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Welcome to the Gratitude Diaries, a

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production of My Heart Radio. Hi

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I'm Janice Caplan. Thanks for joining

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me for more practical advice on how to

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be happier. Today's tip

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be grateful for the things that don't

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necessarily go right this holiday.

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They may make the best stories

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going forward. Most

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of you are probably working really hard

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right now in preparation for the holiday.

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You're cooking, wrapping presents, and coming

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up with all the new traditions we've talked

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about to try to make it a special

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and festive day. I hope

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all goes wonderfully well and

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that your holiday is imbued with the spirit

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of joy. But if something

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does go wrong, take heart, there's

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a good chance you can be grateful

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for that too. At big

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holidays, and really any time, it's

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sometimes the unexpected events or

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even does asters that make for

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the most memorable moments and the

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happiest stories going forward. At

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one holiday a few years ago, my

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house was packed with friends and family

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staying with us, and we were expecting

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about twenty people for dinner. I

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had a big turkey that I had properly

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dry brine. I turned on

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the oven that morning and it

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didn't turn on My husband

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is a pretty good mechanic, and so he said

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not to worry. He fiddled and fussed,

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but he couldn't get anything to happen with that

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oven either. The oven remained

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stone cold. Instead of

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panicking, he went to the garage and pulled

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out the grille that we had already stored

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away for the winter. He dragged it out

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to the deck and we all figured why

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not. We cooked the whole

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dinner on the grill. It was

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such an adventure that instead of sitting

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cozily inside, our guests

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kept bundling up to go outside on

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the deck and see what was happening. I

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don't know how that grill survived

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the gallons of broth we kept pouring

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over the turkey to keep it moist as it

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cooked. It wasn't the most

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perfect meal, I'll admit, but it was

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a joyous time. Everyone

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laughed and gotten the spirit. We ended

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up buying a new oven, and we're pretty

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sure that when this one eventually gives out,

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it will be on a holiday.

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Lots of other people have survived

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holiday meals gone wrong and lived

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to laugh about it. The dog

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eating the Christmas turkey seems

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to happen more often than you'd think. I

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heard about one German shepherd who

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nod on the raw turkey breast before

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it ever went in the oven, and

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a more well behaved golden retriever

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who waited until the cooked turkey was

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cooling on the counter before he

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indulged in his holiday meal. Neither

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dog felt great afterwards, but they

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did find as did the families. The

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owners of the German shepherd supplemented

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their dinner by ordering in pizza, and

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the other family made a quick call for takeout

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Chinese food. I expect

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that for both of those families, the story

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gets better and better as it gets

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told and retold every year. Once

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in the early years of our marriage, my

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husband and I planned to celebrate our

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wedding anniversary by going to a

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fancy restaurant. We didn't have

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a lot of money then, so this was a big occasion.

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The reviews of the restaurant we picked all

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talked about the amazing basket of cheese

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and crude taise that were served when

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you first sat down. We arrived

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and got to our table, and the waiter brought

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over a small plate with a couple

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of stale looking rolls on

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it. We asked about the famous

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basket of crude tais, and he looked

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at us officiously and said, we

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don't serve crude tays after

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eight pm. When

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he walked away, my husband looked at me

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and made a funny face. What

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do you think happens to crude tays after

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eight pm? He asked. I

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started to giggle, and then we both

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began laughing loudly. In

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that fancy restaurant. The

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food that night turned out to be kind of

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disappointing, but after that ridiculous

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start, we were happy to find the whole experience

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just funny, and we reveled in how

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upside down the night had become. We

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kept repeating the line that we don't

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serve crudy days after eight pm, and I

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don't know why, but it made us laugh every

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time. It's even become a long

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standing joke in our marriage. Whenever

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something doesn't go the way we want and

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we need to cheer each other up, we repeat

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it. All these years later. We're

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not food ease by any means, but

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I do think it's telling that one of our

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happiest and most memorable anniversary

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celebrations included bad

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service and lousy food. Not

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every holiday special event

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or Christmas dinner turns out

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the way you imagine. But sometimes

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the unexpected, the problematic, the

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frankly really annoying become

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moments of happiness and gratitude for

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the future. You're grateful

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for the chance to laugh, let yourself,

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be grateful for the chance to experience

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something you didn't expect, and

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be grateful simply to be with the people

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who can understand and laugh with

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you. So, with

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Christmas coming right up, I wish

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you a very joyous holiday,

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a delicious meal, and perfect

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presence to unwrap. But

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whatever happens, know that

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a positive spirit and gratitude

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for the moment is what will make

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the best day, the best holiday,

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and the best memories of all. Merry

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Christmas, Happy Holidays, and I

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will see you next week. The

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Gratitude Diaries is a production of I Heart

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Radio. For more podcasts from I heart

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Radio, visit the I heart Radio app,

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Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get

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your favorite shows.