Ride Home Rants
Ride Home Rants
Turkey, Traditions, And Tough Choices
Four chairs, one feast, and a lot of opinions. We sat down for our annual Thanksgiving roundtable to tackle the choices that make or break the day: where to spend it, when to eat, which sides survive, and whether the Macy’s Parade is better in person or from the couch. What starts as a friendly debate about gummy bears and toothpaste quickly shifts into a real conversation about how couples and families merge holiday traditions without losing what feels like home.
We dig into the logistics that quietly run the day—timing meals around football, planning for naps and travel windows, and the art of double dinners. The table talk gets lively as we eliminate one side between cranberry sauce, applesauce, and salad, then crown the essentials: stuffing with gravy, old-school mac and cheese, and mashed potatoes built for leftovers. We break down turkey tactics, from brining to frying, and why white meat often wins the sandwich wars while dark meat delivers flavor on the bone.
The debate widens to big-picture choices: Is a holiday about the big-city spectacle or cozy traditions? Would you actually spend Thanksgiving in New York to catch the balloons up close? We also rank the big four holidays—Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, and New Year’s—and the results might surprise you. Mixed in are practical tips like the overlooked value of New Year’s Day sales and the no-waste approach to post-feast turkey stew.
If you’re juggling multiple households, optimizing the menu, or simply deciding when to carve, this conversation will feel like your own living room—warm, honest, and a little competitive. Subscribe for more candid roundtables, share with a friend who hosts, and drop your rankings of the big four. Which side would you cut, and what’s the one dish you refuse to skip?
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Welcome everybody to another episode of the Ride Home Rants Podcast. This is your special guest host, Fiddy, filling in today for Mike Bono. And today we bring you our annual Thanksgiving episode, but this year, of course, for 2025. Before we dive into the Thanksgiving episode this year and our great round table of guests that we have on with us, make sure you peep all of our sponsors in the pre-roll and the post-roll, as they're all small business owners and they're great supporters of the show. Speaking of supporters of the show, make sure you peep all of our guests over these past five seasons, as they are all supporters of the show and they've been on individually, and a lot have been on with roundtables. So make sure you go back through our 280 or so episodes and check out the shows that definitely interest you. All of our guests today have been on at least one time before, uh, if not multiple times between their individual show and roundtables. So make sure you peep them as well. We can't do it without the guests, and we can't do without you fans and listeners out there. So, with that being said, we bring you the all things 2025 Thanksgiving episode. This is going to air, of course, the day before Thanksgiving. We do pre-record. Uh, so we're gonna talk about all things Thanksgiving, bringing in another turkey day uh here in uh, you know, Ohio, where we all are uh at this time um with the round table. So we didn't get any other guests from any other states this time. We all were up in Ohio here. So um I got three great guests. They're gonna introduce themselves. And guys, when you introduce yourself, then we're gonna go over your favorite flavor of gummy bear and then what's your preferred brand of toothpaste? I know I kind of contradict myself there with like candy and then a toothpaste, but hey, we're gonna go with it. Uh, Chris, let's start with you.
SPEAKER_02:Uh, favorite gummy bear is cherry. Big cherry guy. If I had to go with the artificial flavors, I'm always going red, I'm going cherry. And then uh toothpaste, uh, I like the crest with the little um strips in it, like the bread strips, it kind of wakes your mouth up. That's what I like to go with.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, Steve, how about you? All right, so listen, uh if I'm going gummy beer, first let's talk hairbo, right? It's gotta be that brand. Um, and then I'm thinking pineapple because it's just in the mix, and you don't recognize what you're eating until you've already eaten it. And if we're talking toothpaste, due to my wife's uh uh influence, it's Tom's, man. I'm I'm I'm it's a lot of you know sulfates and other things out here, so I'm I'm going Tom's brand right now. But I do like crap as a backup.
SPEAKER_03:Okay, okay. Matt, how Matt, how about you?
SPEAKER_01:Um, well, if we're talking gummy bears, uh boy, I'm gonna at the risk of sound boring, anything sour. Uh, I just kind of like the sour candy. I don't really distinguish any other, it's either sweet or sour. So I'm gonna go with sour gummy bears. And uh honestly, I don't want to sound boring either, but basically, toothpaste, it's anything my wife buys. So, whatever's in the medicine cabinet that my wife purchases, and that's that's my favorite toothpaste.
SPEAKER_03:Okay, okay. So, my favorite um flavor gummy bear. I don't know if this sounds good or bad, but I'm like the the clear gummy bear, right? That clear one. I'm just a fan of that. Whatever that flavor is, I'm just a fan of clear.
SPEAKER_00:Uh, so that's and I hope I'm not wrong, but that might be pineapple, my guy. I was just gonna say, I think that's the pineapple. That's the pineapple one.
SPEAKER_03:I don't know if it's pineapple, it doesn't taste like anything, it just tastes like air. Um like I'm I'm just eating gummy air. I don't know. Um, and then my favorite brand of toothpaste. Um, I'm definitely a Colgate type of guy, but honestly, I'll use crest, I'll use you know, Pepsodyne. I'll basically use whatever. Um, but I'm I'm a fan of uh of Colgate if I if I got to pick. But we're not here to talk about toothpaste, although that probably could be a pretty good episode with round tables. I think it'd be good. We're talking about toothpaste and mouthwash and use some Listerine and bring the mouth up and you know dry it all out. It could be could be a good episode. We're here to talk about all things Thanksgiving, which probably though will lead to people then brushing their teeth probably more from all the sweets that they have, right? So, guys, we're gonna um go, we're gonna go Chris and we're gonna go Steve and then we're gonna go Matt in the order here, and then I'll answer, of course, last. But let's kind of kick this off with where are you spending uh uh Thanksgiving at this year, Chris?
SPEAKER_02:Oh, now that I'm married, you know, got to split things up equitably. We always started uh my mom's house, my side of the family, watch the football games, kind of do a lunch ordeal, stay there till about four o'clock, then we go to my in-laws house. Uh normally it's grandpa's, but it's in my in-laws this year, and you know, do it all again, act like I haven't eaten yet. New group of people, so no judgments passed. Really relishing in that as I'm starting to figure out how to play the game a little bit better. And yeah, and then wraps up about eight o'clock, take the kids home. Everyone passes out. It's a great day. Okay. Food.
SPEAKER_00:So uh this year my mother came and grabbed my grandmother and took her back to Maryland with her. Um, so I won't be traveling to Maryland this year, nor will my grandmother be here to give us that that flavor. Uh, so I'll actually be heavily reliant on my wife's side of the family uh for a meal this year. And so we'll be going over my mother-in-law's house um to enjoy whatever vitals she cooked up. Uh and to be honest with you, great. You know, it's gonna be no dishes at my house when I return home. Uh, I will have trays full of things uh brought back for leftovers, and uh that's just gonna be what it is. And it's it's glorious. It's glorious.
SPEAKER_01:Sounds like a good time. Matt, how about you? Um, we're we're just keeping it simple, uh, like we have the last few years. Just go to my mother-in-law's, um, my wife's mom, uh, everybody else in the family comes, including my parents. Uh, I just gotta say I kind of love it because once we had kids, um, if anybody's approaching that or has that, um, we kind of inherited every holiday at our house. So uh it's at our mother-in-law, mother-in-law's, which I love Thanksgiving because nothing here. It's great. I could come home to an empty house with or without leftovers.
SPEAKER_03:Okay. Yeah, that's fair. Um, we're going to my mother-in-law's as well uh this year. And I think, you know, all of us aren't here married, and you know, a couple um guys have kids and stuff. You know, I think one thing you don't realize when you get married, um, and we probably all realize it once we got married, is though, like, how do you split your holidays, right? Because like you're single, you're single up to this certain point in your life, and you've always done it your way, and then your spouse is single their whole life and have always done it a certain way. And then you get together and it's like, well, I want to do this. Well, what do you mean? I want to do this, and it's like, wait, how we how do we make this work? And then you kind of make it work when you date, but then you get married and you're like, Well, we really need to figure out these holidays, uh, whether we're going to both places in the same day or whatever it may be. And if you got divorced parents or parents that aren't together, or whatever it may be, and you got more holidays, or you got grandparents, or whatever it is, you know. I think that's something. Um, I think that's something when you're when you're going through the stages of engaged to marry, people should talk about more. Is how do you split up your holidays?
SPEAKER_00:I think yes, dear, is is born out of that having to make the decision. Yes. I don't want to pick wall colors, curtains, yes, dear. And then and and you don't you don't mean to be that guy, you were never that guy, but you become that guy because you just don't have the capacity. You're just like, hey, whatever's flowing your boat, let's do that.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, that I mean that that is valid. And then, you know, it's just it's it's so funny with that. It's just something you you never really think about. And we're gonna get off topic here real quick because this is the ride home ran, I'm gonna talk about this. Um, many years ago, when Doug Gottlieb had his radio show before he became a basketball coach and did a radio show, when he did the radio show, I was listening to it driving one time, and probably everyone on here knows Doug Gottlieb's show. But he said, he was talking about life. He said the hardest thing in life is when you have a schedule, right? And your schedule is when you're single, you get up on Sundays and you go for a run, and then at two o'clock, you go get a coffee at the coffee shop and you read the newspaper. He said, The next thing you know, you're dating someone, and then on Sundays at two o'clock, they want to go to the coffee shop and read the newspaper with you, and you're like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. This is my thing, you know. And he said, the hardest thing is trying to merge two lives into one. And I always remember him saying that. Um, and you know, then when you get married, of course, you do you do see that, you know, it's just uh things you you go through in life, right? So just the Doug Gottlieb thing always popped up in my mind with that, but we're not here to talk about Doug Gottlieb. So next thing we want to talk about here, guys, Chris, we're gonna go back to you on this. What is your ideal weather on Thanksgiving?
SPEAKER_02:Oh, so I I appreciate the seasons we get up here in Ohio and just kind of where we live in the region in the U.S. So my perfect November weather, I'd say it's about five, 10 miles an hour breeze. It's about 50 degrees, sun, light clouds sprinkled through there, but nice crisp fall weather, you know, peaks kind of about 50, and then we dip down, it's about 40, 35 when you start heading home. And you know, it's almost December. It's time for the Ohio State, Michigan game. It's cold out.
SPEAKER_00:All right, Steve, how about you? I mean, no, no, yeah, no discrepancy here, man. That that that's a perfect day. I mean, honestly, the the backdrop, the landscape, it could be uh fried turkey, right? Anything goes when it's nice 50 degrees, still crisp, you know. You still want to know it's cold out. You want to put that fall and slash winter gear on, but you still want to be able to stand outside and enjoy some sun if somebody's doing something off a back deck or something. So, yeah, that's that's good stuff.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, Matt, how about you? Well, I'm gonna agree with both both the guys, but like I do have to disagree with one thing Chris said, though. It's a perfect day, like he said, 50-52 degrees, but can't have a breeze because when that Detroit Lions game is inevitably uh not a good game, or people are sick of watching football, they look outside and see just maybe five, six total leaves blowing in the wind. And the older gentlemen that we're sitting on the couch with are always looking to have every leaf picked up by Thanksgiving. And uh uh just trying to avoid that conversation.
SPEAKER_03:No, that's valid. I think, you know, I think for me, um, I'm probably more of like our warmer Thanksgivings. I've know we've had them over the past few years when they're like between 65, maybe 70 on those really warm, sunny days, and you're like honestly wearing like a very light hoodie or a long sleeve shirt or even a t-shirt. So I'm always a fan of that just because I also hate bitter cold. And if it's 50, that's closer to 20 than it is 70. So it's a 20. So I'm more of the uh warm weather type of guy. I'll never forget back in the Thanksgiving of I want to say 2016, maybe it was like 71 degrees that day. Um, and it was awesome. Um, I do, I think that was the year, the 2015, maybe, but it was awesome. So I'm definitely on the warmer side of things, sunny and warm. Maybe not sunny in 75, like Joe Nichols and the country song, but I'm more about that that sunny in 68 on Thanksgiving. All right, guys, we have a big choice here on this next one. If you had to get rid of one of these three sides people have for Thanksgiving dinner, what are you getting rid of? Cranberry sauce, applesauce, or the salad? Chris, let's start with you.
SPEAKER_02:I'm getting rid of the applesauce. I feel like applesauce is flexible enough. You could, I mean, that that's a nice little snack on a Tuesday evening if you don't want to go to the ice cream. So I I I I'm cool cutting out the applesauce because I don't I don't get Thanksgiving vibes from it.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. Steve, what are you saying? I'm not even knowing about the applesauce, but I'm gonna tell you now, get that salad out of here. What are we doing? I don't need a warm-up. I got on my eating pants. It's time. So, you know, uh, yeah, get that salad out of here. We got vegetables over there.
SPEAKER_01:All right, all right, Matt, what are you saying here? Gotta go with the cranberries, then. Uh, gotta get a different answer for everyone. But realistically, cranberries I don't like, and also leads to a stain somewhere in some shape or form. So that's why I stay away from it.
SPEAKER_03:I I I would agree. Like, I like applesauce, I'm a big salad guy, and I don't like straight up cranberry sauce or just cranberries in general, unless it's in a bagel. The only thing I like is a a giant eagle bagel that's cranberry. That is the only thing cranberry that I like. I mean, I do like a cranberry juice. I mean, don't get me wrong. But if we're talking about eating something that's cranberries, just use the cranberry juice.
SPEAKER_00:Wildly specific. That bagel is 100% the bagel that you chose. Nobody, I feel like you don't stumble upon that bagel.
SPEAKER_03:Oh no, you have to know it's there, you have to know it's there. Yeah, you like when you go, you're like, all right, they got the cinnamon like toast crunch one, they got the plain one, the multi-grain, the blueberry. Oh, yeah, they got the they got the cranberry one.
SPEAKER_02:They know it's like fitty and like a handful of other people. They keep a small batch, half dozen.
SPEAKER_00:A small batch bagel is wow. I love it.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. I was just at the store the other night picking up a few things, and I'm like, oh yes, cranberry bagels. This is great. And there was like two left, and I took one.
SPEAKER_01:Never had a bag.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, never had a bagel.
SPEAKER_02:I do love cranberry. I mean, it might be my new thing. You gotta get the cranberry bagel.
SPEAKER_03:It's not as good as the blueberry bagel, but the cranberry bagel, it it's it's solid. The only thing about bad about a bagel though, like I ate it, I had some butter on it, I had some coffee, and about 20 minutes later, I think I was hungrier then than before I had the bagel. Because I'm pretty sure I chewed more calories than I actually ingested more calories on that. Straight up fiber. Pretty much, pretty much. All right, the big one here, I'm always curious on this too, because people do this at so many different times of the day. But what time do you normally have your Thanksgiving dinner? Now, Chris, you kind of hinted on this, but you can even talk about even growing up when you were with your when you're all with your parents as well, compared to even being now as you know, men with um kids and and a wife and uh you know other parts of your family that could tie into this. But what time was uh normally your dinner before, I guess, and you know, compared to now?
SPEAKER_02:Chris, what do you think? I was kind of fortunate with this because we always we're a big football family, I mean, top to bottom, even the girls in the family real up on their football knowledge. So when those games kick off, we were already locked in and already had the appetizers out, the dips and all that. So we were kind of always an early slot family, so it worked out good with my wife because they were always used to doing Thanksgiving dinner. So it's kind of always been the same uh early window with my family and then marrying it up with hers. Uh I'm honestly very blessed because we'd always nap around three, four o'clock when that that first game was finishing up anyway. And that normally still rolls right into when we got to leave and go to her family's and you know, get to eat again. So I'm very blessed. This is the one holiday where there didn't need to be much negotiating. We just kind of pushed everything together. We're like, ah, sweet, let's go. Let's go enjoy it. So yeah, I've been very lucky with that. Other holidays can't say the same with Thanksgiving. Maybe that's what adds the joy of it. It's a nice smooth one.
SPEAKER_03:Okay. Steve, how about you on this?
SPEAKER_00:So my family's very small, my immediate family is very small, so we would always do something kind of earlier because we knew like family, friends, so on and so forth. We had some house hopping to do. Um, so we probably you know start around two, three o'clock, um, eat something light uh because we want to be able to enjoy the food that we cook the most when we get back home. And then we go and just kind of like sample stuff. You know, we got I mean, and things are a lot different now with respect to people who aren't, you know, in a position to have as much. So um, you know, we just kind of tried to centralize, and since we're going over one house this year, we would just eat whatever time her mom's done cooking. And then, you know, of course we'll help and stuff. So it's just like that.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, okay. Matt, how about you? Um, didn't matter if I was growing up when I was single, and then once I got married, uh I've been fortunate. It's been probably about 1230 for about almost all my life. And I don't know, I guess I got lucky on that too. But yeah, it's uh from when my mom cooked and then when my mother-in-law cooks, it's always been about 12:30. So it's perfect.
SPEAKER_03:Okay, okay. So growing up, my um my parents are divorced are divorced, both remarried, but uh we would always do both families on um Thanksgiving, my sister and I. So growing up, my mom was always like at noon, we'd always do Thanksgiving there at noon, and then my dad, we would eat about 5:30. Uh so we had a little bit of a break in there. Um, now being like married and and being with my wife for the past um, you know, uh few holidays since 2021 was really our first Thanksgiving. Um, you know, we it it depends, right? Like if I'm going to my parents, it's gonna be that's those same times because we still would do the split. If I'm with like my mother-in-law, they're usually around like two or three. So, you know, we're between that 1230 to 5. But I'll tell you what, man, you're trying to eat Thanksgiving at 12:30 and again at five, 5:30. It's uh it's tough, right? You gotta be careful on the desserts in between. That's the that's the key right there, man. Let me tell you. So, even bigger question in the last one, Chris, and we're gonna kick it off with you now. What is the best side dish that you cannot go without for your Thanksgiving?
SPEAKER_02:See, this is a question I knew you were gonna ask me, and I I I I had You know what?
SPEAKER_03:We asked we asked the tough questions here on the ride home rants.
SPEAKER_02:Um, I knew it was coming, and I'm still not prepared. I don't like it. Um I'd have to go with my Bubby's stuffing. I just think it's a real solid one. I you don't I just don't eat stuffing much else throughout the year. I kind of associate it heavily with the turkey. I gravy it up with the turkey gravy. Um it's the stuffing for me. And I know some people hate it, and some people call it dressing. And to each his own, you call whatever you want, but it's good. And I'd like some.
SPEAKER_03:Okay, Steve, what are you saying here?
SPEAKER_00:I'm going mac and cheese off top. Uh, we're talking Bubbies, we're talking Mimas, we're talking grandmothers. I'm I'm going my grandmother's mac and cheese. It is top tier. I won't get it this year, but guess what? I'm a great grandson, and she shared the recipe. I will be making it myself. It's absolutely delicious.
SPEAKER_03:All right, Matt, what are you rounding out on this one?
SPEAKER_01:Boy, as long as mashed potatoes count as a side, I guess that's what I'm gonna go with. Uh my meal is mostly mostly mashed potatoes and turkey anyway. And I guess maybe you could count gravy as a side. I don't know. I love the gravy, and I just put it on the corn, everything else, green beans, everything else. I put the gravy everywhere.
SPEAKER_03:Okay. You know what? I'm gonna agree with you, Matt. I would say the probably the one side dish I can't go without is probably mashed potatoes as well. Because I just feel like it's it's turkey and mashed potatoes, like it just goes hand in hand, like it's one and one A of the importance of Thanksgiving. You know, uh, I don't know, it's like it just goes hand in hand the most. So next one I'm kind of curious because I feel like this is maybe like a preference, or maybe your location in the country, or maybe just something with your palate, or really maybe how you cook it. You know, do you like uh dark meat or white meat or both from the turkey? Um, so what are you saying, Chris?
SPEAKER_02:I'm a big white meat guy uh with the turkey, but I am a firm believer also it's how you cook it. Uh turkey dries out quick. So if you if you fool around with it and you don't time it up right, or uh, you know, you don't juice it up or you know, put the butter in there or inject it, or you there are a bunch of different tricks everyone does, but when you cook white meat on the turkey the right way and it's nice and juicy, I don't even eat it throughout the year. I'm probably one of the few people that eats turkey maybe handful, two handfuls a time throughout the year, not just at Thanksgiving, but I'm a white meat guy, big big uh deep fried guy, though. It's really good when you deep fried. I'm a firm believer in that.
SPEAKER_03:Okay. Chris, uh not Chris, sorry, Steve, what are you saying on this?
SPEAKER_00:No, it's all good. Um turkey wings, man. I do like a good turkey wing. So, you know, the wing of the bird is awesome, but the turkey breasts, top tier. If it's done well, it's done right, and it's the best leftover part of the turkey for the sandwiches. Um yeah, so I'm there. That's that's it. Okay.
SPEAKER_03:Matt, what are you saying about this this dark meat or white meat or both? What are you what are you thinking?
SPEAKER_01:Well, I'm a little weird because like I said, I like a little turkey with my gravy. So I really don't care if it's white or dark uh when it's warm right out of the oven or or whatever, but uh I gotta go with white meat for leftovers. You have that turkey sandwich the next three days at lunch when we go back to school here. Um, it's gotta be white meat. I don't know why, but it doesn't matter during the day, but Friday through Wednesday, the next week has got to be white meat.
SPEAKER_03:Sure. And I think when you when I've asked people this too, like in the places I've worked and where they've come from, everybody has like a different answer. And I really do think like it's your location within the country of like where you've been and how you've grown up with the Thanksgiving. Like, I like white meat and I think it's probably better for leftovers, but like I don't mind dark meat, but like if it's like a leg of the turkey or something like that, like I just also can't just sit there and eat like strips of dark turkey. But if it's like a leg or something, I could do that. And but I I would prefer the white meat for leftovers, but either one, you know what? I'm not I'm okay with because I'm not making a turkey, so I want to be grateful for the turkey. Um, because if someone was like, hey, what would you make for Thanksgiving? I'd be like, steak and the Bob Evans mashed potato drop the packet because those things are great.
SPEAKER_00:Yo, I'm making turkey stew after it's done, too. Like, I'm so all of that leftover turkey meat that's not going toward sandwiches, we're throwing that in a pot with some veggies, it's getting boiled down. It's just something else to eat when to keep you warm. Don't let no parts of the bird go to waste.
SPEAKER_03:Steve speaking the truth right there, man. He's speaking the truth. Okay. All right, next one. Tough one. Chris, what are you gonna say to this? Now, it's kind of two parts, so you gotta think about this in two phases. Would you ever go see the Macy's Day parade in person on Thanksgiving and spend the day in New York City?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, you do gotta kind of think about that together.
SPEAKER_03:Because you you gotta see the parade, but spend your Thanksgiving in New York City.
SPEAKER_02:I feel like I'm the person that if I am going to the parade, that would be like a package deal in my mind. So I the pairing of it matches well in my head. I I'd say yes, but I'm also gonna say I have a window for this. Like I don't, if I if I get to probably, you know, 45, 50 years old and haven't been to the Macy's Day parade yet. It's probably not happening for me. Kids will be a little bit older like that. My window might be closed, but I'd leave it open. I think that'd be cool to go see, especially seeing it on TV all these years. Um, you know, the older I get, the more appreciative I get for experiences in life. Uh you know, sometimes you don't appreciate those as much when you're younger. So I'm gonna say yeah to both of those because I feel like if you do the Macy's winning Rome, right? We're gonna do Thanksgiving there too.
SPEAKER_03:So well, wouldn't it be better though, if you did it when you were like 45 or 50, because your kids would be teenagers or they would be out of the house so you can enjoy it more with them when you're there.
SPEAKER_02:I need to go see uh Spongebob's balloon. You know what I mean? Like I feel like it's not quite like going to Disney, but I feel like bringing the kids adds a layer of enjoyment, not only for them, but me too. You know, I that's another thing I'm starting to appreciate. I get a lot of enjoyment out of seeing my kids happy. So, you know, that that brings out a different side of you. So I feel like they gotta be part of the bargain. They're part of the okay, okay.
SPEAKER_03:Steve, what are you saying here? Would you go see the Macy's Day parade and spend the day in New York City for Thanksgiving?
SPEAKER_00:You're gonna have to you're gonna have to stop me from becoming Ferris Bueller. I'm on the float. I'm I'm I'm really trying to get involved. I need that to be known. So, like, yeah, the closer I can get, the better. Um, New York is actually one of my favorite cities on the planet. So don't threaten me with good time, okay? This is this is great. This is my dream. We've done um New Year's Eve a couple times in New York, and it's way colder, I'm assuming, during that time. So, yeah, I Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. That's a breeze. Yeah, I'm looking forward to that.
SPEAKER_03:Okay, okay. Matt, what are you saying here?
SPEAKER_01:An emphatic no to both. Yeah, an emphatic no to both. Uh, like Chris said, I am in the demographic of 45 to 50, and uh, I have no desire to drive at night, get stuck in traffic, get stuck in crowds, um, spend half my day looking for somewhere to go to the bathroom. Uh there's nothing you could offer me that would entice me to do that. So a very emphatic no. My kids be damned. My kids be damned. I don't care if they want to go, heck with that.
SPEAKER_02:I mean, that ship is sail.
SPEAKER_01:Yes.
SPEAKER_03:So if we're still doing this in about 15 more years, this show to be like episode or like season 20 of this. I really hope we're doing that. And I hope you guys are still here with us doing this episode again. But Chris, we're gonna bring this back and be like, hey, remember like 15 years ago when Matt said he was in the demographic of like 45 to 50 and he didn't want to go. Chris, did you ever make it to the Macy's Day parade now that you're 45?
SPEAKER_02:Come on on the Macy's Day sure. Like, I I gotta I gotta I gotta be an artifact at that point.
SPEAKER_03:I I I would agree with Matt on this. I'd probably say no. Like, I think if I if I'm gonna go anywhere on Thanksgiving, it's not New York City. Like, I want to be like in another country on a resort, enjoying the beach in Hawaii, a field Ford Field for Laifield?
SPEAKER_02:Is that a bucket list for you? Is it football game?
SPEAKER_03:I mean, maybe I don't know if John Madden was alive and if John Madden was alive and the Treduncan was a thing being announced by John Madden, I they would it would be it would be more on my bucket list. Um, because I would want to meet John Madden. He'd be like, any whims, any bams, any blah, blah, blah, and then I ate the Terduncan. He'd be like, okay, what'd you just say? But it's nice to meet you too. But like, it's that's great. Um, but I don't know, maybe, but if I'm gonna do like somewhere on Thanksgiving, I want it to be like tropical resort, warm. Um, but you know, Macy's Day Parade's pretty cool watching it from the comfort of my warm living room. All right, two questions left, guys. If you had to rank the big four holidays in the US, so Christmas, New Year's, Thanksgiving, and Easter, how would you rank them in your personal opinion from your favorite holiday to least favorite holiday? So favorite holiday first, second, third, and least holiday fourth, least favorite holiday fourth. Christmas, New Year's, Thanksgiving, Easter. I will go first to let you guys ponder this because it looks like you're all pondering it. Uh as I said that.
SPEAKER_02:We go with New Year's Eve or Halloween is the fourth.
SPEAKER_03:No, it changes things. No, New Year's. It's New Year's. Okay, it's New Year's, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter. So I will go. My personal favorite, I'm gonna go Easter, then Thanksgiving, then Christmas, then New Year's. I just love Easter. It's like the birth of summer starting, of course, the religious aspect of things too. But it's like the birth of summer starting, birds are chirping, spring's my favorite season. So I'm just I just have to go with that. Um, I've always loved Thanksgiving too, and then I would say probably Christmas. I mean, I love Christmas, but Christmas three and then New Year's four. So, Chris, how are you ranking them? Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's, your favorite to least favorite.
SPEAKER_02:Before I answer, I want to point out how the answer to this changes over the course of your life. If you ask me as a kid, I'd have an answer. If you asked me when I was in college, I'd have an answer. And I got a probably completely different answer now. So this is a great question because there is no wrong answer. Because I think they're all great. You take the religious aspects out of it. Because I'm very religious. I really do love Easter for that. But it just religious aspects out of it. I'm going to go Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, New Year's Eve. I think the having Christmas with the snow, the time of year, the emphasis everyone puts on it kind of adds to how special it is. Um Thanksgiving for me, I've kind of gushed about already, but I appreciate Thanksgiving probably more than anyone I know. I think it's a hidden gem of a holiday for what it represents and where it's at in the calendar. And, you know, Easter's still a little chilly. You could have bad weather for Easter. And at this point, if I see midnight on New Year's Eve, I mean, I do it a little bit, but I I've been very lame. I tell you what, the end of my 20s was uh polar opposite to beginning of my 20s. I didn't, I can't wait for it to hit so I go to bed. So yeah, interesting question. Good one.
SPEAKER_03:Okay, okay. Steve, how are you ranking these four?
SPEAKER_00:That is a solid question. Um I'm going, you know what? My dad's one of my dad's favorite holidays was Thanksgiving, and I know why he liked it. You know, regardless of anyone's stance politically, history, you know, all of these things are important and culminate. You know where I work. So you you already know. So um not ignoring any of those things, but understanding that when it comes to like people, people want to be around their family. It's the first time of year that you can really think you can get like a few days off, kids are out of school, everybody's kind of in the house, it's getting colder. Uh, you get to share those stories, you get to have the conversation, you get the good food, you're warm, and you can be thankful. You can truly be thankful for what's in front of you and who's on the left and right of you. So it's a time of reflection, and it's a good time, it feels good. Um for me, I love New Year's Eve. I think New Year's Eve is super cool. And with me being married now, I'm guaranteed to kiss. You know, can't ignore that. So that's a vibe. Um, and you know, I got my playlist, I'm watching New Year's Rock and Eve. I'm I'm I'm doing a lot. And if I can travel or if I can be somewhere cooler than my house, I will absolutely be there. I would love to do New Year's Eve in Vegas at some point too. Uh Easter is a a vibe, you know what I mean? It's great Bible study, it's good conversation. I'm not gonna take the religion out of it, it's just good conversation and it's revisiting some stories that you shouldn't forget for reasons why you shouldn't forget them. Um, and it's pointing out how how kind you you kind of got to the blessing towards the end of the year. Excuse me for kind of fumbling that. But yeah, so um Easter is definitely gonna be part of the big three, and then Christmas gets the last slot, man. It's number four, it's stressful. You know, people arguing over TVs and parking lots. You can't run your normal errands because everything's a traffic jam all of a sudden, because now the same TV that was on sale at Walmart last week is on sale this week, and it's more of a special sale. I don't know. So if you take if I can get rid of the commercialism and we could just make it a Hallmark movie, I vote Christmas, it's beautiful. The music's great, the soundtrack is fire, but the stress and the money spent is crazy.
SPEAKER_01:So yeah, okay, okay, Matt, how are you ranking the big four here in your opinion? Uh to take the religious aspects out, but still you really can't. But uh, number one's got to be Christmas because you know, my kids, that's just where a lot of the memory good memories, memories that I actually still can remember, according to my wife, you know, are made in Christmas. And you know, that that's what it's all about. Uh, because I think my kids enjoy Christmas, number one, so therefore I do. And uh one thing, you know, we're all getting older, but we still uh observe all the Italian traditions. Um we've kept that through throughout uh Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. So I enjoy that. Uh number two, Easter, um, just because it's wrapped around uh days off school. Uh, you know, if we're taking the religious aspect out. Uh number three, Thanksgiving. I mean, it is what it is. You got football, you got days off school, but uh uh deep, deep number four would be New Year's. Um it's it is what it is. I mean, I hate to keep talking about it, it seems like I'm the old guy that's yelling, get off my lawn here in this podcast, but you know, uh heck, I can't I can't tell you if I ever got a kiss on New Year's Eve. There's and I can't tell you the last time I saw the ball drop. So uh really never had much success with New Year's anyway. So um, but I did like I did like New Year's when I was younger before got too commercialized. I loved waking up and watching college football and watching Big Ten teams play and all the teams you've been following, but you couldn't see them more than one or two times a year because you didn't have cable. Um, I do miss that aspect of New Year's Eve or New Year's Day. Sure, sure.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, it's that's a great it is some great points and you compare those two.
SPEAKER_02:Like I'd pick New Year's Day over New Year's Eve. I mean, that's a football fans' holiday.
SPEAKER_03:I mean it used to be better, especially in the old days, man. Especially in the old days. So I want to I want to bring up a couple things here that to Steve's point. You know, um, he talked about people fighting over stuff for Christmas. We were just talking about this at work, and it's like seems like like the Black Friday sales have like kind of toned down, right? Because people are more closed and not everyone's open. You buy more stuff online, but somebody was just like, Man, I miss like watching the news and watching like two women fight over Windex in the parking lot at 5 a.m. Because they got it for like$3.99 instead of like$2.99, and they're out there hitting each other with shopping carts, or like the two dads like fighting over one video game console that because it's it's two o'clock in the morning, and it the cell kicked in at like 1 58 a.m. and they're on their fist fighting in Walmart both getting arrested. So let me like I just I miss like I missed seeing that, but let me give everybody some advice. And people never thought about this, and I and I just figured this out when I was like 18 years old, so it's been a long time. Some of the best sales of anything, cars, furniture, clothes, whatever, are on New Year's Day because they're pushing out the old year's stock for the New Year's stock. So if anyone ever wants to get good sales on stuff, books, cars, furniture, appliances, clothes, whatever, go on New Year's Day. There is a ton of sales. If you can wait past Thanksgiving and do some shopping, you can always get a great, great deal on stuff. And a lot of people don't realize that, but it's one of the most discounted holidays of the year. And then it gets discounted even more because a lot of places are pushing out their old merchandise. If you think about it, right? Come January, a lot of places are still are are getting rid of their Christmas stuff and bulk sales, right? Nobody wants it. People are getting rid of their winter jackets because it's turning the springtime, you know, in the marketing cells of like real uh of customer service. So just something to to think about there.
SPEAKER_00:All right, man. That's great. Because I think uh I'm I was thinking private jets, right? And I was thinking about when the best time to get one would be. And uh I think, yeah, I think I'm gonna wait till I do here. It's time to count the PJ, guys.
SPEAKER_03:Right, right. All right, guys. One last question for you here, men. So one word to describe Thanksgiving is Chris. Not Chris describing Thanksgiving. That's not my word, but Chris, what's your one word to describe Thanksgiving? Wholesome, wholesome. Steve, what do you got? Family, family, Matt?
SPEAKER_01:Boy, uh, they they took them all. Man, they're being all nice here. I don't know. Uh, football there.
SPEAKER_03:Football. Okay, we got wholesome, family, and football. All right, guys. Thank you so much for being on this uh this year's episode of the Ride Home Rants Thanksgiving preview. But before everybody goes, let's pause for a second because we got a big 54 questionnaire here to go today. Not the fast 55, but we got the big 54 questionnaire. Now, guys, you're each gonna get one question, and then the other question, everybody gets at the same, well, everybody can get an answer. Okay, so we're gonna go Chris, Steve, and Matt, with your questions, and then we're gonna go right back through for the next question. Now, for the new listeners out there, we typically have the fast 55 for any individual shows where I've asked five random questions to the guests, or Mike will ask five random questions to the guests that I'll send over. They usually have nothing to do with the show. And basically, these have nothing to do with the Thanksgiving show, but we're gonna have a little bit of fun here to end the show on. So, Chris, your question: if you had to pick one of these three guys to narrate your life every day, would you pick James Earl Jones, Sam Elliott, or Morgan Freeman?
SPEAKER_02:James Earl Jones, baby. Go blue.
SPEAKER_03:You know, James Earl Jones, you know, rest in peace, was a fantastic, fantastic actor, voice of Darth Vader, but all three of them have the greatest voices, probably of all time when it came to the city.
SPEAKER_02:John Facenda from Gold NFL films.
SPEAKER_03:Yes, the voice of God. So voice of God. Yeah. Um, but man, but James Earl Jones narrating your life would be pretty great. Same thing with Sam Elliott and Morgan Freeman. Okay, Steve, we're going to you. Steve, if you could be an emoji, what emoji would you be?
SPEAKER_00:Man. The thumbs up emoji. That's like it's all right. Okay.
SPEAKER_03:Okay. Matt, your question is Dasani or Aquafina bottled water better?
SPEAKER_01:Dasani, because I like the bottles better. Aquafina or two. I got these short Italian stubby fingers, and the Dasani's just fit my stubby Italian fingers much better. Yep, that's it.
SPEAKER_03:Okay, so that's three questions out of the four. Last question, everybody's gonna get the answer. We're gonna go with you, Marsco, on this. If you could live in any other country for the rest of your life and never return to America, what country are you picking? Italy. Italy. Good pick. Steve, what are you picking?
SPEAKER_00:I gotta go. Come back to give me a second. I want to say Jamaica. I really do. It's nice.
SPEAKER_03:Are we going with Jamaica final answer? Let's go with Jamaica. Okay. Go on Jamaica final answer. Matt, where would you pick? Gotta be Italy. Gotta be Italy. Gotta be Italy. Okay. I gotta see what the hype's about. Yeah, you gotta go to Italy. See what the hype's about. I would probably I would pick Costa Rica. I absolutely love Costa Rica. It's great, it's awesome. It's a vibe, pure Vita. You know, it's just a whole thing. No, maybe have to do an episode one time on all the countries we would want to live in and talk about visiting other countries. It could be the all things international show, which could be a pretty good time. Talk about all the things. I think we just got a new idea for uh season six in 2026. How about that? All right. I gotta I gotta I gotta throw Bono at Bono that one. Now I gotta find people though who have actually traveled out of the country, and then also people who have ambitions to travel out of the country so we can talk about all those things. So uh, but that's gonna do it for this week's episode of the Ride Home Rants podcast. As always, if you enjoyed the show, be a friend and tell a friend. And if you didn't, tell them anyways. They may like it just because you did it. This is Fitty signing off, and from everyone at Ride Home Rants, we wish you a very, very happy Thanksgiving. Talk to you all soon. Thanks so much.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you. Thank you, appreciate it.
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