Ep 88 “AM I THE A HOLE? I DONT WANT TO HOST THANKSGIVING!” 🦃 | 2nd Annual AITA Thanksgiving + Holiday Book Recs

It’s that time again, where we ask and answer “Am I The A Hole” but this time its Thanksgiving Reddit Stories! In yet another installation of our fan fave series “Am I the A hole?!” holiday edition, we’re tackling Thanksgiving Day and all the completely unhinged problems that arise when friends and family get together to “give thanks.” And then as a bonus, we’re sharing our most favorite fall book recommendations and some hopefuls! 

If nothing else, we hope that listening to other peoples’ holiday family drama can help you relax and laugh amidst the chaos, and remind all of us that we’re not the only weird ones with crazy families. In short… you are not alone. 😂

We’ve got a lot of folks with dinner TIME issues…should the turkey be served as more of a lunch situation, or is dinner better? Is it okay to start eating when someone is late? We’ve got a roommate who ate food from the fringe without permission, and of course people refusing to be the host and calling their family members straight up holiday idiots. It’s a well rounded bunch! 

And don’t worry, we’ve got Thanksgiving smash or passes with everything from yams to stuffing and a fave or fail food edition… 

Book Recommendations and Hopefuls Mentioned:

The Witch of Tin Mountain by Paulette Kennedy

Darkly Madly Duet by Tricia Wolf

House of Roots and Ruin by Erin A Craig

The Witch Collector Series by Charissa Weaks

The Fallen and the Kiss of Dusk by Carissa Broadbent

Nocadia by Keri Lake

Slewfoot by Brom

A Dowry of Blood by S T Gibson 

Don't be shy, subscribe! New Podcasts every Tuesday!! (And sometimes Friday!…)

Check out these author interviews? ⬇️

Penn Cole talks with us about Strong Female Characters, Feminist Themes, and her debut bestselling Spark of the Everflame Series! https://youtu.be/7ukNImyoObw?si=7C3Y9kOUMN4hfcKb

We interviewed Callie Hart all about her NYT Bestseller Quicksilver! Watch it here! https://youtu.be/CED5s7qDBdQ?si=8xtIRO1IzX6Rsld4

Check the official Follow Up Author Interview with Lindsay Straube of the Split or Swallow Universe all about Between Two Kings! https://youtu.be/OW1cxXTVcTc?si=oOxVIzbIheET_bNE

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What we are wearing:

Ashley is wearing A The Last Bookstore Hoodie from @TheLastBookStore | https://www.lastbookstorela.com/?srsltid=AfmBOoq3HBJBrUE8WLmtkiHXhCzCCIo5jMkCKzl8Qi_FE42mQgKfQ9Or+ a Corn Hat from @Amazon | * https://amzn.to/4p1SgwQ 

Liz is wearing : A “Is Butter A Carb?” T-shirt from @candeecult

+ a Pumpkin Hat from @Amazon | * https://amzn.to/48iagM8

Any link with an * is an affiliate link through the service Magic Links

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome to Besties and the Book AITA Thanksgiving Episode!
• 7:18 Thanksgiving Foods Fav and Fails
• 29:39 Am I The Ahole For Telling My Mom Thanksgiving Lunch is Stupid?
• 40:01 AITA for Telling My Husband He Deserved To Be Called An Idiot?
• 46:13 Am I The A Hole for asking to be paid for the Thanksgiving groceries that my roommate ate?
• 52:50 AITA for Refusing to Host Thanksgiving?
• 1:00:32 AITA for Starting Thanksgiving Dinner without my Sister
• 1:06:53 Am I the Ahole for saying the new GF Did Not Make Good Food?
• 1:12:00 Fall Winter Book Recs and Hopefuls
• 1:19:05 Unhinged Smash or Pass

Transcript

Am I the a-hole for telling my husband he deserved to be called an idiot? Am I the a-hole for asking my friend and her boyfriend to pay me for the Thanksgiving dessert and then you just explode once you finally can't take it anymore? All of this could have been avoided by just serving both mashed potatoes cuz it doesn't matter.

Hey everyone, I'm Ashley. And I'm Liz and welcome to the Besties in the Books podcast. Thanks again and giving and fall family drama episode. That's just what we're calling it from now on. Yep. So, if you need a break from your family drama, come on down to Bestie Town and then listen to these Am I the A-hole stories we'll be doing and reacting to. They're fun. They are fun. The holiday ones are always the best. That's what we're going to be doing today. Am I the a-hole? Responding to Reddit Thanksgiving specific posts. So, that's what we're going to be doing today. Okay. We're also going to be giving you um some fall kind of like around, you know, November, Thanksgiving time book um like we're going to give you one book recommendation each, but then we're also going to give you some hopefuls that we hope to get to. Yeah. If you're looking for some more fall book recommendations, we do give them to you in our last Halloween episode as well. So, check that out. Um so, yeah, spoiler-free episode. Stick around for a good time. But before we get into all that, we just wanted to say thank you so much for being here. Yeah, thank you so much for being here. And don't forget, fun hats will be making its way down yonder, too, very soon. So, we'll have hats. So, in case you watched last year and you're like, "Where's your funny hats?" Oh, they're coming. Fridays are coming, baby. So, yes, thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule if you're in the States and you're doing Thanksgiving because I know how hectic and crazy it is. So, that's why we just kind of do these light-hearted episodes during the week of major holidays like Christmas and Halloween and everything. That way, you don't have to have any reading homework done. you can just listen on in and hang out with us spoiler-free and just like I said like remove yourself from your own family drama and listen to somebody else's cuz it's fun. So that's what we're doing today. Like, follow and subscribe anywhere you like to listen to favorite podcast including YouTube. We're hanging out over there and then you can see the hats cuz we'll be describing them to the listeners. But you know, visual aids is great. Halloween was a blast with the wigs. So funny. So funny. Um, and I haven't even seen the Thanksgiving um, hats yet. So, I'm really excited to see what Ashley picked out for us for this wonderful holiday. We're also over on Instagram and Tik Tok, too. Besties in the Books podcast everywhere. And then when we are doing buddy reads and our monthly virtual book club, you can check us out on the Fable app, Besties in the Book Club. So, that's where we are everywhere. Hope you guys are having a good fall season right now because we're in it and we're heading into winter pretty soon. So hopefully you guys are staying staying fresh, San Diego. I don't know. Good luck. What does he say? What does Ron Burgundy say? I don't know. You stay classy. You stay classy, San Diego. Yeah. Hope you guys are staying classy out there. Before we get into our Thanksgiving food themed faves and fails, because I feel like that's something that obviously all of us think about when it comes to weird holiday food. Um, why don't we unbox our hats and put those bad boys on? Why don't you, cuz there's two options, okay? A different one for each of us. So, instead of going like, "Oh, I don't know. Which one do you want? Which one do you, you know, for like 5 minutes, I will say, close your eyes, okay? And you're going to have to pick a hand." So, I'll show the people and you will have to pick which one you're wearing without seeing it. Okay? Sounds good. All right. My eyes are closed. M crinkly. What a time to be alive. Do I just reach out and grab I'm just going to show the people. Keep your eyes closed. Okay, so right hand, left hand. Last year we had the turkey hats, guys. So, make sure to check those out. Those are surprisingly really good quality. They were I have mine. I'm going to wear it on Thanksgiving when I'm cooking this year. They're so cute. Okay, tell me, right hand or left hand? I'm going to go with left hand. Here you go. You get a pie and I get the corn. Oh my god. How does this even go on my head? Yeah, you have to figure it out. Okay. How does a corn cob go on my head? Well, it's cone head. It's so cute. Got to take the tag off. All right. Corn is going. My god. We're going to we're going to have corn with dinner tonight. We're doing barbecue night. How exciting. Cuz it's actually Should you wear that whilst you cook the corn? I feel like you kind of should. Well, this is great. Oh my gosh, that's great. It kind of almost looks like a scarecrow hat. I'm scared of And I'm a crow. So there you go. All right. Um, it's like a midshuck corn for those listening. Midway from shucking. And Liz is a piece of pumpkin pie. I can tell you guys now. Do I look like Liz is a piece of pumpkin pie. She's not wearing it. But look at the little whipped cream puff. That's so cute. Can you tell what it looks like? Well, I mean cocky it. Like you got to angle it like not that way. I feel like I just am wearing like a like a a pirate hat or like Yeah. Yeah. Like a little weird triangle hat. That looks Yeah. Look at that angle. Look at that angle. That's perfect. I want to see the whipped cream a little bit. I have to be able to see. No, you're putting it over my eyes. Okay. Seeing is overrated. There you go. Corn and pumpkin pie. Pirate. What brought us together? Scarecrow. Halloween or Thanksgiving foods. You be the judge. I love it. What a good choice. You know, it's slim pickings out there for Thanksgiving hats and we already did a turkey and you're ve and you're vegan, so I don't really want to put like a fake dead turkey on your head. You know what I mean? So, I do. I'm trying to be sensitive. Also, that would be so creepy. Well, no. Like, my mom has them. They're like, you know, like the roasted turkeys with the little white like things on its legs, but it's not alive. It's Well, I know it's not up, but it doesn't look like a turkey, you know? It just looks like a meat roast. Yeah, the upside down roast. I see what you're saying. Okay. And it's not like it's real, but it's promoting animal violence. So, there you go. We're doing a whole Thanksgiving episode. And I love how you're like, "Well, I don't want to promote animal violence." I mean, hey, corn and pumpkin, that's what you can eat. I have not my shirt. I decided to wear my is better a carb shirt. That's perfect. Look at that shirt, guys. We'll have it all of these beautiful accessories linked in the show notes a caption so you can hopefully get yours, you know, in time for the season. Yeah, cuz hey, you know, you want to look like pumpkin on Christmas. I know I do. And yeah, why would any other day any day you don't you don't need a reason for the season, guys? No. Let's just go. Is butter a carb? I love that shirt, though. That's great for the for the listeners out there. She's wearing a black shirt with pinkish writing and it says, "Is butter a carb?" Yeah. So, that's perfect. Is it? I still don't know. No, I'm just kidding. Okay. No. Well, here we are. Anyway, should we talk about our favorite and fail or most hated? Yeah. Um, Thanksgiving foods. Thanksgiving coded foods because we make the rules. So, let's go. Yeah. Um, all right. So, here's the thing. I'm a vegan. Yeah. I'm not the type of person like I'm not gonna I don't know. I don't like to be the fun sucker, right? So, like if people want to eat Thanksgiving, like traditional Thanksgiving food, like that's fine, I say as I have this pie on my head. Pie can be vegan, though. So, there's a thing. Um, so, but I'm not the type of person who's going to like be like, "Don't cook a turkey in my house." Like, I literally don't care. My husband eats me. Like, pretty much everyone, you know, in my family eats me. It's fine. Um, but like I do have to just say just to start off with a fail. Yeah. Okay. Not even as a vegan, but like before I was a vegan, like why why with the turkey and the stuffing things in the turkey? I think it's just a thing that people did and we just still do. Can we stop doing that? Like I don't even want to stop doing that because I'm vegan. It's just like isn't that like just generally offensive? Like I feel like the people like, and by offensive I mean just kind of like more so gross. Yeah. Like even the people I talk to who like cook it Yeah. think it's gross. Yeah. Well, okay. You know, here here's this stuffing. Okay. In general, it's 50/50. You know, it's either really good or really bad. And there's really no in between because so for my family, we have like 30 people there. It's very big for Thanksgiving. My mom will have one of the stuffings will be what came out of the bird. Soggy city. You know, Soggy City. I feel though as though it probably originally like helps season it as you cook. So, I think that's the reason why you pull all of the body parts out. I mean, it can make it juicy, but I I don't like it like that. I don't like it like that. But my mom will make a separate one in the oven. So, there's two stuffings and then again, it's always 50/50. What's going to be good? But here's my question and maybe you could answer it. I'm trying. Maybe we need to bring like a guest a guest turkey expert on. Um, okay. Here's my thing. You want a turkey accutrament, we'll say, right? Why are we shoving it back in the bird? I don't know. I think only for that. It like helps season it some more. But if it's not good, just let it be. But some people like it a bit, I guess, is what I'm going to say is like I don't like the soggy stuffing, but a lot of people do really because Okay, so here's the thing. My Let us know. Let us know. We'll do you a soggy stuffing eater or are you a turkey eater? Because I think that's what I'm saying is I feel like turkey is the fail for me because I don't understand and I've never talked to anyone like who's like, I cannot wait either to a cook the turkey or b eat the turkey. Well, okay. I will say my mom does it most of the time, but I It is I do like cooking and I used to like doing the turkey. Really? Yeah. Okay. So, like taking all the guts out and it just comes in a little baggie and then but then shoving things back in. Yeah. I did it cuz that's what I was taught to do. So, but you liked doing it. I didn't mind it, but at your I mean I used to work at a camp as a cook too. I had to cut ribs. Like I had to do a lot of that kind of stuff. So, it doesn't bother me. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. See, cuz I feel like I just talked to a lot of people who are like, "H, I have to cook the turkey." Or like, "H the turkey I have to eat and pretend that I like it." You know what I mean? See, my mom's recipe is really, really, really, really, really good. So, she dousses it in beer. Little secret tip there for you guys. And she based it throughout. So, her, you know, it's hard. Maybe polarized turkey. I understand why a lot of people aren't actually excited to eat it because it can be very dry. Yeah. Yeah. So, it takes a long It took a lot of years for mom to perfect that recipe and now it's like, "Oh my gosh, is it Christmas vacation?" Yeah. That's what I always picture where like they cut it and like it just like is dusty and like steamy inside. But like so funny. I told you don't put it in too early. She says, "Yeah." And they're like all flicking it off their fork. Yeah. Yeah. You know, it happens. It happens. So that is why I personally usually like dark meat because it's consistently like more juicy and like less dry and like cuz once it's dry sawdust in your mouth later we're just talking about turkey. Yeah. Yep. Because here's the thing. The bigger isn't always better cuz you get less seasoning throughout, you know, and less juiciness. But I think the Okay. I think the stuffing is a moist maker if you will. Like talk about that. Sorry. Well, you brought it up. Trying to answer your question here. I literally hate that. Yeah. Term. Well, take your turkey, your fky uh round, whatever. What do you do? Do you do a meat substitute? Yeah, like a toekurky. Like a toe furky round. Carve a hole in it. I'm not doing some things and see if it makes a difference. No, it comes stuffed. Oh, see they stuffed the FKY. Yeah, but it's like but it's not going inside like what once was a body. Well, sure. Yeah. So, that's what you're Okay. Cuz we don't think about it. That's cuz I'm like hyperfixated on that. You know what I mean? It's like that's what you shove it up its butt. Literally, somebody right now is stuffing up a turkeyy's butt is like this. You're doing this. You're like fully committed. Like I'd be listening I would This is what I would be doing right now. I'd be having an ear pod listening in to somebody like us talking and be like I'm shoving a turkey shoving it up its butt. That's what's happening. I just uh even if I wasn't vegan I would not be on that in that camp, right? That's fine. Um yeah, here's some good perspective. When things are getting too heated and serious on Thanksgiving, just remember like guys, we all started up started this day with like elbows deep in a turkeyy's butt. So like can we calm down? That makes it worse. It makes it like, hey, there's worse things that have happened today to the turkey. To the turkey in particular. Oh, poor turkey. Poor turkey. RIP. Um, yeah. Okay. So, that's my fail cuz I just don't get it. Yeah. I feel like I haven't helped at all. No. But that's okay. Uh, there's lots of things people shove up there, too. It's not just stuffing. That doesn't make it better.

That doesn't make it. I think it's supposed to help like a seasoning. So, there you go. That's Can we just put it on it though? I think it's like I think we're everybody's so desperate to make it taste good and help it to not be dry. They're just literally shoving everything in there. Like eat a different food. It's like you're trying to hard like if you have to try that hard to make something good, maybe have something else. I don't know. It's also weird because most people I would say pretty much just like the breast of the turkey, you know, why aren't we just doing turkey breast? And some people do and that's, you know, I mean, I like dark meat, like I said, but yeah, it's all there's lots of other things. It's like it's we're forced we're forced to do these traditions. Thanksgiving food is my least favorite food of all the holidays. I'll just say it. I love Thanksgiving food. I just veganize everything. It's great. I mean, your mashed potatoes are great. Yeah. Um, and I'll tell you, usually we'll do like mashed potatoes and like green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, rolls. Yeah. Well, what's your favorite What's your fave, Liz? My favorite is brunch. So, not Thanksgiving food. Thanksgiving. What's your favorite Thanksgiving food? What's your fave? Well, no. On Thanksgiving, that's what I was going to say. On Thanksgiving, my husband thinks it's ridiculous because he's like, "We have so much food. It's insane." But like, I'm a brunch lady and I'm not going to let anyone take that away from me. So you'll have to pry it out of my cold dead fingers someday, you know. Um, so I always cook like a whole brunch. Usually it's like yeah, like a French toast and like hash browns and like that kind of thing. Um, and I'm obsessed with it. Make muffins, whatever. Um, that's my favorite part of holidays in general. So we'll say Thanksgiving, Christmas, brunch. Yeah, me imposing my brunch on to everyone who wants it or doesn't. I mean, hey, you're an adult and you have free will. Do it. If you can do it, do it. If you don't if you don't like it, don't eat it. Yeah, I'll eat it later. Leftovers. Okay. No, my husband would be super happy here because like we just pretty much starve and pick it pick up olives and veggie plates for like 10 hours. Absolutely not. Wait for dinner to be ready. I think that that I have like I have lowkey trauma from that because that's how it was at like my family's gatherings and I'm like absolutely not. I want to be like eating actual food. Yeah. From the morning until the night time. Okay. Yeah. Well, then it's a little bit easier for you if you got don't have anybody cooking like real meats here that take forever. Yeah. Stuff because my mom who I we mostly go to and and my husband's parents, they're cooking all day. So, it's like there's no way we could be making French toast and stuff and not be in people's way. Even though we're contributing, it's not like she has the oven taken over and the stove top, so nothing can be involved with that. So, it's usually like they get donuts or something, which I don't like. So, I'm the only one in the kitchen until probably like three. Yeah, that's good. That Yeah, knock yourself out. Would you recommend it? Thanksgiving brunch. If you like brunch, do it. If it's not too much. Don't be in charge of both things. It's a lot. That's a lot. Yeah. Usually, my husband will kind of take more of the reins on the dinner. Yeah. Yeah. Plus, I mean, I cook a lot of stuff in advance because vegan food, right? It's easy. I could just cook it the day before or whatever and just put it in the fridge and heat it up. It's great. Yeah. Um, my favorite is like traditional Thanksgiving. Yeah. Traditional Thanksgiving item. I mean, I would have to probably give it to the pie. You as you should. Yeah. Literally on your head. Yeah. Cuz like the thing about Thanksgiving, you manifested that. The thing about Thanksgiving, but I don't like pumpkin pie. So, hey, I love it. Yeah, I'm a I like all other kinds of pie though. So, um a fruit pie, I'll enjoy a cherry. That's my fave. Yeah. Um with a second place going to maybe like a blackberry. Yeah. Yeah. Um I prefer cream pies, but those are very hard to find vegan unless I want to make them myself. I did make a really good coconut cream last year. Yeah. Um, so yes, those are my favorite. Banana cream, coconut cream are my favorite kinds of pies. Yeah. With like a chocolate mixed in there somehow, you know. Um, because I do love I think all of the Thanksgiving traditional foods, veganized version, but it's like I can't choose one component because what I like about it is everything together. Yeah, that makes sense cuz I mean you can have mashed potatoes anytime. Yeah. Or like like would I eat a green bean casserole elsewhere? Probably not really. Like I mean if it was vegan and it was there at someone's dinner, I would eat it. But it's not like I'm going to like cook up a green bean casserole to have at dinner. You know what I mean? Like I'm just not going to do that. And then like I love there's like a very specific cranberry sauce from Costco that I love. And so that's great. And like I'm I love bread. I'm a good bread person, but I'm not going to like bake rules. Yeah. No. Otherwise like I don't got time for that. So, I'm just saying like everything together, the tofu, like is what makes it good. Yeah, that makes sense. But yeah, if I had to choose a favorite, it's always going to be a dessert cuz I'm a dessert lady. Yeah, that's good. Okay, I accept your answer. A thousand years later. Sorry about it. Not really. Okay, what about you? To the bottom of some things. No pun intended. Yeah, pun intended. Yeah. What about me? Um, my fail is going to be these of three. First of all, this isn't a fail, but as I have this corn on my head, I know it's very representative of the Thanksgiving times, but we don't actually eat corn. Do you guys? No. It's always been like displayed in like a cornucopia, if you will, but not like my mom used to have the old fake corn that was cool looking, like red, but we never ate it. Or maze, as you will. Isn't that what it's called? Um, well, I was just thinking, you know, obviously a popular Thanksgiving fall decoration is a scarecrow and like corn. Yeah, but we don't eat corn. I don't eat corn on the cob. I don't eat corn off the cob. There's no corn at my Thanksgiving table. Same. Maybe there should be peas. There's a lot of peas and it's the only vegetable I don't like. There's not peas at our Thanksgiving. That's interesting. Gross. Yeah, I only like peas if it's in like um like Indian food or something like that or mixed in. You don't really. Yeah. If I don't know it's there, it's fine. I'm not going to like pick it out. But yeah, no corn. I should change that. But it's almost feels like here in California, maybe corn's not in season anymore. It's very much a summer food for us. We're literally having it today. We're filming in summer. So, this is actually really hard getting all excited about pies and falls and stuff. Oh, not for me. I'm right there. Yeah, I'm a pie. I'm going back to the hot place. I'm going back to the hot place. I mean, for you guys, like we're filming at my house up in Northern California. This probably feels pretty cool. Yeah, it's we've had Anyways, um so my fave is going to be um that you don't have corn. No, my fail is that I don't like candied yams and I don't understand why they're at the table. Absolutely not. We don't have those. I feel like one year we did and I don't know that it was a hit. Like on paper, look at it. They're cute. They sound good. Like I love a sweet potato. I love marshmallows. Put them together. See, I hate sweet potatoes. Oh, but marshmallows. You guys know that is part of my lore. Marshmallows. Bury me with a marshmallow. Just one. Just one. Oh my god. If I go before you, will you just put two marshmallows over my eyes? Is there a corn for the river stick? Not corn. Corn has cut out come up a lot lately. Will you please do that? It's great. Everyone's crying. You just go up there and stick two marshmallows over my Oh, she knows what it's about. Okay. Well, MCR plays in the background. And you know, the real ones know, too. A s'mores. Yeah. They're like, "Yes." Yeah. S'mores. So, too, to answer your question, wish was to be a s'more. Yeah. Um Oh my god. Marshmallow. You might eat with the marshmallows. Yeah, she's going to her favorite place. Oh, yeah. The marshmallow city. Okay. So, anyways, my fail. We're just We're just hanging out here today, right? It's all good. You guys are just prepping. H um my fail was that I don't get it. I don't I get it, but I don't get it. It's And every And just like tomatoes that I also hate, I try them every couple years to see if I've changed my mind yet. still. No, don't like Maybe I need to No, you don't try. Maybe I need to find a better recipe, I guess, or something. I don't like sweet potatoes, though. I don't. But like Okay, so I will say the one time and only time that I've liked a sweet potato. Okay. I don't even like a sweet potato fry. Like I'm one of those people. Fries. Yeah. I'm very particular about my baked sweet potato though. Okay. Like I don't want it to be super sweet. I want it to be covered in butter. No, I know. The only time I've liked them is when I made mashed potatoes out of sweet potatoes, which is basically what candied yams can be. Like the way my mom does it, and then just covers them mashed marshmallows up a dessert. Like there has to be a way though to like make those components work and actually enjoyable. It's It's also like always in this huge dish. Like how many do you expect me to eat? Like come on. There's so much left every year that gets thrown away. I swear. And like it's what is it like? Is it a dessert? Like why is it a side? Why is it acceptable as a side? It's one of those like food that you grow up with when your like mom's like, "No, you can't have any candy right now." But then it's like eerie marshmallow sweet potatoes covered in butter. What about What about like a sweet potato sule? Maybe. We need to workshop this. Yeah. with like a nice like maybe like toasted marshmallow crust on the top somehow. You know what I mean? I just think the two components together are just too sweet. You almost need like it to just be a pie cuz I know they make sweet potato pie which is similar to pumpkin pie which you also don't like. Um so good luck. Good luck. Um, no. It's like you, it wouldn't be a graham cracker crust, although you would think, right, cuz marshmallow, but a regular crust just it doesn't feel right, but maybe it'll cut some of the sweetness out. It needs something to like mellow it out a little bit. It's really like a lot. Okay, we'll report back if we uh figure this out. Let us know if you love candy jams. Why? Why? People are like, I don't I don't know cuz I do. Oh, it's good. What is good about it other than they're cute? Do you have a good marshmallow? I want them there at this point though because like it's part of the It's like a nostalgic staple. Pretty decorational for the table. It's all toasted and cute. I mean, I've never met a marshmallow I didn't like, but like until they put it on a sweet potato. Until they put it on a sweet potato. Yeah. Okay. You seemed very much like you want to I do. I want to figure it out. I kind of do want to figure it out. I feel like it could be good. It's like a challenge now. Let us know. Let us know in a December episode. I will. Okay. Okay. And then my 30 minutes later, my fave for Thanksgiving food. Oh, I love pies. I love him. Um, I don't like cake. I like pies. So, that's all year round. Try to make it happen for me. But I will specifically give yet another shout out to canned cranberries. Can be ocean spray, could be store brand. I don't care as long as you take the can opener, you cut one side or whatever it would be called, and then you shake it out of the can so it's can shape and then you plop it over and then you slice it into discs. And I could literally just eat that. It's good because it's only something I would eat on Thanksgiving. Sometimes Christmas if my mom basically does Thanksgiving, too. Yeah. Which is similar. It could be similar. Yeah. So, we haven't done that in a few years, though, because we're all kind of like, well, we don't really like Thanksgiving food that much to have it more than once a year, especially a month separated from each other. So, yeah, canned cranberries. I have I realized I was an adult a few years ago and free will and all that. And I'm like always disappointed when I go like to his mom's who's like super healthy and she never obviously has the canned cranberry. So, I was like, "Fuck it. I'm bringing it." two years going strong now. Third year this year that I'm just bringing it cuz she gets like the super organ. I I love cran Okay. I'm very particular about homemade cranberry sauce or like storebought that isn't canned cuz I don't want any seeds in it. The Costco one is delicious. I think that's the one that she found one. It was either Costco or Whole Foods that is really good. Yeah. But it's inconsistently at the table. And it still doesn't I figured that out. Like I'd be like, "Something's not complete if I don't have it." So now I'm just doing it against her will. Well, hey. It's like, "Uh, canned goods in the house." No. So, oh well, it's mine. I'm eating it. Don't Don't like it. Don't look at it. Yeah. Don't look at it. I I just love that it's like it's very texturally satisfying. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And I think it's not Jell-O and it's not the same as just like a liquidy sauce. But I'm putting it on things. I'm just eating it. I like kind of like sometimes I like to mix it a little bit into stuff. Yeah. But like that's what's good about the Costco one is it's like some kind of weird hybrid where it still has that like very strange kind of almost like semi- gelatinous texture but then it has little chunks of berries in it too that have no seeds that I Yeah, I can't recall but I'm pretty sure no because I don't think I would like I don't want it to be gritty. No, I don't think it's gritty. Um and it's just like again it's just like very texturally interesting. Yeah. And I like that. Yeah, for sure. That's I think what it is because the the food can get kind of bland, you know, and I want something to like switch it up and it's almost like a palette cleanser. So, my Thanksgiving will not feel complete if that is not with me. Even if there's another cranberry sauce, I want both. Yeah. But I need the can. So, yeah. See, I was always about the can until my husband found the Costco one. And now I'm like, hm, interesting. Um, but if they don't have it, then we have to get that because I did make like actual cranberry sauce like with cranberries and stuff like fresh one year and I was like, "This is trash." Man, it's so much work. There you go, guys. Do we feel passionate about not stuffing turkeys? Um, eating cranberry sauce. What is up with sweet potatoes? Do you feel as passionately as we do? Corn be at your table? Is it? Yeah. Is it? Are we just missing out cuz we missed it for some reason? It feels like something that we just none of us do for some reason. But why? Yeah. I don't know. It's like a mascot, if you will, of Thanksgiving, but we don't and fall in general. We respect the corn today and we don't eat it. Like what? Yeah, that is very weird. Maybe it just isn't in season, so it's not at the store, so we don't think about it. Yeah, I don't know. We'll have to think in the next episode of Unsolved. It's only corn preserves. Have to figure it out. corn preserves. It's all the hard corn. It's the hard ones that'll get you. The corn kernels. Yeah, it's I don't know what that's called. They're so texturally satisfying though. And now we've gone full circle for any of you guys uh who that was on was that on our Thanks our Halloween episode. No, no, that was our unhinged questions. Okay. Unhinged questions. What food looks good in like cartoons or whatever. Well, Ashley can get down with a good corn kernel. Good corn kernel from Gus specifically. Say that 10 times fast. Okay. Well, now that we've uh talked about that for 30 minutes, it's Thanksgiving. We're going to talk about food for a long time. That's like what it's all about, baby. Let's get into our Am I the a-hole Thanksgiving edition, shall we? We shall. Okay. Am I the a-hole for telling my mom Thanksgiving lunch is stupid and not wanting to go? Okay, I hear my like crinkle crinkle corn up here. Okay, for as long as I can remember, Thanksgiving dinner was between 4 and 6:00 p.m. Every year consistently. We usually wake up, have a cute little breakfast. Oh, like muffins, bagels, fruit, and eggs kind of thing. Sounds semi brunchy. Semi- brunchy for sure. I cook while the kids get ready. We pack up the food to take with us. I get ready, then we go. Okay. So, this is before going to their mom's house. Sounds like So, they kind of do their own breakfast, eat lunch thing, and then they head over. That makes sense. They got room in the kitchen. Yeah. Okay. When we get there, to her parent to their parents house. It doesn't say who. Um, when they get there, we usually put a movie on while we set up the food, eat, hang out, make plates to take home, and head out around 9:00 p.m. full and happy and probably trying to force down another bite of pie before bed. Can relate. Breakfast pie is not illegal. So if you can't force it, have it in the morning with some coffee. It's good. My dad does it all every year. I love it. Me, too. Yeah. So cute. This year, my youngest sibling is hosting and decided on noon so they can spend time with their significant other's family for real dinner. When my mom first told me, my immediate reaction was, "That's stupid. Don't hold back." It kind of just slipped out and my mom tried to convince me it will be fine. But combining three separate households to wake up, cook, get ready, and drive 30 plus minutes to arrive by noon is a little stressful, especially in a household of four with one bathroom. I keep trying to convince myself that it's fine. It's just one day and it's about the family coming together. But I can't help but feel like we're an afterthought and my sibling is just squeezing us into their schedule. It doesn't mean you're an afterthought, but okay, I'll just read it all. Means they're trying to like they're trying to squeeze everybody into the schedule. That's all it means to do. Yeah. I don't want to go and this might be my last year I do the holidays with my family unless my mom is hosting because my siblings are ruining all of them. Oh my gosh. Then you do it. This is multi- Yeah. layered. I'm I'm usually the peacekeeper in the family. But after the oldest sibling ruined my mom's birthday and the 4th of July to point my mom with hot dogs. No. With to the point my mom was in tears. I think I'm just over family period. It will be the first time we're all together since the whole ordeal. But ew. So we go to lunch are home by 3 p.m. then eat leftovers for dinner by ourselves. It's not even enough time to make second dinner because they are picked by the middle of the day unless I wake up super early and make my own Thanksgiving dinner and bring aside to my siblings a stupid thing. I promise I'm trying, but I cannot get over how ridiculous this Thanksgiving lunch idea my sibling has. Is does this make me an a-hole? There is an update, but let's talk on this for a moment. Yeah, this is really simple to me. Okay. Yeah. What's your answer? uh that they're an a-hole and need to chill. Yeah. Because like I just be happy that like you have people who are inviting you over to Thanksgiving. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like you don't have to cook anything yourself. You don't have to do anything. Maybe you bring one dish or something or pies or something. You know what I mean? But it's like you get to just go and enjoy Thanksgiving and hang out with everyone and you don't have to cook and slave away and you know like clean your house and like do all that stuff and then you just get to peace out around 9:00 and eat pie and then go to bed. Like I don't know. Or I guess it would be earlier in the day this time. So let's say you had to peace out around 5. I just I don't understand what the problem is that they're having Thanksgiving together at noon instead of 4 to 6 around there. That is weird. Just a few hours difference. Hill to die on is weird. Yeah. It's like, "Okay, it's at noon. Okay, why do you care?" Like, I guess I don't know. Yeah, I just don't understand. Like, that's such a deal breakaker that they don't want to have Thanksgiving with their family like ever again. Ever again. I think this is going back to hm what's shocker? Communication perhaps. All sit together and figure out a time that works for everybody. And for the people that it doesn't work for, don't go. Well, it doesn't sound like they have a good reason why it doesn't work for them. They're just annoyed that they're doing lunch and dinner somewhere else, too. Like, who cares? Yeah. Literally, who cares? Yeah. Like, if they had a conflict with, let's say, the other side of their family or something, but it just sounds to me like they just don't like noon because it's an inconvenient time to them. I would love to put a poll up, so let's do it this week. How many people have to attend multiple? Because a lot of people do. A lot of people do lunch and then dinner and they have to basically eat the same meal twice, you know. So, it's very common. It's annoying and it's if you don't like it, you don't do it. Well, a lot of people will also alternate years. It's like my family this year, then my in-laws next year, you know? So, hey, work it out. Work it out. I just think it's not a big deal. It's not a big deal, but it sounds like maybe they have two young kids cuz it sounds like they're getting them ready and everything. So maybe it's just that time of people's lives where they have to make that decision on, okay, we're just going to cook at home for ourselves then. So we can do Thanksgiving the way we want to do it. We can invite people, but maybe invite them knowing they're probably going to say no because they have other commitments, you know, or you be reasonable and you try to go to all the places or have they ever tried to host perhaps. Exactly what I Yeah, exactly. That's what I mean. They could do it how they want to do it. See if you can come come. We're doing it at this time cuz I'm very particular about having it as dinner. Yeah. Then there you go. It just gives annoying energy to me. Like someone in the family who's going to complain about what everyone else does but not actually at the end of the day do it themselves. Yeah. And I'm just the type of person where it's like I would love for someone else to do all of the cooking and I just get to show up. Like that would be amazing. Yeah. I don't care what time it Like literally have anything you want for dinner, go get McDonald's. They're open still. Literally second dinner. If you don't want to eat reheated leftovers or if you don't want to have stuff cooking at your house, you know, for second Thanksgiving, whatever. You could be flexible. That's the thing is like I understand traditions are hard and you know that age where everybody sounds like they're getting married off, you know, cuz I have a big family. We've all had to, you know, make adjustments. It's no hard feelings and everybody just works it out, you know, like, oh, you know, my little sister now every other year she's with us. Great. You know, we of course we'd love her to have her every year, but you know, and then my other sister, she stops at like three houses before she gets to our house, you know, and sometimes they're running behind, but it's not like uh you have to wait for me, you know, sometimes we do and sometimes we don't. We just play it by ear. It's okay. It's not that serious. It's not that serious. And second dinner is great. I don't know why people are upset about second dinner. Yeah. Like you said, Hi. I have I have some things to say. I think I have one more that has to do with time. So, we'll go over that cuz it's quite the contention. Jeez. Yeah. See, I'm just at this point in my life where I'm like, if someone wants to take stuff over, I'll show up whenever. Does it matter? Literally. I second dinner, brunch, like it doesn't matter to me at all. Like, at all. Um, so yeah, I think they're kind of the a-hole for being like, I'm just not going to do uh the holidays with my family anymore if they don't accommodate the time that I think is right to have Thanksgiving dinner on. Yeah. And you're not the only person with an opinion and a preference. Totally. I know we can feel strongly about stuff, but so do other people. Yeah. You know, so figure out a compromise. Why can't you say too then, you know, then say everybody can get there early, let's eat at two, then you can leave if you're too full. Sorry. You know, like I guess like come up. That's why I mean all talk together and come with a time that the majority feels good about, you know, cuz you're not going to please everybody. No. And that's a good rule to remember. Like you're not going to please everybody. There's going to be someone that doesn't like the plan. Yeah. But hopefully the majority of them do. Yeah. It kind of sounds like they're the only ones with the issue. So yeah, they don't eat so much that they don't want to eat dinner. Like you know what I mean? I don't know. Yeah. Speaking of the time thing, okay, because I didn't even realize this was weird growing up. We usually have Thanksgiving dinner at 2:00. That's like always been not that it always ends up being 2. Sometimes it does end up being like 4:00 or so, but like my mom will always say like 1:30, 2:00 is dinner. Mhm. Yeah. I would say like I mean now that it's me and my husband hosting usually we'll have dinner at like a normal dinner time 6 you know um but back when it was like my you know parents and like my grandparents and stuff hosting it was always like two or three. Yeah. Yeah. Honestly I bet it was because people would have to go to multiple dinners cuz I know my parents originally used to back in the day. Um so yeah I didn't know it was really weird until my husband pointed me out pointed it out when his family cuz they don't eat till like 7:00. So, we're like, "Oh my gosh, we're so hungry by then." You know, even though we're snacking on appetizers, but I was like, "Oh, yeah." So, you guys let us know. Are you a Are you a noon, a midday uh dinner? I'd say ours is pretty midday. Yeah. Because what I think what's great about that and why I personally like a between 2 and 4 is because we eat so much and we hang out and we talk and whatever and then we eat a lot of pie for dinner. Mhm. So that would be our second dinner in a way because you can have a lot more room for pie because if you're eating at 7 oh it sucks you know so because we eat at like you know 7 o'clock I would say at least at my my in-laws and then we're not hungry for dessert and they have so much dessert so you know yeah I mean we eat early enough I would say like 600 so we eat early enough to where people have time for dessert but we also you know can stay up we don't have kids so we can stay up as late as we want. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. So, hey, you guys let us know because it was a big point of contention on a lot of these. Okay, Thanksgiving holidays. All right. Am I the a-hole for telling my husband he deserved to be called an idiot by my sister for what he told her kids during Thanksgiving dinner? Okay. O, this is that she said that first Thanksgiving without our beloved brother-in-law. My sister's husband, 30s, passed away months ago from serious medical conditions. He and my sister and their kids used to come spend Thanksgiving at my parents house every year. This year, and seeing how sad my sister has been, we weren't sure whether she wanted to join us, but were surprised when she showed up with her kids while we were about to eat and brought her youngest um sister-in-law as well. We were happy to see them. Yeah. My sister took off her jacket and sat down at the table and we started eating and talking about a bunch of stuff when my husband stopped and casually pointed at the empty chair and said, "Damn, that's where Thomas used to sit, wearing that same brown trucker jacket and talking about his plans for the future, even when he was sick." I looked at my sister and saw her grudgingly staring at him. And he went on to speak to the kids directly, asking if they missed their dad, and they nodded. He then looked at my sister, then back at the kids and said, "Oh, please don't be so sad because daddy's just gone to sleep just like we all do, except that he won't ever wake up." Oh, I'm sorry. When I was reading this, I was like, literally, who is this guy? Chandler putting his foot in his mouth. It sounds like mayday, mayday. Oh crap. I mean, that's the thing. Inflection is everything with that. paragraph that that man said. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, how what was the delivery? Was it the awkward Oh, no. Uh, I mean, I don't know. We were all shocked as my niece started crying suddenly and my sister got up from her chair and started unloading on my husband, calling him an idiot and that he should have kept his mouth shut and not not talk to the kids like that. My husband got up from his seat and got into an argument with her. And I got involved trying to calm them down, but my sister told her sister-in-law to get the kids ready to leave and took her stuff. I tried to follow, but she told me to leave her alone because I've done enough already. I went back inside and my husband said he was just trying to comfort the kids and didn't understand why she went off on him like that. I was pretty upset. And later at night, my sister called saying her kids are now traumatized and terrified of sleeping, thinking they too won't wake up just like their dad after what my husband told them. I said, "Oh my god, I'm so sorry." then literally got into a big argument with him as he tried to say he's the victim and my sister was overstepping by calling him an idiot and humiliating him in front of the whole family. Okay. I said he deserved to be called an idiot called an idiot and more after the messed up line he told the kids and let him know that he just traumatized his niece and nephew while this whole situation was preventable. He threw his hands up in frustration and took the phone and bag and left the apartment after saying we were all being too much and unfair to him over an innocent attempt to comfort the kids. He thinks I should be with him, not against him. Am I the a-hole? Uh, no. You're not the a-hole for calling him an idiot. No. No matter whether it's ill intention or not, I was pretty idiotic. Is I just when I read this the first time, I was like, I just don't understand what compels people. It's like, you know, it's okay to just say nothing. Yeah. Yeah. Like that's also an option. Yeah. Like if everyone seems like and also like read the room, you know, if it was one of those things where like, you know, they wanted to say like a few words in remembrance if this was like the first Thanksgiving without him, but it's like if no one's bringing it up. Yeah. And you're just trying to eat and be normal. Yeah. It's okay to just eat and be normal. I feel like some people feel so awkward that they have to fill the silence with something. Yes. And it's like you don't though. That's what I mean is like what is this person's personality like? Like like you know is it Chandler where he's like is it Chandler and he's like spiraling. That's why I know myself enough to not say anything because I'm it's going to come out wrong and like I'm going to spiral and make things worse and worse. So I just I choose to be quiet and not know because I also understand like everybody is grieving. We don't know what the relationship is like. That is hard to be like a crap like that's the empty chair. That's pretty sad that there's an empty chair there. They couldn't like that without anybody noticing, you know, they kind of showed up. It sounds somewhat unexpectedly, but like why were all those extra chairs there? Did they bring an extra one? You know, so like I get noticing it, but word vomit. It sounds like word vomit and he doubled down, but um so either way, bro, take the like fall and not argue and make it worse. It's weird that he's defensive about it. That's what's throwing me off here. Yeah, maybe if he like Yeah, if he had the Chandler reaction and he was like just, "Oh no, now I've gone too far and I don't know how to Okay, we're all going to die. It's okay." Yeah, exactly. He's fine. Like he just went to the place where we all go when we don't wake up one day. Maybe soon. Maybe maybe tonight when you close your eyes. Um Yeah. So like if he did that then, you know, you would hope that like you know they'd be like, "Oh my god, you're such an idiot. Just be quiet." And then he was like, "Oh, sorry. Yeah, like I didn't mean to, but I just like it couldn't I was on a train that couldn't be stopped. You know what I mean? But like it sounds like he I mean he literally freaked out and then like grabbed his stuff and left and was like, "You should be on my side." Like no. Yeah, it obviously was a read the room situation and he did not or he was purposely being a jerk. Yeah. Like maybe he didn't like him cuz he's saying like the same old jacket or whatever that he always wear like wore something like that. The internet a-hole. I mean, not the a-hole for calling him an idiot. No, no, no. They're like, uh, well, kind of seems like he may have deserved it a little bit. Awkward. Awkward. Yeah. Awkward family Thanksgiving. What a time. Okay. All right. What do you have next for us? Am I the a-hole for asking my friend and her boyfriend to pay me the cost of the ingredients for the Thanksgiving dessert that they ate? I, 22 female, live with my friend Chelsea in quotation mark, so fake name. 23 female. The two of us live there on a lease, but her boyfriend Jake, 23 male, will often come over to spend time with her. Not so much it's like he's practically living with us for free, but enough that I don't get surprised if I come home and see him on the couch occasionally. Okay. Okay. Yesterday, I made an Oreo dirt cake for Thanksgiving. I'm the dirt cake lady for my family and friends. I'll make it for birthdays, Christmas, New Year's, and Thanksgiving. When people ask me or not, it's just a given I'll make it. This year, I changed things up slightly with a golden Oreo and was happy with the result as I got it loaded into the freezer for it to set overnight. I checked it I checked on it briefly this morning and transferred it to the fridge before I got went to work. Now, while Jake eats while over at our apartment, it's usually just Chelsea's food or food that we share with each other, like pizza, chips, popcorn, whatever. I don't mind if either of them eats some of my food, but I will point out if something is for a special occasion, so they don't eat it. Good. I texted Chelsea that the dirt cake in the fridge was for my family's Thanksgiving dinner and to keep her and Jake's hands off of it. She gave me a thumbs up emoji in reply, and I didn't think anything of it. Mhm. Okay, this is important. I didn't expect that when I got home, I would see Chelsea and Jake on the couch watching a movie with a bowl of dirt cake. Oh my god, I had rage. And it was sitting on the living room table and it was halfeaten. It's making me mad. He didn't. Oh, I knew this would get you. Like even my husband, he knows. He'll ask. He'll be like, "Can I have those muffins yet?" And I'm like, "Don't touch them." You know, there were two big spoons inside of it. Obviously, I got irritated and asked why the f did she and her boyfriend eat the dirt cake when I explicitly said to leave it alone since it was for my family in that text I sent. Chelsea tried to claim that the text mustn't have gotten through because I shut that down. But I was able to shut that down really quickly by showing that she replied to it with that thumbs up. Chelsea clammed up and Jake tried to defend her by saying, "It's just pudding." which pissed me off more. Okay, great. Then you make a new one before I need it then. Yeah, we can solve this. Get to it. And it better be good or I'm gonna make you redo it. Yeah, exactly. I remembered that I still had time to remake the dirt cake. So, I asked Chelsea and Jake to give me some money so I could go shopping to buy the ingredients and redo it. And I told them the price. The least they could do. Yeah. Literally. Yeah. Literally the least they can do is give the money for it. They both refused and told me I was being overly dramatic over a dessert that doesn't even taste all that great. Oh my god. They ate half so Rossco codated like you know intensity that we we are justified in displaying. You ate half. It wasn't great. I asked them if it wasn't good then why is half of it gone in one sitting? Oh my god, they didn't answer. And so why? Cuz their mouths were full of it. It's not even good. Oh my god. Spitting everywhere. Oh my god.

They didn't answer me, so I rolled my eyes and told them I expected the money by tomorrow morning. Jake left soon after that, and Chelsea refused to speak to me for the rest of the night. I told my siblings what happened, and they told me I was right to ask for them to pay for the cost. Our mutual friends, however, think I'm being dramatic over the situation and think I should just pay for it myself. What? No. That makes me so mad. So, am I the a-hole over asking them to pay for the ingredients that they ate? No. No. End of story. Done. I don't understand.

So, she liked it. She thumbs up it. Okay. So, obviously she received it. Okay. So, either there's only two options there. Either she didn't read the text or pay attention to it. just thumbs up it and forgot about it and then ate it. Okay. In which case, your response should be like, "Oh my god, I'm so sorry. I like totally like just thumbs up it and meant to read it 2 seconds later and then it got buried and I forgot and like I'm sorry we ate it and like I'll go make you a new one right now. Like I'll go to the store and I'll make you a new one right now." Or like the other option is that literally she did read it and liked it and then chose to eat it anyway, which is crazy to me. Yeah. Wow. I don't know. Well, it's like I don't like Okay, if you have this, it sounds like they have a system worked out, you know, whether maybe it's even um an unspoken system where it's like, you know, there's some mutual things we all have, but for the most part, we have separate stuff. Yeah. If you see a made prepped dessert in the fridge before a major holiday, especially, you know what that is? You know what that's for. It's not just, oh, I just want to make this cake for myself and my roommates to eat on a whim. I cannot imagine doing that and then getting mad at them. Yeah, it's super manipulative. It is. Just be like, "Oh, you're overreacting." No, you just like literally ate the whole dessert that I made for my thing tomorrow. If it's not a big deal, then you make me one. Yeah, exactly. If it's not a big deal, go to the is hard. Oh, it does take a lot of effort and work. Oh, you shouldn't have eaten it. And then like, oh well, we don't even like it that much. Oh, I would have taken the bowl and dumped it on their head. Yeah, exactly. Figuratively, I wouldn't have actually done it. There's like this um there's this episode of Everybody Loves Raymond, which is a show I love by the way. If you guys aren't into it, it's very funny. Um where I can't remember if like Rey, who's the husband, was supposed to be doing a chore and he was just like sitting on the couch eating ice cream or if like he ate the last of the ice cream after Deborah, his wife, explicitly said that she wanted it. I don't remember what it was, but she was annoyed that he was just sitting there eating it. Yeah. She just walks into the room, picks up the bowl, and flips it over and dumps it in his lap. Yeah. That's what I envision myself doing. Yeah. Yep. Oh my god. Wow. I can't even believe that. People rude for sure. All right. What do you got? I'm assuming that the internet agree. Actually, not enough votes yet. But for the most part, according to the comments, not the a-hole, not the a-hole, not the a-hole. That's the a-hole. Wow. Um, am I the a-hole for refusing to host Thanksgiving because my family keeps using my house as a free hotel? Oh jeez. Uh, Thanksgiving is just around the corner and I feel like I'm at my breaking point. For the past 5 years, I posted at my house and it's gone from being something I genuinely love to something I absolutely dread. The main issue isn't the cooking or cleaning. It's how my family treats my home like a free hotel. They don't just come for the meal. They show up days early and act like they're on vacation. My brother brings his kids, who immediately take over the living room with toys, snacks, and whatever mess they can make. My sister doesn't lift a finger, claiming she's quote, "Just here to relax." And my mom spends the entire time critiquing every single thing I do. She even made me iron the tablecloth last year, saying it was quote unquote embarrassing for the family to eat on wrinkles. I'd be like, "Here, take the iron. I'm not ironing it." Yeah, that's great. This is 1950. Fix it then if it bothers you. Okay. Last year was the final straw. My brother's kids raided the fridge the morning after Thanksgiving, finishing off the leftover pie I was saving to share with my in-laws that weekend. Lots of food misunderstandings. Start labeling stuff, okay? Cuz listen, if you stick a big old sign, cuz I've done this before, a big old pink, you know, not like a regular size post-it, but like the big ones, and write on it, do not eat. Yeah. then they know in no uncertain terms if they have to literally take that off to take the foil off or whatever. Yeah, pro tip. Start doing that. Okay. Uh, last year was the final straw. My brother's kids raided the fridge the morning after Thanksgiving, finishing off the leftover pie I was saving to share with my in-laws that weekend. No one helped clean up after dinner. My husband and I spent two hours washing dishes while everyone else louned in the living room drinking wine. When I complained later, my sister rolled her eyes and said, "Well, you're the one who wanted to host." That what? Well, I kind of agree. Okay, so we'll get there. This year, I decided I wasn't going to do it. Back in September, I told everyone I needed a break and suggested we rotate hosting duties or go out to a restaurant. My mom said I was being selfish and that my house is the most comfortable. My sister flat out refused, saying her apartment is too small, and my brother said he's too busy to host because of his work schedule. Since then, they've been constantly pressuring me to change my mind. My mom even said, "You're ruining Thanksgiving for everyone." And my brother promised to help more this year, though I've heard that before. Mhm. Now, with only a day to go, no one has stepped up to host, and the family group chat is a passive aggressive mess. My mom keeps implying that Thanksgiving might not happen at all if I don't agree to host, which makes me feel terrible. On one hand, I feel like it's unfair for them to expect me to carry the burden year after year, especially when they treat me in my home with so little respect. On the other hand, the idea of Thanksgiving falling apart because of me is making me second guess myself. Part of me wonders if I should just suck it up and host to keep the peace, but another part of me feels like I deserve a break, too. Am I the a-hole for standing my ground and refusing to host this year? not the a-hole for refusing to host whatsoever. It is kind of an unspoken like rule, at least in my families that I go to, is that like we all help with dishes. You know, it just depends cuz there's usually we've all kind of communicated that like you know there's certain usually the main dishes are the responsible of the host because it's not easy to transport a giant turkey or whatever. So, we all contribute different things that were pre-desated, you know, and then we all just help clean up. We just all because we all want everybody to have fun. I want my host to be having fun, too. Yeah. So, um I think it's kind of like rude that people aren't recognizing that she needs help with that kind of stuff, but it's good for her to now be making those boundaries clear, you know, and but it sounds like from based off of what we know, she doesn't even care as much about Thanksgiving as much as the other people that are trying to pressure her to host do. And if they care that much, they should do it. Yeah. I mean, maybe say my house is open for you to be the host, you know, but maybe these are the ground rules that we need to have before, you know. Yeah. I think that this is a classic case of there's someone in the family. It's probably not just Thanksgiving, okay? Yeah, there's someone in the family who is on top of it, who is good at planning, who is good at executing, who has a, you know, decent size house they probably keep tidy and organized, and everyone else is taking advantage of it. Yeah. And they don't want them to change it cuz they love going and not doing anything and having a great vacation and just no responsibilities. Don't have to help. And it's like, okay, well, hey, I'm okay doing that every once in a while, but not every single time. And the fact that they don't respect their space also really just rubs me wrong. And so, you know, the little comments like, you know, her mom quote unquote made her iron the tablecloth last year saying it was embarrassing for the family to eat on wrinkles. Okay. No one can really make you do anything. You're an adult. You're an adult. So, like, it's your responsibility to literally I know how it's uncomfy. Yeah. But you have to say, "I'm not doing that." Yeah. Yeah. That's crazy. I'm not doing If you want to do it with saying no. Yeah. You need to be okay to say no. If you want to do it, go be be my guest. Literally, if you want to iron the all the napkins and the tablecloths and everything, do it. Maybe I'm more crass where I'll say that. Like, oh, great. Here, here's an iron. Figure it out. Thanks. It doesn't bother me, so I'm not going to do it. You know, I'm not going to prioritize that whatsoever. I mean, I feel like the compromises that this person and they're not even saying, I don't want to host again ever. They're saying I want this year off. Yeah. You know, it's like I kind of had a similar thing where it's like my husband and I, we consistently host and I this last year was like, I can't I need a break. Yeah, it's a lot of work. It is a lot of work. And my sister and brother-in-law did it and we got to go over to their house and it was great and it was like not a big deal like but we just had to like talk it over. Yeah. You know, and so I feel like they're not saying I don't want to host ever again in my life. They're just saying like can we either go out or have someone else do it this year? Yeah. And the fact that everyone is guilting them and making them out to be like this bad person for not wanting to accommodate them and basically do everything is completely insane to me. Yeah. Cuz now they know that they they know what they're doing. They know what they're doing. They know what they're doing. It's not like, "Oh, I just didn't think about helping with the dishes." Or like, "Oh, I didn't think about taking out what this implicates." It's like, "No, you just need to do it because we all enjoy you doing this for us." Yeah. Gosh, that must be nice, huh? That's not how hosting should work either. It's very impolite at the bare bare minimum. Well, yeah. And that's the thing. It's like you don't want to continue to build up like resentment towards your family. So, they're doing the right thing by setting a boundary. Yes. Because the alternative is that you continue to not and then you just explode once you finally can't take it anymore. They haven't even exploded yet. They're just like, "Okay, wo, I need a break. This is so much." And everyone's like, I mean, literally, you're ruining Thanksgiving for everyone. That's so crazy. Yeah. You're ruining Thanksgiving. This This sounds like a whole family kind It's like a weaponized incompetence of an entire family towards this one person. Parentified child. Exactly. You know, at one point who is now an adult and holding the whole family together basically. Yeah. Yeah. It's crazy. So, I support their boundaries. Taking a year off. I'm sorry. Like, okay, we have to like call in a meal from somewhere like and order every like who cares. Yeah. Yeah. So, that's why it's like it's not even about all being together. No, it's about Yeah. This a free vacation. It does feel like that. Yeah, it does. It does. Oh, sad. Hope they figured it out. Hope they had a better Thanksgiving after that. Same thing. Everyone there's um not enough to have an official vote, but everyone's saying not the a-hole, you know. Yeah. Take your mom saying Thanksgiving might not happen at all as a blessing in disguise. Yeah. Am I the a-hole for making my family start Thanksgiving dinner without my sister? H Let's find out. Every year we have dinner on Thanksgiving at 4:00 p.m. Been that way since I was a kid and my parents still host. This gather includes my parents, my wife and kids and various aunt, uncles, cousins. It also includes my sister. She had to work this year but would be home by 6:15. My parents decided to push the celebration back so my sister could eat with us. I wasn't very happy about it because we usually go literally these. It's like just be happy someone is cooking for you. Yeah, that too. Like jeez. I wasn't happy about it because we usually go see my in-laws for dessert, but I couldn't figure out or but I figured we could eat quick and be out of there by 7:00 to go to their house. Okay. Okay, so 6:30 rolls around and my sister is nowhere to be seen. Okay, it's 15 minutes after the alleged time. My mom called her and said she had to wait for her replacement to come in. It sounds like somebody in the medical field, you know, it does sound like a nurse or something like that. Um, so I had to wait for her replacement to come in, but she was on the way and would be there at 6:45. That's 30 minutes past the time that they were hoping for. Everyone agre agreed to wait for her to eat, but my wife shot me a glare. I told my mom we had already waited long enough and already changed the gathering around for her and I had other places that we needed to be. My kids were hungry and getting cranky and my wife was pissed. I started making a plate. So did my my wife and kids. And my mom gave up and said, "Fine, everyone just eat." Everyone started picking up a plate, but it was awkward. My wife and kids and I finished eating and wear and were getting ready to leave when my sister got home and then everybody started making their actual plates and talking and sitting at the table. My wife and I left with the kids and went to the in-laws. The next day, my mom called me and told me I was rude and I it was only an extra 15 minutes, but really it was an extra 30. She said, "No one cares but me." And after I left, most of my family commented on how unnecessary I acted and that I made things uncomfortable. Okay. My sister also feels really bad now because it's her fault all this happened. Now, my mom is embarrassed and saying she is not sure if she wants to host Christmas, but I don't think I did anything wrong. Am I the a-hole? I mean, you kind of made everything about you, but but your sister I mean, did I first of all, did the sister want everyone to wait for her, or was that something that like the mom maybe projecting? Yeah. Like trying to organize. Yeah. Yeah. There I mean, here's the thing, you know, with manners, okay? Right. We wait till everybody sits down to eat. Um, they're made up though, right? Yeah. Do whatever you got to do. At the end of the day, we only made them up, you know, 300 years ago, like sit down and wait for the table. So, I think everybody's wrong and everybody's right in this situation. It sounds like he's leaving out how he handled it cuz everybody talked about him when he left. And I just have a feeling he didn't handle it well. I'm speculating, but I'm feeling like he made a big scene, you know, because at the end of the day, it is 30 minutes. Oh my god, it's so late. I'm just going to make a plane to eat. And he's doing it 15 minutes later. He's like, "You got to be home at 6:15. Calm down." Like, "It's fine." You know, or be be calm. Calm down. Go say, "I'm really sorry. We got to get going. My kids are really hungry. We pushed it back as much as we could. We're going to make a plate real quick and eat it over here." Not a big deal. Everybody has different times. Like I said, like we have people that are stopping by multiple places that come, you know? They come, they eat a plate real quick. We have my nephew that works and um and he has to come after everybody's eaten and he'll make himself a plate and you'll hang out. Guess what? The only thing ruining everything is bad attitudes. Yeah. If you're coming in and you're like, "Well, we're going to all eat. This is ridiculous. Everybody needs to eat together. Like, you can't control everything, first of all. So, calm down." And like, yeah, quietly go make your plate, say your goodbyes, and leave. Yeah. I feel like I would like to know first of all if the sister even cared about this because something kind of tells me because like it sounds like the sister wasn't mad. She feels bad because everyone was fighting over her, right? And so because one camp one person is like wait mad and then the rest everybody's like no it's fine. We could wait 30 minutes. Yeah. So, but I'm kind of wondering if like the sister didn't even care. Like if she would have been fine if everyone just started and then she rolled in and just ate like once she got there. But, you know, something kind of tells me in the back of my mind. Maybe it was like the parents kind of projecting like no, we want everyone to eat together. So, how it's like a classic case of like when you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one. Yes. I think that's what happens on the what sounds like the mom was the host, right? Yeah. So, it's like maybe that was going on and so he was, you know, so I don't know. I feel like I'd want to know that information or like was the sister really like adamant about this cuz I've also known people like that who were like make everything about them and they're like no one can have Thanksgiving dinner until I'm home. Yeah. And so is she gonna freak out if people like are eating when she's not there and that's why the brother is freaking out and now everyone's freaking out or is well why is the brother making everybody eat with him? Yeah. I think it's him. Yeah. It sounds like okay everybody get a plate. Let's just eat. Yeah. Instead of realizing you can just have you and your family eat and then let them if they're okay with waiting let them wait. Yeah. because everyone was kind of just like awkwardly like picking up food like I don't know what to do. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, sounds like he didn't handle it good. So, I'm gonna vote that he's being in the a-hole about it. Yeah. Same. It's not a-hole that you want to go. It's a-hole how you handle the situation. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. It's okay for people to just like do their own thing. He was voted the a-hole. So, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's Come on. I don't know. It's okay for people to just like come and go. We don't have to do everything together all the time. Okay. Am I the a-hole for laughing after my sister implied my brother's girlfriend's dish wasn't good at Thanksgiving? I, 27, female, and my brother John, 26, male, all the names are in air quotes, are very close. So, I was definitely shocked when he surprised us on Thanksgiving by bringing his new girlfriend, Chelsea. He was very happy though, and to be honest, that's the only thing we want for him. So, we grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, and cousins held off on all questions until another time. Anyway, dinner time rolls around and we're sharing everything and my aunt kind of pulls me off to the side and tells me we're not going to be eating my mashed potatoes because Chelsea brought some and John asked that we serve those instead. Oh, okay. I was a little peeved, not going to lie, because I've done the mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving since I was 16, but I got over it pretty fast. I really didn't care as long as they were good. Yeah. Okay. So that's like a healthy I feel like you know response spoiler alert they were not good. Oh no. Okay. Everything that could have gone wrong with these potatoes went wrong. They were raisins. I was correct. Literally there were raisins. No. I like took that to me and they were really dry. Okay. She was really excited though. So when she asked everybody if they were good, she got some Mhm. Yes. You know the kind you do with your mouth closed, uncomfortable smile on your face. It's like when everyone's eating the trifle, you know. I like it. I like it. Yeah. Um, everything else was good. So, her dish was highlighted. We all thought we passed it though until my nephew spit it out into a tissue. She said something about not pleasing everybody to lighten the mood cuz we were all looking at him hard as hell. And my brother went, "I'm sure they they're glad to have a break from my potatoes anyway." And they laughed. So, they're all trying to like make a joke out of it. I wasn't going to say anything, but my sister, 22 female, said, "We are not." in the most monotone voice and I just laugh.

Like one burst of a cackle. So that's okay. So just to kind of like make streamline that, someone said, "I'm sure that we're glad to have a break from my potatoes that we normally have anyway." And my sister said, "No, no, we're not." Yeah. 22. Of course. 22. Yeah. Chelsea teared up and the rest of the night was awkward. My brother called me an ass and is still mad at me. Am I the a-hole? He's mad at that because they just did one laugh. They can't help like they're not even the one that said it. No, I say no if it's told accurately to what it says here cuz like that was a slip up. Like that's like Oh jeez. That would be really hard to not laugh. Yeah, cuz you're not expecting it. Everybody's playing the game. Okay. I mean, here's the thing. It's It's okay. It sounds like they are a family with a good sense of humor. Yeah. So, like, but I could see how like a new girlfriend in the mix like isn't there yet, right? Like she hasn't been around the family enough to understand that's a lot of pressure. Like a new family, new environment. So, like maybe just do a little bit better of a job about making her feel better about it. Like yeah, you know, you don't have to be a good cook to be part of this family. It's okay. I think that all of this could have been avoided by just serving both mashed potatoes cuz it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. Nothing matters. It's like especially if she didn't ask ahead of time if she can bring that specific dish. You have to know. Okay, here's the thing. If you're a guest and you want to bring something and if there's nothing specific, if you bring a main Thanksgiving dish, it's going to be a duplicate. And if she doesn't know that, that's on her. That's like Thanksgiving mashed potatoes as a staple. Turkey, mashed potatoes, usually stuffing, you know, rolls, those are staples. So, if it's a staple dish, it's okay that there's two there. Let people decide. It's whatever. And don't ask. If you don't want something to be duplicated, bring a unique dessert or appetizer. Yeah. Or unique side. Like, I just love that they're so dry. They describe them as raisins. That made me laugh out loud. It's hard to make mashed potatoes that dry. And did you not put any liquids in? What happened? Yeah. What? But then why is it so bad? Like what went wrong? Cook them too long. What happened? What happened? Um Yeah. I feel like I feel kind of bad for her cuz she's new to the family. That's tough. But also it's good to let them know. Yeah. Like if we're the, you know, it's like me and my sister, like we would always say that, you know, it's like you have to be okay with a consistent We're all going to make fun of everyone. Yes. all day. We I know my family doesn't hold back when new people come around and it's the it's the real ones that stay around. Yeah. So, you know, it's like as long as it's all cuz we've definitely read some of these where it's like people make fun of each other and it's not all in good fun. As long as it's all in good fun and everyone's in good spirits about it, like that's different, you know? So, I think maybe just go out of your way to make sure that she understands that, you know, we're all just razing you. It's not a big deal. Yeah. But yeah, I don't think he's the a-hole. Like sometimes a laugh just, you know, it just slips out. Especially if something someone says something really funny. I mean, hey, what are you going to do? What are you going to do? All right, you guys. That is all the am I the a-hole for today. But for the bookish people out there, we have a book recommendation each for this fall season to get you in the mood. And we want to talk about a few of our hopefuls, which are also kind of like a hey, maybe you should read this, too. Yeah. Yeah. Let's go. Okay. So, what is your rack? All right. So, fall vibes, it's not Thanksgiving particularly at all. Um, but it's fall vibes. The Witch of Tin Mountain by Pette Kennedy. So, this is a fantasy paranormal type of book. Obviously, Witch of Tin Mountain. It has to do with witches, but it's ve it's set in a kind of around the same, you know,ish area as the witch trials, but a little more southern. Oh, sorry. It's set in the Ozark Mountains in particular. So, like an original type of settlement. It's because it's a bit of historical fiction, but not historical at all. Does that make sense? Like it has tie-ins from like the vibes of the Missouri Ozark Mountains around that time. Like not pilgrim times, a little later. Like the train was invented, the locomotive was being built. Okay. So, this to set the mood. It's very um you got the Smoky Mountains, so you got that fog and all of those things going on. Very gloomy, very fall. You got the witches. And it's about a woman who is discovering her ancient, you know, family history of being a witch and battling paranormal demons and things like that. Um, sounds good. So there's there's spice involved. Good LGBTQ plus representation and just overall it was a good mood setter, you know, cuz it's a good transition and book I think from fall to winter cuz it does describe the weather and the scenery a lot in a good way. Nice. I love that. Yeah, they're well well-rounded fun time. Not fun, but like fun. Interesting. Moody moody moody time. So, my recommendation is The Darkly Madly Duet by Trisha Wolf. You guys have probably heard me mention this before on the podcast at some point in time, I would think. Um, I love Trisha Wolf. I love all of her stuff. I feel like it's all very like fall appropriate because it is very moody and um like just describes the scenery a lot. For sure. This one in particular would be a good one to read coming off of Halloween because it does have some like kind of spooky vibes. It's a dark romance, very spicy, essentially about like a clinical psychologist um who has like a dark past of her own who essentially ends up kind of falling for one of her patients who is very like jigsaw coded. So, it's excellent. I loved it. Definitely very very fall. Like this would be good to read like anytime in the like Yeah. more moody winter. Nice fall vibe months. Yep. Great. Good. So, what about ones that you hopefuls? Three hopefuls. Three hopefuls. I'm going to put on there. Number one, House of Roots and Ruin, which is the follow-up book to House of Salt and Sorrow, which was very moody. I definitely recommend that one for the spooky fall kind of vibes. So, House of Roots and Ruin is following that. So, I'm hoping like we get a little bit of more late fall, but still the paranormal vibes that I was not expecting in that story. It is YA, so there's there was no spice in the first one, so I'm not thinking there's going to be anyways, but there is romance involved. Yeah, just not shown in any way. So, that one. And then I would love to finish the witch collector series. Oh, yeah, for sure. Yeah, I still have only ever read just book one. Yeah. a good fall to winter, you know. Yeah, for sure. Book series, I think. And then you got The Witches, of course. And then I better, if I haven't read it yet, it's going to be time. It's going to be me. Um, The Fallen and The Kiss of Dusk by Chris Broadbent. Yeah. So, hopefully I've already read it because, you know, we're pre-filming this. If I haven't, I better get on it. Yeah. Yep. Now's the week. So, my first hopeful is Nocticadia by Carrie Lake. Um, this book has gotten so much hype. Um, and it is actually I just looked it up on Amazon. It's number one in ghost suspense. Oh. Right now. So, um, I have literally no idea what this book is about at all. Um, but like I said, it's just been getting a lot of hype. It looks like it's basically just like a dark romance apparently with ghost suspense. So, hey. Mhm. Gothic. Kind of like the gothic vibes. Oh, yeah. Very fall wintry kind of stuff. So, I love that. Um, it looks like the MMC known on campus as Dr. Death is a brilliant path brilliant pathologist in charge of the Midnight Lab. So, he's a professor. I like dark academia if it is in a very dark romance setting. Yeah. Then I'm okay with it. Yeah. Otherwise, the academia theme, yeah, not really for me. But I love a good professor situation. Okay. Um, so that's the first one. My second one is Sloohoot, a tale of bewitchery by Braum. Um, I've heard really great things about this book. Again, I have absolutely no idea what it's actually about. Um, such an interesting shape for a book. I know. I feel like Well, because their whole thing is that they do all the artwork, illustrations as well, so I feel like it's very like heavy on that. That's cool. Um, I'm kind of curious how this is categorized. So, we're going to look it up really quick. I picked this up at Barnes & Noble last time I was there because I've seen it all over everything. Um, a cult fiction. Oo, dark fantasy. Yeah, number one in a cult fiction. Look at this. I'm picking freaking bangers today, guys. I didn't even plan this. Okay. Um, and then the third one is A Dowy of Blood by St. Gibson. Again, I'm like, is this For some reason, I thought that it was vampires, but I don't know. So, we're going to look this one up, too, really quick. Um, I'm just going off of like recommendations you guys give me. Yeah. You know what I mean? That's pretty much how I find almost everything at this point. Mhm. Um, let's see. Dracula's Yeah, seductive tale. A Gothic seductive tale of Dracula's first bride. Ooh. So, um, yeah, that sounds really good, too. Let's see. Yeah. Medieval historical romance. Great. Love it. Um, so they all have that very like fall winter moody vibe in my opinion with just a little bit of the spookiness. Yeah. In there. Sounds good. So those are my three hopefuls. So I mean there's about 10 million hopefuls that I have. So hey yeah, we got to narrow it down. Got to narrow it down. There you go. All right. Well, do you want to wrap this up with a smash or pass? We got a gun going. Okay. Did you actually find a Thanksgiving themed one? because I did not. Let's see. I just found a regular a regular one cuz like a Thanksgiving themed one seems like very specific. I mean, we could do it. Not people. Smash or pass. Decorating for Christmas at least the day after Thanksgiving. Yeah. I usually literally do Black Friday cuz I don't I worked in retail for far too long to ever leave the house on Black Friday. Yeah. So, that is usually what I do. Yeah. Is decorate for Christmas. It's red and green Friday. Yeah, that's so much nicer. I love that. Yep. If I'm home, which is not um I would do it the day after, you know, but we do my in-laws on Thanksgiving and my parents on Saturday since my mom was in the medical field, too, and used to always have to work. So, it works out great. But, so I decorate as soon as I'm back. Yeah. Mhm. Oh, here we go. Here's a good one. Smash or pass doing like a family fitness activity like you know how they do turkey trots? Yeah. Huh. Smash past that. Well, I would depends. I would try it out one time. So, smash once and then let me decide from there. Yeah. Okay. So, unsure. Yeah. Yeah. Um, we do it every year. Okay. Yeah. With my mom. Yeah. And so my mom usually will come to visit for Thanksgiving. That's like her holiday with us. Um and we started this tradition not last year but the year before. Um and it was kind of funny because you know everyone goes out. Um so by everyone I have a very small family. So that just means me, my sister, my husband, um my brother-in-law and my mom. Okay. So it's all all of us. And we go down to the old town and it's only like oldtown area. It's only a I think a 5k. Yeah. So, it's really short. No big deal. Um, and all of us are fairly like active people. Yeah. Um, so everyone decides to run and then I'm with my mom. My mom ended up running for like, I don't know, a couple blocks and then ended up wanting to walk the rest of the way, which was fine. But I was like, "Okay, I guess like I will walk the whole time with mom." Everyone else just kind of like left us in the dust. Um, so now that's the tradition. So like that was two years ago and that's what happened. So, this last year, I just straight up I wore my turkey hat. Yeah. And I just dressed warm and me and my mom just went to the I we either went to Starbucks or something. We picked up coffees. We weren't even like under the guise of running. I was like, we're just getting coffees and we're going to walk the whole time and just have a nice leisurely time. And that's what we did. Everyone else ran and we just like chilled. Oh, look at options. Options. See, instead of getting mad that everyone's going to leave us in the dust, I'm going to make the most of it and have a leisure time. Yeah. Um, and that's what we did. And it was great. And that's what I'm sure we'll do again this year. Yeah. It gets us out of the house a little bit. Get your steps in cuz it's usually I don't remember. It's pretty early in the morning though. I want to say it's like 7 in the morning or like pretty early so that you can kind of get it out of the way before festivities happen. But always makes me feel a little bit better just, you know, kind of getting out of the house, getting my steps in before the day gets started. Yeah, it's a good idea. And my husband for like up until maybe two years ago, they did a turkey bowl every year that we go to. So the football, you know, flag football and we would go and hang out and, you know, the kids would run around. So yeah, I'm open to the giving it a try. Yeah. You know, and deciding then thereafter. I like the chill level. Like if someone were to be like, "Hey, do you want to run a half marathon on Thanksgiving?" I'd be like, "No." Yeah. Like I don't want to commit to anything that like that doesn't have the option to just like be a leisure activity. Yeah. And also I don't Yours probably might be a little more chill cuz we have a couple in our area and they're really chaotic. You know parking it's busy but no it's not chaotic like 5 in the morning like you know I'm not doing that. I'd want to do it casually. No pressure. It's it's pretty low pressure. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there's a lot of people there, but it's very low pressure and tons of kids do it. Like, tons of families do it, so it's not like, you know, these super hyped like freaking really intense running people. I mean, there's a few people like that there, but it's like, come on, give me a break. It's like for the most people or most part, it's like families, so it's good. Oh, nice. Very cool. Let us know. Do you guys do that? Are you looking forward to that? Let us know. Yeah. Well, we hope that you have a wonderful Thanksgiving or whatever you're doing. Thursday, you know, regular old Thursday or if you're outside of the states cuz hey, we got a lot more listeners lately that are. So, what's up you guys? How's this going this week? When do you guys, if you decorate for Christmas, when do you decorate then? If there's no placeholder of Thanksgiving, just whenever they feel like it. Yeah, a hard a hard December first start. That's how I used to be, you know, pre times, you know, cuz there's no rules and it's all made up. So, what do you guys do? Okay, you guys, thank you so much for listening in and watching on this week's episode. Make sure to like, follow, and subscribe anywhere you like. Listen to your favorite podcast, including YouTube. We're at Best of the Books Podcast everywhere. Also over on Instagram and Tik Tok. But you guys, we'll see you next Tuesday and probably Friday. We got that Wicked series going on right now. The movie's coming out. We're watching it this week. And what are you doing over Thanksgiving? Watching Wicked. Watching Wicked. So, the wrap-up episode will be very soon comparing movies and books and everything. So, make sure you're subscribed and you guys will see you then or we'll see you another time. Bye bye.