Episode #210: Thanksgiving Favorites – A Beautiful Mess

Thanksgiving is this week, so we are letting you in on all our Thanksgiving favorites.

You can find the podcast posts archive here.

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Show Notes:

Listen to the Bonus Episode about Emma’s book HERE

What your plans are for Thanksgiving this year:

Having it at Elsie’s and cooking with their mom

Favorite Thanksgiving Memory:

Elsie – When Nova was 3 and they wrote on leaves everything she was grateful for

Emma – Going to her Great-Aunt Ina’s house and eating honey butter

Favorite Thanksgiving Tradition:

Elsie – Making Thanksgiving food with Emma

Emma – Making Gingerbread houses

Favorite Thanksgiving dish to make:

Elsie – Gingerbread Cookies, Chex Mix, Charcuterie, and Oatmeal Cookie Shot or Cinnamon Toast Crunch Shot

Emma – Turkey

Favorite Thanksgiving dish to eat:

Elsie – Stuffing, Pumpkin Pie

Emma – Baked Macaroni and Cheese, Green Bean Casserole, Stuffing, Funeral Potatoes, Crockpot Mashed Potatoes, Espresso Martini, and Affogato

Favorite Thanksgiving Dessert:

Elsie – Apple Tart

Emma – Pumpkin Marble Cheesecake, No Bake Caramel Apple Cheesecake, Caramel Apple Cheesecake, and Cookies

Favorite thing to do after dinner:

Elsie – Watch a movie and decorate gingerbread cookies

Emma – Watch a movie or do a puzzle

Sparks Joy:

Elsie – Moose Glasses

Emma – Behind the Seams by Dolly Parton

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Episode 210 Transcript:

Elsie: You’re listening to The Beautiful Mess Podcast, your cozy comfort listen. Thanksgiving is next week, so we’re letting you in on all of our Thanksgiving favorites. This is going to be like a show notes episode with a ton of links because I’m not going to lie our Thanksgiving recipe archive is like balling. It is incredible.

Emma: It’s pretty epic. And yeah, I can always tell from friends and family members when they read my blog or not because if they’re trying to describe to me how to make almost any casserole, I’m like, oh, you don’t read my blog. And I don’t care. It doesn’t bother me. I’m like, oh, you don’t know, but I actually have all of these, this is what I have dedicated my life to. 

Elsie: Casserole queen. 

Emma: This is what I do. And I love to hear other people’s recipes. It’s not that. It’s just like, you know, if they’re like, Oh, if you’ve never made this before, and I’m like, Oh, I have many times I’ve tested that one many times and I’ve put my favorite version on the internet. Like that’s who I am. 

Elsie: So before we jump in, I thought this would be a good time for you to give an update on your book release because you released handmade murder a couple of weeks ago. 

Emma: Yeah, right before Halloween. So by the time you’re listening to this, it’s been over a month. And I’ve got to say, ’cause I don’t feel like I’ve got to talk about it on the podcast since I did the special bonus episode. But yeah, and if you didn’t hear that special bonus episode, go back cause it came out kind of in between. It wasn’t a regular Monday episode. But I think if you’re subscribed, it would have just popped up for you, but if you’re not subscribed and you missed it, go back because I talk about my book, but I also read chapter one. So you get kind of a little freebie, a little teaser into the book if you’re interested. Anyway, it was so fun to launch that book. And people were so, so nice. And it was just like one of those days where I spent way too much time on my phone, just looking at people’s comments and like writing back to them or hearting them or whatever, you know, and I got so many comments on our blog and people wrote me emails and it was just really, really sweet. And since then I’ve had lots of people write me comments or send me emails as they’ve received the book, as they finished the book and telling me what they thought and I’ve got a bunch of really nice Amazon reviews too, and from a lot of people that I don’t know, like, not like friends, which I appreciate when friends do it too, but when it’s like someone you don’t know, and there was this one review, I should put it up on Instagram. I hope it doesn’t come off like I’m making fun of it because I actually really deeply appreciated this review, but essentially, I’m paraphrasing. They said, I wasn’t expecting much, this is a new writer, but it was actually really good. And it was just like a really nice review where they’re like, I really enjoyed this book and I didn’t think it was necessarily going to be very good. It’s like, wow, this is quite the review, and thank you. And I’m glad you liked it. You know, it makes me so happy to think about people enjoying the book because that’s what I want to write for. I’ve enjoyed so many books. Books have been such a comfort and entertainment and an escape for me all through my life since I was in middle school. So the idea of getting to be a part of that in people’s lives means truly the world to me. And I’ve also had a number of people write me and be like, I’m a librarian and we’re definitely going to have it at our library. Like just, you know. 

Elsie: Oh, that’s great. 

Emma: Yeah, it being in libraries, you don’t know what that means to me because libraries are like a sanctuary to me. That’s like where I would eat my lunch in high school. Like, I love libraries. So yeah, knowing that my books are in some libraries across the country just means the world to me. And yeah, it keeps selling. I can see like in Amazon, the numbers that sell on there and it keeps growing and growing. I’ve sold well over 500 at this point. I don’t really have a lot of expectations, to be honest with you. Like, I didn’t really have a lot of goals other than do it. So for me, I’m like, all of this is gravy and icing, but I was surprised how many I sold and how many people read it and how quickly they read it. And I don’t know, maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised. I don’t know, but it feels like people really got it and that was really fun and really encouraging.

Elsie: Good. So yeah, if you’ve read the book Shamelessly Aldous requests please leave for an Amazon review. 

Emma: Yeah, I will too. I have no shame.

Elsie: Yeah, I think we have good karma because we have been review-bombed in the past. Yeah, where people leave mean reviews to hurt you not necessarily having read your book. And so, yeah, when people do the opposite of that when people leave nice reviews to support, it’s so meaningful and wonderful, and yeah, so if you have a minute, do leave a review on there. I think that it makes a difference, and it’s important. 

Emma: Yeah. And it’s already like, I think after the first day it was on Goodreads and there are some reviews on there.

Elsie: Oh, yeah. I left one on Goodreads on the first day. I was the first person. I was very proud of that fact. 

Emma: Yeah. So it’s been a blast. And it’s been a lot. Yeah. I’m excited to write more. I don’t really have any news to share. And I’m still trying to figure out the audio version. I’ve gotten a little derailed. It is a busy time of year, but I am still on it and it is still coming and I still don’t know when, but it will. 

Elsie: Good. Well, I’m glad you got to celebrate and I’m so proud of you. And I know we’re all cheering you on. It’s a very special time for the podcast because you’ve been talking about writing a novel since 2020. So this is very cool. Yeah. Yay. Okay. So we’re going to talk all about Thanksgiving since Thanksgiving is this week. Hopefully, we can convince you to make one of our recipes. I honestly, have done Thanksgiving in Tennessee. We mostly stayed in Tennessee for Thanksgiving for the past eight years. And so I did like a lot of Thanksgivings where I did everything and I used all of Emma’s recipes every time and Trader Joe’s stuff. 

Emma: Yeah, you can’t make it all. I mean, you can, but it’s a lot of work. 

Elsie: But I always did, we’ll talk about them, but there’s stuffing meatballs and then there’s like this marbled pie that’s like kind of half Pumpkin pie half cheesecake. That’s super good. It’s way better than cheesecake, and it’s way better than pumpkin pie.

Emma: I agree It’s like the perfect mix because I like both those things, but I really like it together, something about combining it that makes it better. 

Elsie: Also Emma’s stuffing recipe is amazing. So we’ll do a pretty big maybe we’ll like a link to one big Thanksgiving recipe. Yeah, we have a Thanksgiving side dish.

Emma: So yeah, let’s start with talking about our Thanksgiving plans for this year. So this is a very, very special year for me because it’s our first year that we’ve moved back and we’re hosting and It’s kind of the first year that Emma and I are gonna get to, like, do it all together.

Elsie: I mean, with our mom too, sorry, mom. 

Emma: No, mom’s in the mix. Mom’s in the mix of course. 

Elsie: We’re gonna have so much fun. We were just talking about doing it on Friday instead of Thursday, just so that we have more time to enjoy and savor it and not make it feel rushed or cramped or anything. So yeah, I just want to have like a baking marathon and watch the movies in my kitchen like two to four Christmas movies in a row, and just like make, you know, a couple pies and some sides. And I just think that sounds so magical and fun. 

Emma: Yeah. I’m very excited to cook. And I actually, love hosting, but I mostly love cooking, so it’s the perfect mix for me. I’m just going to bring my stuff over to Elsie’s and warm it up a little or whatever, and we’re going to have it over here. And I’m sure I will inevitably leave a bunch of stuff at your house on accident like pans and stuff, but I’ll do my best. What can I say? Yeah. And then you’re having Jeremy’s family, your in-laws on Thanksgiving. I think mine’s going to end up being on Saturday. So I may have our family’s Thanksgiving Friday and then there’s on Saturday. So it always kind of ends up being slightly different each year. I feel like it’s just like whatever fits everybody’s schedule. Which I like. 

Elsie: I like that. I definitely think it’s better to like, give each its day. So that you can enjoy it more. And not be like, all full and weird. 

Emma: Yeah. I’m also very like, I don’t care so much about dates. I care a lot more about holidays are for family, so any way that you can get to spend time with family, you know, more and sometimes you can’t, sometimes it’s like you’re going to be, you know, on your own because, for American Thanksgiving, it’s like crammed between Halloween and Christmas so it’s like, you don’t have to pick like what you’re doing. So a lot of people are in that boat and that’s great too. I think you can have fun with just your immediate family, but yeah, holidays are for family. Don’t care so much about what day it is or whatever, you know, if you make everything from scratch, whatever I like cooking if you don’t. Do it your own way. It’s for family. 

Elsie: Perfect. Yeah, no, I completely agree. Okay, so let’s talk about our favorite Thanksgiving memory. I think I have one. So, when Nova was age three, we got this pack of like, little paper leaves and let her write all the things. I mean we were writing them but she was saying the things that she was thankful for and it was pretty much like every person we knew and then you know all of her little like TV shows and like one of them said China, they just said like kind of just anything she knew.

Emma: It’s like when little kids pray and you’re just like anything that comes into their mind. Yeah, they just list it. 

Elsie: Yeah, I kept them, and I feel like I want to always do that, so we’ll have to do it this year with Oscar, who’s now two years old. 

Emma: Who knows what he’ll say? Oh my gosh. 

Elsie: And it’s just so cute to, like, see what kinds of things they’re thankful for because it could be anything. It’s probably not family. 

Emma: No, I don’t think I’ll make the list, but that’s okay. Oh, I also was thinking about childhood, cause I feel like you have so many things from Halloween and Christmas, especially Christmas. That’s like a big, you know, you remember Christmas so much, but I will say we used to, when we were really little, we would go over to our great aunt Ina’s house who lived next door, next door neighbors with our grandma. They were sisters and next door and they had married brothers, very random, small town. It’s amazing, yeah. But anyway, our grandaunt Ina was an amazing cook. She loved cooking. And her house was also just like very grandma-fancy to me. As a little kid, I perceived it as very fancy, you know, just a cool house, as I idolized it a little. And, but the main thing is cause I was a kid so, you know, when you’re a kid, you really don’t appreciate food. You’re like, a picky eater until you’re in high school, or I was anyway. So the thing that I gravitated towards was bread. Eating just rolls all the time. At Great Aunt Ina’s house, she had honey butter. And I think it was the first time as a kid. Yeah, I had honey butter, and it really stuck with me, because I still remember that honey butter. 

Elsie: Honey butter is such an essential Thanksgiving recipe. 

Emma: It is to me, yeah. And it also to me is like, this is what fancy people have at their Thanksgiving because Aunt Ina had it at her house.

Elsie: I love that. That’s hilarious. How funny. So that’s my little kid, kid brain Thanksgiving memory. 

Emma: That’s so cute. I love it. Okay. Favorite Thanksgiving tradition. I think I’m like just excited to make Thanksgiving with you. I think that’s so special to me.

Elsie: Yeah, I feel like a lot of the foods are very traditional like we make a lot of the same things every year.

Emma: And I will say we haven’t done this like every year, but the years we do it, it sticks out to me like a lot of times we’ll buy like one of those kits of like a gingerbread house that the kids can put together and it’s not necessarily tasty and it doesn’t necessarily always turn out, but it’s like fun. It’s fun too, it’s like kind of pre-made. 

Elsie: Tastes like ass looks like shit, but it’s a fun activity. 

Emma: Fun activity. It costs like 12 dollars or whatever from the grocery store, so you don’t have to make it all ahead, you know, cause you’re already cooking so much. And I feel like that’s like a really fun, I don’t know, we’ve done that quite a few times and it’s fun. It’s cute. 

Elsie: I agree with that. It’s very, very joyful. I was thinking this year maybe we could decorate cookies. 

Emma: Yeah, that’d be fun. I just like decorating with kids because it’s such a different activity than when you do it with adults. You do it on your own. It’s a whole different vibe, but it’s really sweet and cute.

Elsie: Yeah. My kids really love cooking, and obviously, like, you have to pick things that work for them that they can help with. But there are lots of things that kids can help with, so, yeah, I think it’s very, very fun. Yeah. 

Emma: Oscar will probably just eat all the sprinkles, but it’s still cute. 

Elsie: It’s still cute. Okay, your favorite Thanksgiving dish to make. 

Emma: Okay, yeah, so, I like making a turkey. It’s not my favorite one to eat, but I just love pulling it out of the oven and the way it looks. It feels like a triumph. Yeah! It feels like a cooking triumph. Like every year that I’ve done one and there are some years I don’t like some years we do just like honey baked ham or I’ll do meatballs, I’ll do my stuffing meatballs because I actually feel like the turkey like gets eaten the least out of all the dishes. It’s good for leftovers though. It’s good for sandwiches and all sorts of things. But I do feel like when you pull it out of the oven and then you put the garnishes around it. If I do one this year, which I don’t really know if I’m going to for sure. By the time you hear this, I’ll know.

Elsie: Maybe like a small little mini one. 

Emma: I kind of wanted to do this, this is so random, but you can buy those little papers they kind of look like a weird chef’s hat and you put them on the end of the turkey legs. I’ve never bought those before. I’m sure you could make them too. I just feel like they’re funny and I’ve never done it. So if I do a turkey, I’m going to put those little paper booties on it because something about it’s funny to me. But yeah, I like making the turkey. I like eating turkey fine. It’s good, but it’s not like my number one eats, but it feels like a triumph, it feels like, look what I did. 

Elsie: When I was younger, I used to always say like, Thanksgiving food isn’t good. And I was like such a little brat, but now that I’m older and I’ve made it, I think part of it was like helping to participate with making it. I do appreciate it more. 

Emma: Yeah. Do you have one that’s your favorite to make? Not to eat, but your favorite to make? 

Elsie: Yes, so, the things I like baking are, you know, whatever. Judge me if you want. So I have a gingerbread cookie recipe that’s on the blog, and I swear to God, it’s the best. It’s really, really soft. It’s soft and chewy. It’s not like the hard, crispy ones, which are also good, but, I don’t like, not as much. These ones are more like a hybrid where it’s like the texture of a sugar cookie, but the flavors of a gingerbread cookie.

Emma: And I’ll say it’s heavy on the gingerbread flavor. Some gingerbread cookies I’ve had before are kind of lighter. 

Elsie: It smells very aromatic. 

Emma: Yeah, the smell is amazing and the taste is very strong, which I like, but, you know, just a heads up. 

Elsie: Yeah, they’re fun. And then I like making a Chex mix. I do that every year. I just think it’s fun. I like making a charcuterie, things like that. And then the other thing I wanted to say that I love, I’m making this for Thanksgiving this year and we did it recently when we had a birthday party for our dad, but I’m going to make oatmeal cookie shots. So I’ve been working on the blog through like, basically every popular shot recipe and so like about half of them are up there now and oatmeal cookie shots are one of they’re like so perfect for Thanksgiving because they really do taste like an oatmeal cookie. There’s also one that’s called cinnamon toast crunch shot, which I personally think that one’s better, but it’s more cinnamony and my dad thought it was too strong. So it’s like, you know I think it’s a personal preference.

Emma: It has a fireball in it, right? 

Elsie: Yeah. Oatmeal cookie is definitely, like, a very subtle, mild like, everyone would like it. 

Emma: Yeah. And I do think a shot is a fun way to start a meal. It’s hilarious, right? Yeah. Well, it’s funny and fun, but I also feel like Yeah. Yeah. You know, I personally, I’m not like a heavy drinker on Thanksgiving.

Elsie: Like I’ve got a lot to do and it’s the middle of the day and I’m probably going to get tired anyway from eating all the food. So I feel like a shot is like kind of a good, you know, you get started and then you’re feeling loose and now it’s time to eat some casseroles. Yeah, that’s it. No big deal. Yeah.

Emma: It’s the right amount. It’s really all you need. 

Elsie: It’s true. I agree. But yeah, I like making Emma’s recipes too. Like I mentioned the ones I mentioned before, I make those almost every year. So it is fun. I should try a new one this year. 

Emma: I will say, so we’re going to talk next about my favorite Thanksgiving dish to eat, and a lot of mine are casseroles. And I do like making casseroles. But they’re very monotonous when you’re making like four or five because it’s kind of like you’re doing the same thing over and over. 

Elsie: You told me you were over the casserole grinder. 

Emma: You’re making a roux, you know, you’re making a cheese sauce essentially, and you’re putting stuff in it, and you know, it’s kind of and then there’s a crunchy top. It’s kind of a little bit of a formula, which is something I like about it because to me it’s very comforting. It’s simple. It’s straightforward. But it is a little boring when you’re making like four or five of them at once, you know. Anyway, some of my favorite Thanksgiving dishes to eat do happen to be casseroles. Some of my all-time favorite is, it’s on the blog, but it’s my favorite baked macaroni and cheese. I feel like some people don’t think of baked macaroni and cheese as a casserole, it is. 

Elsie: It’s a 10 out of 10.

Emma: And yeah, it’s very good. Very yummy. Cheesy, noodles, crunchy top. It’s everything you need. It’s everything you want. That’s honestly all I would eat, too, it’s my favorite leftover as well. Like, I love warming it up the next day. Love it. So I love that. My husband’s favorite is green bean casserole, and I also love that. I’ve grown to love it even more over the years. I do make mine with fresh green beans. Some people don’t like that. Some people prefer the canned, and that’s cool. But mine is like a hybrid. The one on the site is kind of a, it’s homemade, but it’s not hard. Cause I feel like some people are like, Oh, from scratch, green bean casserole, like, Oh, it’s going to be really hard. And it’s like, it’s not hard. It’s really pretty super easy, but I do like the fresh green beans. I think it gives it a different texture. And I think it gives it a slightly fresher, better, in my opinion, flavor. 

Elsie: I completely agree. I’ve had it a lot of times and it is better for me. No, just like not as soggy. So yeah, try that if you have texture issues with the green beans or whatever, I think green bean casserole is so delicious. It’s one of my favorite ones, but yours is like an extra good recipe. 

Emma: Yeah. And that one makes great leftovers as well. Casseroles generally me are great leftovers, which is why they’re so great to like, I love them for Thanksgiving. And that’s what we’re talking about today, but I also think they’re really nice if like someone’s sick or someone has a baby, it’s a nice thing to bring over because you can rewarm it for days on end and it’s delicious, and it’s comforting. A couple of new ones that I put on the site this year, so I have a number of stuffing recipes and some people call this dressing. I think it’s kind of a regional thing. My mother-in-law always calls it dressing and I’m always like, what? It always takes me a second. And then I’m like, Oh, stuffing. Cause I just call it stuffing. That’s just, that I think from the box of stovetop stuffing is part of it. It’s like growing up, we had a lot of box stove top stuffing. So to me, it’s stuffing and you stuff the bird with it, but you could also just make it in a pan, which is usually what I do. The one that I’ve put on the site this year is my basic classic catch-all. I wouldn’t really call it basic because it is pretty fancy. But it’s very down to earth. There’s nothing weird about it. There’s no ingredients that your uncle’s gonna be like, What? Why would you put this in it? It’s very, like, straightforward. But it basically has a ton of fresh herbs in it. And it makes your house smell incredible when you’re baking it, you will be like, my house smells incredible right now. It smells like the best candle I’ve ever lit. That’s what the stuffing smells like. And it’s delicious. And you can use all sorts of different breads in it. I recommend using at least two different types just to have some different textures and different flavors. And my number one tip with it is to buy that day-old bread that they have at the store. You know how they’ll have it marked down and it’s like in a little kind of sometimes a bin or something. So it’s like old bread. Buy that because you actually kind of need stale bread for really good stuffing. So if your bread is brand new, fresh, then you’re going to need to cut it up the night before and kind of set it out because you need it to be stale so it can absorb. It’s a bread pudding. That’s what stuffing is, it’s a savory bread pudding. So you want it to absorb the eggs and butter and milk that’s in it. And then another dish that is really, really good and I feel like It has a weird name, but most people call it, I call it funeral potatoes. Some people call it cheesy potatoes. I think some people just, it makes them sad to call a holiday dish funeral potatoes, but it is a common thing that people will make for funeral lunches.

Elsie: It’s kind of a church casserole. 

Emma: It’s a church casserole. Yeah. So that’s, I think where the name comes from, but it’s essentially cheesy potatoes and you use cornflakes on top, which to me is so midwest, so like grandma’s cooking, like it just, it reminds me so much of church, of my great grandma Lula, and it’s delicious. And also, bonus, you now have a box of cornflakes in your house. And I personally love eating cornflakes, so you have extra cornflakes around that you get to eat. I never buy breakfast cereal cause I just eat it all the time. So if I have an excuse for a recipe and there’s like leftovers, it’s kind of nice. 

Elsie: Nice. That’s fun. Yeah, I like those potatoes. I’m glad that you did the casseroles on the blog, but yeah, I could see how they would be a lot of the same. 

Emma: It is kind of a similar formula as you’re making them.

Elsie: My favorite Thanksgiving dish to eat is for sure stuffing. Like stuffing is everything with gravy. I also have gravy on every single thing because it’s kind of just like how it’s done. Yeah, I think stuffing’s my favorite. I can’t think of anything else that’s like as essential as that. 

Emma: I do love mashed potatoes. On our site, we have a crockpot mashed potatoes because I like to kind of find ways to give myself a break also I do have a double oven and I have a stovetop that has like six burners or no five it has five burners and I still feel like at Thanksgiving things can get kind of full so it’s kind of nice to have some recipes that you can make in like a slow cooker or a crockpot. I call it a crock pot. Some people call it a slow cooker just because sometimes you don’t have space anymore. So yeah, that one’s on the side, but I do love mashed potatoes with lots of butter and garlic in them. And it’s another, another vessel for gravy. It’s delicious. 

Elsie: Yeah. I love it. Okay. Do you have a favorite Thanksgiving dessert? 

Emma: Yeah. So we talked about the pumpkin marble cheesecake pie. I don’t even remember what it’s called on there. I think it’s called a slab pie. So that one’s really good. I do love this. It’s like a no-bake caramel apple cheesecake. It’s really good. And there’s just a caramel apple cheesecake kind of bake. I have both of those on the site and they’re both really good. Sometimes I kind of like a no-bake though because it’s like cold and if you just ate a hot meal, it’s just like a different temperature. It’s just something different. I don’t know. It’s fun. So yeah. I also go crazy, as you can tell by my enthusiasm for All these carby casseroles. So I’m usually pretty full. So I do love cookies as just like, have them around, and then you don’t feel like you have to eat them all that day and they’re just leftovers. We have 1 million cookies and I do feel like Christmas cookies are as welcomed at my Thanksgiving table as they are at Christmas time because just festive. 

Elsie: Yeah, I completely agree. Okay, so Lara just made an apple tart on our blog and I want to link that recipe because it looks really fun to make. It’s one of the, like, where you can see, like, all the layers of apples on the top. So yeah, I definitely want to make that this year. But yeah, I think I’m with you. I think I would, like, almost rather have cookies. And obviously, like, I have to have the pumpkin pie because that’s the most important recipe.

Emma: Yeah, and sometimes I like to have like a cup of coffee if we’ve had lunch, not if it’s dinnertime, but if it’s like you had lunch because I do get really tired after you eat a lot of food. So a cup of coffee or an espresso martini or even better an affogato, it’s like ice cream and espresso. These are nice things to offer after a big lunch like that, especially if people are going to be driving a distance home, they might consider seeing if they need any coffee or espresso drinks.

Elsie: Yeah. Nice. What is your favorite thing to do after dinner? After, I think watch a movie, cozy movie time. 

Emma: Same. I feel like one year we watched Elf as a family, and then after the kids went to bed, we watched Love Actually, which is really fun and kind of funny with our parents because there’s like, kind of some scenes where you’re like, Oh, yeah. Like the couple who’s like making a porno. They’re like porno stand-ins. 

Elsie: They can handle it. They can handle it. 

Emma: They can handle it. Yeah, it’s true. It’s just funny. 

Elsie: Love Actually is so cute. 

Emma: It’s very cute. 

Elsie: Yeah, I definitely have to watch that every year. Yeah, I think this year I really want to decorate gingerbread cookies and I really want to watch a Christmas movie or maybe two. That sounds perfect.

Emma: Yeah, and I think one year we did a puzzle. But I feel like a movie’s the way to go because sometimes you’re kind of spent. 

Elsie: Oh, yeah. Do you remember when we watched Mary Poppins? 

Emma: Oh, yeah. 

Elsie: That was cute. 

Emma: That’s kind of our mom’s movie. She’s like, Mary Poppins. 

Elsie: Yes. Love it. 

Emma: And I’ll tell you what I don’t like doing after dinner, dishes. The worst part of Thanksgiving. All the dishes. Yeah. It’s like the one day a year I’m like, I understand people with the two dishwashers. I really wish I had two dishwashers right now, but I don’t at my house, but like, oh, this would be the day. 

Elsie: Yeah, it definitely would. That’s funny. Oh my gosh. Fun, fun, fun. Okay, well, I am very excited for Thanksgiving. I think this is going to be our best Thanksgiving ever, and we hope that all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving make one of our recipes and send us a picture on Instagram because we want to see it. 

Emma: Please do. I’d love to see it. Okay, now we’re gonna do a Sparks Joy, where we just talk about something that’s been sparking joy for us lately. So mine is, I had pre-ordered this book, and it’s always a delight when you pre-order something and then it comes in the mail, and for me, maybe I’m a scatterbrained person, I don’t know, but I usually forget that I pre-ordered something and I don’t even remember what day it’s going to come. In my mind, I’m like, I did it because I pre-ordered it. So I’m like, it’s coming, I don’t have to think about that anymore. So then it’s like a surprise. 

Elsie: I love pre-ordering. 

Emma: It’s like a surprise gift to myself in the future. Anyway, I pre-ordered Dolly Parton’s new, it’s like a coffee table book. It’s called Behind the Seams. I haven’t read the whole thing yet. It does have a lot of writing, stories from her childhood, and stories from performing over the years from her huge career. But it also has 1 million photos of her costumes wigs and makeup over the years. There’s a whole page that has the wigs on like mannequin heads and it’s just really beautiful. It’s such a great coffee table book because I don’t know anyone who doesn’t at least somewhat know about Dolly Parton, even if you’re not a huge fan. It’s like, she’s an icon. But her outfits are just so cool, and so inspiring, and so many of them have handmade elements, I’m not much of a seamstress, but I definitely over the years have sewn many bejeweled things and glued on all sorts of rhinestones and whatever else, especially in high school, so it’s really fun to see them all, and she’s also just one of those performers, too, where her outfits are pretty wild, and she has, like, different versions of, like, the coat of many colors, like, you see the original one, and then you see them over the years, and so it’s a really fun book. And it came in the mail and I’ve just been kind of obsessed with it. 

Elsie: Cute. Oh my gosh. That’s adorable. Okay. Mine is so silly. So do you remember the moose glasses from the, is it National Lampoon Christmas Vacation? It’s like you hold it by the ears. So I got these glasses. I’ll link them in the show notes. I just think they’re so iconic. I went back and forth because honestly, like I don’t need them. No one needs them. You don’t need them. No one needs them. But it’s just cute and fun and joyful. And this time of year, I make a lot of space in my budget, my brain, my house, and everything for like stuff that’s just like holiday joyful, you know? So anyway, I got the glasses and I think that they’re a good eggnog glass. Do you like spiked eggnog? 

Emma: Oh yeah. 

Elsie: I like it too. I know it’s like a love it or hate it. 

Emma: Love an eggnog latte. During the day, you know? 

Elsie: Yeah, that’s true. I guess not spiked eggnog is also really good. I don’t think I’ve given it to the kids, so I’m going to try that. Yeah, I think that they’re cute, they’re funny, they’re iconic, you know, from a movie, and it just, like, brings me so much joy.

Emma: That’s cute. Love it. Okay, now it’s time for the best part of the show, a joke, a fact, or a meditation with Nova. 

Elsie: Hey Nova, what do you have for us this week? 

Nova: Two jokes. Why did the turkey cross the road? 

Elsie: Why? 

Nova: He didn’t want people to think he was a chicken. 

Elsie: Ah! I love that joke. 

Nova: Here’s my next one. If you call a turkey a gobbler, what do you call a little turkey? 

Elsie: What would you call the little turkey? 

Nova: A goblet. 

Elsie: Oh, that’s so cute! Alright, have a good week, everyone! 

Nova: Have a good week!

Emma: Everyone knows that’s the best part. Thanks so much for listening. If you have any questions or podcast ideas, please email us. You can do that at [email protected] or you can call our voicemail at 417-893-0011. We’ll be back next week and we are doing a comfort rewatch of one of our favorite Christmas movies of all time, the original Home Alone.