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A holiday shouldn’t require a stopwatch. We open up about what Thanksgiving and Christmas looked like inside Scientology’s Sea Org—15-minute meals stretched to 45, staged fireplace photos mailed home as “proof of life,” and a steady drumbeat that family time was off-purpose. While most people are baking pies and booking flights, we were filing petitions, dodging “PTS” labels, and watching “important” church holidays turn into sales marathons dressed up as celebrations.

We break down the difference between civilian Scientologists and Sea Org life, from catalog-driven “gifting” and CD Walkmans to the annual wave of winter illness used to justify investigations and denied leave. You’ll hear how “beer and cheese parties” shrank into warm soda and crackers, why big events like Hubbard’s birthday and the IAS anniversary outranked Thanksgiving and Christmas by design, and what it does to your sense of money when a $100 bonus feels like oxygen and disappears in a single sweater at an outlet mall.

Then we pivot to rebuilding: hosting sprawling Thanksgivings, creating photo books full of candid chaos, teaching our kids that dinner together is normal, and finding joy in small traditions that don’t need permission. We also share practical, low-drama ways to reach relatives still inside—letters that avoid triggers, steady updates, standing invitations—plus why consistency matters even when you get no reply. If you’re navigating disconnection or planning your own exit, you’re not alone. The Aftermath Foundation and survivor networks have your back.

Listen to reflect, learn, and maybe rethink what you want your holidays to mean. If this resonated, subscribe, share with a friend who needs it, and leave a review to help more people find the show. Your support helps us keep telling the stories others try to hide.

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