Podcast Summary: Everything’s Perfect…Except Thanksgiving Brings Out the Crazy

Podcast: Everything’s Perfect
Hosts: Autumn Calabrese & Donald (Cortney) Stamper
Release Date: November 25, 2025

Episode Overview

In this lively, laughter-filled episode, Autumn and Cortney (Donald) dive deep into Thanksgiving: the joys, the chaos, family memories, and all the quirks that come with the holiday. Their conversation is packed with personal stories, food confessions, playful hot takes on holiday traditions, and honest reflections on gratitude and facing life's uncertainties. True to their brand, they embrace imperfection, finding humor in the messy and meaning in nostalgia.

Main Topics & Key Insights

1. The Love/Hate of Thanksgiving Traditions

• Why Thanksgiving is a Favorite:

  • Both hosts share that Thanksgiving brings their favorite aspects of the holiday season: togetherness, gratitude, and food, without the material pressures of Christmas.
  • “It’s really just...being around family. Friends, Friendsgiving. Taking a moment to really be thankful for, you know, gifts and blessings in our lives and that it’s not a material holiday anymore.” — Brittany (04:16)

• Family Quirks: Autumn’s 12-Mile Walk Story:

  • Childhood Thanksgivings involved a somewhat traumatic 12-mile walk in the Cleveland cold, instigated by Autumn’s dad.
  • “He would drive us to our grandparents house in Collinwood, bundle us up and make us walk from Collinwood to my aunt’s house...It was 12 miles, Donald. No, I was seven.” — Brittany (05:53)
  • Sibling meltdowns included her sister throwing herself into a snowbank out of protest.
  • Reflections show that, years later, she voluntarily walks 10–12 miles on Thanksgiving as a personal tradition.
    • “Even though I hated it then...on Thanksgiving I will go walk like 10 to 12 miles around my neighborhood.” (07:30)

• Contrast—Cortney’s Short Trip:

  • Thanksgiving involved simply walking across the street to grandma’s.
  • “We had to walk to my grandmother’s house...It was literally, like, probably not even 100 steps.” — Cortney (09:23)

2. Bathroom Humor & Surviving the Outdoors

• The conversation humorously derails into tales of bathroom struggles on tour, during mountain hikes, and improvised solutions with “nature buckets.”
  • “When we did Marathon on a mountain...there ain’t no bathrooms on a mountain.” — Brittany (11:20)
  • Cortney recounts “pissing in bottles” while touring:
    • “I was like, you guys are a Christian band, and this is not of the Lord—pissing in bottles on the road. Come on.” — Cortney (10:36)

3. Chaos & Camaraderie: Big Family Thanksgivings

• Both hosts grew up in large, loud families.
  • “All of our holidays were huge. Like, 30 people minimum...utter chaos.” — Brittany (15:33)
  • Games in pitch-black rooms, sock chains, and generally boisterous, physical fun among cousins.
    • “We would turn the lights off...the room was pitch black...and you had to reach around and try to find somebody.” — Brittany (17:17)
  • Food central: legendary potatoes, sausage, “slimy chicken,” and various family specialties.

4. Hot Takes on Thanksgiving Food

• Turkey:

  • Mixed feelings—needs to be perfectly cooked or it's a letdown.
  • “There’s a lot of hype around the damn turkey. And you gotta cook it just right or it’s dry as fuck.” — Brittany (22:19)

• Favorite Dishes & Sides:

  • Autumn praises homemade stuffing and her aunt’s unique potato dish. Cortney’s favorites include Brussels sprouts (“candied” sans bacon) and family-favorite Polish sausage.
  • Discussion of “hell no” items: green bean casserole and marshmallow-topped sweet potatoes (Brittany’s pro, Cortney’s a nay).

• Culinary Strategy:

  • Both admit to being strategic at the table: prioritizing who made what, balancing choices, and saving room for dessert.
  • “I can only eat so much before you’re just like, oh my God. Yeah, like, this hurts.” — Brittany (31:13)

• Desserts:

  • Pumpkin pie (with whipped cream!) is non-negotiable for Brittany; Cortney’s weakness is a heaping serving of mac and cheese.

5. Non-Food Traditions & Family Games

• Drawing names for Christmas gifts, movie outings post-feast, and card tournaments like euchre (Cortney) or Scopa (Autumn’s family).
  • “All of the cousins...it was so fun to have all those people together and just like have a moment. We’d have a moment of prayer. Everyone brought a dish.” — Cortney (19:27)

6. Reflection & Gratitude

• Both hosts pause to appreciate this year’s unique challenges and wins:

  • Cortney: Thankful to have left the restaurant job and spend Thanksgiving with family again.
    • “I’m now 40 years old. It’s the first Thanksgiving of my life that I wasn’t with my family. And that really bothered me...I’m just thankful that yet again the universe has showed up.” (36:32)
  • Autumn: Grateful for quality time with her son and for personal resilience during professional uncertainty.
    • “How much really good quality time I’ve gotten with Dom this year...he cracks me up non stop.” (37:32)
    • On resilience and adapting:
      “It’s scary to be in transition. But there’s good things going on with that transition. And, yeah, I feel good about it.” (38:24)

• On taking risks:

  • “If you’re not willing to fail, then you’re probably not gonna try because not everything works...had we not tried, we wouldn’t have known. And that’s just a part of life.” — Brittany (43:33)

7. Manifesting Future Wins

• The two engage in a playful “future gratitude” exercise, imagining themselves a year from now thankful for podcast growth, new business ventures, and life opportunities.
  • “The beverage line is crushing it...weird partnerships and already talking maybe about somebody wanting to buy it." — Brittany (46:04)
  • “The podcast has exploded. It’s opened up so many doors for both of us...book deals, interviews, a lot of appearances on shows beyond just podcasts.” — Cortney (46:22)

8. Hot Takes on Holiday Season Creep & Christmas Culture

• Both bemoan the early onset of Christmas music and store displays, advocating for “no Christmas before Thanksgiving.”

  • “All you bitches with this...it’s time on November 1st. Just turn your Christmas music off for a split second. You got two more days to go.” — Brittany (48:29)
  • Reminiscing about the “magic of Black Friday,” earning the right as a kid to go Christmas shopping with grandma and seeing downtown Cleveland’s decorations for the first time each year (49:53–51:05).

• On Christmas music:

  • Cortney enjoys full-on Christmas radio during the window from Thanksgiving to Christmas, but agrees it’s too much when it drags beyond the season.
  • Brittany says she prefers a mix—not 24/7—and is quick to de-decorate post-Christmas:
    • “The day after Christmas, in my mind, it’s spring...Christmas comes down so fast.” (56:13)

Notable Quotes & Moments with Timestamps

• Family Story:

  • “No, that’s what she said. Legit. Tossed herself, like, threw herself down [in the snow].” — Brittany on her sister’s snowbank meltdown (08:57)

• On Stuffing Recipes:

  • “My grandma made the best stuffing...she would get like day old Italian bread...with celeries, mushrooms, onions...so good.” — Brittany (28:17)

• On Taking Risks:

  • “If you’re not willing to fail, then you’re probably not gonna try because not everything works. I mean, I’ve experienced that.” — Brittany (43:33)

• On Manifesting:

  • “It’s so good to actually pause like we just did and feel in your body what it’d be like to be excited about something that you’re hoping will come to pass.” — Cortney (47:32)

• On Christmas Overload:

  • “I just don’t want to hear [Christmas music] 24/7...give me a little ass shaking or a little normal country...just need a little something in between.” — Brittany (58:35)

Fun Lightning Rounds

• Favorite Christmas Songs:

  • Brittany: “Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want for Christmas’” (59:17)
  • Cortney: “‘Christmas Time Again’ by Extreme” (59:42)
  • Both fondly recall NSYNC and other non-traditional hits.

• Holiday Movies:

  • Both love Elf, Home Alone, and Daddy’s Home 2—bringing on some of the episode’s biggest laughs.
    • “You’re an angry elf.” — Cortney quoting Elf (60:58)

Calls to Action & Upcoming Projects

• Everything’s Perfect Merch: Limited pre-sale sweatshirts, trucker hats (“chaos looks good on me” and “perfect in theory, messy in practice”), available via show notes and Instagram.
• Healthy Holiday Hustle: New December support group/challenge launching—details available on social and in show notes.

Closing: Heartfelt Thanks

• The hosts wrap up with gratitude for listeners and encourage everyone to share their own Thanksgiving traditions. They remind fans to be present and embrace the unpredictability and beauty of holidays—messiness and all.

For Listeners Who Missed It

This episode is a festive, uproarious, and occasionally irreverent plunge into all things Thanksgiving—family foibles, food strategy, tradition, change, and how to feel gratitude even (especially) when life isn’t “perfect.” Whether you’re cooking, commuting, or feeling holiday stress, Autumn and Cortney’s stories, laughs, and honesty capture what makes these imperfect holidays truly memorable.

Happy Thanksgiving!