These 8 Social Media Posts Will Ruin Your Happy Holiday Season

00:00:00 - Caitlin Kindred
It's Tuesday. Yeah, it is. Hey everyone. We are so glad you're here. I'm actually mostly just glad that I'm getting to see and talk to Jenny because we haven't been able to get together and record for a little while. So this is fun for me and I'm looking forward to what we're to talk about, which is Jenny. Take it away. What are we talking about today?

00:00:21 - Jenny GK
Things that we are not to be posting on social media during the holiday season.

00:00:26 - Caitlin Kindred
Yes. I love it. I love that idea.

00:00:31 - Jenny GK
So stick around because it's coming right up first. She's great. From her head to her mistletoes. It's Caitlin.

00:00:44 - Caitlin Kindred
Yes. That's adorable. Oh, I love that. Okay, well, you are just my favorite magnificent middle school marching band. Yay.

00:01:01 - Jenny GK
That's good.

00:01:03 - Caitlin Kindred
Thanks.

00:01:03 - Jenny GK
That's awesome. I've been in a middle school marching band.

00:01:06 - Caitlin Kindred
Have you?

00:01:07 - Jenny GK
I have indeed.

00:01:08 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah. I think I knew that.

00:01:10 - Jenny GK
Pacific Junior high. Go Vikings.

00:01:13 - Caitlin Kindred
Oh, nice.

00:01:14 - Jenny GK
Which then became Pacific Middle School with very unfortunate acronym.

00:01:25 - Caitlin Kindred
I went to and taught at Prairie Middle School, which also has and when we were in 6th grade, the chunks of class time were called periods. Of course they were. The joke was welcome to PMS. Did you enjoy your first period? And imagine like all these eleven and twelve year old boys running around saying that they were so funny and I'm so funny I'd create idiots and guests who never thought of that joke. Literally no one. Because everyone knows everyone.

00:02:01 - Jenny GK
Okay, thank you.

00:02:02 - Caitlin Kindred
Anyway, let's get into our episode for today. Yay.

00:02:05 - Jenny GK
Okay, so this was spurred on by an article from Readers Digest, but I also read some things on all women talk as well as on social stamina and the healthy.

00:02:21 - Caitlin Kindred
Okay.

00:02:21 - Jenny GK
And all of the links will be available to you as the listener.

00:02:25 - Caitlin Kindred
Love it.

00:02:25 - Jenny GK
But there are some things that just should not show up in your social media feed this time of year.

00:02:33 - Caitlin Kindred
Yes.

00:02:34 - Jenny GK
So we'll talk about what different things those are and why they are techie here for it. Right? Okay. All right, so the first one, obviously is gifts. Both the ones that you didn't like as well as bragging about all the ones you got if you didn't like a gift. This is the season to exercise gratitude. Don't roll your eyes or complain when you didn't get what you want. You're a grown up. Thank you. I can see you really thought about this gift.

00:03:11 - Caitlin Kindred
Have you seen those videos of the little kids who have been taught to be gracious for everything? And so when they open their present and it's like an old banana, they're like, thank you so much. And they're like side eyeing, right? They're like, it's so nice of you, thank you. And it's so sweet. And the parents are like, I'm so proud of you for being gracious. But they're dying of laughter because they.

00:03:38 - Jenny GK
Wrapped this on purpose to make their kid.

00:03:40 - Caitlin Kindred
To make their kid yeah, it's really funny.

00:03:44 - Jenny GK
Don't worry. The Nintendo Switch is the next gift.

00:03:47 - Caitlin Kindred
You're going to curse the banana, right?

00:03:49 - Jenny GK
Okay. So obviously, if you didn't like a gift, you don't complain about it on the Internet, but also don't brag about all the things that you got or gave. That's really, really tacky. When you were eight, it was cool to call your friends after Christmas morning or get together the next day and share all the toys that you got and brag about Barbie Stream House. But as an adult, sharing extravagance is also privilege, and sharing that with the world is not a flattering. Look, agree people who follow you might not be as fortunate as you are, and the holidays are just a reminder of that.

00:04:31 - Caitlin Kindred
I would agree with that.

00:04:33 - Jenny GK
It tells the criminals just what to steal.

00:04:36 - Caitlin Kindred
Do you sound like my mother? Where it's like, okay, now, we are parking our car at this parking lot. So we're going to hide all the things in different parts of the car so that nobody's looking in the car to bust your window open and steal the bags out. Which, right when you go to holiday.

00:04:49 - Jenny GK
You put all this stuff in your trunk and then you move the car. Even if you're going to go back into the mall.

00:04:54 - Caitlin Kindred
Move the car.

00:04:55 - Jenny GK
You move the car so they see you put all the stuff in your trunk, then you get in the car.

00:05:00 - Caitlin Kindred
And you just park and you drive off. Yeah, it looks like you're driving away. I like that one. Also, just a side note, when you get in your car, this is especially for people who dawdle when they get in the car, lock the door. As soon as you sit down in.

00:05:12 - Jenny GK
The car, just lock the door.

00:05:14 - Caitlin Kindred
Okay.

00:05:14 - Jenny GK
Thank you. Okay.

00:05:15 - Caitlin Kindred
That's my Ted Talk.

00:05:17 - Jenny GK
All right, so the next one. And come on. Gifts. That's like, major duh. Like, everyone knows you should not do that. And trying to get around it by saying, I'm so grateful that so and so gave me this.

00:05:33 - Caitlin Kindred
That's passive aggressive. That's, like, humble brag. Yeah, it is.

00:05:37 - Jenny GK
And trying to say that you're grateful and like, oh, I'm so happy that we had the ability to give our kid the newest iPhone. No, you're telling people you got your kid the newest iPhone. We all see through it.

00:05:48 - Caitlin Kindred
Right. I'd rather see, like, I'm so grateful, and a picture of your kids.

00:05:52 - Jenny GK
Right.

00:05:53 - Caitlin Kindred
Like, that, to me, is cuter and better and less tacky.

00:05:57 - Jenny GK
Let your kids brag about their toys.

00:05:59 - Caitlin Kindred
Right? Yeah, that's fine.

00:06:00 - Jenny GK
All right. The next one is another no brainer family drama. EW. You're only adding fuel to the fire here. People, friends and family members can feel like they have to pick sides. Nothing's really private once it's online. You know, you cannot trust Aunt Myrtle when she says, oh, it's just between us.

00:06:21 - Caitlin Kindred
No, it's not. No, it's not. No, it's not.

00:06:24 - Jenny GK
No, it's not.

00:06:25 - Caitlin Kindred
No.

00:06:26 - Jenny GK
Do not post about family drama on the Internet during the holiday season or any time during the year.

00:06:31 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah. And this is not to say you can't reach out and ask for assistance from your social media friends and family, but just don't air the dirty laundry. Right. You can say, I'm struggling with my family right now. Is there anyone who can relate? I'd love to have a chat or something, but Aunt Myrtle, everything that she just told you, let's keep that off the yeah, let's just keep that off the yo. There we go. Oh, man.

00:07:02 - Jenny GK
Again, another EW, gross political viewpoints. Okay, now, here's the thing. I know that in person it can be hard to change the topic if someone brings up politics at a holiday gathering. And there's a lot of times where you want to tell someone like, no, actually, that's totally disrespectful, and I don't agree with you at all. There's nothing wrong with that.

00:07:23 - Caitlin Kindred
Right.

00:07:24 - Jenny GK
However, you get to control what you post and what conversations you start, this is true. I always like to think about social media as if I took everyone I know and put them in a room and started screaming at them. What do I want to scream? It might be, oh, my gosh, people are dying. This is terrible. Here is a way that you can do something about it.

00:07:51 - Caitlin Kindred
Sure, that's fair.

00:07:52 - Jenny GK
But that is totally different than just getting on social media and talking about your political viewpoints during a season where you're going to be running into people and they are going to be upset with you.

00:08:06 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah.

00:08:08 - Jenny GK
Even if you're on the quote unquote popular side or the right side of history, now's not the time.

00:08:15 - Caitlin Kindred
Should you feel an urge to respond to something. Again, I tend to err on the side of I'm not going to talk about this right now because I personally don't want to invite the drama that comes with it into my life. You know, I'm very politically outspoken. I just feel like there's a time.

00:08:31 - Jenny GK
But initiating is very different.

00:08:33 - Caitlin Kindred
Right. And I would agree with that. Now, this is not to say, like, if you are an organizer for an event or something, oh, my God, we don't mean that. But this is just like if you're spouting off a hot take about something and it's not like in your job.

00:08:50 - Jenny GK
Description to do that, dial it down.

00:08:52 - Caitlin Kindred
Or something, and anything that you know is going to really mess up your holiday season. Just please think twice before putting it out there.

00:09:03 - Jenny GK
I also learned a little bit of science about this. I only learned it this week, but it makes sense once you think about it.

00:09:11 - Caitlin Kindred
Okay.

00:09:11 - Jenny GK
Even when you engage with a post to say that the person is wrong, you have now boosted their information in the algorithm. So even if you are negating something that someone put up, you are actually helping them get their message. Out to more people.

00:09:28 - Caitlin Kindred
So I do work in marketing and I do work a lot in social media, and I will tell you this is absolutely true. Every single platform prioritizes engagement is what we call typically I'm thinking of in particular, like LinkedIn and TikTok a, like, is worth a very small amount of I don't know if you want to think of it like a point system, right? Engagement points. But a comment is worth a very significant amount of engagement points. So when you don't engage with a post, you are allowing the algorithm to bury it. Let me say that again. If you don't engage, the algorithm will decide that the post is not worth anyone's time and therefore it won't get seen by people. So if it's something that's completely and utterly stupid and offends, you do everything in your power to scroll past it, right? Because when you engage, you attract attention to it. So stop it. Just don't do that. And that also means that if you see A, CK and GK post on the interwebs, you need to go engage and comment and like it right now. But in terms of the stuff that makes you angry on the Internet, just ignore it because you will let that post die if you do that. Or help it die.

00:10:53 - Jenny GK
There you go. It's hard.

00:10:54 - Caitlin Kindred
It's really hard.

00:10:55 - Jenny GK
It could be a gift to yourself during the holidays.

00:10:59 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah. Just not engaging. Just let it go.

00:11:04 - Jenny GK
The next one. I am sad that I'm even saying this out loud. It was in the Reader's Digest article, so I am bringing it forward. But this one is negative remarks about other faiths. Like, why do I have to say this out loud?

00:11:18 - Caitlin Kindred
Right? Continue. Go ahead.

00:11:22 - Jenny GK
Okay, so this obviously don't say awful things about someone else's religion on the Internet right. For everyone to read.

00:11:31 - Caitlin Kindred
Right.

00:11:31 - Jenny GK
It reflects poorly on you, I promise. Secondly, this also includes correcting minor mistakes. If someone says Happy Hanukkah to you, you can just say, thank you. You don't have to say, no, I'm sorry. I celebrate Christmas. And maybe the person who's saying Happy Hanukkah to you celebrates Hanukah. And you can respond within kind and say, oh, Happy Hanukkah to you. There's like 20 something holidays that all occur during this holiday season. We're actually going to cover them on next week's episode.

00:12:08 - Caitlin Kindred
Yes.

00:12:08 - Jenny GK
Just make sure that everyone feels safe and joyful during a time of celebration.

00:12:13 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah, I can't wrap my head around the whole, like, we say Merry Christmas, or I can't say Christmas. It's like, yes, you can. You just can't crap all over everyone else's holiday. You can totally say Merry Christmas to people, or you can just say Happy Holidays and it's fine. Or you could say Happy holiday. Just be kind about it and stop being a grump about well, we can't. We don't dalmake. We don't just shut up and just be happy about it. It's fine. I'm going to get mad. Can you hear it?

00:12:51 - Jenny GK
I'm already I know, fired up about it. I didn't even want to put this in there because I felt like it was such common knowledge. But it's not, though. This is why we have to say it. This is the same. Okay, so the next one is unprofessional or undesirable behavior.

00:13:11 - Caitlin Kindred
Lampshade on the head. Yes.

00:13:14 - Jenny GK
Do not put pictures of yourself drunk on the Internet. Do not complain about your work schedule or your boss, because I promise you, there is someone out there who wants your gig and could go to great lengths to try and get it.

00:13:27 - Caitlin Kindred
Well, my stuff is private. No, it's not private.

00:13:33 - Jenny GK
Only if you don't have any followers.

00:13:35 - Caitlin Kindred
Right.

00:13:37 - Jenny GK
Or any social at all.

00:13:39 - Caitlin Kindred
But then you aren't posting the pictures. I'm just thinking of, like, when I was in college and you'd have your tiny purse, but then you had to have 15 things in your hand because nothing else fit in your purse. And you had your digital camera and your flip phone, and then all the digital camera pictures, you had, like, red eyes, so every photo, you just looked drunken, and then you'd put them on the Internet, and people were like, oh, my God, it was so much fun. It's like, I would be completely mortified if any pictures like that were posted of me right now.

00:14:10 - Jenny GK
No.

00:14:10 - Caitlin Kindred
If I even appear drunk, and I'm not, if my eyes are red from the flash, I'm like, Get that out of here. Don't put yourself in a position where you look unprofessional right now. Yes. Everyone's celebrating. Yes. There are holiday parties left and right. I get that. But I don't know. Just don't use a filter.

00:14:32 - Jenny GK
I read one of these that was like, how to appear as old money. And one of them was, never get photographed with a drink in your hand unless you're making a toast.

00:14:41 - Caitlin Kindred
OOH, that's a good idea.

00:14:43 - Jenny GK
Yeah, they were like, always put your drink down when you're about to get your picture taken.

00:14:46 - Caitlin Kindred
I feel like that's probably something that teachers are doing, you know what I mean? It's like, I don't ever want to have the appearance of that, so they put it down. You know what I mean? Yeah, that's an interesting thing. But I'm just thinking about when I say use a filter, I don't mean like, use a filter on your face, like Valencia. I'm talking about, like, filter your brain.

00:15:07 - Jenny GK
Out and don't post the stupid stuff.

00:15:10 - Caitlin Kindred
You know what I mean? Anyway, so this also applies to if.

00:15:13 - Jenny GK
You'Re a business, if you are posting on behalf of your business, your content always needs to lead back to your brand.

00:15:23 - Caitlin Kindred
Yes.

00:15:24 - Jenny GK
So don't focus so much on being cookie cutter perfect. Focus on being authentic. So is your company having a Christmas party? Put pictures up. Are people acting a fool at that Christmas party? Don't put pictures up.

00:15:41 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah. And again, I work in marketing now, and I have a very real opinion about this, and someone's going to be like, but authentic is me being drunk. And it's like, no, it's not. Authentic is you being real and relatable. If you're real and relatable is drunk, don't post that. Just don't. You know what I mean? And I'm saying this as someone who understands that there are people who do have issues with alcohol and substance abuse, and I just want to just be mindful of respecting that as well. At the same time, if that's not you, and you don't normally post those pictures, now is not the time to start doing it because it's the holidays and you want to show everyone how you've celebrated. Just leave it alone.

00:16:34 - Jenny GK
Right?

00:16:35 - Caitlin Kindred
Okay.

00:16:36 - Jenny GK
So the next one comes only from all women talk. A lot of these were like, a blend of multiple sites. Kind of said all the same things. I thought this was very intriguing. They recommend to be very careful about posting regarding invitations, both invitations to events you're hosting and inviting people to, as well as invitations to events that you're being invited to and attending. If you are inviting people to an event via social media, you want to make sure that the event is private. You could really end up with hurt feelings if you create an event and people are not invited, but they know that they've been left out. I have thoughts.

00:17:22 - Caitlin Kindred
Yes. Okay.

00:17:23 - Jenny GK
The other one, and this comes from my experience yes.

00:17:29 - Caitlin Kindred
I know where this is going. I can feel it.

00:17:32 - Jenny GK
Let me start by saying this. Mom is amazing and is my very best friend at Kit's school.

00:17:42 - Caitlin Kindred
Okay.

00:17:43 - Jenny GK
Because of what I did to start a relationship.

00:17:47 - Caitlin Kindred
Ready for it? Okay, let's hear it.

00:17:50 - Jenny GK
Her sons were having a birthday party. We RSVP'd. Yes. Then the week before the party, the head of school emailed everyone and said, hey, there's been COVID in our school. And so I responded to the party invite and wrote, hey, in light of the news at school, we're actually not going to be able to come. We have a new niece that we want to meet, and we don't want to expose Kit any further than he's already been. This message was not private.

00:18:24 - Caitlin Kindred
Oopsie, dupe.

00:18:25 - Jenny GK
I messaged 180 different people who were invited to this party, but it was a lot.

00:18:32 - Caitlin Kindred
Oh, my God. No.

00:18:33 - Jenny GK
But it was every kid at the school plus all their friends outside of school. I looked like an idiot. And of course, people are messaging her left and right, like, what's going on at school? Why would my kid not want to go to this party? So then I frantically text her and tell her the whole thing and say, I meant this to be private. I'm so sorry. And she was like, no, it's cool. If it was my kid, I wouldn't come either.

00:18:57 - Caitlin Kindred
Which she's awesome.

00:18:58 - Jenny GK
Was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

00:19:00 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah, she's amazing. Hang on to that mom friend.

00:19:03 - Jenny GK
She's the one also, who said that when she sees parents being too great, she tries to trip them. And I was like, yes. Oh, yeah, just sneak a Snicker bar in their kids lunch. You packed him a full size candy bar? He's only three.

00:19:17 - Caitlin Kindred
That has peanuts in it. We are nuts.

00:19:19 - Jenny GK
Cool.

00:19:21 - Caitlin Kindred
Oh, my gosh. I need to meet this person. She sounds amazing. Okay.

00:19:24 - Jenny GK
She's good.

00:19:24 - Caitlin Kindred
She's good. But yes.

00:19:26 - Jenny GK
Just make sure that when you are sending a message to a host that it's private.

00:19:30 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah.

00:19:31 - Jenny GK
When in doubt, take it offline. Okay, so related to invitations are excuses, or rather, false alibis.

00:19:45 - Caitlin Kindred
You mean Jomo, the joy of missing? Yes.

00:19:50 - Jenny GK
Yes. Okay, so you've declined an invitation because you're feeling unwell, and then you post pictures of you at the Better Offers event. Not cool. You tell your family, I'm so sorry, we have a work engagement that night. And then there's pictures of you at the Trail of Lights.

00:20:14 - Caitlin Kindred
OOH, that's a bad idea.

00:20:16 - Jenny GK
Sorry, Aunt Myrtle. I had to work at Trail of Lights.

00:20:20 - Caitlin Kindred
Right. That hot beverage you see with my eyes all bloodshot, like we were passing them out.

00:20:29 - Jenny GK
So just be aware of when you are making an excuse or declining an invitation that whatever you post aligns with the excuse or false alibi that you made for yourself.

00:20:44 - Caitlin Kindred
If you told someone, like, I can't go because I'm going to the Trail of Lights that night, that's completely different than, I just don't want to go. So do you want to go to the Trail of Lights? They're very different things. And just be mindful of how that would feel if that happened to you.

00:20:59 - Jenny GK
Yes. Okay. And then the last one. And most of these are year round.

00:21:06 - Caitlin Kindred
Right.

00:21:06 - Jenny GK
It's just kind of common sense. But this one is very important.

00:21:14 - Caitlin Kindred
Okay.

00:21:15 - Jenny GK
Do not post photos of other people or of other people's children without their permission. And this is very important for businesses. You could lose your whole business over a lawsuit of posting a kid without their family's permission.

00:21:36 - Caitlin Kindred
Yes.

00:21:36 - Jenny GK
Okay, so don't share stories that aren't yours to tell unless you change the names to protect the innocent. There is a law called the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998, and there are rules about what pictures you're allowed to take and what pictures you're allowed to share. When in doubt, leave it out. If you don't have someone's permission to post that picture, just don't.

00:22:09 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah.

00:22:11 - Jenny GK
Also, consent laws can vary by state. There are some states where if you just put the kid's name in writing, you could be sued.

00:22:22 - Caitlin Kindred
Wow.

00:22:23 - Jenny GK
So just ask the families? Yeah, just ask your friend, like, hey, this picture is so cute. I'm going to post it and tag you. Okay? No, my face looks really fat.

00:22:33 - Caitlin Kindred
Take it again. You can still post the picture, but get a sticker. Like a little online digital sticker. And put it over the kid's face, that's totally fine to do. I don't like posting pictures of other even my son's little friends. I won't put them online. Those are for me and those are for him for later. I don't like to put them up on the Internet, but that's everyone else's. That's up to you and your discretion and what you want to do. But other people's kids are off limits. When I am doing marketing outreach for various companies, if one of the customers sends a message to the customer care team and says, hey, I really loved this product, I have to go in and ask for permission to publish just the quote.

00:23:27 - Jenny GK
Wow.

00:23:28 - Caitlin Kindred
I have to go in and say, do we have permission to share this? Because the first thing that happens when that happens is a line from the powers that be. They're like, post this online. And I'm like, I can't just post it online because I need to get permission to do that. I can post it online anonymously. But then if the person knows that I took their email and I just published it and I didn't put a name to it, I can get in trouble for that too. So I would rather get permission. It's the same thing. You can't just steal information and put it out there, but other people's kids can get you in trouble on your personal Instagram that you think is private. So don't.

00:24:11 - Jenny GK
Don't do it. All right, so here are the things that we are not posting this holiday season. They do not belong on your seasonal social ready complaints or celebrations about gifts. Don't brag about what you got or gave, and don't say that you didn't like something family drama. Save your drama for your mama political viewpoints. We're not talking about standing up for what's right. We are talking about actually engaging in a conversation or initiating a conversation about a heated topic. Negative remarks about other faiths or their holidays.

00:24:58 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah, just move.

00:24:59 - Jenny GK
Including correcting someone for wishing you a happy holiday that your family does not celebrate unprofessional or undesirable behavior is the lampshade on your head. Then the picture stays on your phone. Information about invitations, whether you are inviting people, keep that private. Or you've been invited, keep that private. And don't blast the entire party with a message about your kid getting COVID, false alibis, and excuses. Remember that if you told someone that you're sick in bed, you should not have a picture of you celebrating New Year's Eve at the same time. And finally, photographs of other people or more importantly, other people's children.

00:25:46 - Caitlin Kindred
I love it. Eight topics that don't belong on your social. Beautiful.

00:25:52 - Jenny GK
Let us take a short break. We're back. Yeah, I was just posting some stuff on social media. I had a picture of my entire class opening the iPhones that I gave all of them, so I wanted to put it up there.

00:26:07 - Caitlin Kindred
So did you make sure you covered every single face with a sticker.

00:26:10 - Jenny GK
Oh, no, I actually put their name, address, and blood type underneath the photo. Hashtag blood.

00:26:17 - Caitlin Kindred
Recommend that. Yeah. Oh, goodness. All right, well, let's do the fun stuff since I'm cracking up over this.

00:26:29 - Jenny GK
Ridiculous fake post that you just put up. Okay, so let us start with what we are obsessed with.

00:26:35 - Caitlin Kindred
Do it.

00:26:37 - Jenny GK
We are in the 40 days of Jetty's 40th. So my mom has always told me that I am the queen of extending my birthday.

00:26:47 - Caitlin Kindred
You are. You really are.

00:26:49 - Jenny GK
I love a birthday season.

00:26:55 - Caitlin Kindred
A birthday week. A birthday month. A birthday season. We have increased it already.

00:27:02 - Jenny GK
Holy smokes.

00:27:03 - Caitlin Kindred
I love a birthday season, y'all.

00:27:07 - Jenny GK
So join me, listeners, in counting down the 40 days until I turn 40. Every day, I am doing something different for myself. I love that. I am trying not to be completely obnoxious about it, but I am indeed posting about it every single day.

00:27:25 - Caitlin Kindred
I love it.

00:27:26 - Jenny GK
And so some days it's dressing up in a fun little outfit. Some days it's rolling the windows down and listening to my music as loud as I can. Some days it is eating junk food in front of the TV. But it's 40 days of self care. Something different every day. Something fun to celebrate myself.

00:27:47 - Caitlin Kindred
I love that. What a fun idea. Oh, my goodness. Birthday season here.

00:27:52 - Jenny GK
Birthday season.

00:27:57 - Caitlin Kindred
Okay, well, speaking of self care, every other week, my boss does what we call Zen time. And it's like 15 minutes on Friday, and we sometimes will do a meditation where everyone turns off their cameras and their microphones and we just all watch a video. That's like a meditative video. Sometimes they're stretch videos. Sometimes. We've tried tapping before, like that meditative tapping method. I really like that one.

00:28:25 - Jenny GK
Oh, you like it?

00:28:26 - Caitlin Kindred
I felt really good afterward.

00:28:27 - Jenny GK
Yeah, I think a lot of people feel really good after being tapped.

00:28:33 - Caitlin Kindred
Oh.

00:28:36 - Jenny GK
Okay.

00:28:39 - Caitlin Kindred
I'm I'm gonna pretend that you were talking about, like, a keg. Okay. Okay. So anyway, we've been doing these five minute stretch sorry.

00:28:51 - Jenny GK
We've been doing these five minute stretch.

00:28:52 - Caitlin Kindred
Videos, and I've been saving the videos to, like, a stretch video playlist, but it's really helpful in the middle of the day when I'm completely losing my mind. And I do like, pomodoro timer where 25 minutes on, five minutes off sort of thing. And every 425 minutes chunks, I get a 15 minutes break, or I'll take lunch or whatever it is, but in the long break, I try and squeeze in at least one five minute stretch video per day. Now, I haven't been very successful this week or last week or the before.

00:29:32 - Jenny GK
But I did it today.

00:29:36 - Caitlin Kindred
I did it today. We had a Zen today, and I kept going for a little bit longer, and then I did another one. But these five minute stretch videos are so helpful. It's amazing what five minutes can do. If your back is sore or your shoulders are bothering you or whatever, I would highly recommend them.

00:29:57 - Jenny GK
Just go onto YouTube and search. Five minutes seems like a long time to stretch. Like, normally if I stand up and stretch, it takes like, what, 12 seconds.

00:30:07 - Caitlin Kindred
Right. Or like your morning stretch. Yeah. When you get up in the morning and you're like a short amount of.

00:30:13 - Jenny GK
Time compared to the length of a day, but it is a longer time stretching and focusing on movement than I would normally do.

00:30:21 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah. I'm really into it, and I'm going to try and build it into my schedule a little bit more. Like, actually plan for that break to happen and then put the link in the calendar appointment for myself so that I just have it there and I don't have an excuse.

00:30:36 - Jenny GK
Okay. So speaking of time, my gem of the week has to do with time.

00:30:44 - Caitlin Kindred
Okay.

00:30:46 - Jenny GK
My mom recently attended a baptism, okay. And it was part of a traditional Sunday worship service. It was not a separate event.

00:30:59 - Caitlin Kindred
Okay.

00:31:01 - Jenny GK
This is important because they added it to the traditional regular service. Yes. They did not subtract anything from the service. They did not hold it at the beginning of the service. They did not hold it at the end of the service. It was just another element added to an already regular 90 minutes service.

00:31:24 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah.

00:31:26 - Jenny GK
As my mom is recapping the event, she describes to me the event program, the paper, the booklet they give you with the rundown of what's going to happen. She said, I am pouring through this program that's the size of a Cheesecake Factory menu.

00:31:54 - Caitlin Kindred
It's 46 pages. Oh, gosh. The desserts are the last half. Oh, man, that's horrible.

00:32:03 - Jenny GK
I died.

00:32:04 - Caitlin Kindred
I thought that was so funny.

00:32:08 - Jenny GK
What a funny way to describe a church service, especially since my mom is very, very active in her own church.

00:32:15 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah. Oh, man. I was going to say, it sounds kind of like a Catholic weding service. Yeah. They're so long, and they do the full service inside. Also a wedding. Yeah. It's like, man, this is like and I remember being a kid sitting in Catholic Mass, and we would leave immediately after we had our Communion because you got to get out of there, otherwise you don't beat the traffic. Right. But it felt so long even to sit there for those 45 minutes. And when I learned that some Protestant services are 90 minutes ish or more, I was like, how do you all do this? And then you put a baptism in the middle of it. Oh, man. I could see it being like a Cheesecake Factory menu. Also, why are we printing out a program for that? Do you guys get a program for every different service?

00:33:13 - Jenny GK
I don't know anything about this church. She was just visiting for the baptism.

00:33:16 - Caitlin Kindred
I was like, Catholics do the same thing, like on a. 365 day rotation. So we just have the same book and you just keep on going.

00:33:26 - Jenny GK
My church just uses the Sky Bibles.

00:33:29 - Caitlin Kindred
What's?

00:33:29 - Jenny GK
The sky Bible. The projector.

00:33:32 - Caitlin Kindred
Oh, nice. Okay, well, I don't know how to follow that, but my gem is my son, and the older he gets, the funnier the little lines are that come out. And this one made me laugh out loud for a while. So in our house, when we have bath time, shower time, it's often just like a revolving door, right? Like, one of us gets in and the other one gets in, and sometimes we just keep the water running. Sometimes we're in there at the same time because we're just trying to get it all done, right? So my son is like, hey, mom, are you coming back to the bathroom with me? And I was like, no, I'm doing the dishes, I'm making your lunch.

00:34:18 - Jenny GK
You can shower picture starting with the number seven, right?

00:34:22 - Caitlin Kindred
Yes. I have to turn a number seven into a giraffe. I cannot right now go back there. And he's like, Well, I don't like that. And I was like, okay, well, I don't want to do the chores, but I do need to get them done because once I sit down, I'm not standing back up and I'm not doing anything. If I sit down, it's over, the.

00:34:46 - Jenny GK
Shoes are coming off, and I am sitting down, right?

00:34:51 - Caitlin Kindred
Haven't you been in that situation where you keep going and going and going.

00:34:54 - Jenny GK
Because if you stop, you will really.

00:34:57 - Caitlin Kindred
Stop and nothing else will get done? So that's why I have to do it all. Yeah.

00:35:02 - Jenny GK
For me, it's running errands. If I go home, I'm home. I am not going to go back.

00:35:06 - Caitlin Kindred
I'm not going back out. No, I'm not going back out. My husband is so good about that. He can be gone and then come home for 30 minutes in between something and then go back out. And I'm like, no, I'm not doing it. I'm going to stay out. I'm going to sit at that appointment. Yes, exactly. I'm going to sit at that appointment. I'm going to sit there for 30 minutes, and I'm going to doom scroll on my phone for 30 minutes, but I'm not going home in between. It's not going to happen. But he goes, well, can you please come back here? And I was like, no. And he goes, I'm so lonely in there. I'm a people person. I really need you to come back. I'm not going to hang out with you in the bathroom. No, but I'm glad you're a people person, but thanks for telling you. Right? Exactly. It's adorable that you're a people person. That's amazing.

00:35:48 - Jenny GK
Okay, so I don't know if you know this, but there's some winter holidays coming up, preview for next episode. Some of them involved gift exchange.

00:35:59 - Caitlin Kindred
Yes.

00:36:00 - Jenny GK
Maybe for one of these holidays, sam needs a speaker for the shower. He could listen to people while he showers and it wouldn't have to be you.

00:36:13 - Caitlin Kindred
Well, then if we do that, though, I want it to play music because that kid sings in the shower and it makes my heart so happy.

00:36:20 - Jenny GK
There you go. You could put together a Sam's shower karaoke list.

00:36:24 - Caitlin Kindred
Yes. Sam's shower mix. Oh, my gosh.

00:36:27 - Jenny GK
Speaking of karaoke, I have to tell you this terrible story, and it's amazing, and I'm sorry that it's adding to the episode, but it's so worth it.

00:36:35 - Caitlin Kindred
I'm here for it.

00:36:36 - Jenny GK
Okay, so the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, john took Kit to go visit his dad in Houston, and I stayed home to take care of the dogs and the fish because it was only going to be one night. And so they went to Thanksgiving with his family. I went to Thanksgiving with my family, and we didn't have to worry about boarding the dogs or getting someone to take care of the fish. Whatever. Which anyone who has a freshwater fish tank you do not understand. Saltwater fish are carnivorous. They have to eat twice a day. Someone has to be around to make sure the tank doesn't explode. It's a thing. So anyway, Wednesday night, I went over to my parents house for dinner, and then I came home and I am by myself for the evening. And I had a glorious time, but I did not clear my YouTube history. So the next day, Thanksgiving day, john comes home after having Thanksgiving dinner in Houston. It's late Thursday night. We are both laying in bed, and he turns on YouTube to pull up a quick video for us to watch as we go to sleep. And he looks at me and says, jen, what were you watching last night when you were home alone? Were you seriously doing karaoke by yourself at the house?

00:37:55 - Caitlin Kindred
US. I was, yes. Oh, it's a whole vibe. Oh, man. I do my karaoke in the car. I don't do it in the house, but I love that you're doing in.

00:38:09 - Jenny GK
The house with the video, with the lyrics and no lead track. So I am the singer and sang karaoke by myself for like an hour.

00:38:23 - Caitlin Kindred
Yes. What was the first song you went to?

00:38:27 - Jenny GK
I did a couple of Taylor Swift hits.

00:38:30 - Caitlin Kindred
Okay.

00:38:30 - Jenny GK
I definitely did Lady Gaga. And no karaoke session is complete for me without Turnback Time by Cher.

00:38:39 - Caitlin Kindred
I love it. So there you go. Mine is if you're looking for self care, do it. Yeah. A little karaoke by yourself. My go to karaoke song, black Velvet by Elena Miles.

00:38:53 - Jenny GK
Oh, wow. That's a challenging song.

00:38:56 - Caitlin Kindred
I love that song. It's so fun to sing. Okay, that's self care.

00:39:01 - Jenny GK
We can talk about that later. All right, well, when you are posting on the Internet, make your choices. Yeah.

00:39:14 - Caitlin Kindred
And go be a people person.

00:39:16 - Jenny GK
Happy holidays. Bye.