#59 - 2024 Holiday Extravaganza
There was a time where we didn't know about TikTok. And now we might not know about something else that's coming. There might be something better on the horizon. Yeah. So I don't know.
Speaker 1:Change. I am willing to accept change when change presents itself.
Speaker 2:We can all be hopeful.
Speaker 3:We can pivot. We can be hopeful. Gotta be positive because that's the only way to be right now.
Speaker 1:Exactly. And if the TikTok goes away, the tick the tickety tock, it's gonna be literally a day before my birthday. What kind of a shitty birthday present is that? Oh my god. They're doing it just to you.
Speaker 1:It's just, like, not Helen Karma. Hello, Julie. Hi. Ho ho ho. It's look at my shirt.
Speaker 1:I didn't even show you my sweater. That is my sweater. Merry, merry, merry.
Speaker 3:Wore my green my new green sweatshirt, and I have red nails, so I'm very festive.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh. I all I have today is my merry sweater. I have nothing else. I didn't even put my tree earrings on. I forgot.
Speaker 1:I was gonna put the Christmas tree earrings on. I know. Anyway, hello. We're so close to the holiday. This is so crazy.
Speaker 1:It's a few days out now. It's literally a week from the airing of this episode. Yikes. I yeah. Exactly.
Speaker 3:Is it well, this is gonna air this Wednesday. Yeah.
Speaker 1:So it's a week.
Speaker 3:Oh, right. Right. Oh my god. It's crazy.
Speaker 1:It feels There's a box sitting right here that's getting shipped to you. I'm very excited. I've been adding things to it. It's I'm calling it the stocking box, so it's like stocking stuffers.
Speaker 3:I tried to get Steven and I stockings going to Target the other day, and the only letters they have left were, like, q and z and, like, x. So we don't have stockings.
Speaker 1:Wait a minute.
Speaker 3:You can get stockings. I know. I need to get, like, a blank one, and then I could do something to it.
Speaker 1:But You can write on it yourself.
Speaker 3:You're you're artistic. Okay. I was gonna do that too, but all the plain ones were, like, ugly.
Speaker 1:Oh, I hate it. I found some really 2 it was so funny. Why didn't I buy them? But there was 2 very cute stockings at a store down in Long Beach Island this weekend, and I was like, oh, if only I just needed 2 stockings or if they only had them all, I would buy them all because they were, like, kind of a cool I might have to get them now when I go back down there.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Oh,
Speaker 1:anyway, it's too late for you. I won't be able to send them to you in time.
Speaker 3:It's okay. Anyway, we'll we'll just
Speaker 1:put them in the retreat. But Yeah.
Speaker 3:I figured today we could do a little end of year wrap up holidays, traditions Yeah. Fun chats. And
Speaker 1:It could tie into our it could tie into our previous Thanksgiving episode in a way, but taking it to Christmas. That was a fun one. And you hit you hit me with some interesting questions that day. So Yeah. I'm game for what you have in store.
Speaker 3:I know. I have some good I have some good thoughts. Because as we talked about in the Thanksgiving episode, it's like our holidays are evolving. Mhmm. And it's I feel like this since this is the first Christmas that I will not be with you, which is I feel okay.
Speaker 3:I actually feel not panicked or, like, depressed. But I'm also wondering if that's just because we talk every day, so I feel like it's not like I'm missing the Helen. Aw. Yeah. The Helen is very much
Speaker 1:a In your life.
Speaker 3:Day to day. It's not like I'm it's
Speaker 1:not like I'm going off the grid for the holidays. So true. And, also, like, you've been very in every detail of my preparing for the holidays because we talk every day.
Speaker 3:I have been. Okay.
Speaker 1:So we were just talking just before we started about even my family get togethers, which has have changed since 2020. Because when the pandemic hit and we weren't together, it's it started a new trajectory of us being at the beach and not driving all the way up north up north. Every time I say that now, I think about it. But up north for the holiday because it's like a lot of driving for one event or one dinner. And it's like this video that I watched that was such a an eye opener, which was when your kids get married, they're not you're not gaining another child.
Speaker 1:They are starting a new life. And I love that video so much. And I was just like, wow. I wish I knew that when I was a younger parent because I still felt so obligated to the family and everything. So now as things have evolved and they're closer they all live closer, so they all still could get together for the holidays, and that's fine.
Speaker 1:But it's like for us to it's like a 2 hour it's a schlep, and it's on the day of Christmas. So I'd rather get together with everybody after the holidays. So now with my dad being so much older and not able to be so mobile, I'm gonna even encourage my dad, like, just lay low. You don't have to, like, run out and try and you know, you got a broken elbow. You got a broken back.
Speaker 1:Just relax. Like, it's you don't have to stand on ceremony at this point. Yeah. I don't know. That's just how I feel about it.
Speaker 3:2020 made the holidays very low key, and I think the Polisi family really liked low key holidays. We really were just like, this is nice. It's so nice.
Speaker 1:And it's just nice because we really enjoy each other's company. And then when we get, like, let's there's a family game comes in. We play the family game. And Mhmm. You know, I don't know.
Speaker 1:It just it's also we did our meal together, and it was, like, a fun day of cooking the meal and all of that. And that's what gonna be doing this year with or without you. We're gonna be doing a meal. You know? It's gonna be not the same without chef Steven and sous chef Julie, but we'll cook up something.
Speaker 1:I might have to bring back a lasagna. Tommy will help us grill up something.
Speaker 3:We'll be we'll be back. We'll we'll be it's like it's not like this is permanent. You know? It's like, we'll be back for holidays again. And I think, yeah.
Speaker 3:It's like you, Steve and I were talking about how, like, he saw something that was, like, someone on in social media was talking about how, like, holidays don't feel like they used to. And, basically, it was just that, well, as you become an adult, obviously, they change, but then you have to put effort into doing the traditions that it feels like the holiday even if, like, you're not around the people you normally are. Because it's like as a kid, it's like all the responsibilities kind of on the parent to, like, do the fun holiday things. And if you're an adult and you're you live away from home, it's like you need to then be proactive about doing the things that bring you holiday joy.
Speaker 1:So Let's do your own holiday things. It's to create your own holiday things.
Speaker 3:So I then saw another thing on the Internet. Although, I'm trying to take a social media break because it's sending me into a I I have a joke the other that I wrote down that I don't know where I'm going with it, but I'm like, Donald Trump really put the doom in doom scrolling
Speaker 1:for the
Speaker 3:end of the year. But I saw something that, like, in Iceland, on Christmas Eve, they give each other books so that everyone can cuddle, like, snuggle up with a book and read around, like, the Christmas tree. So Steve and I are gonna do that for each other. We're gonna get each other a book that we, like, exchange on Christmas Eve so that we can spend the night, like, drinking hot cocoa and reading our book. And That's cute.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Oh, I like that. That's cute. That's very cute.
Speaker 1:It is important to make your own new traditions because we made the traditions for you, but then, also, it gets old for us. You know? I don't mean to say I don't like the traditions, but I'm still in it big time with with the elf on the shelf. You know? So I have never you know, I'm still in it.
Speaker 1:But I also think it's okay that the traditions can change. Mhmm. It's fine. Like, they just like anything, they run they run their course. It runs its course, and then you can just, like, evolve it.
Speaker 1:I'm all about evolving.
Speaker 3:Do you have an a new tradition that you have liked more recently?
Speaker 1:So what I think that I did wasn't gonna like, but now I'm liking a lot. And I'm trying to decide if I wanna bring this to the beach house too, which I know is crazy. But I love the idea that now that we have a not real tree in the city, I immediately have a tree up as soon as I feel a little holiday moment. And it's not like a process of going to get a tree and then and then, oh my gosh, I have to make sure I I'm watering it every day. This has been a game changer for the apartment.
Speaker 1:And so this is the funny part. We still don't have our tree up at the
Speaker 3:beach. Mhmm.
Speaker 1:So I we got the tree. It's outside the house in a bucket of water that we've every time we go down for the weekend, we're only there for 2 days and then we're here for 5 days. So if we put the tree in the house, it's gonna die. So we didn't put the tree up yet until we're gonna be down there for a stretch. So crazy that on 20th December is when the tree's going up.
Speaker 1:And I'm and I said to dad the other night, I'm feeling like this might be crazy, but should we get a nice fake tree for down here so that we can actually put the tree up in the beginning of the season
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 1:And not have to wait. And because it's almost like we should have the real tree here in the city because we're here for 5 days, and we're there for 2. So this tree, I have time I can water.
Speaker 3:You can nurture.
Speaker 1:I can nurture the tree. So I don't know. So we might rethink that for next year and just do a swap.
Speaker 3:I know. We got a fake tree this year, and I've you know me. I've always been a big proponent of we need a real, fluffy I like to be a part of the decision making process. It's gotta be approved by me. And I do I miss we got a fake tree this year, which has very hurt my soul a little bit because, you know, I've always been pro real tree.
Speaker 3:It's, like, I wanna smell it. I want to Yeah. Feel the tree ness. But
Speaker 1:I can't ask for that, though.
Speaker 3:I know. Well, we got a small tree. I have one. We got a small tree. It's a little skinny bitch, little Ozempic Christmas tree because it's the only thing that will fit in our living room because that's where I want the tree.
Speaker 3:It's like we could get a bigger tree, but it's not gonna be a little so we got the small tree, and I got a candle from Trader Joe's that smells like Christmas tree. Yeah. So we had those. I still do miss the real Christmas tree element, but it is really nice that we ordered it. It got here.
Speaker 3:I set it up, and it's been up since Thanksgiving. Yeah.
Speaker 1:And there's no mess to clean it up, and there's no things all over it, and you don't have to remember to water it every listen. I am all for traditions changing and evolving and making them more pleasant. It was so nice to have a tree here from when my friends came. And then I tended I I actually took more time in other decor because I wasn't overwhelmed with having to get a tree up in the same way. So I was like, I did little little touches.
Speaker 1:Like, I got a little tiny Santa thing that and I put a little, oh gosh. What do you call those plants that are like rubber? You know, that they're oh
Speaker 3:god. Succulent?
Speaker 1:Yes. A succulent. So I put a little succulent in a little Santa it's a little tiny mini Santa mug. It's really a shot glass. And I made it into a succulent.
Speaker 1:So I have a succulent Santa. I have, like I got those berries, and I put them in vases. And so I took more time to do little other decor things, and it was fun. I enjoyed it more, like, doing that instead of, like, so being overwhelmed by a tree. And I'm still overwhelmed that I gotta put this tree up at the beach when Jonathan gets there.
Speaker 1:It's gonna be a
Speaker 3:whole event. It's gonna be a whole event. You're like, you gotta starts internally. It's not a whole event if you don't make it out to be. It's just you just gotta bring it upstairs and put some Okay.
Speaker 3:Although I spent so long, I was freaking sweating. Steven can back me up here. Trying to get the freaking lights on the street. The lights.
Speaker 1:The lights are the only existence. Let's talk about Christmas lights for 2 seconds because now we're gonna say what's the most best part of the holidays and what's the worst. My best and worst thing in Chatham and even now at in LBI is doing the outdoor lights. It has always been this thing where I, like, I take it on. I never wanted Tom to help or anything.
Speaker 1:I wanted to be in charge of it because I like doing it, but then I hate doing it. But I love doing it, but I hate doing it. So now we have it down to like a very simple thing at the beach and it's just like I'm this year it's just around the door. So I go in, I get the lights out, I'm like, oh we got the hue lights. How cool is that?
Speaker 1:I forgot. I gotta hook them up. Yeah. So I take the I take the hue lights out. I string them.
Speaker 1:I turn them on. I can't get them to connect to the app. So now the hue lights are white. I can't I've tried I spend an hour trying to hook these lights up, and I'm so aggravated. And I'm like, this is crazy.
Speaker 1:I can see the tree lights there on the app from last year. Why can't it recognize this other string of lights? Okay. Jewel, I put the tree lights out there and so they were already on the app. Meanwhile, I'm spending trying trying to hook them up.
Speaker 1:I took them down. I brought them near the hub. I plugged them in. When I tell you hours were spent on these lights, and then by accident, I touched the one that said tree lights and the color changed. And I'm like, what just happened?
Speaker 1:Did I just fix it? No. They were already hooked up. So the hue app balance. The Hue app is it had a little glitch.
Speaker 1:Like, it should say, oh, you already when you put a serial number, and it should say you already connected these lights. It's just this little message should come up. Okay. Anyways so I don't like outdoor lights. Rant on
Speaker 3:the Hue Christmas lights. We love Hue. I
Speaker 1:the Christmas lights have been the bane of my existence
Speaker 3:for the suburban days. Wait. I need to talk about I was I was gonna get into some fame funny holiday memories. I was, like, the next thing, and I have a few. I have a few locked and loaded ready to go.
Speaker 3:And 1 my god. Yeah. 2 of them well, the only 2 that I have on top of my mind are Jonathan related because Okay. Okay. Last year, we get the Hue Christmas lights, not sponsored, but you plug them in and you can control them from your phone.
Speaker 3:You can upload pictures, and it can pull the colorscapes from the lights.
Speaker 1:It's awesome.
Speaker 3:And Jonathan loved it, and he was making all different color combos. He was doing, like, Jets colors and, like, you know, Eagles colors and Knicks colors. And then my I think our personal favorite was he did Tiger Woods colors.
Speaker 2:Oh, I didn't know Tiger Woods had colors. I think they were
Speaker 1:the same Michigan. The two colors he did were brown and red because he wears a red polo. And it
Speaker 2:was the Tiger Woods. I'm done. That's Tiger Woods. Oh my god. So you should ask him
Speaker 3:to throw that lighting scape up this year.
Speaker 1:Just be
Speaker 3:like, put on
Speaker 1:the Tiger Woods ones. So funny. What's the other one?
Speaker 3:The other one? You probably remember this, but we were setting up decorations in Chatham, and we had, like, the little ceramic nativity scene. Yes. And Jonathan was, like, helping us set up decorations, ornaments. And we're on the other room, and he came out, and he was holding, like, a beheaded nativity scene.
Speaker 3:No. It wasn't even baby Jesus. It's like one of the kings. It was like, you know No. And he didn't but he didn't know.
Speaker 3:And he just came out with, like, the broken ceramic piece and went like, didn't he say, like,
Speaker 2:I broke Jesus? He said, I broke Jesus. That's exactly what happened. He said, I broke Jesus. Anyway, like, luckily, it was just Joseph.
Speaker 2:It wasn't Jesus. Jesus was unbreakable even at that age. I mean, he was this big, and he was, like, so small.
Speaker 1:You couldn't break that one. Fall of Jesus.
Speaker 3:That's a
Speaker 1:good one. That's a good one. That's a good memory.
Speaker 3:I'm trying to think of other ones. But
Speaker 1:One of my one of my my memorable things is when we when you got the Barbie Jeep. For some reason, that was a core memory for me because it was a core memory for the entire family. Because just not only were you in the Jeep, but Jonathan had to drive the Jeep. And we had Kristen in the back in the Jeep with the like, that was such one of my favorite Christmas memories because it was so it's such a visual memory.
Speaker 3:So many iconic pictures of Kristen and I in that Jeep.
Speaker 1:Yes. It was Yeah. Great.
Speaker 3:I would say, like, a very iconic present for me growing up. Like, I don't remember the baby Jeep the the Jeep as much, but I remember getting the whiteboard. Oh, the whiteboard. That was, like, more when I was, like, in, like, grade school. You got me, like, a big Oh, yeah.
Speaker 3:Whiteboard easel, and I feel like that was, like, my comfort item. The like, I used it so much. And then in high school, I used it to, like, study for tests. So it was like, we I used my friends and I used it to play, like, games. And it was like the double sided,
Speaker 1:like, a giant easel. That. It's such a good one.
Speaker 3:Easel. And I asked for that, or is that, like, a rim?
Speaker 1:You didn't ask for that. You didn't ask for that. I think I I think we had one of those on a shoot, and I was like, oh, Julie would love this. I think that's how it came to pass. It was on a shoot, and I saw it.
Speaker 1:And I think I was gonna I wanted to take it I think I might have even took it taken it from the shoot, and that's where I got it from in the first place because it was really big. Yeah. It was huge. Big, regular, legit sized easel. And so a
Speaker 3:teacher's easel.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I love the big like, one time, there was the the the dollhouse thing.
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 1:Like, you yours were potential. The kitchen was that your birthday, though? That was the kitchen was the birthday one when you got the, like, little Fisher Price Kitchen. But it was so easy to get you up because the boys didn't have it wasn't those kind of things. It was more like video game platforms or maybe it was a bike or whatever.
Speaker 1:But yours were very easy to remember because they were very visual, like, big and visual memories. I wonder if we asked Tommy, like, what are his favorite Christmas memories if he would like, what what he would come up with because it's they're not visual memories for me. Maybe one was a bike 1 year. I'm trying to think.
Speaker 3:Maybe, like, when you got on the snowboard? Yeah. That was for me. Been one? Yeah.
Speaker 3:I don't know.
Speaker 1:I don't know.
Speaker 3:I have to
Speaker 1:ask him.
Speaker 3:Do you have any memorable gifts that you
Speaker 1:I have to say, I have been known for giving terrible gifts to Tom, but he always gives great gifts to me. And 1 year, I got I mean, every year, it's like the joke of my bad gifts for him.
Speaker 3:You're it's so bad. It's, like, comical. I feel like you're really good. Like, I okay. I feel lucky because I feel like you're really good at getting me presents, but nobody else.
Speaker 2:Yes. If
Speaker 3:if anyone else if nobody else gets you a list of what they want, you'll never get them a good present, which is fine. No.
Speaker 2:It's not.
Speaker 3:But it's just, like, you're so good at doing it for me, which is so nice, but you can't do it
Speaker 1:for anybody else. Poor Tom. No. I can't do it for that. Sometimes I do okay with Tommy because I'll nail him.
Speaker 1:I almost wanna oh, I can't say what I might get him this year because I darn it. I'll tell you after. Because we're it's gonna air, and he's gonna listen. Or maybe I'll tell him not
Speaker 2:to listen to this episode. No.
Speaker 1:Make him listen. Oh, gosh. You told him after. Idea for him. I'll tell you after, and then we'll tell you on the next episode what it was.
Speaker 1:But I do. Like, 1 year, we got Tommy a guitar, and he actually liked that. He was really surprised by that gift. Remember that? Like, as an adult, I I'm better with gifts for him because I relate to him more about, like, the things that he likes.
Speaker 1:Mhmm. And that's what this gift is very much that. It's like, oh my gosh. I see things he likes, so I saw this thing I saw this thing in my mind, and I'm like, this is what I'm gonna get him. Anyway, so but I do like giving gifts.
Speaker 1:It's just that with dad, it's impossible because he's very, very specific and picky about what he wants and doesn't want. 1 year, which is funny. 1 year, I think I even got him cooking lessons, which is, like, why? And then now he likes to cook. So I was just I was just Not a little ahead of the curve.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I was ahead of the curve.
Speaker 3:I think it's funny. Like, it's like you and dad are really hard to buy for because you guys just buy whatever you want for yourself whenever you see it. Like, you don't, like, you don't go, like, oh, I should wait for the holidays. You guys are just like, well, I'll just
Speaker 1:buy it.
Speaker 3:And then it's like, well Yeah. No. Leave leave some stuff for the rest of us to purchase, please. But I
Speaker 1:do think a lot of times, the things that I would get are not something somebody would buy from me. So it's like, I just Okay. I don't know. That's just Here
Speaker 3:are some I'm really good at giving gifts. That's one thing I'm very proud of. Here are my my tips for giving. I used to I had, like, a little pyramid once. I made a TikTok about this, I feel, like, a couple years ago.
Speaker 3:Now I can't remember. It was, like, my pyramid of, like, gift giving. You can go, like
Speaker 1:oh. If I had a whole lesson support there
Speaker 3:I don't know.
Speaker 1:Support there. Yeah. And that's why I I would try I'm getting better at
Speaker 3:it from your framework. Support their hobby or, like, something support their hobby, get them something sentimental, or get, like, an experience. But those are, like, the 3, like, I think, buckets of, like, you can I wanna talk about some of the gifts I got Steven, but he edits his podcast, and I can't do that? Oh,
Speaker 1:too bad.
Speaker 3:Because I did good this year.
Speaker 1:Oh, good. But yeah. I'm so I need to hear.
Speaker 3:We can move on from the gift. Gift giving is it's just we were watching an episode of New Girl last night, and she's like, it's a very oddly specific way of showing someone how much you love them through an object you pick that's perfect for them. And it was like a very funny, like, way of doing.
Speaker 1:I was like, yeah. I'm so good at it. You know what I thought would be a funny gift giving idea would be to tell people that we have you have a rough budget, and then you have to shop. Everybody has to buy something in one store. So, for example, I'm gonna say that you have to go to HomeGoods, making that up, And you have whatever it is that you buy for this person, you have to pick out at HomeGoods because that gives everybody a level playing field that you have to go to this specific store store, whether it's and I don't wanna say Walmart because almost like that almost like that's too many choices.
Speaker 1:Too
Speaker 3:many choices. Needs to be, like, themed. Remember, I think I saw this on TikTok, and then I implemented it in one of our, like, extended family holidays with, like, dad's side of the family was. A couple years ago, I saw a TikTok about these friends. And what they do is every year, every person buys their favorite thing that's, like, under $50, and you bring it and you do, like, a everyone puts their favorite thing wrapped, and they bring it to the Christmas party.
Speaker 3:And then you kinda everyone picks one gift from the pile, and it's, like, it's all the favorite things. So it's not like you're getting something first for the first part.
Speaker 1:What? You have to pitch your thing of why it's great. Once you oh, I forgot. That's the best part of it. Like, you would say someone would pick your gift, and then they would open it, and you have to pitch, like, why that's an amazing gift.
Speaker 1:And then there's a whole stealing thing. Right? Wasn't there a whole stealing thing?
Speaker 3:It was in the beginning. I think I'd everyone went around and, like, pitch their gift to the pile, essentially, and then we go around and do the game. Like, you pitch it first.
Speaker 1:Okay. I'm just, like and then when we had the numbers and so you could pick the first, that was how it went. We had to work
Speaker 3:this out live. But that was such a good way to do it because that was, like, it was a variety, and there was no pressure to, like, bring gifts for everybody. It was just, like, bring your favorite thing from this year. That's, like, generic not, like, generic. It doesn't
Speaker 1:need to be, like you
Speaker 3:know, don't get something personalized that says, like, Julie. But, like, like, I brought a cookbook that I really liked. And
Speaker 1:I bought the the big giant water bottle that tells you how much you drank every or times on it. So Bill still has it sit he loved it. He still has it sitting on his desk, by the way. I saw it there. Wow.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So that was a good gift. Yeah. Yeah. So that was a good gift.
Speaker 3:We have all this stuff from that one. That was a good one. Alright. That was a good one.
Speaker 1:Alright. So what about any any bad, weird holiday memories? Or should we talk about, like I wanna say, like, childhood to adulthood to, like, being now older, but I can tell I can tell a really weird childhood one that I will share, like, in part, which is Yes. 1 year. 1 year.
Speaker 1:I know you should be. This is one of my best childhood memories. Might be combined with my worst, but at the same time, it's all good. We my sisters and I, the big toy of the year was the Crissy doll. And this Crissy doll was cool because you would it had a ponytail that you'd pull the hair and you could have long hair on the Crissy doll or you could twist twist the thing on the back and it would go in, so you'd have a bob.
Speaker 1:So you can go from a bob to middle. So it was the coolest toy. And, of course, we we always got all 3 of the same things. So my mother always bought like, nobody made sure everything was even, same amount of boxes, same amount of everything, you know, all of that. So we all got this Chrissy doll, and it was amazing.
Speaker 1:But I wanna say it might have been been the same year that grandpa must have been up before her, or she was getting ready or whatever happened. Anyway, he let us open some presents before she came down, which is PS, not cool grandpa. So even though she got so annoyed, she did have a right to be annoyed. She did all the shopping, all the wrapping, all the things. And the audacity of that man, honestly, to, like, let us open presents.
Speaker 1:Like, no. But it was unfortunately for me, it was just like my memory is like her being mad and at the holiday. You know what I mean? But now as a parent, I can understand that. Yeah.
Speaker 1:I get it. Yeah. So even though I've at the time, I was like, what's wrong? You know, she's so mean, you know, blah blah blah. Like, I it's one of the times I can honestly say if I look back that my reality of the moment compared to what I know now as an adult is very, very different because that would be so right?
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yeah. And she still talks about it.
Speaker 2:She still talks about it. No surprise. It's a good That's crazy.
Speaker 3:Interesting. I know. I feel like we just we're listing all of the gifts. But I feel like something that I've always done is make, like, the this is kind of not going in a different direction. But because you guys are so hard to buy gifts for I was literally talking to Steven about this.
Speaker 3:Like, I have to make you guys things because it's like I it's something I know that you guys won't be able to buy is if I make something custom. But that's that is a wild wild move by grandpa to do that. Can you imagine?
Speaker 1:It is really nuts. And that just kinda shows a little bit of, like, he was not you know, he's a great he's a sweetheart, but he's also he he wasn't very nice to do that. I wanna actually show on the screen something that Jonathan sent me this morning that he made for dad. Now we can show this because we know dad's not listening to this podcast. So I'm excited that I can put this up on the screen right now.
Speaker 1:So I was at a craft show, and I saw a photo. And I said, oh my god. This is so cool. I bet and then I was like, I should get this for Jonathan. And then I thought, because this is one of his favorite places.
Speaker 1:And I thought, no. I'm gonna send this to Jonathan and have him make one. First, I thought for himself, but then he said when I showed it to him, he decided to make one for Tom. Tell me that look at the bill. This is of what what you're seeing on screen is Flamingo Golf, his favorite golf place.
Speaker 1:Mhmm. Look at that rendering. Did he draw that? He's traced it over because I sent him a picture, and he traced over the picture and made his own version. So he does on his iPad, he can, I don't know?
Speaker 1:You must know how to do this, but you can put something opaque underneath and then you can trace over it. So he and I said take your time. Don't rush because you wanna make it very detailed. He literally recreated this this thing, like, that's his rendering of it. It's so good, isn't it?
Speaker 1:It's so good. I've realized I should have had him do more of those things for people because that's like such a great gift,
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 1:Like, because it means something to someone. Like, that's gonna be so cool. I told him he should give it to Tommy, but he wants to give it to to dad. That's Mhmm. That's what he's saying.
Speaker 1:So I'm like, okay. That's who he wants to give it to. That's who he golfs with. That make sense.
Speaker 3:I didn't have this in the list of things, but I think it's worth we can could wrap up the episode with this because we could also talk about, like, New Year's Eve and our feelings around that holiday and that tradition.
Speaker 1:Okay. Because I
Speaker 3:feel like that one's also changed a lot over the years. I personally hate New Year's Eve.
Speaker 1:That's okay.
Speaker 3:I, like, always think it's just, like, there's so much pressure to do something. It's never as, like, big or grand. And now as an adult, it's like, oh, now you're gonna go to the places you go on the weekends, but you have to pay a $50 cover tomorrow.
Speaker 1:The money. I know.
Speaker 3:And it's just like it's like any other day of the year. Yeah.
Speaker 1:I don't really I've never been that attached to New Year's personally, but younger, I always had fun going out, and it was always looking forward to dressing up. I I have an outfit still in my closet. I a blue suede dress with blue suede shoes, and it's a mini it's a little mini dress, And it was one of my New Year's Eve the get ups, and I will never get rid of it because it just means something to me of my youth of going out on holidays.
Speaker 3:I know that dress because I feel like you saved it for me, and I got dad's frame, so I did not fit in that thing. I will say I've I feel like I I'm gonna say one of my favorite New Year's is Olivia and I went with my friends to Montreal for the weekend, and I think that was, like, a really fun weekend that Olivia
Speaker 1:and I had. That was,
Speaker 3:like, a good like, a fun, like, bond. Like, it was kind of a shit show of a weekend, but, like, just being able to me and her going on, like, a trip together was really fun. That's fun. So I think that was good. But I think there's just so much pressure on the New Year to, like, do something big and ball out, especially when you're young in your twenties.
Speaker 3:And it's just, like, it's so much pressure, and I'm like, it's just it it's really not that serious. But I don't know. I don't wanna offend anyone who's, like, a big New Year's Eve person.
Speaker 1:But to me,
Speaker 3:it's just always like you're putting it's like putting so much pressure on, like, your New Year's resolution. It's like, I don't think we need to put pressure on ourselves to, like, you know, turn an entirely new leaf in, like, the new year. Like, obviously, it's good to start over. Yeah. Well, not start over, but good to, like, set new goals and refresh and but it doesn't have to be, like, it doesn't have to be all
Speaker 1:consuming. Yeah. Well, I always liked it. I always like New Year's in general. And it's also, like it was a launch of because my birthday is in January, so it's like my birthday month.
Speaker 1:So it's all the things about the New Year that are great. But I always said September feels more like New Year's to me because it was always that New Year of school. Year. Yeah. That was more important to me than actually New Year's.
Speaker 1:But Yeah. I will say once we when you got a little older well, when you were old enough where we weren't gonna go out anymore because on New Year's, we were gonna stay home, I did like that we always had, like, a gathering on New Year's of of family, and we spent many, many New Year's with Camille and family for years. And then that kind of evolved into okay. Now we're at the beach, and I think for a couple of times they even came to the beach for new years. But it just turned into now it's literally fine if it's me, Jonathan, and dad.
Speaker 1:And we're like, woo hoo. And we watch new year's ring in, and we do our little screaming at midnight. And I just, like, it's fine. I don't need a big ceremony. I feel like I did that when I was younger, and I'm good.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I'm good.
Speaker 3:I can end with another funny New Year's memory with Johnny Boy. Oh, boy. Well, because we were we We gotta
Speaker 1:get Jonathan on another episode I know.
Speaker 2:With some specific questions.
Speaker 3:There is another funny Johnny memory where, like, we were watching it was like a football like, all the football games used to be on Year's Eve. And it was a couple years ago when Ohio State played in this like, bowl game. And they were literally kicking the field goal. Like, it was like the last 2 minutes of the game coincide with like, the last like, 10 minutes of the day. So we were, like, flipping back and forth between because Jonathan loves watching, like, rock and New Year's Eve.
Speaker 3:Like, he loves watching the New Year's cover coverage. He needs to see the ball drop. And we kept flipping back and forth because it was, like, go to commercial or just be, like, you know, we wanna see what's happening in the game in real time. And they're and he was getting so annoyed that we kept changing the channel, and he was, like, we're gonna miss the ball drop. And we're, like, we promise we're it's 10 minutes away.
Speaker 3:We're not missing the ball drop. But it was just madness where he was, like, I swear to god. You guys stop changing the channel. He was getting so frustrated. We're like, bring ringing in the New Year angry is what he was doing.
Speaker 3:Oh
Speaker 1:my god. I don't remember that at all. But he is very specific about New Year's. He's very specific. It's so funny because we are debating if we're gonna stay here in the city for New Year's this year because we're gonna be up between Christmas and New Year.
Speaker 1:And I'm, like, only it would make sense if we actually could be somewhat near Times Square, but I would maybe consider since we're gonna be up here, and I wouldn't do that. But if we're gonna be up here, I could take him up like the day before when everything's getting set up because that's kind of that's kind of cool to go up there and see it. So and then we could always head down there. We'll see. We'll see.
Speaker 1:But I mean, I'm really hoping that we can, number 1, kick off the new year with an episode with Tommy because it's, he's hard to pin down. We've wanted to have him on an episode the past 2 weeks and his schedule at the end of the year is just impossibly impossibly. But hopefully when the new year kicks, he can fit in, fit us in and have some time so we could do a little Tommy grilling session.
Speaker 2:Mhmm.
Speaker 1:Just like I don't know. I think we need to have him on here. We mentioned him a lot, so we need to get him. If we can't get Tommy, maybe we'll have to convince we'll have to convince Jenna. We'll see.
Speaker 3:But I'm excited for all the holiday things that are coming. It's fun to look back. I can't believe a grandpa story. That's crazy to all any dad. Don't do that.
Speaker 3:No. But don't nobody should do that ever.
Speaker 1:No. Not good. That's why and dad's, like, the exact opposite. He'd be like, hell. Hurry up.
Speaker 1:They wanna open. And I'm like, I'm coming. Let them open 1.
Speaker 2:The opposite, god. Let them start. You know? He would never he would never.
Speaker 1:No. But it's gonna it was a good year. Let's look back on this year and say, okay. We made a lot of progress. Look what happened to socialize.
Speaker 1:We even launched the studio before the year wrapped up, so we have some new exciting things to look forward to with that. I do think, if I look at, okay, this potential TikTok band coming in the new year, maybe that means there's something new for 2025 that we don't yet know. And I I was saying this on a video beef I didn't actually, keep this in the edit, but I was thinking when I was recording this video about the TikTok ban, I was thinking there was a time where we didn't know about TikTok, and now we might not know about something else that's coming. Like, there might something be better there might be something better on the horizon. So I don't know.
Speaker 1:Change, I am willing to accept change when change presents itself.
Speaker 2:I always will hopeful.
Speaker 3:We can we can pivot. We can be hopeful. Gotta be positive because that's the only way to be right now. So
Speaker 1:Exactly. And if the TikTok goes away, the tick the tickety tock, it's gonna be literally a day before my birthday. What kind of a shitty birthday present is that? Oh my god. They're doing it just to you.
Speaker 1:That's just like not Helen Karma. We'll have to
Speaker 3:kick off the year with a TikTok ban episode and just deep dive our feelings on potentially losing an app. Yes.
Speaker 1:But that's
Speaker 3:for a different episode. We're gonna end on a good holiday happy note here that we're gonna have fun festive holidays. And thank you for listening all these episodes. Appreciate anyone tuning in, you tuning in. It's so fabulous.
Speaker 1:We are grateful, and I love the people that send me messages after for when they listen to the episodes. So thank you to those, and you know who you are. And, here's to 2025, Julie. I'll see you next year. Sounds good.
Speaker 1:We'll miss you. We'll miss you on the day, but I know. Believe me, I will be FaceTiming you.
Speaker 2:I know.
Speaker 3:I'm not
Speaker 1:I will be seeing your face. You will. Thank God for technology. Thank God. Alright.
Speaker 1:Bye, everybody. Have a happy new year.
Speaker 3:It's yours truly. I forgot. Oh my god. I'm, like, waiting.
Speaker 1:Bye, everybody. Happy new year. Yours truly. Helen and Julie. I can't believe I almost left it off.
Speaker 1:I am a nut job. Wow. Alright. Well, thanks for listening. Leave us a review.
Speaker 1:Do all the things. Press all the buttons. Go from the bottom up. I hate when people say that. So it's just a joke.
Speaker 1:If you know, you know. I don't have a good one. You don't know that one? Okay. Not right.
Speaker 3:You could tell me this.
Speaker 1:No. You go from the bottom up on the social media thing. You're supposed to do the forwarding, the liking, the saving. Press the buttons.
Speaker 3:Alright. Well, leave us a review. Follow us on our podcast or on any of our handles. You know where to find us at this point.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening. Thank you. Bye. Happy New Year.
