7 Fun and Easy Thanksgiving Activities for Families to Make Happy Memories

00:00:00 - Jenny GK
Hey, Caitlin.

00:00:01 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah?

00:00:02 - Jenny GK
Did you ever read the Babysitters Club books?

00:00:05 - Caitlin Kindred
Yes, actually, I did read a few of them. Yeah.

00:00:07 - Jenny GK
Okay, so you know that like everyone in the Babysitters Club had like a little role.

00:00:11 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah.

00:00:11 - Jenny GK
Okay, so Christy was the president and Claudia was the vice president and Stacey was the treasurer.

00:00:17 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah.

00:00:18 - Jenny GK
Do you know that her favorite day was doomsday?

00:00:20 - Caitlin Kindred
Oh, Lord. Wow.

00:00:27 - Jenny GK
Longest set up ever. But I love it.

00:00:29 - Caitlin Kindred
It's so dad jokeish, but like only for girls who read those books, right? So good. I love it. Hilarious. Guys, we're so glad you're here today. We're halfway into November.

00:00:43 - Jenny GK
We're thankful.

00:00:44 - Caitlin Kindred
We're thankful. Oh, yes. We're thankful that you're here. We're halfway into November already and somehow Thanksgiving is what, like in a week and a half or something like that?

00:00:56 - Jenny GK
Yeah, it's very close.

00:00:57 - Caitlin Kindred
Oh my gosh.

00:00:58 - Jenny GK
Because I love Thanksgiving.

00:00:59 - Caitlin Kindred
You do? Holiday. We realize this is a little early for a Thanksgiving episode, so here's the thought process. We're sharing ten to eleven ish Thanksgiving activities to keep everyone entertained and out of your face. Basically, Thanksgiving while you are busting your butt in the kitchen. Family is lovely. Yes. This is what we like about Thanksgiving. Family. However, family also brings the stress.

00:01:29 - Jenny GK
Right, Major?

00:01:31 - Caitlin Kindred
Yes. So stick around. We've got that coming up for you. We're going to keep your family out of your hair and keep them entertained on Thanksgiving Day. Yes.

00:01:41 - Jenny GK
Love it, love it.

00:01:42 - Caitlin Kindred
But first.

00:01:43 - Jenny GK
Yes, Caitlin, new kids on the block, you know, they're back together and they're like touring. They wrote a new Thanksgiving song just about you.

00:01:53 - Caitlin Kindred
Ooh, I can't wait to hear what this is.

00:01:55 - Jenny GK
She's got the right stuff. Caitlin.

00:02:00 - Caitlin Kindred
Yay. Stuffing is my favorite. That's my favorite.

00:02:04 - Jenny GK
I prepared for this episode in the shower, which is know you do your creative thinking and I just let the wheels run wild.

00:02:15 - Caitlin Kindred
I have decided that I need one of those in shower notepads because, oh yeah, I have the best arguments with all the people and the best ideas in the shower, right? Like the best ones. And I'm like, why did I not write the best argument? Don't you?

00:02:34 - Jenny GK
So good.

00:02:35 - Caitlin Kindred
The arguments with all the people that you're like, if I could tell you the real truth about what I think about you and all the things and it all just flows and then you can rearrange it. Maybe I'm the only one who does this. I'm just going to stop.

00:02:48 - Jenny GK
No.

00:02:49 - Caitlin Kindred
Well, you are my bestie. And Jenny, I just adore you. So thank you for being here. With me and for making me laugh this morning already because the hot mess Express has a picture on the side of it this morning, and it's me. I need it.

00:03:07 - Jenny GK
So you cut out for a second. I didn't hear what Leslie. Nope. Had to say about me.

00:03:10 - Caitlin Kindred
Oh, she called you a gorgeous purebred poodle.

00:03:16 - Jenny GK
Please. Like I want to have my little claws painted.

00:03:19 - Caitlin Kindred
Yes. Or the edges your ends dyed pink.

00:03:24 - Jenny GK
Oh, yes, absolutely.

00:03:26 - Caitlin Kindred
That's it.

00:03:27 - Jenny GK
And the little ball of fur on my tail.

00:03:29 - Caitlin Kindred
The poof. This is the time of year that I have to watch best in show. Okay. And I always think about Butch the poodle in best in show and how dramatic they are with that poodle and how her weird haircut is and the pompoms keeping Butch's hip joints warm and all that.

00:03:51 - Jenny GK
Yeah, so good. Oh, man. I was watching some Guinness World record videos. I know we're not talking about obsessions, but I might be a little obsessed.

00:04:03 - Caitlin Kindred
With this right now.

00:04:05 - Jenny GK
And anyway, they show these 32nd clips of people breaking records. There was one where this dude is solving Rubik's cubes while juggling them.

00:04:15 - Caitlin Kindred
No, but the thing that makes this.

00:04:17 - Jenny GK
Connect to Poodles is there was one where the guy makes balloon animals through his nose.

00:04:23 - Caitlin Kindred
Ew.

00:04:24 - Jenny GK
And he like folded a poodle with the balloon coming out of his nose.

00:04:30 - Caitlin Kindred
The thing that people come up with. Right.

00:04:35 - Jenny GK
He's got a plaque. He's got a plaque. He is a world record holder for fastest balloon animal made in a nose.

00:04:43 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah. Okay. I just don't even have words. I don't have words. I don't know what to say. It's just weird. Wow. Okay, so we are going to go ahead and get into it. This is already off the rails. That's how you can tell this hot mess express is interesting this morning. Okay, so we are talking about activities for you and your family to do or for you to set up for your family or someone else to set up for your family so that you can keep everyone out of your hair, keep everyone happy, and have some fun along the way. My sources today are a pure wow article called 38 Thanksgiving activities to keep the whole family entertained and squabble free by, once again, Emma Singer. But she also has.

00:05:34 - Jenny GK
I feel like you need to get an Emma Singer tattoo.

00:05:37 - Caitlin Kindred
I think I do. Yeah. I think I'm going to get the heads of the podcast, and then I'm just going to say, like, brought to you by Emma Singer. Love it. I need to just make sure that I'm following this woman on all the platforms so that I can.

00:05:53 - Jenny GK
And if you're, like, not tagging her in our episodes, we need to.

00:05:56 - Caitlin Kindred
Oh, she shows up in all of our show notes. Just putting that out there so that anytime someone searches for her, hopefully it comes up. But there's that. But she also has a co writer on this one. It's Stephanie Sangway. So. Emma Singer. Stephanie Sangway. Thank you for the inspiration. We are not, obviously, sharing all 38, but we do have a link to that article in the show notes for today.

00:06:15 - Jenny GK
Absolutely.

00:06:16 - Caitlin Kindred
So, Thanksgiving, we're talking about being thankful. Some of these activities have to be about gratitude. Absolutely. Yes. So we've got a couple here. One of them is the Eminem Gratitude game. And if you're a teacher, especially if you teach math, you've probably seen some version of this game before, right?

00:06:39 - Jenny GK
I think I saw this game when I was in college, and it had something to do with drinks.

00:06:43 - Caitlin Kindred
Oh, there is that option, too. Yes. But when I've done it for math, it was everyone gets a little thing of Eminem, and then we turn it into a bar graph of different colors of. Right. This is. Every color of Eminem is assigned a gratitude topic. For example, red would be I'm thankful for a person. Orange is I'm thankful for something in nature. Yellow is I'm thankful for something in my house that's not a person. Right. Like, things like that, whatever it flip.

00:07:19 - Jenny GK
Over a queen, and the person to your right drinks.

00:07:21 - Caitlin Kindred
Oh, sure. Yes. So what you do is you open up the bag of Eminem. Everyone picks up an eminem, and then they just go around and say, oh, this is a red one. I'm thankful for my mom. Done. Right, great. Yes. I love it, because I don't know about you, but whenever someone's like, what are we thankful for? I get anxious because I need structure in that I want a sentence frame. I want someone to tell me, like, okay, are we all talking about thankful for our health? Which is a game that you guys have talked about at your family? Like, everyone operates under that assumption, but I still feel like I need the sentence frame. So this provides those sentence frames for everyone who's playing the game. And it kind of goes back to that whole set everyone up for success. When you're having small talk conversations or when you're just trying to get people to open up.

00:08:14 - Jenny GK
Dude, we love a good sentence starter on CK and GK, don't we?

00:08:17 - Caitlin Kindred
We really, really do. Also, Eminems.

00:08:19 - Jenny GK
What do you love, Caitlin?

00:08:20 - Caitlin Kindred
Sentence. There's also, just so you know, you don't have to make this up for yourself. Like, if you're struggling to come up what the color should be, we've got a link to this exact activity in the blog post for this episode. And there's printables that you can just grab for yourself, but you could just make it up if you wanted to. That's fine. And eminems are always a good bribe for kids. So just putting that out there and.

00:08:47 - Jenny GK
Depending on how old your group is, it might be fun for them to brainstorm what each color is going to be.

00:08:52 - Caitlin Kindred
Totally.

00:08:53 - Jenny GK
If you've got a group of preteens, that might be fun for them too. Like, oh, I'm going to say that red is something I'm thankful for online or whatever.

00:09:01 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah. Oh, that's a great idea. I love that. Okay, the other one about gratitude is a DIY family gratitude tree. Now, this requires a little bit of prep on your part, so just putting that out there, that's why we're doing this episode a week before Thanksgiving, so that you have time to prep it if you want. But what you'Re going to do is you're going to tape a brown craft paper tree trunk. Go find a template online, trace it. Don't worry about making it. Whatever. You can do it with a cardboard that you have in the house, because we all know I love to save a good box. You never know. You hit 35 and you start saving boxes for whatever reason, so you could use a box, paper bag. Oh, Caitlin, it doesn't matter.

00:09:42 - Jenny GK
You know, when we moved to Japan in the early 90s, my dad bought a piano before we even had a house. It's the same piano that he's been, like, watching his whole life, and he's always wanted whatever. So he buys this piano, and of course my mom's like, what are we going to do with the piano? We don't even have a house yet. She's, oh, no, it'll get delivered once we have a house. And so the piano comes in this giant box that is, like, the size of a coffin.

00:10:04 - Caitlin Kindred
Oh, my gosh.

00:10:06 - Jenny GK
My dad gifted me that piano when I bought my first home in 2008. In the box?

00:10:16 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah, you got to save the box.

00:10:19 - Jenny GK
17 years he kept this box.

00:10:24 - Caitlin Kindred
This is why millennials have a problem throwing away iPhone boxes. Just putting that out there.

00:10:28 - Jenny GK
Oh, dude.

00:10:29 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah. So you're going to make a brown or.

00:10:34 - Jenny GK
Oh, that's right.

00:10:34 - Caitlin Kindred
We're making a tree. We're making a tree. And then just make some leaf cutouts. Also, you can make these out of. You can just print out leaves from the interwebs and cut them out or whatever. It's fine.

00:10:48 - Jenny GK
I am hearing you say, you can make this. You can make this. But I am replacing that pronoun with she she and passing it off to my twelve year old. Yes, I'm saying we're going to do this tree, Abigail, you need to make this tree and leaves for everyone.

00:11:02 - Caitlin Kindred
Oh, it's a really good hyper fixation project for ADHD ERS too, putting that out there. So you're going to have these leaf cutouts. You're going to have your tree up on someplace that you don't mind people taping to and what you're going to do, think like a wedding guest book. Everyone's going to write something that they're thankful for on the leaves and then they're going to tape it to the tree and it's going to look like fall and it's going to be pretty and nice and it's something you could take a picture of and save for another time. I used to do an activity similar to this with my students. I had this big kind of vinyl tree that I. Not vinyl, like cardstock tree that I laminated so that I could put tape over it over and over and over again. And I had it on. I was in a corner classroom, like the end of the hallway. And so I wrapped the tree kind of around the corner wall. And then every month or holiday or whatever it was, I would have these little icon designs things and the kids would color them and then say one thing that they loved about season.

00:12:07 - Jenny GK
Stop. Yeah, stop for just a minute. You made your hands into a heart and a heart floated across the.

00:12:15 - Caitlin Kindred
That was weird. Is it going to do it again? No way. Squad cast. That's rad.

00:12:21 - Jenny GK
How does that happen?

00:12:23 - Caitlin Kindred
I don't know, but squadcast, well done. That's super cool. If it happens again, you should take a picture of it.

00:12:28 - Jenny GK
Okay.

00:12:30 - Caitlin Kindred
I used to do this with my students. It was super cute and my administrators loved it. They absolutely loved it. At the end of your gathering, whatever you're doing for Thanksgiving, you'll have this tree that has all these sweet memories or thankful items on it or whatever. You can make it be different prompts. Just like the M M game, right? You can say, this color leaf is for a memory we have of this year. This color leaf is for a thankful thing. This color leaf is for something you're looking forward to in the coming year. Whatever you want to do. Oh, cool. But it could be really nice. And if you make it sturdy enough or you are hyper annoying like I am, and you laminate it or whatever. You could use it again and again and again and change it throughout the year, just like I did in my classroom. So it's pretty cool. It's a fun idea.

00:13:18 - Jenny GK
I love it.

00:13:19 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah. Okay, another one. I have to admit that this is very the office circa season one when Michael Scott runs the diversity day episode, if you know what I'm talking.

00:13:33 - Jenny GK
Nice.

00:13:34 - Caitlin Kindred
Nice.

00:13:34 - Jenny GK
Yes.

00:13:35 - Caitlin Kindred
But less cringe, right? Less. Lord help us. All right, so this is an easy game to play. All you need are some sticky notes and a pen. Got it.

00:13:47 - Jenny GK
I have those.

00:13:49 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah. You don't have to make a tree. Done. So here's how you play. You write the name of a famous person or a character on a sticky note. Give one to each player. Characters can be dead or alive, fictional, nonfictional, doesn't matter. Make sure that the person who you assign the character to cannot see their name. So you make them stick the sticky note on their forehead, just like the episode of the Office. And the players have to walk around the room and ask yes or no questions to figure out who they are. Now, the only issue I have with this game is if you have a teenager and you have people of much older generations, you might get some weird TikTok stars or whatever. So just maybe you write the name out in advance and you ask for some suggestions from everyone, right? But then you don't participate, and you give everyone else a sticky note, and that way they're all doing it. You just get to laugh while you're making pies in the background. Right. There you go. Yes. Okay. That's a fun one. Really easy icebreaker. You give me one.

00:15:00 - Jenny GK
Okay. So I have one that's like, how well do you really know your family? Because at a lot of these holiday events, not just Thanksgiving, but as we said last week, the most wonderful time of the year, you might be getting together with people that you haven't gotten together with since maybe last holiday season. And it could be a little awkward, especially for your kids who don't necessarily remember these people.

00:15:28 - Caitlin Kindred
Oh, I'm thinking, like, oh, Christmas vacation, when Audrey and Russ are just cringing from their grandparents all over them and just how uncomfortable they are. That's what I have in my head right now.

00:15:45 - Jenny GK
Yes. So there is a card game called do you really know your family and has all kinds of silly challenges and trivia questions that just stir up laughter from everyone and then teach you a few things that you didn't know about your family. We do a version of this at our kids birthday parties, we will be like, who knows Kit best? And so I'll ask him some questions beforehand, and then everyone has to answer questions about him. But again, that requires a lot of prep on my part. This is something that you can just get in a box, which is why, again, we're telling you this in advance.

00:16:20 - Caitlin Kindred
Right. All about the getting as much done in advance kind of thing. But also, if I don't have to prep it, I am very much a throw the money at the problem kind of person. So. That sounds great. I love it. I have a link to that game in the show notes. If you want to just take a look at it, you can find it on your favorite A to Z store. So easy, easy.

00:16:44 - Jenny GK
Love it.

00:16:46 - Caitlin Kindred
Okay, this one's for me. We all know I love a good puzzle. In fact, I love a puzzle so much.

00:16:53 - Jenny GK
Oh, my God.

00:16:56 - Caitlin Kindred
Guess whose pumpkin puzzle still isn't done? This girl's. Okay, so if you are looking for a low key Thanksgiving activity, this is one where you set it up off to the side of your space and you just leave it there. Now, if you're me, you grab a glass of wine and you sit in front of the puzzle most of the day. Once the cooking is done, however, this could be a great way to wrap up your day, too, right? So you just finish, put the puzzle on the coffee table. Everyone's having their food coma. Some people are watching football games, but it's a way to kind of calm everyone down. And you give someone something to do with their hands that isn't necessarily doom scrolling. Although it is also a great way to keep people who cannot shop after Thanksgiving entertained. Right.

00:17:48 - Jenny GK
So I will tell you, I am not a puzzle person. I'm not against puzzles, but when I'm thinking of entertaining myself, I never like, oh, puzzle. But when there is a puzzle out, I mean it.

00:17:59 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah, that's exactly what I'm talking about.

00:18:02 - Jenny GK
It's the weirdest thing. It's the weirdest thing. It does become social, and you're like, okay, let's all do this puzzle.

00:18:08 - Caitlin Kindred
Right? I don't know why it's, like, weird. Do you watch New girl? Have you watched it before?

00:18:14 - Jenny GK
I have not watched new girl.

00:18:16 - Caitlin Kindred
Oh, okay. You need. First of all, stop what you're doing. We're canceling this episode. Go watch New Girl. But there's a character named Winston who loves puzzles, and he's like, oh, yeah. And he's, like, rubbing his hands together, and he's so funny about puzzles, and that's how I feel about them, because for me, it's a hyper fixation project and I get intense dopamine rushes from putting chunks of pieces together. I don't know what it is aside from that. It's got to be that.

00:18:42 - Jenny GK
But if there, it's chaos to order.

00:18:45 - Caitlin Kindred
Right? And you also know I used to have one in my classroom that I would put out for the kids to do and they would just walk by and do a couple of pieces. Exactly.

00:18:53 - Jenny GK
It's the weirdest thing. It's the weirdest thing because I am not a puzzle person. I'm just not. But then there's like this magnetism of, oh, there's a puzzle set up. I'll do a few pieces.

00:19:03 - Caitlin Kindred
Exactly. I don't get it. But it's super fun. And I'm actually thinking about bringing one to my in laws for Thanksgiving this year because I think.

00:19:09 - Jenny GK
I think you show.

00:19:10 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah, I think it'll be really fun. And there's tons of Thanksgiving ones. I have a link to one in the show notes that you can or it's in our blog post. It's not in the show notes. Go to the blog post. But I have a link there. If you wanted a very traditional turkey one, but there's tons of other. Just put out any old puzzle, nobody cares. It's fine. Find one from your attic and throw it out there. People are going to do. Don't worry about it. I mean, it's super family friendly. Low prep again, keeps people out of your hair. Great way to Zen.

00:19:36 - Jenny GK
And let me give a virtual high five to anyone who loves to light the world on fire like me. And puts pieces to a puzzle that doesn't belong on the table.

00:19:46 - Caitlin Kindred
Oh, Lord. Yeah, that stresses me out already. I just felt my voice start to shake. I just started sweating. Jenny, you just made me sweat. I'm not kidding. Okay, sorry. I'm good. I swear. This is Flash. You're welcome.

00:20:05 - Jenny GK
Depending on who you are.

00:20:06 - Caitlin Kindred
Right. This is a hypothetical puzzle. There's no real danger here. Okay, so another one. Flag football. Need to get outside now. I have been a turkey trot on Thanksgiving person one time. One time only. And it was big fun. But I am not that person. I am much more of a turn on the parade. Probably cry during the parade because it makes me happy and then watch the dog show while I cook. That's my morning, right? I though do love the opportunity to get outside on Thanksgiving Day because something about that fresh air just feels really good. So channel your inner season three friends and go work up an appetite with your family while playing flag football. Not tackle football. Flag.

00:20:56 - Jenny GK
No.

00:20:57 - Caitlin Kindred
Okay. Caitlin burn, fresh air. Go find out how to play online real easy. It'll be great.

00:21:07 - Jenny GK
I told you I love Thanksgiving. And there's like so many traditions around Thanksgiving and my family, and a lot of them I've adopted into my own family. But playing football on Thanksgiving, I did not make this up. My family did not make this up. This is like all American, right?

00:21:24 - Caitlin Kindred
Right.

00:21:26 - Jenny GK
When we played growing up, my dad would be all time quarterback.

00:21:31 - Caitlin Kindred
Oh.

00:21:31 - Jenny GK
Because there were three kids. So one of us would be on offense with him, the other two would be on defense, and we would, like, rotate through.

00:21:39 - Caitlin Kindred
Oh, cute.

00:21:39 - Jenny GK
So there was like no advantage.

00:21:42 - Caitlin Kindred
Right.

00:21:43 - Jenny GK
It's just because my dad's on offense the whole time.

00:21:46 - Caitlin Kindred
Right. It's just about also getting outside playing. Everyone gets a chance to try to catch the ball, run the ball. Yeah. You might keep score, but it doesn't really matter.

00:21:57 - Jenny GK
Now, let me tell you this. There's a little bit of sexism around football on Thanksgiving.

00:22:03 - Caitlin Kindred
Yes.

00:22:04 - Jenny GK
Sometimes it's just the guys.

00:22:07 - Caitlin Kindred
Yes.

00:22:08 - Jenny GK
I am going to plead, if you are in a family where a male of the family has invited a date for Thanksgiving the first time and you happen to be female, go play flag football with her. She's going to have this weird obligation to go play football because she doesn't know the other people who are staying inside. So she's going to be the only girl on the field. Go do it. Or make an open invitation, like, hey, why don't you come? All of us are going to go and do whatever it is that you're going to do. That's not football.

00:22:50 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah. The thing about, and I bet that a lot of women can relate to this, when the men get together, they often group up and talk about things that interest them. And then it kind of leaves the women in an awkward position where they have to figure out how to have a conversation with this new group of people or this woman that they don't know when they really know the guy or, you know what I mean, it can get really uncomfortable. And as someone who has become very good friends with my husband's really good guy friends, that often has happened to me where I get not for, I don't want to say cold, right. Or it sounds rude because it's not what they mean, but they ditch the girls and leave her with me because then I'm the one who's supposed to vet them and entertain them, and that's uncomfortable. Right. So just extend that invitation to her. Have her come outside, and often you'll see how much fun she really is. I think it'll be a really good opportunity for you. Also now in my head, because I said the Friends episode, I have Monica Geller going 42 to 21. Like, the Turkey Ross is done in my head, over and over. That episode is all about the sexism in football. Have you noticed that? It's a really good. Somewhere our dear friend Lauren is like, oh, my gosh, you're so right. If she's. It's a. That's a great episode about all of that and why the girls need to be included. And it ends with them going, isn't there a National football League? And they're, yeah, they play on Monday nights. And then Rachel goes, oh, shoot. I work on Monday nights. Like, that's the reason that she's unable to participate in the NFL.

00:24:39 - Jenny GK
She's also not available on Sundays.

00:24:43 - Caitlin Kindred
Right. She's terrible. She'll never make it. Okay, so those are mine. Those kind of encompass some of the personal ones. I do too. But I think this year I'm going to change it up and do one of those. I know you love Thanksgiving so much. I feel like you have something to offer here. That's not an article.

00:25:01 - Jenny GK
I love Thanksgiving so much. Okay, so we did already talk about the gratitude thing. That is my number one reason I love Thanksgiving is in my family and my extended family.

00:25:12 - Caitlin Kindred
Right?

00:25:13 - Jenny GK
Like, we did it as a nuclear family, like my parents and my siblings and I. But it has expanded. And now we're this big group and we still continue to do it. We sit around the table and we say what we're thankful for. And you know it's coming.

00:25:26 - Caitlin Kindred
Right?

00:25:27 - Jenny GK
Like, you come in saying, okay, I'm going to have to be thankful for something. And we do. Like you said, we kind of have this understood rule that you don't have to say family or health or financial well being. We are very fortunate to have those things, and we all assume we're thankful for them. So you can go beyond that. I love that. I love the practicing of gratitude. I really enjoy the Thanksgiving season and thinking about what I'm going to say.

00:25:52 - Caitlin Kindred
Oh, that's so nice. I love that. Yeah.

00:25:55 - Jenny GK
Again, it's like we're not being put on the spot. That's why I love that Eminem game, because some of them can be frivolous. Like, what article of clothing are you thankful for?

00:26:03 - Caitlin Kindred
Exactly.

00:26:04 - Jenny GK
Name like that.

00:26:05 - Caitlin Kindred
Right?

00:26:06 - Jenny GK
We always take a walk between dinner and dessert.

00:26:10 - Caitlin Kindred
Good idea.

00:26:10 - Jenny GK
We walk the dogs. It is a short walk. It is not like, oh, we're going to go do a five K. I have done the family. Five K. I have done it many years. I have run it. I have walked it. We've done it. I've seen the memes that say, like, don't marry into a family that does.

00:26:25 - Caitlin Kindred
A five K. Thanksgiving. Totally.

00:26:27 - Jenny GK
I get it. It's great. And when the weather is beautiful, it's a really cool way to kick off the day.

00:26:34 - Caitlin Kindred
Start your day.

00:26:34 - Jenny GK
But this is a very mellow walk. This is like trying to digest your food and make room for dessert, right?

00:26:42 - Caitlin Kindred
Absolutely.

00:26:43 - Jenny GK
Dessert. Which, by the way, in my family, you can order a piece of pumpkin pie or a piece of raspberry pie or a piece of rum cake or whatever. Or you can have the classic family order the sampler, at which point my mom will give you a slice of every piece of dessert on your plate.

00:27:03 - Caitlin Kindred
Can we talk about raspberry pie for a second? I don't know why this never occurred to me. I have never heard of raspberry pie in my life. Is that a thing you guys normally do?

00:27:12 - Jenny GK
Okay.

00:27:13 - Caitlin Kindred
Yes.

00:27:13 - Jenny GK
So for those of you who love computers, I know raspberry Pi is, like, a thing. So we're moving that aside. We're not talking about computers. We're not talking about programming. We're talking about a dessert. My mom makes this raspberry pie that. Oh, my gosh. I'm closing my eyes. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. It has a meringue crust that has, like, Ritz crackers in it, and I know that.

00:27:34 - Caitlin Kindred
No, the salt.

00:27:35 - Jenny GK
Super crispy and chewy. Yes. And then raspberries on top of that. And then whipped cream.

00:27:42 - Caitlin Kindred
No way. So it's not a baked pie. No, it's like a cold.

00:27:48 - Jenny GK
The crust is baked because it's like a meringue. Yes. And then the raspberries go on top, and it sits in the fridge for a little bit. So the meringue gets kind of soft and chewy on the top and then still crispy and delicious on the bottom.

00:28:00 - Caitlin Kindred
Oh, it's so good. I was picturing a baked fruit pie, and I had never.

00:28:05 - Jenny GK
Right, like a Latice crust or whatever.

00:28:07 - Caitlin Kindred
Right. Raspberries are.

00:28:08 - Jenny GK
They would get so soft and juicy.

00:28:09 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah. I was like, how do you do? Also, I'm not the biggest pie. Like, something about the texture. I love the flavors, but the texture of the fruit really gets to me. So I've never been a big pie person. However, I do make more custardy based, like, our dear friend Angela gave me a recipe for her chocolate pie that I make every year. And I use an Oreo crust, and that's really good. And then I also make a good. I make a pumpkin cheesecake, usually, because pumpkin pie is not a big thing in our family. So I make a pumpkin cheesecake, but I also make a pecan pie, which is my absolute diehard favorite. But I put heath bar bits in the mix. So it's like, I have heard you say this, it is the best toffee.

00:28:58 - Jenny GK
And carameli, and it's already got, like.

00:29:01 - Caitlin Kindred
The base of pumpkin pie. Or not pumpkin. I'm sorry. Of pecan pie is caro syrup, corn syrup. So it is so sugary. But it's also got, Like. Oh, it's just got a good crunch to it. And it has that toffee flavor that goes along. Oh, it's so good.

00:29:19 - Jenny GK
Just a hint of chocolate.

00:29:21 - Caitlin Kindred
Well, there's no chocolate bits. It's just the heath on the inside.

00:29:25 - Jenny GK
Oh, the heath is just the inside. It's just interesting inside.

00:29:29 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah.

00:29:30 - Jenny GK
I thought you were, like, breaking up candy bars.

00:29:32 - Caitlin Kindred
No, you can buy heath bits that are just the inside pieces. And it's like little crunch. Yeah, they look like. They kind of look like them in 2023.

00:29:42 - Jenny GK
And you are living in 30 23.

00:29:44 - Caitlin Kindred
Right. They look like grape nuts, that cereal. They're about that size. You just aged yourself a lot. I really did. 30 23 -1200 a lot. Yeah. But that's really funny. Now we've digressed again, and we're once again off the rails. If anyone wants these recipes, will you please just DM us? Because I'm sure we will send them to you. Maybe I just make a separate blog post of, like, these are my recipes that I like.

00:30:12 - Jenny GK
Oh, I love it. I love it. I will send you my, what we call sweet potatoes. But it's really, like sweet potato pie filling as sweet potatoes.

00:30:22 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah, I know that sounds. I'm not a big sweet potato person, but I would eat it. Yeah.

00:30:28 - Jenny GK
We keep the dairy farmers in business at Thanksgiving in my family.

00:30:32 - Caitlin Kindred
Okay, so you got the sampler.

00:30:34 - Jenny GK
So the other thing is, this is, like my rule. I do not do a kids table. And really, at any event, I do not do a kids table. I try instead to think about who is going to bond best. And sometimes that might actually be kids.

00:30:50 - Caitlin Kindred
Right?

00:30:51 - Jenny GK
But sometimes it's not. And so I try and set up tables around the space that will allow for those natural groupings. Like, for example, in John's family, Abby is only coming to half the events. Right. Like, she splits her time between us and her dad's family. So when we go to John's extended family events, Abby's only there half the time. So imagine if you only see people every two years, how distant that can feel.

00:31:23 - Caitlin Kindred
Sure.

00:31:23 - Jenny GK
But there are a few people in that family with whom she's really bonded. One of them is John's uncle, and it's like, okay, so we make sure that we sit at their table.

00:31:32 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah, that's great.

00:31:33 - Jenny GK
I love that because they have a good connection. So let's do away with the idea of kids table and just set a lot of tables and kind of let people naturally decide where they're going to be. And maybe it turns out that, like, oh, all you guys are four. You might want to all sit at the same table because you're four. But maybe this four year old is much older and really wants to hang out with the eight year old.

00:31:54 - Caitlin Kindred
Who knows? I love it.

00:31:55 - Jenny GK
All right. And then the last one, this is not mine. This is something that I heard of from another family that I think is so cool. This matriarch has a tablecloth that they use every year at Thanksgiving. And when you sit at their Thanksgiving table, you get to sign your name where you sit.

00:32:14 - Caitlin Kindred
Oh, how sweet.

00:32:17 - Jenny GK
Yes.

00:32:18 - Caitlin Kindred
And think about it.

00:32:19 - Jenny GK
One of the things I love about Thanksgiving is it's not normally just family. Like, you can bring friends or neighbors. When I was growing up in the military, a lot of times we would have GIs who were single and didn't really have somewhere to go, and so we'd have, like, four or five guys.

00:32:32 - Caitlin Kindred
Come over for, oh, that's lovely.

00:32:34 - Jenny GK
And so how cool is this? To, over the years, gather the names of everyone who's come to your Thanksgiving table.

00:32:41 - Caitlin Kindred
I love that so much. I think that's really, really sweet. This is where my mind immediately went. As much as I love that idea, I would be so concerned. Thanksgiving is messy. Can you wash it? I would be concerned about how you do that. Maybe what you do is you have them write on Sharpie, and then you get someone who knows how to sew and they embroider the name over it or something like that.

00:33:03 - Jenny GK
Or you do like me, and you're totally classless, and you just throw a.

00:33:07 - Caitlin Kindred
Plastic tablecloth over it after everyone's signed. There you go. That's a great idea. There you go.

00:33:13 - Jenny GK
But I'm the person who throws a blanket over the couch, so it's fine. I don't have plastic couch covers. I'm not that bad. But you come to my house. You're probably sitting on a blanket.

00:33:24 - Caitlin Kindred
We'll talk about this in another episode. But I have an obsession that's related to that. I got it.

00:33:28 - Jenny GK
Oh, okay.

00:33:28 - Caitlin Kindred
Yes. Okay. Speaking of obsessions, let's take a quick.

00:33:31 - Jenny GK
Break and then we'll talk about them.

00:33:32 - Caitlin Kindred
Yes. Okay.

00:33:34 - Jenny GK
We're back. We're back. It's time for story time. You sit on the circle, on the carpet. Crisscross applesauce. We're going to tell stories. Time for the circle.

00:33:43 - Caitlin Kindred
Yay.

00:33:44 - Jenny GK
First thing we're going to do is talk about current obsessions, which mine already goes with what we've been talking about. If you haven't been listening to the first half of the episode, let me update you. I love Thanksgiving. And so we are deep into the Thanksgiving season. Yes, it is a season. It is not just a day. We do not start Christmas on November 1. We start Thanksgiving. However, the day after Thanksgiving. Please bring all the Christmas. It's totally fine with me, but my current obsession is asking people what their favorite Thanksgiving food is. You have probably heard me say this on the show before. I love doing this because, number one, most families celebrate some version of Thanksgiving. Right? This is a pretty, as I can see it, inclusive holiday.

00:34:30 - Caitlin Kindred
It's not a religious holiday. It is a national holiday.

00:34:35 - Jenny GK
It is an American holiday.

00:34:37 - Caitlin Kindred
That means that if you want to participate in it for whatever your background is, you totally can. And I also love when expats go overseas and celebrate it there and then bring in people to talk about. I love it. Given the history of it, I understand the history is problematic, however.

00:34:54 - Jenny GK
Oh, sure.

00:34:55 - Caitlin Kindred
But I do love it.

00:34:56 - Jenny GK
But if we can say, like, what Thanksgiving has become now.

00:34:59 - Caitlin Kindred
Yes, I love it.

00:35:01 - Jenny GK
Generally inclusive. I can understand that if you are Native American, it might not be your favorite holiday. Completely understand that.

00:35:09 - Caitlin Kindred
I do.

00:35:10 - Jenny GK
Actually, it does have kind of a dirty history.

00:35:11 - Caitlin Kindred
Yes. I actually give to First nations every year during the month of November because, well, it's Native American History Month, for one thing. But also because it does bother me. It helps me.

00:35:25 - Jenny GK
Right.

00:35:25 - Caitlin Kindred
Totally helps me feel better.

00:35:26 - Jenny GK
That's nice.

00:35:27 - Caitlin Kindred
Yes. Thank you.

00:35:28 - Jenny GK
And you know what? That is the way you help. It doesn't matter what cause, right? You got to open your wallet. A tweet doesn't work.

00:35:35 - Caitlin Kindred
Right. Actually, you know what? I'm going to put a link to them in this show notes so that you can do it too, if you want. But this is the one I will. I go to. Okay.

00:35:46 - Jenny GK
Anyhow, I love asking people what their favorite Thanksgiving food is. You normally get like a whole body response. Like, there's a little bit of a smile. They perk up a little bit and they're going to tell you a story. It's never like, oh, my favorite Thanksgiving food is green beans. They'll be like, oh, man. My grandma, she made these green beans and she would, like, put a little bit of bacon in them, and then she would put them back in the oven another time that put those little onions on top. And I'm like, ew, I don't even like green. I don't even like green beans. But I would eat how excited you are and like, oh, that sounds great. And it's this idea of, like, food is love.

00:36:23 - Caitlin Kindred
Totally.

00:36:23 - Jenny GK
So asking that question, a lot of times you get a little story and it's a chance for someone to share a Thanksgiving memory or something about their family. I really love that question. So that's my current obsession.

00:36:35 - Caitlin Kindred
That's a great one. I also love that as, like, it's a good icebreaker kind of question. It's a really good small talk question. Right? Because it is. It's like, are you close to your parents? Or like, where'd you grow up? You know what I mean? It's like one of those things where you can use it as a default and people will really love it, especially this time of year. Okay. Mine is.

00:36:53 - Jenny GK
Well, I was just going to say it's also really fun to ask in March.

00:36:57 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah.

00:36:57 - Jenny GK
So random Thanksgiving food.

00:36:59 - Caitlin Kindred
Wait, what? Yeah.

00:37:01 - Jenny GK
Okay, I'll go with it.

00:37:02 - Caitlin Kindred
Sorry, I'm just already excited. I'm just still thinking about my own mashed potatoes. No big deal. Okay, so mine is not so much an obsession as it is. Well, maybe it is as a way that I have started to ease my anxiety during the day. So I feel like those of us who have anxiety might be able to use this. I took a cue from my dear, dear friend Elsie and my other dear friend Alma, who I work with, and they have walking pads for their at home office setups, and they are constantly walking during the day. Like, constantly.

00:37:44 - Jenny GK
Oh, this is like an underdest treadmill under dust.

00:37:46 - Caitlin Kindred
Treadmill. Yep. And I got one.

00:37:49 - Jenny GK
I was thinking of, like, the power pad, like, throwback from what is a walking pad? I am so excited to know about this. No, clearly, fitness is, like, not in my wheelhouse.

00:38:04 - Caitlin Kindred
Well, you have a job where you wouldn't know what that is. You're constantly walking around anyway, teacher, this is true.

00:38:10 - Jenny GK
My job involves walking.

00:38:12 - Caitlin Kindred
That's right. It's not.

00:38:13 - Jenny GK
That's true.

00:38:14 - Caitlin Kindred
Okay, so I was for a while sitting at my desk too much, and I was having issues with my hamstrings and my glutes and my lower back, and it was causing pretty big problems. But the big issue, I probably techneck, too, right? Yeah, I had a little bit of.

00:38:30 - Jenny GK
That going because you're looking down the whole time.

00:38:31 - Caitlin Kindred
Well, my computer set up is a little bit higher, so I tried to make it be even, but I still had some of that issue. Now I have this underdesk treadmill, this walking pad, and whenever I start to feel myself get a little bit anxious and I have this excess energy, I just go and get the walking pad out, and I will walk as I'm working. And I have gotten myself up to 10 miles a day. Now I go for my walk in the morning, too, right? So it's not just like I'm walking 10 miles treadmill, but I have really found that it's helping with my lower back issues, and it's also just helping me get some of that anxious energy out. It's a really good coping mechanism for me. And if you are someone who sits, you work from home and you sit a lot, I would highly recommend getting some sort of desk riser and a way for yourself to walk during the day or if you can take a break and go for a walk. But it does really help that anxiety. And I know I have to be at my desk, but I'm still feeling like I have this anxious energy. I need to get up.

00:39:40 - Jenny GK
You're moving.

00:39:42 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah.

00:39:42 - Jenny GK
That's good. I like it.

00:39:43 - Caitlin Kindred
And it's meditative. Like, there's something about the pace is the same, so there's, like, a steady sound that goes with it. There's a lot to it. Okay. You have a gem for me.

00:39:54 - Jenny GK
Okay. I do indeed have a gem. Okay, so, last week, I talked about this book that I had ordered only because of the review. The name of the book is the unfortunate side effects of heartbreak and magic. And the review was Gilmore Girls meets Practical magic. Now, some of you know that I was in a Gilmore Girls watch party group in college. Every Tuesday, we got together and had a different theme, and we would watch the episode when Rory turned 21. We had a birthday cake.

00:40:30 - Caitlin Kindred
Oh, my goodness.

00:40:31 - Jenny GK
We're big fans.

00:40:32 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah.

00:40:33 - Jenny GK
Oh, yeah. The name of the Facebook group to throwback to a time where you had a Facebook group for everything was Gilmore Girls Night out.

00:40:42 - Caitlin Kindred
It was kind of adorable. I'm picturing, like, bachelor parties. Like, bachelorete Bachelor parties. You know what I mean? How girls would get together and watch the Bachelor. That's what I'm picturing. Oh, how cute.

00:40:51 - Jenny GK
Yes. That's exactly the same thing. I love it. And Practical magic, one of my favorite movies of all time. I actually wrote a love spell when I was 13 and watched this movie for the first time.

00:41:03 - Caitlin Kindred
We have also talked about this show when it's a spell. We talked about practical magic and how much we loved it when you were doing midnight dance parties with your daughter. And we did an episode where we talked about stuff for Channing a lot and we talked about how much chanting. Like seven times. Yeah. She shows up like four times in the episode. It's wild. So that's a throwback. It's like episode. Like three or four. It's so early. So if you want to hear us.

00:41:31 - Jenny GK
Yeah, it's way back.

00:41:32 - Caitlin Kindred
Practical magic and wax poetic about soccer Channing. Then go listen to that.

00:41:36 - Jenny GK
That's really funny. Okay, so the book arrived and I've started reading it.

00:41:40 - Caitlin Kindred
Okay. The book has recipes.

00:41:43 - Jenny GK
What? For what?

00:41:45 - Caitlin Kindred
Yes.

00:41:46 - Jenny GK
The main character owns a bakery. And so at the end of every chapter there's a recipe for whatever she was baking in that chapter.

00:41:55 - Caitlin Kindred
Stop. THat's amazing. Any good ones so far?

00:41:59 - Jenny GK
Isn't it so great? So there's one that's rum soaked peach muffins. And I'm like, going to make it this?

00:42:08 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah. Oh, man. That sounds amazing.

00:42:10 - Jenny GK
And it's so funny because it says what each ingredient is supposed to do for you. Like, oh, cinnamon is preservation or whatever. I don't know. But every single one of the ingredients also has some kind of magic to it.

00:42:24 - Caitlin Kindred
That's amazing. I love it. How fun. Okay, this is entitled why I am Al Borland. Now, I know I just aged myself with that. I don't care.

00:42:42 - Jenny GK
I don't think so, Tim.

00:42:43 - Caitlin Kindred
Right? I am Al Borland. And here's like, this is fresh, right? You know how it's Thanksgiving and that's when your garbage disposal chooses to crap out on you because of all the stuff you're putting down the.

00:43:01 - Jenny GK
Oh, exactly.

00:43:02 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah. Also, don't put oil down your garbage disposal. Bad idea. Freeze it and then throw it away.

00:43:08 - Jenny GK
Or fish tank rocks.

00:43:10 - Caitlin Kindred
Oh, yes. So that's kind of what happened to our garbage disposal. I have plants on the windowsill above the sink and I think somehow they got spilled a little bit and there were like chunks of soil and those soil rocks in my drain, like in my garbage disposal. And so my husband is running the garbage disposal and then it just clearly hits something and then it just stops. And he was like, oh, no, the garbage disposal isn't working. And he got pretty frustrated right away, and I was like, okay, well, hold on. I go get a glove, and I start pulling things out of the drain to see if I can see what's in there. And I can see the little plant rocks. And I'm like, all right, well, it clearly got caught on something, and now we just have to figure out how to uncutch it. So I get everything out and it still won't turn on. And then something occurred to me where I was like, you know how when your vacuum is spinning and it gets stuck on something, like on the rug or whatever, a piece of string, and it like. And it stops and you just have to turn it off? Pull that thing out, maybe you have to unplug it, and then it kind of just resets itself. I was like, oh, is there a reset button? I bet we could reset it. And immediately my husband goes and finds where it would be, and I push the button, and my garbage disposal turns back like, right. I feel like Al Borland, because now I'm an expert at fixing the things. So if you ever need. Clearly you ever need the little button.

00:44:49 - Jenny GK
On your garbage disposal, I am wearing a flannel shirt. I will give you my flannel shirt.

00:44:54 - Caitlin Kindred
You deserve it. Thank you. I do love a good flannel shirt. I felt so smart. But a lot of people don't know that there's a reset button on their garbage disposal. There is a reset button if it's not working, but it won't even turn on. It's not like it's stuck. And you've already shoved your broom handle in there and stirred it up and stirred it up and it's not doing anything. Look underneath it. Look underneath the garbage. There's probably a little. It might be a little red button or like a little square button, a little black button. And if it's popped out, you just need to pop it back in. It's like your hairdryer when you hit the reset button. Yes. Or mine isn't underneath. Mine's on the side. So it's just like with your hairdryer.

00:45:38 - Jenny GK
Mine's on the side.

00:45:39 - Caitlin Kindred
Yes. So just find that button and see if that does it. Because then you're saving yourself $142 plumber consultation fee for them to come out. To come out and press the button for you. And you're like, great.

00:45:54 - Jenny GK
And I'm telling you, if you are a plumber and all you've done is come out and press the button, please do something else to make it look like you did more than that.

00:46:03 - Caitlin Kindred
Don't just tell us.

00:46:04 - Jenny GK
And then I just, oh, hey, one of the things was I just pressed this button but then also like, oh, but I also had to do all these other things. That's why it costs $142.

00:46:14 - Caitlin Kindred
Borland right over all right.

00:46:16 - Jenny GK
So while you are thinking about Thanksgiving and all the things that you are thankful for, don't forget to be thankful for our show. And the way you can show us is that you are five stars thankful. Go ahead and press all those five stars. Tell your friends when you're sharing your gratitude. Maybe this year the thing you're thankful for is our show.

00:46:36 - Caitlin Kindred
Probably not.

00:46:37 - Jenny GK
But if we made it to the top hundred, go ahead and say it and make good choices.

00:46:43 - Caitlin Kindred
It's Thanksgiving. I don't make good choices when it comes to what's in front of me on my plate. So I don't think so. Jen. Bye.