7 years ago. So none I don't use any of my grandmother's recipes, and my mother doesn't love to cook, so she was never the home for Thanksgiving. In fact, my mother's always come to my house for Thanksgiving, but, you know, I'm willing to change. Like, if my son-in-law was like, hey. I really want this. Mhmm. I probably would do it for him because, You know, I love him and it if it's something I don't want, I don't have to eat it. So I think there's that flexibility again. We keep coming back to that word to be like, You know, it's okay to be different. How would how would it handle how would it feel for you if the their families, the guys' families, decided they wanted Thanksgiving? How would you put your butt hurt? I mean, I'm gonna be completely honest. Like, that's always been my holiday, and I think my kids would fight it a little bit. I will say my son in law's parents wanted to see my daughter and son-in-law, so they're actually going there for 1 night before coming here. So they're kinda making that Work. I mean, honestly, you know, I'm trying to prepare. Last year was a good lesson because we started out thinking we were gonna Ten people and we ended up having, like, 5, 4, or 5. My mother-in-law was sick, so I'm learning, Cam, how to how to do that. So maybe if and when it comes up, I will be, gracious about that. Exactly. Yeah. I know you have some other traditions around Christmas. Do you wanna share some of your fun traditions? Well, I will be glad to, and this is this has been an a very evolving thing probably over more than 10 years. So, I don't know if I've told this on the podcast before, but when my children were older teens, I'm thinking The younger was at least driving. My husband got very disenchanted with the Christmas season because there was so much money spent and so many gifts. So The 1st year, we said, okay. You can we're only buying 3 gifts per person, and the most expensive gift can't be more than $50. The next year, we did experiential gifts. So the girls and I went to the spa, like, 3 days after Christmas. Then the 3rd year iteration was no gifts at all. So, Cam, we have not given gifts in my house for at least 8 years. And it's been fantastic. It's been so liberating and free, but the other thing is There was a period of time where we went to see The Nutcracker ballet on Christmas Eve when the kids were probably in middle school and then we go to an Irish pub, And that fell away when the kids got older. So things you know, we do things for 2 or 3 years, and it would be Changed. Yeah. It's just the season. I totally get that. Yeah. I think we've really dialed that Christmas too. I love the adventure That's, like, right up my alley. Let's go do something together rather yeah. I love that so much. And, you know, even when the kids will be home for Thanksgiving, we do stuff. So 1 morning, if I can drag them out of bed, we'll go for a hike, and then we'll go have breakfast. We'll probably Plan a trip to a local brewery. We'll probably play cornhole. You know? So there's there's a lot of activity, and Quite frankly, it's just like we when we go to the beach in the summer. So this is just an extension of that family time. Yeah. With just some holiday fun. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, so this is my gosh. This is my 2nd year of being a stepmom, and I have a 16 year old stepson. And I feel like they were still splitting the day. So this year, we're not. I'm glad to say. Yeah. It just When they brought it up and, like, what time does he wanna come over? And blah blah blah blah. Like, all of it just I felt the stress rise, and I was like, wait a second. Does it have to be on Thursday? Like like Why not? Yeah. So, I feel like I'm influencing the ripples influencing the next the next generation, if you will, as far as, like, yeah, who it's no fun for anyone if you're, like, rushing out the door to go Yeah. To the next food, anyway. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. And You know, you're setting a precedent and you're I don't wanna say lowering expectation because that makes it sound like a negative, but you're Setting an expectation that it doesn't have to be stressful. And that's you know, to me, that's just kindness and grace, and I I I search for that in my life because, you know, our culture is stressful enough, so why add on to that? Yeah. I agree. So I'm hoping it also extends to Christmas. 1 Christmas, I think it was the year before we married, it was extreme gift giving, and I was like, what is this? It made me feel Kinda like your husband, a little disgusted of, like, what a waste. You know? Just the paper alone. I was like, what is going on here? So, anyway, we're we're influencing The holidays in this household. Well, that's really good. And I have friends who Christmas is the time that they all get Together, like, they're not big on birthdays or anniversaries or other holidays, and they do spend a lot of money. And if they've got it and that brings them joy, that's great. But the thing about traditions is if they don't bring you joy, why are you doing it? Yeah. There's just not enough life for the stress. Like, really? Yeah. My my ex husband, what they do is they travel and usually goes and visits they go on a vacation with his sister and her family. So that's kind of how they do it. Oh, because I thought about, oh, should we rent a beach house for Christmas? And I'm thinking if you go somewhere else, is the stress less because there's something inherent about Being home for the holidays, it feels stressful. I'm wondering if it feels less or more stressful or if it's just different. Yeah. I No. No. In this case, they live in different states, and it's just like an annual tradition since we got divorced. So they just kinda do that, and my daughter typically goes For part of it. Yeah. So I don't know. I guess it's the it's the idea of that, you know, here we are in 2023. We can make our own rules. We don't have to Stick with something that always is if it doesn't make you happy and it makes you stressed. Exactly. I have a friend who you their family for many years at Christmas Tom went on a Disney cruise, and she loved it. I guess her kids were in elementary and middle school at the time, and they had an absolute blast. And I don't think there was Maybe Disney cruises include, like, Christmas decorations if it's during the holiday season. I don't know. But it wasn't they didn't try to mimic A Christmas celebration that, like, they would have at home on the cruise. It was just like a full out fun fest, and she just she said, I wouldn't trade those years for anything. Yeah. A Disney cruise sounds like hell to me. Sorry. It does it does me too, but it's Sue and her family. And I'm like, good for you because At the time, we were still doing the very traditional stuff. Like, this was probably in the early 2000, and we were buying all the Gifts and staying up half the night and stuffing the stockings and all of that crap. Right. And so, you know, for for me at that time, I thought, oh, well, not having to do that's pretty cool. Yeah. Alright. And I guarantee it was decked to the halls. Like, I'm sure the Christmas decorations are out. Yeah. Oh, have you ever been on a cruise? I don't know. No. I haven't. It's not on my top ten, but my my daughter went this year, so I have to talk to her when she gets here. But Right. You know, I I think the one thing that when we talk about Traditions and we talk about things being cozy and wonderful, being realistic about what it's gonna be like when you have all these people in your house because it's for me, at least, I never remember it till they're all here, and then I'm like, you know? Relatives can be stressful. I know some of my friends when their in laws come to visit, it's It could be your kids. It could be your sister. Mhmm. My mother-in-law has her sister coming next week and she'll be here through Thanksgiving, And we're all a little stressed about it. I mean, she's a high maintenance aunt, so we'll see. Right. And so how do you protect yourself during those situations? Let's talk about that. What what's the strategy? Yeah. That's a really good point. For me, it's always been allowing everyone to have what they need, which includes alone time. Mhmm. And not planning the days to the minute so that people feel stressed about a schedule. Leave margin for magic. I like that. Yeah. Yeah. So we have some some things planned for my father when he's here. He I live in Kentucky, Bourbon Country USA. So we are doing some urban tours 2 different days, and that'll be fun. And, but then the other days are, like, open. You know? So when he's there on those open days, will you feel compelled to fill the time with him? Are you gonna do your own thing and just expect him to ask for something if he needs it? Yeah. So kitchen's always open, but let me tell you what happened last year. He had the football game on the TV, and he had a football game on his laptop, and they were both blasting. And so he is does not have a problem entertaining himself. I see. Very good. You know, when my dad was alive, he didn't been many holidays with us because he did he was very uncomfortable when he left his home, but I always felt compelled to try to entertain him. You know? And at the time, my kids were little, and he was perfect. If if they sat next to him and looked at a book, they didn't even he didn't have to read it to him or anything. He was happy and I think in midlife, that's what I've discovered is we don't have to entertain our people. These are you know, unless you're entertaining, You know, a niece or a nephew that has little kids or whatever, you really don't have to entertain these people. They they're they'll be fine. I think so. And last year, one of the nights we did homemade pizzas, and that was really fun, and he had never done that. And so I think of planning, like, Scattering in some events like that. He's like, you want me to roll the dough? Yeah. I want you to roll the dough, and I want you to pick what you're gonna put on top of it. Yeah. So that was fun for him, and, I think that's what we'll do. We'll just kinda sprinkle those sort of things in and keep it really low key. So Yeah. And another thing, if you have aging parents we've talked about aging parents a lot late lately. I know. But, you know, whether it's your parents, your in laws, your aunts, or whatever, The activity doesn't have to be anything big. For instance, around here, there's these Christmas light Shows, not my cup of tea, Cam. I'm not gonna lie, but my father would have enjoyed that. So if you spend, you know, At dusk or dark, right before or after dinner, 30 minutes or an hour and you just ride around and look at these things, That might be really a a calming time for you because you're just driving the car and it provides some enjoyment to your old person. I agree with that. Yeah. So since last week, I've had some, an an in-depth conversation with my mother who started the conversation about aging and what does that look like. That's also on my list, so I need to speak to my father when he gets here. What do you want? Yeah. Yeah. And if you haven't listened to the star, The Star podcast from last week, go check it out because it's not a matter of if. It's a matter of when you're gonna have this conversation if your parents are still alive And what does it look like? I've heard from a few people via email, and they're like, yeah. My parents are sick, but they don't wanna talk about it. And so it's frustrating as the adult child. So Yeah. I've kinda heard that as well. And if you haven't listened to that or even if you have, she's offering a discount on her book in November. So this This episode will air before the end of November. Please go check out those show notes because that that book discount is there. But, you know, we we slightly digress From holidays, but our age, Cam, you know, our old people are part of the holidays. Not only do we have our our adult children, but we have our old people, and they can present a challenge. Yeah. And I just want it to be easy and fun and whatever that is. So I wanna make sure, you know, when you have company in your house, making sure they have what they need, that they have, You know, comfortable, whatever. Yeah. So we switched his bed out this year. So he had a really, like, low bed, and now he has, like, a Standard height bed, I think he's gonna be happier. Yeah. Because, you know, if if it's low Yeah. An older person might have trouble standing up off that. Yeah. I don't know. It was I don't know why it was in here. But, anyway, we switched. So, yeah, it's good now. A lot of those little considerations that you might not know except during the holidays. I know some people are just tremendous hostesses, and everything comes really easy. And I have to admit, when I'm cooking a meal for people like Thanksgiving, that's really easy for me. It's the other stuff that I forget like, oh, I need to put fresh towels in the bathroom and, oh, maybe they don't, You know, we drink LaCroix, like, our we don't drink much alcohol, but we love those LaCroix. And I'm like, well, what if they don't like that? I I don't think that way. Breakfast Breakfast is a classic one. When you have people in your house, what do you feed them for breakfast? Because maybe they're used to something I don't have. So I think for me too, it's kind of recognizing that I can do what I can, but at some point, they've got to speak up. Yeah. Well, when we would visit my mom in St. Louis, is what she would do is say, hey. You know, I'm going to the store. What do you want? Like, is there any like, how you know, and that's another thing as a if you're hosting people. Hey, you know, what's your go to breakfast? You know, just to have it in the house. I don't know. I think that's a great idea and just, you know, just to be really Kind of nonjudgmental but supportive of the family that you have because, you know, as we we we talked about last week with the aging parents, we're not guaranteed a day. And our old people are getting older and so are we. So we we do really need to enjoy and embrace all that we have right now. I agree. And also it's a really good opportunity, thinking of STARS interview, is to get some FaceTime if you live away from your parents like I do. Get some FaceTime, like, really judge not judge. That's not the right word, but, you know, really check-in and, like, how are they doing? Assess like their physical It's better than judge. Yeah. Yeah. Like, what's going on physically, mentally, all the things. Absolutely. And, you know, Cam, one of the one of the things that I want to remind people when they're thinking about holiday traditions or hosting your family It's to be kind to yourself because you have needs as well. So, you know, whatever your minute we talk about this during times you know, we talk about it when the time changes, which has been recently for us. We talk about it with respect to vacationing and traveling, but it's also true during holiday season is Be kind to yourself and and know what your minimums are. I totally agree with that. And, like, getting outside and taking a walk, I know it's gonna be important in my life. You know, practicing food order because there's gonna be food around that you don't normally eat. I'm gonna taste everything and binge on nothing, but, you know, putting in order will help, You know, make you feel better. So Yeah. And I and I think that's one of our messages is over the last almost two and a half years, We've been telling our listeners this so that they these sorts of situations won't be so stressful. We reinforce the All of the normal things. Like you said, embrace, don't brace, taste everything, binge on nothing, be kind to yourself, You know, know your minimums. I mean, we did a whole episode a few months ago on the 100 things that you've learned from Cam and Emilia. So This is the time to pull out that episode. Yeah. So it's episode 100. We'll be using the find. Yeah. The 100 things. Yeah. The episode 100. So I'm really cool. Yeah. I actually have a download I'll include in the show notes. It's, you can you can look at the guide and, like, see the tip and see which episode it came from. If you wanna if you wanna check yourself, I had a teacher friend, who is an avid listener say, I wanna know like, I wanna make sure I listen to everything. Can you make a list? So anyway, we have a list now. That is super helpful. I'm so excited. Well, I am super excited about Thanksgiving, And I know that while yours will be somewhat low key, I really think there's gonna be some great quality time with your dad. Yeah. And that's really all that I care about. I don't care about things. I just wanna spend time together. That's it, really. And that's all it should be. Thanks for listening today. You can find us on Instagram@midlife.mommas. For all of our other contact info, check out the show description below, and we will talk to you next week.