Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. For these last 15 minutes of our last show before Thanksgiving, we will end today with a call-in on the question, "What might you say if they go around the table tomorrow and ask what you're thankful for? How much for you will it be honest, and how much will it just be the things that you think your relatives want to hear or that won't make waves?" 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. Again, what might you say if they go around the table tomorrow and ask what you're thankful for? How much for you will it be honest, and how much will it just be the things that you think your relatives want to hear or that won't make waves? 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692.
As part of this, we want to give you the chance to say out loud something you might not say in front of your Uncle Moe or the person who's on the opposite side of Israeli-Palestinian issues from you, or just anyone who you might have more of a personal family kind of thing with that you don't want to start up. What might you say if they go around the table tomorrow and ask what you're thankful for? How much for you will it be honest and how much will it be just the things that you think your relatives want to hear or that won't make waves? You can say the other thing here right now, if you want. 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692.
There are other things you could do in this call-in related like, I wonder if anybody has a really memorable 'what I'm thankful for' moment in your Thanksgiving history. Is there a Thanksgiving of the past that you think back to and think of something that you said that you've never forgotten or something that somebody else at the table said that was either good or bad from your point of view? Are there any stories to tell from 'what I'm thankful for' moments at Thanksgiving from any year in the past? 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692.
Maybe the simplest version of this, and as another part of this, you can just call up right now and say one personal thing, personal things allowed, and one political or thing outside your own personal orbit that you're thankful for in this difficult moment, this difficult year of 2023. 212-433-WNYC. Maybe it's hard if you're focused on the troubles in the world, if you've got troubles in your life, to think about what you're thankful for, what you're grateful for, but it's something that I think most people would say is still worth doing. It's still worth finding those things.
It doesn't mean you don't care about the things that are difficult. 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. Do you think your relatives are hoping or expecting that you'll name them as what you're thankful for? Are you maybe not so thankful for any particular relative, but you're going to name them any anyway? 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. Is anybody, as a follow-up on our call-in yesterday at this time, going to impose a no-politics rule on yourself or a no-politics rule on your guests for what you say if you do that rote thing of going around the table and saying what you're thankful for? 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692.
Tell us a 'thankful for' memorable moment from a past Thanksgiving. Tell us what you might say if they go around the table tomorrow and ask what you're thankful for and how much for you will it be honest, and how much will it just be the things that you think your relatives want to hear that won't make waves? You can say the other thing here if you want. 212-433-9692, and we'll take your calls right after this.
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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Now, to your pre-Thanksgiving calls on what you might say if they go around the table tomorrow and ask what you're thankful for. How much will it be honest? How much will it just be the things you think your relatives want to hear? Who has a past memorable Thanksgiving table story or anything else in this bucket that you want to throw in? I think Dave in Seaford has a past Thanksgiving memory. Is that right, Dave? Hi, you're on WNYC. Happy Thanksgiving.
Dave: Hi there. Thank you. Happy Thanksgiving. It's a few years ago my wife was pregnant with our daughter. Around Thanksgiving, we were down to three names, Fiona, Ella, and Luna, but we hadn't picked one. At Thanksgiving, my three-year-old son said he was thankful for Fiona, and it basically locked in our name choice from that moment on. Never forget that moment.
Brian Lehrer: Nice one, a Thanksgiving naming choice for the baby moment. Dave, thanks for starting us off. Katerina in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Hi, Katerina.
Katerina: Hi. Thank you. Happy Thanksgiving. When I first moved to the US, it was a very nice coincidence. I was a PhD student. Mom and my husband couldn't join us yet, and this really nice car dealership drove me to get the insurance. The insurance lady said, "I know a Portuguese family." This was in North Carolina.
Then she told them about us, and then they invited us for Thanksgiving and a few days before our husband could finally join us and got his visa, so I was very thankful for these very nice people that helped like a small Portuguese immigrant lady and I said I was thankful that the whole family was there.
Brian Lehrer: Thankful for the kindness of strangers in a way, right?
Katerina: Yes, yes. They were very kind. It's a very positive immigrant story.
Brian Lehrer: Thank you, Katerina. Thank you very much. Scott in Montclair, you're on WNYC. Hi, Scott.
Scott: Hi. I'm calling to share a special Thanksgiving past where we do go around my entire family and say what we're thankful for. Tthere's probably about 25 of us that were doing it. We do it every year. It's customary. This first particular year I had my girlfriend who's from China, who has no family here. When it got to her turn, she shared how meaningful it was to be a part of our family, and some little pleasantry that I had always taken for granted was so meaningful to her and she started to actually cry at that moment, tear up, and it was just a very special moment for me.
Brian Lehrer: That's a beautiful story, Scott. Thank you very much. It's interesting to see people calling in with their previous Thanksgiving, what they were thankful for in a particular year memories. I think we've got another one on line nine. Ronald in Westwood, New Jersey, you're on WNYC. Hi, Ronald.
Ronald: Hi. This happened about 55 years ago. I'm 91 now. We always went with my two daughters and wife to the Thanksgiving Day parade. My wife would always make a special hot cocoa in a thermos to bring along. I'd have one of my daughters, the younger daughter, on my shoulders.,
A New York Times reporter came over to us and said, "What are you doing? Well, why do you come to the parade and how do you celebrate it?" We mentioned that we always bring the hot cocoa and we always come to the same spot, and we always discuss it when Thanksgiving comes. My older daughter is now 62, my younger is 60 and I'm 91 and my wife is 88.
Brian Lehrer: Fabulous. If I--
Ronald: I'm looking forward to celebrating Thanksgiving.
Brian Lehrer: If I assume correctly that you're no longer going to the parade.
Ronald: No, but we watch it.
Brian Lehrer: You watch it on TV. What was that spot that you used to go to every year? You want to share it as a tip?
Ronald: I forget it right now, I'm sorry. Also, on Thanksgiving Day at one of our neighbors, we have a private house, celebrates from 10:30 to 12:30 Thanksgiving mood. Everybody brings food, we have drinks, and the whole area from about 10 families come and celebrate together for Thanksgiving, which is also very, very wonderful and we have it tomorrow all set.
Brian Lehrer: Thank you, Ronald. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours. Amy in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Hi, Amy.
Amy: Hello. I wanted to tell a story about Thanksgiving 2011. In October 2011, I was diagnosed with a devastating stage IV cancer diagnosis. I was only 30 years old. Threw me through a loop. My first day of chemotherapy was the day after Thanksgiving, and my dad flew to California from Michigan where I was living in California. My mom flew out. My mom and dad have been divorced since I was a baby. My mom has been with another woman since I was four years old.
We had Thanksgiving with my mom's partner's family, and my dad came. I never had this holiday ever together with either of my parents, both of them there at the same time. To have it all with my mom's partner's family in northern California was just a really surreal experience. I never thought I'd ever see it happen ever in my lifetime. It was the day before one of the scariest days of my life and it's something that I'll never ever forget.
Brian Lehrer: Wow. Oh, that is such a beautiful story. Stage IV cancer in 2011 and here you are.
Amy: Still here. It's still here. [laughs] It can be done.
Brian Lehrer: Amy, that's wonderful. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you for that beautiful call that is unforgettable. We're going to end on, I think, what's going to be a lighter note with Anna in Brooklyn. Anna, we have 30 seconds for you. Go for it. Another memory.
Anna: Thank you. Back in college, I got a tattoo and my parents [inaudible 00:11:28] yet, but some family friends did know. We were having Thanksgiving dinner with them and they decided that instead of saying what we were thankful for, we should say something like, I don't remember the exact phrasing, but something like, "What's something big that happened for you over the past year? " That's how my parents learned that I got a tattoo.
Brian Lehrer: [laughs] Did they freak?
Anna: Surprisingly, they were very chill about it, I have to say.
Brian Lehrer: [laughs] Anna, thank you very much. Thanks for all your calls. I gave you a few choices there and it all turned into Thanksgiving, "What I was thankful for on a Thanksgiving of the past memory." That was great. As we wrap it up, I am extremely thankful for the team that makes the Brian Lehrer Show every day. Mary Croke, Lisa Allison, Amina Srna, Carl Boisrond, Esperanza Rosenbaum, Zach Gottehrer-Cohen, Megan Ryan, the head of Live Radio, Juliana Fonda, and the others at the audio controls every day, today Milton Ruiz. I'm thankful for all of your ears, everybody, and all of your participation, if we are bringing anything worthwhile to you. We hope that we are. We try. To all of you, the happiest possible Thanksgiving. Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Stay tuned for Alison.
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