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Happy AF!
Happy AF: Joyfully Living Alcohol-Free is a bold, funny, and deeply personal podcast from Irish performer Maxine Linehan and French-Canadian businesswoman Isabelle Laurier. Together, they explore the hilarious, and hard-won freedom of a chosen life without alcohol having grown up in cultures where drinking is a national sport!
Happy AF!
Tinsel Tantrums & Truths! | Ep 4
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A sparkling, raw, and laugh-out-loud journey through the glorious highs and messy lows of Christmas — from colossal family feuds to the shockingly peaceful joy of your first truly Alcohol Free holiday. Along the way, we unwrap everything, you HAVE to listen to this one. Because honestly — who else can seamlessly cover cozy loungewear, country divas, French stews, family explosions, mother-in-laws, disordered eating, and dessert all in one episode… and still make you feel hopeful, connected, and seen?
This one’s festive, fearless, and hilarious!
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Welcome to Happy AF. That's happy alcohol free. Or better yet, happy as fuck. Either way, we're zero-proof, but full of laughs. I'm Isabelle Laurier.
SPEAKER_01And I'm Maxine Lenahan, and together we are changing the narrative on drinking booze. One hilarious episode at a time. Hi everyone. Welcome back to HappyAF. That's happy alcohol free. Oh, I'm Isabel, and I'm Happy AF because I'm happy as fuck. And I'm Maxine. And uh thanks for listening and watching. Um this is uh this episode, we're gonna we're gonna talk about Christmas. Yep, go ahead. We're calling this um tinsel tantrums and truths because we're gonna talk about all of this.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, the best names for stuff.
SPEAKER_01Oh, I love a bit of alliteration.
SPEAKER_00Last time was Liquid Joy, which was a women's. Okay, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_01You're not ruining Christmas with your pornographic mind. Okay, so stop about that. Um how have you been? Let's start with it.
SPEAKER_00I've been super well, I've been super well. I although, since we're speaking of a show that's talking about non-alcoholic things, I've been disinvited to two parties simply because I don't drink. So two occasions, one was my own mother. I'm like, what?
SPEAKER_01So shh uh in the words of Alanis Marset, uninvited. Do you know the song?
SPEAKER_00Yes. No, it's literally so people are having, so they here's let me set the scene up. So people are having uh wine-tasting dinners. So my mother was going to a wine-tasting dinner, and another friend of mine in Vermont was doing a wine-tasting dinner, and then they tell me, you know what? I was gonna invite you, but I forgot you don't drink. And I'm like, what am I? Fucking chicken liver? My husband I want to go to the wine-tasting dinner and not drinking the wine.
SPEAKER_01I mean, it's just ridiculous.
SPEAKER_00I don't want it, you know what I'm saying? But I want to eat the food and I'll give the donate the food and I can bring my own alcohol-free wine. Thank you very much. It made me realize, now that's a part where I might be a bit of a hypocrite. I don't even know that like to go to a dinner where people don't drink. Where the other people are not drinking. I want people to be drinking. I feel like I need you to drink, otherwise, you're not interested.
SPEAKER_01That's right.
SPEAKER_00Like, I don't want to go to a party where nobody's drinking. I want drinkers. No, just I don't think that's true.
SPEAKER_01And also, we're gonna change that because next year we're gonna launch the Happy AF convention, and it is gonna be all alcohol-free, and it's gonna be amazing. But it's I mean, that's the whole point of this is us is us saying it it's okay to go to anything and not drink. It doesn't like it, uh I mean, I guess a wine-tasting situation. No, but the food is gonna be like you're eating exactly.
SPEAKER_00So thankfully, the 80s were in Montreal laden with cocaine, right? Yeah, and I became I came unscathed, I never did coke. As you can imagine, thank the Lord, because I'd be probably peeling the beige paint off these walls, right? If I were on Coke, this is me like not on Coke. Imagine I wouldn't even know what it looks like. But my point is, I was invited to nothing quite as bad as a coke hangover. Basically, the coking people are more all encompassing than drinkers because they used to invite me to cocaine parties, even though I didn't do cocaine. And I'm like, So why can't we be cocaine?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. It's going to be because we're gonna change it. That's what we're doing. First of all, before we get, we need to get a drink. Yes. Speaking of, we need a drink. Let's go. Um, what the hell are you wearing? It is so beautiful, you look so fashionable, and obviously I am not right now. Oh, you look curious about that. But let me talk about this sweater.
SPEAKER_00I knitted it. You knitted it. I knit it. Like with my hands, I took two. You knit it. You made the sweater sweater. I made a sweater, and it was funny. I'm a knitter. I've a knitter. And one of the things when I started knitting a lot, I used to think if both my hands are busy, I'll drink less. Didn't happen. Like I could find a way to happen. And I remember that many a time, like the next day. So you know I said that I can keep down my alcohol, which I can. Yeah, yeah. But, but like my mom said to me, like, I never saw you drunk. I was like, Yeah, I was always drunk, you just couldn't tell. But my knitting would show. So the next morning, often I'd get up and be like, holy fuck. Like the last rows were not getting.
SPEAKER_01Oh my gosh. I would have to undo all like I have two, I had two tells with that. I used to think when I would binge watch on a Saturday night or a Sunday night TV while drinking a bottle of wine. And then and then I would pick up the episode like the next week, and I'm like, You didn't remember. I don't remember. I'm like, did I watch this? And then the other thing that was my tell was I love to um write. I get, you know, I used to say I got super creative, which by the way is a complete falsehood. I thought I was way more creative and and great at writing lyrics when I was drunk. And then and then the next day I would be like, wasn't your best? I'm like, I can't read. No, that's right. Like the letters. Oh God, I thought I was, you know.
SPEAKER_00That's so funny. That's happened to me too. You're like, oh, I need to remember this tomorrow. And you make a note, and you're like, holy shit.
SPEAKER_01I am like, was I writing with my left hand? I never knew why we were designed. No, no, no. I kept down my alcohol very, very well. Oh my gosh. Well, hilariously, um, I decided I wanted to wear my Christmas pajamas today, since we're talking about Christmas, and I love I love pajamas. I mean, this is what I look like look like, I would say 80% of December. I just like live in a version of Hannah Anderson. But you're cute pajamas.
SPEAKER_00My pajamas, not cute, but I live in it like 95%.
SPEAKER_01Well, and then there were the years where my children would allow me to dress, and Andrew would suffer through me making us all wear the same pajamas. Oh, Jesus. Um, I know. I tell it's just it was one of those American things that when I moved to this country, it was the same, it was holiday pajamas, which we don't didn't even have, never even knew that was a thing, and decorating the outside of your house with Christmas lights. Oh, I'm obsessed with no, we don't do that.
SPEAKER_00We they don't just certainly not when I was growing up. No, you put lights in.
SPEAKER_01But nothing. Like I learned about American house dressing from um excessiveness, call it that. And now every time I drive into my house, I'm like, is it too much? And the kids are like, well, you say that every year, yet you keep putting more. Um, National Lampoons Christmas Vacation, like Chevy Chase. Yeah, that with that like those scenarios that's not that in the home alone house with all the lights outside. I'm like, that's my American dream right there. So uh that the lights outside and the holiday pajamas, and I I today I couldn't decide. I was like, either I'm gonna wear my cozy uh Hannah Anderson pajamas or I'm wearing something totally hideous, and you're gonna laugh. I have this hideous skirt that I bought at, you know, like TJ Maxx last year for a joke, going to a going to an ugly Christmas party. So I had the ugly Christmas sweater, but then I was like, I'm doubling down, I'm doing an ugly Christmas skirt. Oh Jesus. It was amazing. It was green, and it was covered in like pieces of tinsel and people's like little pom-poms and and um uh Christmas ornaments, little mini things all on the anyway. I took it out of no, no, no, it's hideous.
SPEAKER_00But if you wear it up with a black top and black boots, maybe maybe, maybe, but no.
SPEAKER_01I was doing ugly Christmas better. I got it out of my attic today and I was like, oh, it's really wrinkled. I'm just gonna throw it in the dryer and steam it for 10 minutes. It shrunk nothing. It's not synthetic. Forget it. It's not shrunk and nothing. It's now no longer one piece. It's melting. So all so clearly, all the things were were stuck on with hot glue. And so the hot glue. Everything flew everywhere. So the the dryer just had a whole little pool of Christmas ornaments at the bottom of it, and then the skirt separately. I'm like, all right, well, we're not doing that. Well, now your dogs have a bunch of toys. Oh god, no, they would like chew these and swallow them in one bite. Let's have a drink. And this is Liquid Joy segments. Yummo. And um, this is one of my favorite Christmas drinks. So this is called Christmas in a cup. Yummo. And it is. Do you know who Trisha Yearwood is? Of course I do. Yes, okay. So she's like some country singer, she's an amazing country singer, but she is also like a pooty person. So she's got recipe books, and I obsessed with her. Anyway, this is her collaboration with William Sonoma. It's called Christmas in a cup. So the amazing thing about this is it's a great gift to bring to people because you can drink it without alcohol or you can put alcohol in it too. And actually, so I have options for you today. So we're gonna start making this like it's a regular. Did I not bring the I made a lovely orange slice? But excuse me, do you want to have a look at my uh ice looking? I know the little ball balls. Little ball. Is that what they're doing? Here we go. Here we go. Little frozen balls. Hey, they're not blue. Okay, so they are cranberry um Oh, I'll get little cranberry balls. Little cranberry ice cubes. Ice. Oh, this smells straight up. No, I couldn't drink that straight up. It's way too okay. Take it straight over that. I love it with a little um zero sugar tonic.
SPEAKER_00It's good straight up, but it might be too much in your face. Yeah. So am I supposed to do it?
SPEAKER_01So that's Fever Tree tonic, which I love. Then there's this one, which is the Q tonic. Also love that. This is Elderflower tonic.
SPEAKER_00Oh, well, since I already took a swig of this one, I'm gonna try this one.
SPEAKER_01So there you go. And um, yeah, so that is uh at William Sonoma, and I absolutely love this. I also put it in a little bit of sparkling. Cute. That's a little bit more. You never see it again, you know where it is. Um I took that, or I was given that at some like gala dish. Cheers, Maps. Cheers, cheers. Isn't this delicious? I mean, it is Christmas in a cup.
SPEAKER_00This is good. This is Christmas in a cup.
SPEAKER_01Love it. And you can mix this with an NA champagne and it's a cure royale with a little Christmas kick. Yes. Um, I actually also offer it to like when I have kids over, sparkling water, and you put a little feel down. You're getting a traditional Christmas shirt. Right, right, right, right. Completely diverse. Also, I've had it with an NA gin as a martini.
SPEAKER_00So good, so good. A little bit of simple syrup. We're gonna do something a little different.
SPEAKER_01So drinkers. Um it's delicious. I love it. Very good. So Christmas. Oh boy. Um, I thought it would be fun to do a best and worst. Because who doesn't love a best and worst, right? When you like go, I like the worst the best because I like me a crunchy story. Oh gosh. So worst Christmas ever for you. Let me do it. Worst and best Christmas. Do you want worst or worst? Worst is my favorite. Okay, then we can crawl out of that gutter and feel better. Um, so it was funny when I was thinking about this, I was like, wow, I have two, and it was really hard for me. Give me both. Well, let's go with the let's go with the one that got crowned. The worst. It is. So the one, and I was like, why does this one win out? And this one wins out not only because of the terrible drinking that ruined it, it was up there in the most epic, epic hangovers of all time. Like, like so. That's what made me crown this the worst Christmas. So um I Christmas is I love it. I love it so much. I start decorating like December 2.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_01Uh, and and I deck the entire house out. Like Andrew jokes, it's like there is it's like a Christmas store in the basement.
SPEAKER_00You haven't started yet? People have started the state. No, no, no, no, no. I refuse to do it before Thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_01You're holding off. Okay, got it. I refuse to do it before Thanksgiving. I'm also a a stickler on the Christmas music thing, and obviously I sing a lot of Christmas music. Oh, by the way, December 1st, um uh my new single dropped, so please listen to that. Absolutely. And then uh, you know, I do Christmas, I do a lot of holiday music. My my friend and publicist in New York calls me the Mariah Carey of the Northeast. Oh, that's a great title to have. I know. I would like to just, you know, be up with her exactly. I would certainly like her budget when it comes to performances. But anyway, I love Christmas, I love decorating, and we have so many traditions, right? That's what Christmas, I feel like the tradition of the holiday is so amazing. And um, anyway, this one particular Christmas, I had my brother, one of my brothers, was visiting me. Remind me how many siblings you got again? I have three. All brothers? Three, no, two brothers, one sister. Got it.
SPEAKER_00And is that the brother that has a drinking problem that was visiting?
SPEAKER_01Um yes, this is the brother who is a recovering addict. Yes, recovering. Um, I believe he's recovered so sober right now, but we haven't talked in a while. That's a story for another episode. But on this particular moment, I mean, he's been in and out of recovery for 25 years. Like rehab facilities, treatments, all you know, all of these. At this point, he hadn't accepted that. So he was just uh on and off drinking every now and again. This occasion, he was drinking. So it was Christmas Eve and how long ago are we talking? So I want to say um not long enough ago that I've fucking forgotten about it. Um I would say the kids, we had just moved here. We had just moved to Vermont. So no, no, no. I would say Gabriel was probably so the kids were probably like five, five and seven. Okay, got it. So, yeah, so maybe like six or seven years ago. So recently. Um cannot remove it from my head though. And even and every time I think about it, like it's one of those moments where like I get shivers all over my body. Wow. So what happened? So here's what happened. No, it's what wasn't that anything crazy happened. What's what happened to me personally? So we do all our traditions. We go ice skating with these family friends of ours. We have um we have curry, random tradition in our family that Andrew and I made where we have either Thai curry or his Jamaican curry on Christmas Eve. Something totally very Irish, very Irish and Jewish too. We either go to the Thai restaurant in town and pick up Thai food, or Andrew cooks a turkey. So, what do you do when you mix a Jewish and an Irish?
SPEAKER_00You get Thai. Right.
SPEAKER_01Exactly. That's what happens. Um, and then Andrew and I are very big on making Santa Claus magic happen. And obviously, the kids who are young at this point, so we're down in the basement, we're getting everything ready. Then we read the night before Christmas by the fire in our matching PJs. Um, and it's a whole fucking Hallmark holiday movie situation. Then the kids go to bed, Andrew and I are finishing up like whatever toys that we're building and things, and um, my brother and I are having a great time. And so, you know, we're drinking, we drank with dinner, we're drinking while we're getting everything ready for tomorrow. I peeled 10 pounds of potatoes, like it's all everything's ready, and everyone's excited and happy. And then and then something happens, right? And isn't this true of so many situations in your life? It's like where was where was the Rubicon? Where was the cut off? Where was the past the point of no return? Return. So, and when I think back to this and just my drinking days in general, I am one of those people that would be so hyper focused, super productive, you know, manage to get massive amounts of things done that people would like. How are you doing that and you're just one person? But then when I would stop and take a breath, my knee-jerk reaction in those situations is now I can breathe, so now I have a drink. And so that like habit and that neural pathway that said relaxing means drinking was exactly what I was doing on Christmas Eve that year. Right. And I sat down and my brother and I, we opened another bottle of wine. Andrew was with us, but super wonderful, smart, sensible husband that I have, of course, is like, it's time to go to bed. Right. And I'm like, actually, no, Patrick and I haven't caught up in ages, so we're gonna Oh God. That's it. And then and then it's still all fine, right? Right? Nothing has happened, nothing bad has happened. Of course not. But as with all family situations, you throw more alcohol into the conversation, and then we decide to take a walk down memory lane. And then we start talking about how, and this is true for anybody, right? How I remember something and how you remember something do not have to be the same. It doesn't mean one of us is lying. Correct. My experience and your experience were just fucking not the same. Anyway, it degrades into this relentless, he said, she said, you fucking did this, and then you did that, and then you ruined it, and you and it, oh my god, I mean I'm not getting it back. It's going, we went so far back. I was like stupid. Now, do you think I remember any of the conversations? Of course not. I remember none of the conversation. The only thing I still do remember, and I kind of remember, I don't know which one of us. Do you know the word snarky? Do you know? Right? Snarky. So either I called him snarky, or actually I think he called me snarky. And and and then all I remember about that conversation is how that stupid fucking word kept coming back. Well, there you are, being snarky again. And then I think we got into a fight about the word snarky and what the word means, and and being like, that's not what I meant, and that's not who I am, and that's not a anyway. This goes on and on and on until neither one of us have any recollection of who we are or where we are. You don't even know why you're arguing anymore. No, we have absolutely, absolutely no idea. So uh at some point, I have no recollection. I go to bed. Right. Santa Claus has come, and our children's so excited. He yeah, he went right back up the chimney. No, he's like, no.
SPEAKER_00Uh how did you guys recon like how did when the next day you woke up and you went to breakfast? How did that work?
SPEAKER_01Breakfast. Let me just tell you. So I wake up having had what I imagine is two hours of sleep. So you still drink you're not hungry. So I'm definitely well, no, I mean I I remember the next morning vividly. Right. Because I woke up, Andrew woke me up and said, It's Christmas Day. And oh fuck. Right. I I'm so, so, so, so sick. Sick. I start crying. Oh no. Oh so bad. But then I've like two adorable children who are the center of my universe. I'm like, you gotta get your shit together. So you now have to be the best actress that you have ever been, and you need to get your shit together. And you feel like that. And I get out there and we do the thing and we video them opening their presents, and it's a whole exciting thing. And I get through about an hour and a half of that, and then I say to Andrew, I have to go and throw up. So I have to go in the bathroom.
SPEAKER_00When you watched a video, do you see that you were still drunk? Can you tell? I can't.
SPEAKER_01I just have a face that is like action. I have it's just it's it's so bad. Thankfully, most of the video from that year is not on me. But I don't like I can't even begin to tell you what then happened to me that day. I said to Andrea, I was like, I don't, I can't do Christmas. I can't do it. I was like, my body is trembling, I'm nauseous, I can't stop crying. And in in a normal situation, in a situation like that, I would, this is a moment where I was crying for my mother. Right, right. I was like, I need someone to come in here and help take over, put me to bed, and just do Christmas. Um, and I'm thinking at that time, my mom is up there looking down at me, mortified at how badly I have behaved. Although that's not her. She would have been looking down thinking it was probably her fault that I ended up this way. But um uh I have an amazing mother-in-law. Right. And I was so embarrassed to do this, but I know how much she loves me. And I called her and I said, I stayed up all night drinking. Oh my god. And I can't do Christmas. And by the way, she's Jewish. She's Jewish. So I'm like, welcome to hosting your first Christmas.
SPEAKER_00She's like, wear that Santa costume. I'll do that. Where is it? What am I supposed to wear?
SPEAKER_01Well, she is so freaking amazing. She comes to every single Christmas. That's what I host it. So she came in, and the amazing woman that she is, she gave me a hug. She was like, You need to go into our getting wasted the night before. Oh, she is the least judgmental person you've ever met. She is so awesome on so many levels. She said, Go to bed, sleep for as long as you can. Right. Give me instructions of what the Jewish bobby has to do in your Christmas kitchen, and I will do it. Right. And she did it. Wow. I spent, so I went and I, but you know how you can't sleep when you're that sick. Oh, you do. So I'm in and out of it. I keep waking up shivering. I'm like, I can't, I kept saying to myself, poisoning.
SPEAKER_00That's alcohol poisoning.
SPEAKER_01This is the thing. So you're like, did you have breakfast? I was like, I might need to go to the hospital. Right. Like, I don't even know. It was, it was, I was so, so, so poisoned. And then I got up and everything was great. And I had done a lot of preparation. Right. So there was a lot of stuff done. The table was set the day before, all of that. But I remember having to leave the kitchen or the living room to cry. Oh, boo. To just go and cry. Do you know why? I hated myself. Yeah. I was so angry. I was so filled with self-loathing.
SPEAKER_00I was so like, how could she do this? The anxiety, as they called it, that that angst anxious alcohol feeling. It messes with your cortisol. So on top of it, it's physical. It's not just Yes. The shit you've done, you're physically gonna be depressed.
SPEAKER_01Physically. I was so depressed. I couldn't, I couldn't, it was horrible. It was the worst, worst, worst. Now you would think after a situation like that that someone would say, you know what? I'm never drinking alcohol again. I did. Of course. Um the one thing I did learn from that Christmas Eve was I never ever stayed up late drinking on Christmas Eve again. Again.
SPEAKER_00But you do it on other occasions. But you plenty.
SPEAKER_01I did it plenty on plenty of other occasions. But I never ever ruined Christmas with a hangover again. But that one was pretty awful.
SPEAKER_00Man. I will say that. So I was telling Brooks about this, Brooks, my husband, the other day, you and I, and we've talked about that, or different kinds of drinkers where you didn't have the off switch as much. Yeah. I had that's what a lot of people were like, I never saw you drunk, except my knitting, but I had an off switch. But my on switch was very early. So I would, you know, coast all day in a state of semi-drunkenness that is hard to tell. Um, so I never had the alcohol poisoning. I did have several hangovers that were brutal. And since they did not happen on Christmas, I won't talk about those. But also I have had what you've experienced where um how many times did I wake up thinking, oh shit, I drank a lot last time, but I feel pretty good. And then at 10 o'clock, you're like, oh no, no, now it's hitting because you're still drunk, right? You wake up, you're like, yeah, let's go for a run. And then at 10 o'clock, you're like, oh fuck, I don't feel so good, right? Because now it's hitting. So I've had I've had a lot of those. Yeah. But my worst Christmas, and I don't think it was actually, I was gonna say something about it. It depends like whose gauge you're going against. But again, it's I think family is always gonna get involved in that. And because there's history and there's hanks and there's resentments, and especially when you're younger. So so I have a brother and a sister, but I'm particularly close to my sister. Uh, she's the baby, I'm the oldest. Obviously, I look much younger as well. Oh my god, I didn't know we're both eldest daughters. Yes. Anywho, so we're very close now, and we were always, but you know, in your 20s, I think you're still kind of becoming a young adult. And there's in the context of getting back together with the family, like some um things that you were mad about in the past and weird dynamics, I'll spruce out. And there was one, there were two that happened that were very similar. One was actually like Christmas or Christmas Eve, I can't remember. And my sister and I, my parents went out to dinner. My brother married very young, so he kind of adopted his stepfamily. My worst Christmas Sea story, like we were saying, might not have happened on the day, but it's always involves like family chemistry and booze, and you put all that together and you shovel it. And it's a multiple cocktail. Put a little pepper and booze, you got yourself a souffle. Anyway, so my sister had graduated from an MBA, and as I said earlier, like she's like my best friend, although it's not a best friend, it's a sister, so this is different, right? Um, I don't think I'm her best friend, but it works for me. So, anywho, and excuse me, and she had graduated, it was just around Christmas, and my parents were there, and she had rented a little lake house, and it was really cold outside. Where was this? In Quebec. In Quebec, yeah. And so we're like, and we're all in our early 30s. So when you think you're an adult, but you're still a kid. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we make a fire and there's not much to do. So we start drinking. Well, let's have a glass of wine. Yeah, right? It's muscle. Fuck it, right? So we have a glass of wine, and I know that in my case, once I have one glass, there's no stopping me. Yeah, yeah. Right? I have a knoff switch as the end of it, but there's no in-between. The in-between is a continuous slime in my kind of drinking ways. And so, and obviously, if you're gonna keep drinking, everybody else around you is gonna keep drinking. So, and by the time dinner hits, I remember, like, this is what I remember to that started the epic fight. Like, epic as in I fucking hate you. And like, now I'm crying, my sister's crying, my parents are trying to stop us, like, doors are slamming, I never want to see you again, like snort and tears and like all of that. And I think with my recollection, it started like my sister said, my dad said something, and apparently I rolled my eyes. Now I don't remember rolling my eyes. Maybe I did, I don't think I did. It doesn't matter, but that that is what kicked it up. Always roll your eyes, and like it went fucking sideways. Oh my god.
SPEAKER_01My dad used to say first to fifth, right? Going from first gear to fifth gear. There's no transition.
SPEAKER_00It lasted from like 7:30 till like 10 o'clock.
SPEAKER_01Like so here's the thing, right? If there were no alcohol involved, that would have been a quick disagreement. That's it, and it would have ended.
SPEAKER_00Instead, it would have been like you always roll your eyes, and I've been like, fuck off. And she'll be like, fuck you. And that would have been the end of it. Hey, pass me the gravy, right? Like done. Yeah, they just went. It's because you're no longer rational. Stupid. And like I'm calling my I went like the doors are slamming, I go to my room, I call my husband in tears. I have to take a flight the first thing the next morning. So now I'm going to bed pretty drunk, I'm pretty sure. I wake up at like four in the morning to catch a flight because it's a little bit far. You know that sweaty that you can't fucking take off your and then that's another thing too. Like the other day, I had to get up at three in the morning to go get a flight for business. And I was in a hotel, and I come to take a shower. And the shower, the how do you call those things for hot and cold water? The faucet stayed in my hand. I mean, for the people watching right now. Feeling good. So, anywho, so they stayed in my hand, I couldn't take a shower. And I remember telling Brooks, thank God I'm off the sauce, because you never feel gross getting up. But you know, when you've been drinking night before and you have to wake up at three or four in the morning, that's if you feel like no, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_01Those are the actual worst. You know what I love about now is that I have had those days where like I am, I have so many projects going on right now, and my brain is just on overload in the best possible way. I'm like, oh, we're doing this, and then I'm doing that, and then I've got this show, and then I've got this album, and it's so many things. But sometimes I wake up and Andrew laughs. He was like, It's the middle of the night. Right. This is not a legitimate time for you to get up. But I will happily get up sometimes at like four o'clock and be like, and I'll be tired by the end of that day. Sleepy. But it's it's there's something so different. And even going out some nights, and I will still go out and be like, oh, way past my bedtime, then going to bed, or as we talked about people leaving my house and I'm still cleaning the dishes at midnight, and but and I will only still sleep for five hours instead of my usual eight, and I will be tired the next day, but not hung over. And it's like it's like tired is fine.
SPEAKER_00Tired is fine. Tired is fine, hung over like now, like, and that's what I was telling also someone the other day. Like, when I was drinking, I was so used to drinking every day a good amount that my body was used to it, and I thought I felt great, right? I still got up at five in the morning, I still worked out almost every day, and I thought I felt great, and the only reason I quit is because I had to take a lot of steps at AC, and my body was starting to show signs that maybe a bottle and a half a day is a lot for the last 20 years. I mean, it is just you can't do that. That's not a question. And right, after I quit, after a few months, I was like, oh, I thought I felt great, but I had no fucking idea. This is awesome.
SPEAKER_01This is the thing. It's the uncovering of this new level. And listen, I I have been drinking for 30 years. Right. When I started drinking with see, I didn't start drinking until I was 20. Yeah, right. And but then I drank for three goddamn decades. Right. So there was, I don't have a recollection other than when I was a teenager of what life was like with zero alcohol. You have no. So what has happened to me now, this euphoric situation that I live in constantly is completely new. Because even if I wouldn't drink for pregnancies or for lent, because you're doing it because it's bad. You don't, you're not also you're doing it and feeling like, oh, this period's gonna be over. And you can't wait for your next dress. Whereas now it's like I have left the building. You're I am living in a different island that is tropical and wonderful, and I am I'm like happy, happy. My friends.
SPEAKER_00And that's why, sorry to interrupt, but that's why we like and we don't care being surrounded with booze. Yes. We just don't want it. Yes. I don't mind. I mean, I completely respect people that can't be around it. That's fine. They're not my tribe. Yes. I mean, I respect their issue. It's it's not my my people. My people like booze. I just happen to not want to put it in my body anymore because I feel better with that. Right.
SPEAKER_01But by the way, that's that's okay. Um, my friend Emily sent me this um Instagram reel the other day. She's this fabulous. The reel she sent me is of this English girl who has pink hair. And I wish I had my phone right now so I could tell everybody who she is, but um, she's got pink hair and she's like, she's so cool. She's just like super, super cool. And she's talking about how you embrace happiness in your life. And she she was like, you know, you should just when you're out there walking on the street, just walk around pretending like you've just been fucked. And give off that is gorgeous. Give off that aura of I just had the best shag of my life. Oh my god. So my friend Emily said this to me. Emily said it to me, and she was like, This is how you walk around. You walk around constantly like you just had the best sex.
SPEAKER_00Oh, I would like to I would like to reward that. We know, as per last episode, that you walk around like you had the best private times ever. We know that's what it's called in the household. You buy Irish and Jewish together, and you get yourself some um private times.
SPEAKER_01But you know what's so funny is um that like happiness, that happiness now is just so um every day. It's present every single day. Which is great. And it wasn't before. I had plenty of happy times. Oh my god, I'm a super happy person. In fact, oh my gosh, we I used to get mocked by certain people in my life. And I'm like, God, why are you always so happy and cheerful and optimistic and da da da da? And I'm like, oh my god, well, what's the alternative?
SPEAKER_00But there was a lot more, I don't know about in your case, but in my case, although I I've always been pretty happy, I feel as though when I was drinking, I wouldn't have thought that back then. But now in comparison, I'm like, whoa, there was a lot more sinus curves. It was a lot more up and downs in my coaster. Did you say sinus like your sinuses? No, like a sinus. Jesus, I'm an engineer, baby. Like a sinus, the curve. Oh sinoidad. You know what I'm saying? Like, listen, I'm trying to, I've got time to bring it up.
SPEAKER_01I'm still getting over the liquid joy. Endowed and liquid joy.
SPEAKER_00And by the way, speaking on our worst Christmas, like, did you then, after the fact, like with my sister and stuff, obviously we moved on because she's literally one of the most important persons in my life, except for my husband. And but with your brother, did you did you ever witness or been part of a reconciliation after a drunken argument? Because if you would tape that reconciliation, like I'm sorry, I'm sorry, like if you tape it, you quickly realize that neither person is quite sure why the fuck they fought about to start with, right? Because you'll see it's like because you also don't know what was even said. You're like, you know, I'm sorry for what I said, and you keep it in the other person's like, Well, yeah, you did say some pretty horrible things. Well, so did you. I know I said some horrible, but there's no details. No. No, it's like actually we never remember. So we didn't speak for two weeks that time, and both were pissed at the other, and neither one of us, I'm sure I'm speaking for her, but I'm pretty sure she also was pretty nebulous on what the hell I had done. Okay, we both weren't very sure. I mean, I remember. I remember you rolled your eyes. Oh you know, I have this Sahaba, such an asshole. How did you like? How did you reconcile with your brother? Oh, you don't speak since then?
SPEAKER_01Uh no, not it's not since uh we reconcile the next day. I mean, I think we hugged it out over our respective sharing the timeovers, you know. Um, and he he uh we've had one of those relationships for 20 plus years where it's as close as close as can be, and then usually, if not every time, something related to it his drinking has blown up the relationship and da-da-da. Um and we are currently talk about a roller coaster. We are currently in a not communicating phase, right? So um uh I bear no ill will, harbor none of it. It's it's it's uh you know, this the cycle comes back around. But to talk about your roller coaster thing, that is the thing for me that I now have consistent joy. It's like it's not like some days I'm great, some days I'm terrible. Now it's like it's it's it's the the wavelength of where my happiness, contentment, stress management, we still have stress, we still have all of these things. It's just now uh they don't freak me out anywhere nearly as much.
SPEAKER_00But the problem with that, another problem, the part I had to get accustomed to is that you get uh I've had days where I'm like, and then what? Because we get used to these up and downs. Yes, and the flatness, even though it's flat high, it's up, yes, right. There are still days where your brain's looking for these variations, right? Right, right. And you're like, no, it's it's okay if everything's just anky dory and there's no big right, there's no drama, yeah. And you're right, like there can be a lot of shit coming your way.
SPEAKER_01No more drama. Yeah, my kids laugh at me. A lot of my friends do. So what was your song? I can always think of a song in a situation, but seriously, it's like, do you have a song for everything? I'm like, I do. I usually can like instantly get into a song. What was your second worst Christmas? Um you said yeah, uh, yeah. I mean, it was it was a it was a variation. It was a variation on that, but it also involved family, and uh it's like um so it was it was just as it was just as as drunken the hangover just wasn't. So was that your worst hangover ever? Um it that and uh remember last last episode we talked about my father's funeral. Right. So those two are definitely the like they're they they share the podium for first place.
SPEAKER_00My worst hangover, I know we're like taking tangent, and it's not on Christmas, but it could have been, but it wasn't, was in London. First time, and that's one of those, like we we Brooks and I went out, we weren't married, and we were going to London, and then we were flying to the south of France to visit his stepmother, which is my mother-in-law and his dad, and I'd never met them. Okay, and we stumbled into this pub, and I had friends that lived in London, and he had friends who lived in London, and we invited all these friends, and I mean, the amount of booze that was drunk is a different level. So, and for me to have a hangover, yeah, you have to you need to go at it pretty solid. You don't get hangovers very easily, but you need to be so a bottle and a half didn't give me a hangover, so you that gives you an idea, right? The next day, these fucking English breakfast. Oh my god, I'll never forget. I wanted so I woke up, we're in this like three-star hotel. We're young kids, we're like 32 years old, we don't have a lot of money, and we get up, and it's one of those where I'm like, oh shit, I don't feel so bad on three hours sleep and all that booze, right? So we're like, let's go have breakfast. And we go to the first place that's open because we had a flight to catch, not at Ethrow at the Gathwick. Yeah. So we go to the only place that's open like eight in the morning on a Saturday or whatnot. And all they had was this bloody like English breakfast with the sausage and the eggs and you name it.
SPEAKER_01Beans, fried, and everything is dripping. It's called they're it's called the the restaurants that they the restaurants, the places that they serve the English breakfast in are called greasy spoons. Yeah, like that's the name of them. I lived in London for seven years.
SPEAKER_00I'm thinking, well, I don't like that kind of stuff, but I'll eat it. I'm not hungover anywhere. I'm this, I need to put something in my body. So I eat that, and then we get on there. I'm still thinking that I'm feeling pretty good. I mean, I'm feeling not normal, but I'm thinking this is a very light hangover. Yeah. Until you take your shower and you're like, why can I not get rid of that weird sweat? You know, like that fucking out of everything. And we get into this black cab to go to Gatwick, and after two turns, the hangover actually does hit. Oh I've been drunk the last three hours. Now around 10 o'clock, the hangover and I remember being in the airport, and I've never last time I vomited because of alcohol, I was 15, right? But that one day, I told Brooks, go get like some crackers, something, because everything might come out. Like it did not, but it came so fucking close. By the time we land into uh the south of France in Perpignan, I'm like, now I'm like a sausage sweating sausage sweat. Like all the wine I've drank the night before is like in my clothes, in my panties, it's sweating out of me. Who's saying? Now I'm gonna meet my in-laws for the first time. Oh, for the first time. First time. So I'm like, and my mother-in-law is British, my stepmother-in-law, and she's full of energy, and she like whisps me away. Is this the one that thinks Chabli is non-alcoholic? Yeah, yeah. She wanted to be friendly, nice to me. But they took us, and I'm still like at this point, my it at this point, my worst hangover, it's five o'clock in the afternoon the next day. Now it's like a seven on ten hangover. So I'm still well into a hangover and I haven't eaten anything since the morning. They whisked us to a party on the side of the ocean, and they made paella full of shrimps, and I can't eat shellfish, I'm deadly allergic to it. So I had, you know, what do you do when you that happens? You're starving, you have a hangover. Well, fuck it, I'll drink rose. And I remember I drank rose and I had about two or four little pieces of salami, and I drank rose from five o'clock on till two in the morning and went to bed. Now I think about this, and I'm like, how did my inside not melt in a puddle? Yeah, and just come out my body. That's like the shit you do, right?
SPEAKER_01I know. I know. And at the time, it's like what I what I am amazed by now is that it was the repetitiveness over and over. It's like, and you did it one time and we're like, well, apparently that is terrible. I'm never gonna do that again. But then you're like, no, I'm going to do that again next month.
SPEAKER_00And sometimes it's worse even. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Or then you get these rules. Oh, well, last time I had a lot of red wine. Next, this time I'll just have rose.
SPEAKER_01Then then you start all the qualifications of it, which you and I both agree don't work. I certainly didn't work for us, which some people doesn't work for us. Um, but listen, okay, worst is worst, best is best. Yes. So um that was like such a ridiculous sentence that I just said. Worst. It's like I'm one of those common people. But you were you were gonna say your best. I watch these people on TV saying things, and I'm like, oh, that's very obvious, but thanks. Um okay, so best. Um, look, it depends on how you think about best. I had a lot of amazing Christmases as a child. Yeah, like I have a lot of great memories. We had also had some terrible ones, but um, some really great ones because my parents went to town on gifts. Like it was such a big deal at our house. Um but uh I would say, oh, and then the Christmas that was my son was born the next day. That was a pretty amazing Christmas. I was like so heavily, heavily pregnant, and I was like, I cannot wait for my baby, and um bum the next day. Uh but I have to say it was last year. Was it? And I and I say that because I realize that last Christmas Day was the first Christmas day in 30 years that I didn't have not even like after that ridiculous hangover, I never had a hangover like that again. And I'd never had a hangover on Christmas Day like that before. Like this was an isolated incident that will stay with me and torture me and haunt my nightmares for the rest of my life. But the it was um the first time that I hadn't even had some drink the night before on Christmas Eve, right? Um, or then started on Christmas Day with oh, it's at noon cooking, I am having a glass of champagne at noon. Who am I kidding? It was you're absolutely fucking right. It's already 10 o'clock in the morning. It's like I've been up since five. So I'm drinking champagne at 10 o'clock and it's fine and it's legit and it's Christmas and why we're gonna be. This last Christmas, I remember every moment of it. I remember feeling nothing was overwhelming. I remember thinking, I don't want anything other than this. Oh, that's so nice. And it was, and um, I've told you, like I am a big collector of beautiful vessels, crystal and things, and I have a lot of beautiful. Waterford Crystal and um and my husband had bought for me I don't know if it was that year or the year before. No, I think it was that year where I was just drinking sparkling water out of the most gorgeous, gorgeous Waterford Crystal colored martini glasses. Very nice. And a little splash of OJ in there. And I'm just like, I loved it. And I was cooking and I had delicious um NA wine. Oh my god, I bought that like super fancy Soviet? No, the the French Bloom couvet one. Oh, yeah, it's good. Very yeasty. Very yeasty. In fact, maybe a little too yeasty for it. The first sip, you're like, whoa. But then you get used to it. But I also never really liked very heavily yeasty champagnes. Okay. It wasn't. Um anyway, I remember going to bed that night and thinking that's great. That's I am a fucking walking candy jar of bows and happiness. Like I was literally what is I just remembered, look, look at me. I can't stop smiling when I think about it. And it's it's one of those um it's it's a euphoria that I didn't know was possible to sustain until you do it day in, day out.
SPEAKER_00And for those that like are interested in let's say someone's like, Man, I want to be high on what these girls are on. Um, it doesn't happen right away. It's it takes like three, four months, don't you think? Oh, yeah. Actually, like after six months, because for me, like last year, my Christmas was my first sober Christmas, and it wasn't my best Christmas, but it was not my worst Christmas, but I wasn't feeling great. I was feeling a little out of place. I was not missing the booze. Yeah, but something had happened. You were figuring non-alcoholic life out, and something had happened at Thanksgiving when I had people over with my sister and I like she made a little comment, and uh, you know, we like I left early and she got mad at me for leaving early, and I was like, I've been hosting for four days, like that's so selfish, and I left anyway, and and and we left it at that. We never talked about it, and everything's fine. Um, and I can be a little sensitive. So at Christmas, I still had that with me, and I also was trying to figure out my place, like everybody's like drinking and having a good time, and especially my sister, her husband, and my husband, we're all really good friends, so like now I'm like the one that's not drinking, and I felt excluded, not by them, I felt like I was excluding myself. Well, you're feeling I'm I'm different now, right? But I no longer feel this way. I think I'm finding my footsteps on who I am, and you know, I think I'm so funny and all that. But like this was early on in my sobriety. It was less, it was maybe three months. I was still kind of figuring it out, yeah. Right? Like uh, and and wanting people to still love me and that that, you know, so I was feeling rejected. I was feeling a little bit sorry for myself. So it wasn't the worst, it wasn't the bad, excuse me. And it was certainly not uh anyone's doing, it was me being in my bubble of trying to navigate. Figuring it out, right? And your brain, also like on a physiological level, your brains, if you've drank heavily like I did anyway, on a daily basis for a long time, it takes a while before it recalibrates. Oh, a long time, a long time, and so we need to be mindful of that. And thankfully, I'd read so much quit lit regarding the brain. Me too, yeah. Right, that you're like, okay, I've read about this. Yeah, it's normal.
SPEAKER_01I need to be a little patient with myself, you know what I mean? So and and again, you know, just why we're doing this is like I know so many people who are going through this now. Like since my original I quit alcohol newsletter back in February of this year, I I don't even know. I'm 20, 30 people that I know personally have said to me, I'm I'm I'm quitting or I'm reducing or I'm doing this. And one of my friends here the other day texts me and she was like, I've you know, I've been reducing, reducing, reducing, and now I've decided. She's like, every time I hear one of your episodes, I'm like, oh damn. So she's like, I'm done. I've decided I'm I'm quitting. You know, and then the other night she was like, I'm going to my first event. Right. And like tips help help me out. Like what, you know, I don't know. I was like, she was like, I I don't know, I don't know what to expect. And I said, Expect the unexpected because you've no idea how you're gonna feel in this scenario. Just know, go in there with a plan. And the plan is I'm not drinking.
SPEAKER_00And and and stick to it and be yourself. And unlike other drugs, because alcohol is a drug, we're not the ones saying that the world agrees on that. Like everybody's cool with that definition of it. Is the only one that's so marketed so heavily that even I, who no longer drinks, said earlier, man, I'm not going to a party if nobody's drinking, and I'm not even drinking. It's still so ingrained in our mind. So ingrained in society. It's it's gotta be part of the party. It's gotta be so But you know, the only way to shift the needle that's right is more conversation. I still have work on that. Like, look, like when I say, Oh, people that don't drink are boring. I'm like, wait a minute, I don't drink. You know, so we still, it's it's such ingrained in our mind, right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. So, so much so. Um, but uh listen, anyway, Christmas coming up. I love it. You know the other thing that I love about Christmas more than more than more than most things I love and you too, food, right? Oh god. I just freaking love food. And when you think about, I used to think about this before, and now it's like um non-negotiable for me. I mean, if you said to me pie or pinot noir. Oh, Pinot Noir.
SPEAKER_00That's what I would have had.
SPEAKER_01You would have always said Pinot Noir.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01I don't even like desserts or see, I would have been, oh, so the pie is the rock. But for me, I am such a lover of food that I would have often said, oh no, I don't think I could give up this food in order to get this drink.
SPEAKER_00I would have given up mayonnaise, which is my favorite thing in the universe, and french fries for booze back then. Oh yes.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Absolutely. See, I think I just love food too much. But it I and certainly here's what I here's how it affected me though. I am, I have spent my entire life yo-yoing being the weight I want, not being the weight I want, da-da-da-da-da. Being in, you know, on stage, being like having to look a certain way constantly. I mean, I was a little ballerina when I was young, I had bulimia, like the whole nine yards of everything. So I have spent my entire life counting calories and going, no. So I what I would do is say, Well, I am drinking tonight, which means I am gonna have, and then of course I would say, I am having three glasses of wine and a salad. And I'm like, meanwhile, the three glasses of wine would end up being six glasses of wine, and then the salad would clearly not have been enough. So then I would be done with my ready to go to bed. And I'm like, and now I'm starving, so I have to go into my pantry and eat a bag of chips. Right. It's you know, so bad. But now I think about the fact that food, food and holiday food, oh my god, so good. I mean, I and I love that I don't have to think about calories.
SPEAKER_00Oh god. So that it's so funny, it's so funny you say that. So it's not something I like to talk about because I'll say it. So I'm I've always been naturally thin. Yeah. But when I got into you, you don't have to apologize from that.
SPEAKER_01That's it.
SPEAKER_00It's not the part. The part that that I don't like to talk about because um it just puts me in a but I will just say it quickly. Um, when I became a young engineer, young woman, that's not necessarily the path I want to take. I wanted to be a doctor. Long complicated story. Point being is under stress, I became anorexic, which is the last thing I needed because I was always naturally. No, we didn't even know that. No, we didn't even know that. And so, and obviously I'm not anymore. I've been fine for like 25 years, but it lasted quite some time. And so, unlike you, like I didn't eat, or if I ate a cucumber, that was too much, and I would have to do something about it. But um, interestingly, when I quit drinking, and that's the only thing, so that's why I'm apologizing about that because people are gonna want to beat me up, but I've more struggled to keep weight on all my life because I'm built thin. Yes, and so you know, when I quit drinking, I lost five pounds, and it doesn't matter what I eat. Yeah, it's a lot of things. And so the point, to your point, it's like you you can you don't have to watch anything you eat. I mean, like when you quit drinking, you can eat anything. You know, anything you want, like the fries, the mayonnaise, the whatever, the whatever, you will not put the weight around.
SPEAKER_01Well, because your metabolism is working properly.
SPEAKER_00And the other thing about that too is I remember when I was drinking at the end of my drinking career, you know, I would have a lot of like diarrhea and stuff because I was drinking so much. And you know, I do my own gardening, and and nutrition is very important for me because I think I scarred myself from these years of eating my body. Like so fucking. But listen, it's it's a way of having anxiety, it's an anxious reaction. So, but my point is so it's almost like I want to apologize for my poor little body to have beat it up when it's been so good to me. Yes. So I give it like all this gardening food and it's all organic. And I remember I'd be making all these delicious food from the garden with all these great vitamins, and I'd be like, fuck, I'm flushing it down the toilet with this booze. Right. And I was thinking about that the last two years. How I'm putting all this effort in the water.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and then it's being ruined by what you're putting down on top of it. Right. You know, the other thing that has massively changed for me, and again, read this in one of the many books that I read is the taste of food. The taste does taste better. Of food, it's not even that it's better. I still fucking hate cilantro. I just hate cilantro more than I love that it's cilantro. Peter, I also hate salsa various. I hated before, I still hate. But the the level of I don't know, it's the palate, my the the ability to taste everything so vividly frisply is just like I remember the other night I was eating a piece of caramel apple pie, and I remember just like eating it and just saying to myself, oh god, this is so good, and I am so happy right now. Just sitting on my couch eating a piece of pie because it tasted so good.
SPEAKER_00Good. I don't have a sweet tooth to like save myself, except not like eat more chocolate, but that's it. I'm like a French fry, like mayonnaise kind of girl. I have a fat tooth. But the one thing about booze and food, and I think that's why booze was invented for food, not to drink it with, but to make it. And actually, I was talking to my dear little mama that I love so much this morning, and we're gonna make every year her and I make beeve bourguignon. And obviously, you need to get and the and it's not bullshit when they say you have to use good wine, and the more the better the burgundy, the better your beeve bourguignon. And my anyways, I won't get into my mom's secret now that she's done to it and it makes it even better, and you need more wine for it. And you you get all the alcohol out of it. Of course, it doesn't matter. Yeah, but one of my fondest memories of beeve bourguignon and alcohol is my dear little mama about 15 years ago. So it's this time of the year, Christmas time. So this is a good Christmas story, and uh, so you know, you macerate it, excuse me, and you cook it all day, and it was gonna be for nighttime where we're gonna go snowshoeing under the moon and all that. So I needed to be ready. So we wake up bright and early in our high and I and we start making the purpose. Hours, hours. I've made it a couple of times, it's and so we're like doing it, and then at the end, so it's around nine o'clock a.m. And my mother doesn't really drink, she's a take it or leave it tight. Yeah, yeah, you know. Um, there was one of those yesterday at Dorset Inn. The lady was drinking her glass of wine, and the whole dinner it was there, and I think she took one sip. And I looked at Brooks, I was like, There's no way I could have done that. Yeah, one sip in like three hours. Anyway, so I'm digressing. So uh then she opened, I'm like, we need good burgundy. So I go in the cave, the wine cellar, I get a couple of bottles, and I open it. And even my mother, who doesn't drink and it's nine in the morning, is like, well, you need to have a glass. And I was like, Right, you've opened it.
SPEAKER_01Why would you not be drinking it?
SPEAKER_00Then I'm like, you're not, you know, I wasn't gonna do it not to look like an alkie, but I'm like, hey man, if you're offering. And so uh, and then obviously I didn't stop all day, and that was fine. There was no drama that time. But my point is, I do think that alcohol has a place in society for cooking. Yes, like a good cocoa. Oh, yeah. You know, all the good French food. For making a beau bouguignon next week, and for Christmas, we're gonna make a coco vin blanc. Oh, wow. So good. We're gonna make a huge batch and I'm freezing little portions, so I'll bring you some. Oh, please. Yes.
SPEAKER_01I mean beef uh we call it beef bourguignon. Right. Um, but beef burguignon is even better. It sounds so much better. Yeah. Um uh I do the uh um the Julia Child's recipe.
SPEAKER_00I did that one, and I like my mother's recipe better. Okay, okay. I mean the Julia Child was good, but like there is 550.
SPEAKER_01500. It's like making tomato sauce. Right, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Hers has so many steps. My mom's is much more easier, and actually, I've done a side-by-side tasting to friends, and when I was living in Brooklyn, I was I didn't say who was what, and everybody preferred my mom's cook-off. I love it. They preferred my mom's to Julia Child's. Oh, yeah. All right, I can't wait to taste it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I know. Can't wait to taste it. So, well, um, this has been fun, and here comes Christmas, and uh we hope that everyone has an amazing holiday. Uh, it's it's just worth thinking about um what you put in your glass, uh in your Christmas cup. And um thank you for everyone who's listened and watched and sent us messages and told us that we have made you laugh, um, and told us that we've inspired you for certain things too. So please share. Uh, we're new and we're learning stuff with every episode. Yes, uh, which is which is kind of amazing. And I also can't believe we both learned today that we both had eating disorders. I can't believe I put that on there. Um and uh follow along, listen, share your thoughts and your stories. We can't wait for all of the different things that we're gonna talk about. HappyAfpodcast.com, and we're on all the streaming platforms. And uh yeah, get yourself a little Christmas in a cup from William Sonoma. I mean, eventually William Sonoma is gonna pay us to say these things because that's my favorite store.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and I want to say stay happy as fuck. And if you've learned anything on this episode, that's not something necessarily AF, be mindful of what you say in your family during the holidays. Everybody's a little sensitive during that time of the year. Just yeah, if you're angry about something, wait after Christmas.
SPEAKER_01Don't air it out, so don't air it out. But it's like anything, just you know, when you're mad about something, give it a give it a day, give it a day, and then you'll be less mad about it. Because you'll regret it. You can't do that when you're drunk as shit. It's more difficult. It's more difficult. And if you feel like we're going to right. I mean, that night with my brother, we were like, we're not going to bed until we're six.
SPEAKER_00It was like, well, so maybe if you're having this drug, let's say you're drinking for Christmas and you're like, I'm gonna fucking fist this problem. Oh, maybe don't go in the basement, take Fido, the dog, with you. Go in the basement, take your booths, and just drink it out and put yourself to bed.
SPEAKER_01Like, don't yeah, yeah. No, this is this is really good advice. And um uh, you know, but use this. We wanted to talk about gifting as well. This is a great hostess gift, the Christmas in a cup. Um, and I'm gonna send this to Trisha Yearwood. And if anybody's listening who knows Trisha Yearwood, could you tell her how much I love Christmas in a cup? How much I love her. Um, and we will see you. Ooh, next episode will be for New Year's Day.
SPEAKER_00Oh, I hate New Year's Eve. No, you do not like New Year's Day. I've had a lot of bad hangovers.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so we're gonna talk about New Year's. We're gonna talk about New Year's Eve and New Year's Day on the next episode. Thank you for listening. We love you. Follow along, share, subscribe. I'm Maxine. I'm Isabel. And we'll see you next time on Happy AF. Bye.
SPEAKER_00Thanks for listening to Happy AF. We hope you laughed, learned, and maybe thought twice about what's in your glass. Subscribe, share, and find out more at happyafpodcast.com. And until next time, don't forget, stay zero proof and always happy as fuck.
