Simplified Speech #234 – The Holidays 2025

Hello, everybody, and welcome back to another Simplified Speech episode here at QLips. For those of you who don't know, Simplified Speech is our series that features clear, natural, and easy-to-understand conversations between native speakers. Joining me today as my co-host is Indiana. Hello, Indiana. How are you doing today? I'm good, Andrew. Happy holidays.

Yeah, happy holidays. Feels still a little awkward for me to say that because I think we're like very, very early into the holiday season, in my opinion, Indiana. We're recording this on December. the 2nd and listeners will probably hear it a few days later. So yeah, kind of early for me, but I guess it's that time of the year when we have to start saying it. Happy holidays. And guys, that's what we're going to talk about in this episode today is we are going to talk about the holiday season.

Indiana and people in the USA, they just celebrated Thanksgiving. So we're going to do a Thanksgiving recap and learn about how Indiana spent Thanksgiving. And then we're going to shift to Christmas and talk about how we're preparing for the upcoming Christmas and holiday season and all of the things that we do to celebrate this holiday.

And I have to give a shout out to one of our awesome Qloops members, Aditka, who requested this topic. So thank you so much, Aditka, for this great suggestion. And listeners, if you have a suggestion for an upcoming episode, that you would like us to talk about, then just head on over to our Discord community. The link to join is in the description for this episode. Of course, it's free to join for everyone as well.

Leave a message there and let us know. We actually have a channel, Indiana, on the Discord just for this. It's the episode suggestion channel. So guys, if you go there and you leave us a little message, we'll take it into consideration and do our utmost, do the best we can to help make it a reality. And guys, I should say as well, just before we jump in.

and get started with the conversation that there is a helpful study guide and interactive transcript for this episode over on our website, QLips.com for all QLips members. So if you want to get the guide, just visit the website, become a member. and you can grab it. Okay, Indiana, Thanksgiving. Let's talk about it. Turkey time. Did you eat turkey for Thanksgiving? I did not.

So that you're right to ask about turkey because that is traditional for Thanksgiving in the United States. That's like the standard main dish for your Thanksgiving feast.

But my husband and I and my parents-in-law are vegetarians, so we skipped turkey. There was no meat at our Thanksgiving dinner. Instead, for a couple of mains, we had... uh lentil stuffed squash and some corn chowder and um an egg and onion tart so and cheese was in that too so for a little protein there um but it was it was we had a lot of other food and um although there was no turkey there was plenty of food and what we did at my house i actually hosted

thanksgiving this year which was really fun but uh we did a potluck style thanksgiving and so a potluck is where every guest brings something to share whether it's like a drink or a dessert or a dish for for the dinner And then the stress and the burden of creating a massive feast for all of your family is a lot less...

Yeah, a lot easier to manage. So I really like potluck style parties and yeah, that's what we did this year. It was a lot of fun. It was good. Nice. How many people did you host for the potluck? I was supposed to be seven. My parents-in-law, my brother-in-law, and then my mom and my stepdad. But unfortunately...

My mother-in-law got a cold like at the last minute and she stayed home. So it was just six of us, which was actually the perfect size for my dining room. So it was okay. But we missed having my mother-in-law there. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I agree. The potluck is a great way to do it because the burden of doing all of the cooking and the burden, I guess, of doing all of the dishes. I don't know. Did you still have to do all of the dishes?

I kind of insist usually when I have people over, like I would rather have space in my kitchen and just like do the cleaning really quickly and let everybody else hang out. Not just to be a nice host, but like...

There's this expression in English, too many cooks in the kitchen, or just too many cooks. And that basically means when there's too many people helping, it can actually become less helpful in the long run. So like somebody... will say hey where does this dish go where does this plate go uh where do i put this and then i'm

Instead of actually cleaning, I'm answering questions. And if somebody puts something in the wrong place, that's like, you know, it's just easier to have one person, maybe two people. Yeah, too many cooks. So I'm kind of like, get out of my kitchen. I'll clean. Yeah.

Yeah, it's always awkward when you're a guest, right? You want to help. You don't want to just like sit there and relax while the host is doing all the work. But at the same time, when you're in somebody's kitchen, you don't know where.

all of the dishes go and how their kitchen is organized then it can be like very difficult to actually be helpful and you are more of just like a pain in the neck so yeah and like when i go to my parents-in-law's house um and i like try to put things away in the dishwasher to help i notice that my father-in-law sometimes like kind of sneakily rearrange

changes all of the dishes that i've put away in the dishwasher because it's not like his system or the most efficient way so i might as well just not do it yeah yeah Cool. What about some of the other big Thanksgiving traditions that are popular in the USA? I wanted to just throw a couple by you and maybe you could comment on them quickly. The first one that I remember...

Sometimes I would even watch it growing up in Canada. It would be on TV in Canada is the Thanksgiving Day Parade. Is that still a big thing? Yeah, I... Well, I guess I don't have cable, but everything's on streaming. Like... I usually used to watch that every year. I don't know when I stopped, but it's definitely still a thing. And I think, yeah, pretty common to just have it on in the background while you're cooking or getting ready for dinner. That and there's a dog show.

uh which is hosted I think by a guy who was on Seinfeld. I forget his name, but he's like a pretty famous guy. He has a unique voice and they always have a dog show and the Macy's Day Parade. I think those are definitely still very watched by many, heavily watched by people in the US. Yeah, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City, right? And Macy's is the big department store.

brand that sponsors the parade and it's kind of like the kickoff to the christmas season you see all these different floats and a float is like the name of the display that goes down the road in the parade. And there are lots of different colorful ones. And I think the last one is the Santa, if I remember correctly. And so Santa is kind of like welcoming in Christmas.

And so yeah, that is the parade. And then I also think of football on Thanksgiving. I imagine that a lot of families tune in and watch football. But I have a feeling maybe you're not a football watcher. Do you tune in to watch the Thanksgiving Day football game? I can't even remember the last time I watched the Super Bowl. So no, I definitely don't watch football on Thanksgiving.

Not a sports girl. But yeah, you're right. I mean, I feel bad for that. Well, not really, because they're making millions of dollars, but I feel bad for the football players who have to play on Thanksgiving. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of them do actually end up having to work on the holidays, right? On Thanksgiving and Christmas. But I would do it too for that amount of money. Don't get me wrong. I'd be there.

Another sports related one that I think about on Thanksgiving is actually related to running. And so maybe I know you are a runner as well. So maybe you know about this one. That is the turkey trot. What is the turkey trot? Do you know about this? Yeah, I've never participated in one, but it's really common in the U.S. Or maybe it's also in, well, no, I wouldn't be in Canada. You guys have Thanksgiving in Canada, right? But it's a different day and it's like kind of different.

vibes right sorry to completely derail your topic but yeah does it exist in canada yeah yeah we have thanksgiving except it varies from year to year so it's not a fixed Day. And this year it was way back in early October, if I recall correctly. And it's kind of weird. We celebrate it exactly the same way as American Thanksgiving. Same.

traditional food same like family oriented holiday we also watched football on thanksgiving my dad always has the football game the cfl the canadian football league and so i think it's really the same but there is a little bit different historical origin and yeah a slightly different background to the holiday but yeah we finished our thanksgiving way back in october

so maybe you guys have the turkey trot too but yeah there's it's like a local race basically um yeah and maybe it's a 5k race something not too crazy long but um Yeah, I've never participated in one, but those are definitely really popular. I see a lot of Instagram posts from friends who participate in them on Thanksgiving. Yeah, yeah, the turkey trot, just like a friendly...

5k race, I think. And a lot of people like to maybe do some exercise on the day because they know they're going to be pigging out and eating a lot that evening. Right. So I think maybe that's why people do it. It's like get some exercise in the morning with this run. And yeah, because everybody's not working because of the holiday, then you get lots of people participating. And then later on.

You can go and eat your Thanksgiving meal and yeah, not feel as guilty about eating a lot of food. Okay. Indiana, why don't we shift to Christmas and talk about the Christmas season here? And I'm wondering in your mind, when do you think of as the official start of the Christmas season? When does it start for you?

I get in the Christmas spirit or more in the mood for the holiday. Like I'm feeling like it started maybe. around the 20th, the 21st, like the week of Christmas is when I really feel like excited about it and ready to listen to Christmas carols. But practically, I think the second Thanksgiving is over. the Christmas carols and jingles start playing in the supermarket and everybody starts putting up their holiday lights and decorations and so it's kind of unavoidable.

as soon as December starts. So that is also why I said happy holidays, because whether I agree with it, we are kind of, at least in the US, in that season. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, we're exactly on the same page because I agree. I think it's spread out too long. Like I would love it if it was just the week of Christmas.

Like, I don't know, Christmas is on December 25th. So maybe we started decorating the house and playing Christmas carols and getting Christmassy around like December 18th, 19th. Something like that would be perfect. And then... Yeah, it's just like this really special, unique time of the year. However, now it's so long, like here in Seoul.

I know exactly the day because I ran a marathon on November 2nd. And on November 1st, the day before the marathon, my friend and I went to this marathon pop-up event that was in one of the big... department stores here in Seoul. So that was November 1st, the day after Halloween. And we went to the department store

It was all decked out for Christmas. Big Christmas trees, Christmas lights everywhere, Christmas music playing. All I want for Christmas is you playing on repeat already on November 1st. So that's like almost a... a full two months before Christmas. And I was just losing my mind. I was like, this is too much. I can't handle it. It's too long. Why is it so long? I don't get it. That is so interesting because I figured that was... Maybe not.

uniquely American. But like, if I think of the United States, I think of like consumerism and heavy on the, you know, okay, we're gonna push the product in the supermarket as soon as we can, you know, or the department store. So here, I'm used to that. I get that vibe, but in Korea too. So in Seoul, like on November 1st. So yeah, I'm curious, Andrew, how extensively is...

Christmas celebrated in Korea or like what kinds of decorations do you see or like, yeah, I wouldn't expect it to be so such a big thing. But yeah, tell me about it in Seoul. Yeah, I would say that. In terms of like looking Christmassy, it's almost the same as North America. There are Christmas trees everywhere. Now people don't put up Christmas lights outside of their home because most people live in big apartment.

towers. So it's kind of impractical. However, like in my neighborhood, there's a big intersection and at the intersection, there's a big Christmas tree that's there. So it's like right in the middle of the neighborhood, this big Christmas tree with lots of beautiful lights. And if you go down into the subway stations, a lot of the subway stations have Christmas lights and are decorated.

And now I think sometimes these are sponsored by local churches. So a church will like put up a Christmas tree and I don't know, they just want to decorate it. And the subway station says, sure, do it. But stores are really Christmassy. I was walking around a neighborhood in downtown Seoul the other night with my wife and almost every little restaurant or cafe that we passed by had a Christmas tree and Christmas lights.

and actually felt really christmasy it was almost i felt like i was in like sweden or something i was like here we are in seoul but it felt like this really christmas vibe it was actually pretty nice so I would say yes, absolutely. Visually, it's everywhere. You can't really avoid it, at least in the downtown part of Seoul. Maybe some countryside places are not as much, but yeah, here in the city, definitely.

And even it was my father-in-law's birthday celebration the other day. So my wife's side of the family, we all got together and we celebrated his birthday at a restaurant. And I was complaining to my wife after. I'm like, so annoying that they were playing Christmas music the whole time because in the background, they had like Christmas music, not. not singing and not carols, but just instrumental, like piano, like, you know, that light, jazzy, Christmassy background music. Yes.

Actually, I asked my wife, I was like, did you pick up that those were all classic Christmas tunes that they were playing the whole time? And she's like, no, I didn't even notice. So I think for a lot of maybe Korean people, they don't know. about that like they maybe didn't grow up listening to all of the Christmas carols and Christmas music so my wife or maybe my wife just didn't even register maybe she wasn't listening to the background music but for me

Because I'm a Grinch and because I think the Christmas season is too long, I was like a little frustrated. I was like, oh, why do they have to play all this Christmas music? Still November at that time in the background while we're eating dinner. Yeah, it just goes to show that Christmas really is everywhere here in Seoul, at least. Wow. Well, I learned something new today. I would not have expected that.

Yeah, it is a public holiday here as well. I know in other Asian countries like Japan and like China, I think... People do celebrate to an extent in those places. And guys, if you're listening in Japan or China or other Asian countries, maybe you can chime in and let us know what it's like at home for you. But I think, yeah, here in Seoul, it actually is a public holiday.

People do take the day off. And I don't know how each individual celebrates. Maybe some people are really, really into it. And some people couldn't be bothered at all. And it's just like a free holiday for them. Score. Yeah, it is a day off. It's a public holiday. So that's nice. Nice for me, at least. So, okay. You don't like to decorate your home until...

Maybe the week before Christmas. Do you do anything to like decorate your home? Do you put up a Christmas tree? Do you have any Christmas lights? Anything like that? No, I really don't. And part of it is like... kind of laziness because i don't i don't like i don't know it takes a long time to set up a really nice light display and to like neatly wrap them around

like shrubs or bushes around your doorframe. So there's that aspect of it. I think just a little bit of laziness, but also my husband is Jewish and does not really celebrate Christmas. So there's no sort of push or excitement from him to to do that kind of thing either. So yeah, we really don't decorate or anything like that, but. Yeah, one thing I do like to do, though, is make Christmas cookies. I usually do that sometime around the week of Christmas, maybe before or after.

Sometimes I do that with my mom, sometimes just alone. But there's some traditional ones that are common in the U.S. that I like to make. There's... a kind called snowball cookies. So they look like little snowballs. It's like a cookie made of ground walnuts.

or almonds and flour and a lot of butter and then you roll them twice after you bake them they're ball shaped and you roll them in confectioners sugar powdered sugar um and those are just great like they're really good and um they're clearly you know um festive in the sense that they look like snow and it's winter time so those are cute and um

Another one I really like to make is peanut butter blossoms. So it's like a peanut butter cookie that you stick a Hershey's Kiss in the center of and then you put it back in the oven for a second and it kind of melts just a little bit and gets soft. And that's like another really great cookie. There's a bunch of classic ones, but I think those are usually staples of mine. I usually try to make those every year. Wow. Well.

Longtime Q-Lips listeners will know that my favorite food is peanuts and peanut butter. So that second cookie caught my attention. I would love to try that. That sounds delicious. Have you never had one? Have you had or seen them before? I don't think I've had one, to be honest. I'm trying to think of my mom's classic baking, Christmas baking, because my mom would always bake up a storm.

when i was younger and she still does but i'm just not home to take advantage of all the baking but my mom would make um date squares i don't know if you know what a date square is I can imagine it maybe, but no, I've never heard of that. It's almost like you use a baking... pan almost like a casserole dish some some longer pan with some depth to it maybe you could think of brownies it's kind of the same as brownies and then so you make this big pan dessert and date squares it's like you have

this crumbly almost granola on the bottom and then in the middle you have dates like that dried fruit and then on the top you have another crumbly kind of granola and then you'd bake that and then cut it into little squares and Yeah, date squares. Those were always delicious. What else would she make? Nanaimo bars. This is a very Canadian dessert.

Sure, you probably have never tried a Nanaimo bar. Do you know what that is at all? You know what? I went back one time into the Q-Lips archive and I listened to an episode that you did where you mentioned Nanaimo bars. So I have heard of them, but… That was the only time in my life. Wow. But yeah, I've quickly forgotten. So please remind me what exactly the ingredients are.

Yeah, an Nanaimo bar is, it's like chocolate on the top. Again, it's cut into a square, guys. So it's like, think about the size of a brownie again. And yeah, chocolate on top. and there's some kind of yellow sweet filling in the middle i think it's a kind of custard and then sometimes It's been a while since I've had one. They were never my favorite because they're so sweet. It's a very sweet dessert and I'm not a big sweet kind of guy. So I can't say exactly, but...

An Animo bar my mom would make. And then also she would make like cookies as well. Christmas cookies, various different types. Maybe gingerbread is a classic Christmas cookie. And also... She would make this dessert called almond roca, which is like this brittle candy made with almonds, almond roca and chocolate on the top with some peanuts. Very good. So my mom would always bake up a storm.

And I haven't carried that tradition on at all. I don't think I do any Christmas baking at all, unfortunately. But maybe I will this year. Maybe I'll get that recipe for the...

What were they called? The peanut butter drops? Is that what you called them? Peanut butter blossoms. I looked them up before recording because I wanted to... check that that like I didn't just make up a name for them and yes that's like what most of the recipes call them peanut butter blossoms yeah peanut butter blossoms okay Indiana do you have a favorite Christmas song

Oh, that's a great question because there's so many awful Christmas songs that you never want to hear again. At least I feel that way. Oh, that's a great question. honestly because i love david bowie i feel like his rendition of little drummer boy which he did oh gosh it's embarrassing that i can't remember the name of the other guy um burl ives maybe maybe oh but no i don't think it was burl ives um but somebody like that yeah i'm sure if if uh listeners are interested they also like

David Bowie. Just look up David Bowie, Little Drummer Boy. It's a cool song. It's a duo. Yeah. Let me do it right now. Little Drummer Boy. I'm curious as well. Who is it? Ah, Bing Crosby. Ben Crosby, yes, because he does a lot of Christmas songs. Yeah, and there's a video of them, and it's very kind of, I don't know if it's... What's a good word for it? It seems a little stiff or it's...

I don't know. There's an interesting vibe between David Bowie and Bing Crosby in the video. It's worth a watch. It's a good classic song. Okay. Bing Crosby and Burl Ives. And David Bowie. Yeah. Oh, sorry. Yeah. Bing Crosby and David Bowie. Why do I have Burl Ives in my head? Burl Ives, guys, is like this old... old-time american singer and i think he did like some famous christmas records so yes i think so yeah that's why he popped into my my mind

I was thinking, Indiana, and maybe I'd like to get your opinion on this because I know you're a music person, but I would contend, I would argue that there hasn't been a good Christmas song written. for at least like 25, 30 years. I want to say that the last good Christmas song is probably...

Mariah Carey, All I Want for Christmas is You, which unfortunately has been killed because it's been overplayed so, so much that I think it's a really good song, but it was just overplayed to an extreme amount so that. Yeah, it's difficult to listen to these days. But since then, I don't think there's been really any good Christmas songs, which is unfortunate because in the 80s, we had like...

David Bowie and Paul McCartney and all of these big, massive pop stars writing these really catchy Christmas songs. But now... Maybe I'm just not listening. Maybe like there are some great artists making Christmas music and it just hasn't become classic yet. I'm not sure. But what do you think about my argument? Would you agree or disagree? I think you're probably right that.

There's not a lot of good new Christmas songs, but I did, when I was a DJ at... college and I was uh DJing for my college radio station I would do a Christmas show and I would try to find like alternative Christmas songs and there's a lot of artists that like you and I would both love or recognize who have covered many Christmas songs and it's refreshing to hear something that's not played.

like non-stop for the entire month of December on the radio. So there's a lot of good covers out there by artists that are good that maybe don't get a lot of airplay.

But I think you could be right. That new, fresh, like, completely original Christmas music. There's not a lot of it. I think Sofian... so john stevens i actually don't know how you pronounce his name but he might have made a christmas album or like has his own christmas music so he could be an exception but um no i think you're right it's uh

There's not a lot of original Christmas stuff that's very good. I don't think so. Yeah. Yeah. Hmm. I don't know. Sufjan Stevens. I also don't know how to pronounce his name. It's S-U-F-J-A-N, I believe is the spelling of his first name. Some people say Sufjan, some people say Sufyan, kind of a more like European way. I'm not sure how to pronounce it, but a very interesting American songwriter who's created a lot of classic indie albums.

I could imagine his music is very magical sounding a lot of times. that would be a great fit for him to write some Christmas music. So I'll check that one out. Yeah, I think he has. If not in a whole album, I think there are at least a few songs. Yeah. Okay, cool.

All right, so Indiana, the last thing we'll talk about here maybe is the cherry on top, the creme de la creme, and that is gift giving, which is a big part of Christmas. And also... for me maybe the most stressful part and i get stressed out for a couple of reasons first is i have people in my life asking me, what do you want? What do you want for Christmas? My parents will ask me. My wife will ask me. And my answer is always like nothing. I don't need anything. I'm good. I'm okay.

However, people hate to hear that answer because they want to give something, right? It's like Christmas is about showing your love and affection and care through a present. giving somebody something that they need. But I really feel like I don't technically need anything. My life is pretty comfortable, which is great. And so, yeah, I always say like, oh, you don't have to buy me anything. Don't worry about it.

but they don't like that. So that causes me stress. I have to think of something that I don't probably really need. But then at the same time, I'm also in that similar situation where I want to buy gifts for my family and buy a gift for my wife. And that always is difficult, too, because when I think about it, I'm like my wife.

technically doesn't really need anything you know so it's like it's tough i don't know maybe because of your husband not celebrating christmas maybe it's easy for you do you guys exchange gifts at all does he buy you a gift for christmas at all You know, we used to do that, but not in the past few years. So yeah, it's pretty easy for me. I just have to worry about my mom and my stepdad for Christmas. We have like the smallest Christmas ever. So the gift giving.

Although it's still stressful, I completely understand everything that you've said. You know, like, I hate coming up with a list of things I want. It feels like selfish. And like, also, if I really want something.

and i know like the right thing that i want i can just save up and buy it myself you know but but it is really nice to exchange gifts or have some sort of surprise so i i also yeah i have mixed feelings about it too But if anything that I would say to make it easier, I would say like consumables, something that you can use and then not. not keep forever like some really nice coffee or like a sugar scrub for like the bath or something like

Those kinds of things I feel like pretty good about asking for or giving because, you know, they're not going to be cluttering up somebody's house forever. And yeah, I don't know, something you could eat or put on your body like that, I think is. kind of a safe gift that yeah it'll it'll go away eventually yeah that's a great idea yeah that's very good

This year, my wife and I have decided just to do a simple gift exchange and not go all out and spend like a lot of money and be very elaborate, anything like that. So we've set a budget of around $20. 20 american dollars which oh is like pretty low right that is low yeah we've we've decided just to keep it very low key this year and so now i

At first, when my wife suggested this, I was like, yeah, let's do it. And now I'm already feeling a little bit stressed. Like, what should I buy her? I don't know. Because it's not a lot of money. But yeah, I guess I could buy something like what you just mentioned, like probably a bath bomb or a bag of coffee or something. But does that really show like a lot of care and love?

From a husband to a wife. I'm not sure. So guys, I'm stressed out about this. And if you have any great ideas about something you think that I could. Give her, I'm all ears. I'm open to your suggestions. Let me know what you think would make a great $20 or under Christmas gift. Maybe I was thinking like a lot of little mini things. Maybe if I could find.

five or six small things. Maybe I'll have to go to the dollar store. I'm not sure, but it could be more fun to open like several different little gifts than one kind of small one, or maybe like a used book or used record. I'm not sure. I just did a scavenger hunt for my husband's birthday. I ordered a bunch of German licorice that you can't really buy in the United States, so I ordered it from Europe, and I hid them all over the house.

like made cryptic clues for him to find them so that could add a layer at no cost um for a bunch of tiny gifts if if you feel creative in that way i love that idea the scavenger hunt that would be fun also one of my favorite things growing up as a kid was the christmas stocking christmas stocking so that would be like yeah the classic

gift from santa claus with this big like sock right that's like usually doesn't look like a sock though it's like this really beautifully knit large sock shaped stocking And in the Christmas stocking, there would be lots of different candy and like little gifts, little mini things, which was always really fun to open. And my parents always insisted that was the first thing.

that my siblings and I open. So that was always like the kickoff to the Christmas Day gift celebration. And I always really loved that. So maybe I'll prepare a Christmas stocking. That could be fun for my wife. That's a great idea. Yeah. Yeah. I like that. Okay. Well, Indiana, I think we've gone on enough here about Christmas. I did cut. I hope that was a good enough.

discussion for you. I hope you enjoyed listening to this episode and all the other listeners out there as well, guys. I know because we have a global audience that, you know, we have listeners from all different backgrounds and cultures. traditions and some people celebrate Christmas others don't but still we wanted to give you some insight into how we celebrate this holiday because yeah, we do celebrate it. So we hope you enjoyed listening to it and learning with it.

If you are ready for more, if you need a study guide for this episode, if you want the interactive transcript, and also if you would like to join the speaking class, because we'll probably have a speaking class related, something to do, maybe not exactly. exactly with Christmas, but about maybe the wintertime and how we celebrate some of these different holidays and traditions in the winter. We're going to be talking about that in our upcoming speaking classes as well.

If you want to get all of these awesome learning materials and the invitation to our speaking classes and ad-free audio and so much more, then just sign up and become a QLips member. And you can do that for an affordable price on our website, QLips.com. Go check out the website for all the info you need to know. All right. Well, Indiana, that's going to bring us to the end for this episode. So thank you again. And we'll talk to you next time, everybody. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.