Speaker 1: This is the most dramatic podcast ever and iHeartRadio podcast.
Speaker 1: Chris Harrison and Lauren Zema coming to you from the
Speaker 1: home office in Austin, Texas. Happy Thanksgiving everybody. I hope
Speaker 1: you are together with those that you love, and I
Speaker 1: certainly am LZ your mom, my mom, the kids are here,
Speaker 1: your brother's coming in, so we are hosting this year.
Speaker 1: First of all, Happy Thanksgiving.
Speaker 2: Babe, Happy Thanksgiving. I'm so grateful for you.
Speaker 1: This is our first round of holidays as a married couple.
Speaker 2: Not much has changed, but well, no, you know what,
Speaker 2: something has changed.
Speaker 1: What's that?
Speaker 2: I think maybe this year, maybe it was last year,
Speaker 2: was the first time or will be the first time
Speaker 2: that we've spent both major holidays, Thanksgiving and Christmas together.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we made a concerted effort early on to just
Speaker 1: support each other of go be with your family. You
Speaker 1: do your thing, I'll do my thing. We will try
Speaker 1: to be together as much as possible. We've definitely learned
Speaker 1: we don't want to be apart.
Speaker 2: So well, you know, we don't want to be apart.
Speaker 2: But I will also say, I just think, like with
Speaker 2: a lot of families, you know you're dealing with. I
Speaker 2: think people tend to live all over the country more
Speaker 2: now than they did decades ago. Our families are spread
Speaker 2: out all over in different cities. You know. We have
Speaker 2: divorce in our family, Like there are different things where
Speaker 2: you end up having to split time and share time,
Speaker 2: and so I think it's so important to have a
Speaker 2: soft heart with that and to be empathetic and to
Speaker 2: not make demands of the people you love, Like as
Speaker 2: long as you're seeing effort from those people that they
Speaker 2: want to see or that they're trying to or they're saying, well,
Speaker 2: let's do Christmas on this day. But it's hard. It's
Speaker 2: hard to not be with the ones you love on holidays.
Speaker 1: And we did that and I definitely was like, I
Speaker 1: don't want to do that again. Where you and I
Speaker 1: were apart, you don't ever well, I mean, if we look,
Speaker 1: if we have to, I agree with what you just said.
Speaker 1: We all got to just do the best we can. Yeah,
Speaker 1: when you have kids and families, like you said, in
Speaker 1: the family dynamics.
Speaker 2: Grew up, they're dating people, they have partners, you know.
Speaker 1: And in this day and age, there's divorce in your
Speaker 1: everybody and including having grace for our own kids. Of
Speaker 1: everyone's just going to do the best they can and
Speaker 1: you try to remove the guilt. And I guess that
Speaker 1: gets me to my point of what's so wonderful about
Speaker 1: Thanksgiving is it's the holiday where you really choose. You know,
Speaker 1: Christmas is it's family. You know, it's it's such a
Speaker 1: religious holiday. Typically it's that's with your family, period, full stop.
Speaker 1: Thanksgiving has always been kind of that. Yes, it's definitely
Speaker 1: with family, but it's also your friends, the people you
Speaker 1: choose to have a holiday with.
Speaker 2: Oh, I think this is a very La thing. You're
Speaker 2: heading on. LA is the city of friendsgivings. Did you
Speaker 2: ever notice that?
Speaker 1: Yeah, well I did a few of those.
Speaker 2: I think it's because it's a very transient place. Like
Speaker 2: a lot of people are moving to LA to pursue
Speaker 2: their dreams away from their family please. And then it's
Speaker 2: like on this one end of the country and a
Speaker 2: lot of people are struggling artists, like with not that
Speaker 2: much money. So I noticed when I was in LA
Speaker 2: in my twenties, so many people stay in LA for Thanksgiving,
Speaker 2: do friends givings, and then like save their money to
Speaker 2: go home for Christmas.
Speaker 1: And I tried to bring as many orphans, you know,
Speaker 1: La orphans, you call them as I could into my
Speaker 1: home because I was very traditionalist. You know, I would
Speaker 1: fry the turkey and do the thing. And you know, look,
Speaker 1: if you want to come, bring a dish if you can,
Speaker 1: if not, just come and enjoy. Because you know, one
Speaker 1: thing is you just don't want people to feel alone
Speaker 1: in these holiday seasons, and try to be cognizant of that.
Speaker 1: If you have friends or people that are alone, try
Speaker 1: to give them a little extra attention or a call,
Speaker 1: or invite them over, or take them some leftovers, even
Speaker 1: just say hey, we made you a plate, and try
Speaker 1: to make people feel a little seen and loved on
Speaker 1: this holiday. But I'm excited for Thanksgiving, and I hope
Speaker 1: everybody listening is getting a chance to settle in and
Speaker 1: hopefully if you're traveling, you've made a twere you're getting
Speaker 1: because I know travel is crazy this week. But I'm
Speaker 1: excited for Thanksgiving. I love this holiday. Is there something
Speaker 1: in particular you love the most other than the obvious
Speaker 1: of families going to be here. Is there something you
Speaker 1: look forward to on Thanksgiving?
Speaker 2: I've actually, very consciously in the last few years tried
Speaker 2: to mentally drill in on being so grateful at Thanksgiving
Speaker 2: and really thinking about truly what I'm thankful for, because
Speaker 2: you know, when you're little, it's like the turkey and
Speaker 2: I don't know what thinks. There's the playful side of
Speaker 2: Thanksgiving and when you're a kid, you don't have the
Speaker 2: capacity to be super grateful. And then in the past
Speaker 2: couple of years, I know, you know, there's been some
Speaker 2: controversy around it as a holiday. So to me, I've
Speaker 2: just tried to focus on the meaning of Thanksgiving, like
Speaker 2: what are you grateful for? Especially because I think with
Speaker 2: Christmas there's a lot more pomp and circumstance, like gifts
Speaker 2: and decorations, and Thanksgiving we just basically got food right
Speaker 2: and people we love. So I think that like this year,
Speaker 2: my brother wasn't necessarily like he was super busy with work,
Speaker 2: and I'm like, dude, just come, you know, Like, to me,
Speaker 2: it's so important, and it probably comes from a grief
Speaker 2: place of knowing my dad's not with us anymore. The
Speaker 2: older I get, the more I just think, let's just
Speaker 2: try to move mountains to be together. And I think,
Speaker 2: especially when you live apart these little weekends, it's kind
Speaker 2: of like this concentrated experience where you can pack a
Speaker 2: lot of gratefulness and quality time together. So I'm thankful
Speaker 2: for that, and then I'm reminding myself to be thankful
Speaker 2: and that's what I'm looking forward to about Thanksgiving.
Speaker 1: What were your thanksgivings growing up? What was that?
Speaker 2: Always either at our house or my grandmother's house. She
Speaker 2: lived forty minutes away, so we kind of exchanged, like
Speaker 2: who was hosting Thanksgiving or Christmas?
Speaker 1: And is just like ten twenty thirty Yeah, like.
Speaker 2: Twenty twenty five people. Yeah, I mean it was like
Speaker 2: that was one thing. A lot of my family still
Speaker 2: lived in Chicago, so we were able to be together
Speaker 2: for a lot, which I had great times with my cousins,
Speaker 2: Like we were all, you know, kids running around and
Speaker 2: and I'm definitely grateful this year for my sister being
Speaker 2: a new mom. It's like starting a new generation and
Speaker 2: it'll be fun in the next couple of years and
Speaker 2: we have holidays with little kids running around.
Speaker 1: It's going to get bigger and bigger.
Speaker 2: Yeah, what about you? What were your Thanksgivings on?
Speaker 1: Mine were kind of sports for a while growing up.
Speaker 2: With sports was not a thing for us.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there was there was the like a football game
Speaker 1: or so no, no no. For me, it was there
Speaker 1: was a Thanksgiving soccer tournament every year in Houston, and
Speaker 1: so we would go to the soccer tournament and you
Speaker 1: know the turkey trot whatever you call them, and then
Speaker 1: we would go I luckily I have relatives. My dad's
Speaker 1: sister lived in Houston, so we would then go to
Speaker 1: their house for Thanksgiving and kind of knock it all out.
Speaker 1: So we did that for a lot of years, and
Speaker 1: then after that it was kind of a hodgepodge of
Speaker 1: being back home, you know, in college and all that.
Speaker 1: So I love Thanksgiving. I think what I relish the
Speaker 1: most is the days leading up to it. The first
Speaker 1: like Wednesday, you know, Tuesday, really Wednesday and Thursday, of
Speaker 1: getting everything prepped. I enjoy going to the store. I
Speaker 1: know it can be crazy going to the grocery store.
Speaker 2: You're so right about this. I think that the cooking
Speaker 2: together is more fun than the eating together.
Speaker 1: Yeah, hanging out in the kitchen. Your mom's going to
Speaker 1: be there, I'll be there, Taylor, our daughter is going
Speaker 1: to be there. Your brother's girlfriend, Casey's an amazing baker
Speaker 1: and cooking.
Speaker 2: Thank god Taylor and Casey are around to join on
Speaker 2: the baker some sus chef. Your mom's going to cook
Speaker 2: as well.
Speaker 1: My mom's coming in, So that to me to have
Speaker 1: music going, have a game on in the background, have
Speaker 1: the football game on. Oh you know, you'll be in
Speaker 1: charge of opening wine and champagne and shakouderie. But we
Speaker 1: like just all hanging out in that area, laughing, talking,
Speaker 1: you know, debating whatever it is. That is everything to
Speaker 1: me as much as diving in and actually eating on Thursdays.
Speaker 2: I think you're totally right. And isn't it funny because
Speaker 2: you actually spend so much more time on the prep
Speaker 2: than the meal. Like I said, you do all this
Speaker 2: work and then sit down to eat, and you forty
Speaker 2: minutes later you're done and okay, now we're all cleaning up.
Speaker 1: Yeah, then you're just excited about the leftovers.
Speaker 2: Well, you just sit on a really good metaphor? Is
Speaker 2: it allegory?
Speaker 1: Oh?
Speaker 2: I got to READO my English education. But point of
Speaker 2: that Thanksgiving shows us and the prep and all that
Speaker 2: reminds us that you got to enjoy the journey. You know,
Speaker 2: sometimes the destination you get there, but like the journeys
Speaker 2: where you actually make the memories and you're totally right
Speaker 2: now that I stop and think about it. My great
Speaker 2: memories of especially recent years when I can remember more
Speaker 2: from instead of being so young, but is helping my
Speaker 2: mom in the kitchen and just hanging out and laughing
Speaker 2: with her, because there's something very human about a joint
Speaker 2: project and goal that you're working towards, like the creation
Speaker 2: of the food, and doing that together is really bonding.
Speaker 1: But that's changed, right, I mean, I remember when I
Speaker 1: was a kid, and I don't know if it was
Speaker 1: different for you, but when I was a kid, I
Speaker 1: dreamt of pecan pie and turkey and gravy and mashed potatoes.
Speaker 1: It was just waiting all day smelling it, and you'd
Speaker 1: sneak in and you know, the adults were in there
Speaker 1: and I wasn't involved in the prep, and that the
Speaker 1: moment of walking in just seeing this buffet because we
Speaker 1: didn't eat like that all year, and so you know,
Speaker 1: if you're your grandparents or whatever, just seeing all that food,
Speaker 1: you're like, oh my gosh, that just bounty you're about
Speaker 1: to dive into, and then two seconds later you're stuffed.
Speaker 1: But it's definitely changed now. I relish everyone coming home
Speaker 1: and the big hugs and the music and the laughter
Speaker 1: and the house being full and the noise is what
Speaker 1: I relish the most.
Speaker 2: But that's another good point. Probably when we're younger, we
Speaker 2: so focus on the end results, yeah, and the toy
Speaker 2: we get for Christmas, and then when we're older we
Speaker 2: realize the fun is in like putting the dollhouse together, kids' faces.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, okay, But with that said, let's go shallow.
Speaker 1: When you see the lineup on Thursday, what's that one
Speaker 1: thing you're like that's my go to? Like? Is there
Speaker 1: a thing where you're like? Is it turkey as it yams?
Speaker 1: Is it the green bean casserout?
Speaker 2: We're the only ones who do this?
Speaker 1: Well.
Speaker 2: You and I feel differently. I love turkey, you're not.
Speaker 2: I like turkey, turkey fair. Your mom makes an amazing turkey,
Speaker 2: so I'm excited about that. And I fried a turkey
Speaker 2: for a long time, which I did love a fried turkey.
Speaker 1: By the way, the Emerald Lagassi fried turkey recipe that's
Speaker 1: been around for forever is spectacular. I used it for
Speaker 1: for forever.
Speaker 2: Why have you not made me this very because we
Speaker 2: got to buy a friar, gotta get against and it's dangerous.
Speaker 1: You do it right. It's really not for you know,
Speaker 1: probably a decade.
Speaker 2: It's my grandfather used to fry a turkey. He got
Speaker 2: really into it for a while, and I just remember,
Speaker 2: like my mom would tell him, Dad, take that out
Speaker 2: on the deck and do it away from the kids,
Speaker 2: and we'd like watch him through the glass window of
Speaker 2: frying the turkey because we weren't allowed to beating ny.
Speaker 1: But yeah, okay, a couple of things. A check the water,
Speaker 1: you know, put it in the trash bag.
Speaker 2: And it wasn't a man who loved.
Speaker 1: So you definitely set you know, so you can set
Speaker 1: the oil level. Uh, and then obviously don't let the
Speaker 1: turkey be frozen at all when you put it in
Speaker 1: the fryer.
Speaker 2: Bad hot tip. Literally.
Speaker 1: But it's also just difficult because even if you do
Speaker 1: it perfectly, it's messy and you have just a ton
Speaker 1: of peanut oil or whatever that whatever oil you're using.
Speaker 1: You have this vat of oil that you have to
Speaker 1: dispose of. So it's just it's not a clean thing
Speaker 1: to do. Like, it's just a bit of a pain,
Speaker 1: but man, it's good. Once you have one like that,
Speaker 1: it's hard to go.
Speaker 2: I did they were great? I think he stopped doing
Speaker 2: it just because it was so much work. Exactly what
Speaker 2: you're saying. My mom got me really into and I
Speaker 2: don't know if other people do this, but at Thanksgiving
Speaker 2: we have turkey with champagne, and like the flavor combination
Speaker 2: of turkey and gravy with champagne is so good.
Speaker 1: Like the way you're moving your shoulders round.
Speaker 2: I'm getting excited about it. And we you know, it's
Speaker 2: like there's also something so special about holiday food because
Speaker 2: it's one c year, you know, when I'm never eating
Speaker 2: turkey other than at Thanksgiving, so it really makes it.
Speaker 1: I'm a side fan, you know. I love to make
Speaker 1: a tender loin, So I'm going to make us a
Speaker 1: tender loin on the green Ada.
Speaker 2: If anyone else is doing this beautiful.
Speaker 1: I love it.
Speaker 2: I love a tender You make a great tenderline. I've
Speaker 2: just never had the tender line of Thanksgiving until you.
Speaker 1: So instead of turkey and ham, we do turkey and tenderloin.
Speaker 1: But I like, I'm excited for a little bit of everything,
Speaker 1: like the green bean casserole, the candy jams. I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna eat a lot of them, but you got to
Speaker 1: have some mashed potatoes. I love your mom's gravy all
Speaker 1: you know, I love all of that and a little bit.
Speaker 2: Of dessert for sure. The sides are a major.
Speaker 1: So I'm a big sides person because it's I think
Speaker 1: it's the one meal where I'm just so excited about
Speaker 1: the sides.
Speaker 2: It is. I know some people, Oh, in the you
Speaker 2: call it yams, It's called sweet potato casting.
Speaker 1: The same thing. But what about the cranberry sauce.
Speaker 2: I need it out of the can me too.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I know, I need to see the ribbed can.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't want the real ones. It's probably the
Speaker 2: only thing in my life where I want the less natural,
Speaker 2: more processed version.
Speaker 1: I know, and I know we could just google this now,
Speaker 1: but does anybody understand why the label is always upside
Speaker 1: down on the cranberry sauce cans?
Speaker 2: Never even noticed that. Yeah, obviously I don't do the grocery.
Speaker 1: Shopping, but oftentimes it's upside down. I've always wondered why
Speaker 1: that is.
Speaker 2: It's just a reminder to be grateful.
Speaker 1: Yeah, thanks, But yeah, I'm glad that we agree on
Speaker 1: that because I need a couple of slices and it's
Speaker 1: and then later I'll put that on.
Speaker 2: Yeah, more than if anyone giving us that answer, I
Speaker 2: would be interested to know. And I'm circling back to
Speaker 2: what we said a minute ago. But if we are
Speaker 2: the only ones who, up until so recently, because we've
Speaker 2: been together for six years, but would separate on holidays
Speaker 2: like this, does, I think it's a rare thing. I
Speaker 2: guess my mindset with it was always, well, we're together
Speaker 2: pretty much the rest of the year, right, and I
Speaker 2: just don't ever want either of us to like not
Speaker 2: be able to see our family. So in years past,
Speaker 2: what we've done is, you know, you might go see
Speaker 2: your dad a Thanksgiving and so I'll go be with
Speaker 2: my mom, and but then like we'd have the kids
Speaker 2: for Christmas, so we're going to come together. Maybe your
Speaker 2: mom would come to that and we would just kind
Speaker 2: of be like we would separate so that we could
Speaker 2: see all the people we love. So I'm interested if
Speaker 2: anybody else does that or if we're weird.
Speaker 1: There's no and just no, there's no right way to
Speaker 1: do it. Yeah, there's no. However, you're pulling it off
Speaker 1: and making it work. God bless you for it.
Speaker 2: Well, some people get mad about it, like some people
Speaker 2: when you do you know, a, oh, we're doing our
Speaker 2: Christmas on this day. Some people get offended about that
Speaker 2: and they're like, no, it's not that doesn't count. I'm
Speaker 2: a big I'm okay with it not being on the
Speaker 2: actual date, like let's just get together. But you know,
Speaker 2: and I want to give a shout out, like a
Speaker 2: lot of this probably comes from a grief place for me.
Speaker 2: I know that, like losing my dad and then growing older.
Speaker 2: It's just driven home from more the importance of appreciating
Speaker 2: family and being together. And a shout out to anybody
Speaker 2: who is missing someone this holiday season. I know that,
Speaker 2: you know it's like this time of joy and gratefulness,
Speaker 2: but sometimes it feels like a little a little stab
Speaker 2: of pain when you think about the people you don't have.
Speaker 2: So just sending love to you and know that our
Speaker 2: thoughts are with you.
Speaker 1: And I echo that as we head into the holiday season,
Speaker 1: obviously it kicks off for Thanksgiving. Wherever you are, Elsie
Speaker 1: and I are thinking about you. We love you. We
Speaker 1: love doing this podcast, and especially it always hits home
Speaker 1: as we head into the holidays to be grateful, and
Speaker 1: one of the things we're grateful for is that we've
Speaker 1: had this conduit to you guys to be able to
Speaker 1: talk to chat and The Most Dramatic Podcast Ever has
Speaker 1: been a lot of things, a lot of great interviews,
Speaker 1: a lot of great talks, a lot of great questions
Speaker 1: from you guys. But at this time of year we
Speaker 1: give thanks. And one of the things that Elsie and
Speaker 1: I will definitely give thanks for is you always you
Speaker 1: for allowing us to do what we love and now
Speaker 1: we get to do it together. So Happy Thanksgiving everybody.
Speaker 2: We love you, We're grateful for you, and we hope
Speaker 2: that you are with people who appreciate you and that
Speaker 2: you can send love to them and give it back,
Speaker 2: because I really think at the end of the day,
Speaker 2: that's what life is all about, the people in our lives.
Speaker 2: We love you, guys, Thank you so so much, and
Speaker 2: Happy Thanksgiving.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening. Follow us on Instagram at the Most
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Speaker 1: review and leave us five stars. I'll talk to you
Speaker 1: next time.