Let's Be Clear with Shannen DohertyShannen and her mom host this special holiday episode as they describe what a Doherty family Christmas looks like!
From flocked trees, to color-coordinated wrapping paper, to competitive games of charade...
Mama Rosa also reveals what Shannen used to do as a curious kid to her presents under the tree.
Plus a special message from mother and daughter as they look towards a new year with happiness and hope.
This is Let's Be Clear with Shannon Doherty. Hey, welcome to Let's Be Clear with Shannon Doherty. I hope you guys have all enjoyed listening to this podcast as much as I have enjoyed hosting it, and I'm really excited for the new year. I'm excited for all of the new guests that I have coming on. Uh We're talking about expert doctors that are going to talk to us about cancer, what's coming up in the future for the cancer world, sort of health in general, and some super surprise guest from you know, just friends or people that I've worked with, and really going to just keep digging into my life, the past, the present, in the future. So I'm really excited to keep sharing with you all and connecting really, because that's what this podcast is about. It's about connecting and learning from each other. I learn every single time I I host an episode. I learned from my guests, I learned from my doctors, I learned from the experience, I learned from you know, your guys comments.
So thank you.
Let's just keep learning together and being joyful and and being clear, because I think that being clear at this point in my life is incredibly important. But right now we're doing a Christmas episode. In case you didn't notice, there is a Christmas tree behind me that started out really ugly. And then we have my very.
Special guests, my mom. I'm so happy to like be doing it with her, but I'm not happy because I have anxiety over I'm very private basically.
So this is Mama Rosa Rosa to me, she's just mom. And you know, we coordinated today and matching green and green, and.
The tree back there.
Started as green because the Christmas tree lot said that they were done with flocking for the air. They were just done with flocking, which was bizarre to me. And my idea was that I was going to do this like minimalist tree. So it was just going to be a white flocked tree with white lights and that's it, like super minimalist. I thought it might be pretty, and so I bought all this fake snow stuff great when you have cancer, like the chemicals and that stuff, and I decided to flock my own tree. Yes you did, Yes. I meanwhile flocked my couch. I flocked Holly, who was here for all of this, yourself. I flocked myself, my friend Mike. Then came over and he got flocked.
We were all flocked, and the tree was looking really.
Really really rough, a little pathetic, a little, just a little.
You kept asking me like, are you going to fix it? Are we going to put ornaments on it? What are we gonna do?
So we did not put ornaments on. We just did baby's breath and ribbons. So it's still a little bit minimalist. I'm going to have to put on my thinking cap next tour. I was supposed to go to Tennessee this year with you and my brother and his wife and the kids, but due to weather and my dog's health, we all adjusted and everybody's coming to California now.
So the tree was last minute. Yeah, but you did a really good job, and you always do something special with the tree. Our trees are always special every year because you do it and you're up on the ladder and the best part it makes me cry. The best part is seeing you up on the ladder putting the star or the angel or ribbon, big bow whatever on the tree. And then I usually go to your place and do your tree. Yes you do. Yeah, so we're not doing yours this year.
No, we don't see the family's here, You're just going to stay with me for Christmas.
And normally there's.
Like a theme, yes for the tree, and then the theme carries out like throughout the house. So the Christmas packages are all wrapped pretty much the same, Like I'll do all parchment paper one year, and then the ribbon will be variation on the same color. So it was like brown parchment paper with like black and white striped ribbon or black and white polka dot ribbon.
And we all have to adhere to what the color scheme is. We can't go off the color scheme. One year, you actually did for breast cancer a huge We did one inside and it had some pink on it, and then outside you did a huge tree out. Yeah that was all pink. Yes, yeah, I remember that. It was like really that was about a wee seen or twenty seventeen, I think. I think was the first year.
I do want toy like I do supply the wrapping paper for everyone, so I don't make people go out and get like their own wrapping paper.
But that's so it'll be what you want it.
Yeah, it looks so pretty when all the presents are underneath and everything's like a little coordinated.
Maybe I'm a little OCD. No, I think it's great. Everybody loves it. Everybody comes and they whoever it is, they always come in and they're like, this is beautiful and it all just goes to the world together. How did you do all of this?
See right from Mama Rosa's mouth, she approves it's all good. And we usually bake. Yes, we still have to make cookies. We haven't made our Christmas cookies yet. We have a lot to do. We my grandmother sends fudge, which is like very good. I love Southern fudge. Yeah, it's really delicious.
So we bake. We figure out, like we don't just do cookies.
Sometimes we do like, you know, Christmas cakes, and we used to do a I guess it's like vanilla cake with a cream cheese frosting and then cut it into the shape of a Christmas tree and decorate it with you know, some green glitter and like bulbs and do the whole thing with like candy and everything on it. We haven't done that in a little bit.
No, we haven't. But we haven't had like children really around as much as we used to. A lot of friends got married, they had kids, they've moved to different places. Yeah, and Christopher took you know, my two what I call my kids, my two kids to Hawaii this year or so there. Why you just didn't seem like Christmas. No, we were going to go to Tennessee and have a Christmas hay ride and have the hometown Christmas parade. And then the tornadoes came, so that kind of changed things. And the dog and my dog got and the dog got sick. My dog got sick. Yeah, it's happened.
Anyway, We're in California for Christmas, which is wonderful and amazing sing and I think this year.
It's about like.
Spending time with my brother and his wife, and he has seven children, and you guys, but only three can make it this year. Two are in England and two more are spending it with their respective girlfriends and their families. But I do get three of the kids, and so it's about I think for me personally, I'm just so thankful to be here for another Christmas.
Well, we're thankful every day every day, and we know there's years to come because we have faith that science is going to bring us up there.
Yes, but I mean, you know, it's been like the past couple of Christmases have been a little odd and haven't really felt like Christmas. I won't get into the reasons why, but just hasn't. It's it's been weird. So, and Christmas has always been a big day. It's my favorite holiday, not only because of the Christmas decorations and people being in a joyful sort of mindset hopefully the Christmas lights and the stockings and the tree decorating and the food and family, but also because of the meaning of Christmas at Christmas, Yeah, and like what it represents and you know, Jesus, and so it's definitely always been one of my favorite holidays.
Yours two right, Yes, I love Christmas. I mean I can't think of another holiday. Dad loved Christmas.
Dad loved Christmas. Yeah, I can't think of another holiday I like more than Christmas.
Just your birthday. Sometimes sometimes I don't love my birthday. Well wait till you're my age, and then somebody keeps pushing birthdays at you.
I think, But yeah, when I throw you some power and they're dj and dancing, you like, as long as they're dancing, I'm happy.
So I think this year is about just.
Being incredibly grateful that we're here and that we get to spend time with the people that are, you know, by our sides, through thick and thin, that don't walk away, that love us unconditionally and have the same sort of beliefs and morals and standards, and people that have character. And I'm just so thankful really to be here for it. And I even got to schedule my like cancer infusions where I would be recovered completely from it for Christmas, which is great.
Absolutely, But our friends are now family. Your friends, my friends were That is family because they love us. They're there for us. Not they're always there for you, but they're there for me too, and it's so special. I agree, don't cry, you know me.
I like here And so yeah, so we're gonna have like my brother and his family gets in on the twenty third, twenty fourth, big family dinner, twenty fifth, all the leftovers.
All the leftovers that's really good. And games games which open packages which this year we've actually been told we can only buy one. But I think somebody's already cheated. I think you've already cheated. Not me. Oh yeah, you just came this morning, said here, this was in your stocking that was a stocking stuffer. Okay, well gift didn't count. It was a stocking stuffer.
And I gave you your Christmas presents early, and I gave you my Christion exactly.
So you and I are done. We cheated.
Well, you know, oftentimes what happens during Christmas is we go shopping together and then I see something that I really like for her, but she's with me, and she sees something that she really likes for me, but obviously she's with me, and so we're like, all right, here's your Christmas present.
Yeah, but it's still exciting because we get we have all that time to see where we want to put it and enjoy it. Hm, that's good exactly. Yeah.
So that's our Christmas. Just you know, reflecting on the ear, reflecting for me, it's been.
A turbulent ear.
You know, some massive health struggles, some massive personal struggles, a lot of you know, heartbreak and fear. But with all of that, I have found that it's actually I was saying this to myself the other day the other night. Actually it's like, God, I think I'm actually starting to live like the happiest version of my life. Interestingly enough, like even though it's been such a contentious year for me. For some reason, it just feels it's gotten a lot lighter lately and a lot more positive and energy in my house is amazing, and the people that I'm hanging out with are amazing, and my heart is you know, opening back up, and it just feels like the year is ending well. And as long as my dog is okay and my loved ones are okay, next year is going to be beautiful.
You're now surrounded with real love.
Yeah, So that's what we're gonna do for Christmas, and that's a way for each other, and that's what it means to us. It's just reflection, great joy, deep appreciation, absolutely and opening presents and ah, wait a minute, eating like pigs and what else presents.
That's a whole nother thing. And that's another thing that's maybe good that you have limited the presence because even as a little girl, you thought you were pulling something really smart. You're the best rewrapper I've ever seen in my life because you would go sneak under the tree, get your presence out, unwrap them, meticulously, put them back, wrap them again. That's why you are one of the best rappers. I have ever seen today. You wrapped the most beautiful passages. You had years of practice. I thank you. I can't believe I did that, Oh you did. But it was it was fun. It was joy knowing that you thought you were really pulling this off and you were so proud of yourself, and we just went with that.
What about our I mean, we also do like a that started when Dad was alive, and it was like a one upmanship thing with a present. So okay, it would be, you know, here's all the presents. We would get done opening and everybody was like, okay, we're done, and then all of a sudden, I would be like, oh, oh, oh, I think there's one more thing here, and I would present it to my parents and it was like their real gift, like they're really nice, nice, nice gift, and and they call on to that after the first time I did it, and the second year I did it, and you know, tears like blah blah blah. They were so you know, overjoyed or just it was a lovely experience. And I would be like, okay, all right, now, let's go, you know, make Christmas breakfast, and all of a sudden they would be like my dad would start doing his like laughing chuckle thing where he almost he would he would cry from laughing so hard, but it would give him so much joy to have a leg up on me. So all of a sudden it would be like, oh, oh wait, what is this?
What is this?
And they would hand me something that was like beautiful and meaningful. It could have been you know, my dad's my dad's football charm, remember, yes, And it's because my dad played football in college for a little bit, so there was there's always been that one up and ship thing. That's pretty funny that it's a tradition of ours that I said we're not doing this year. Yeah, that's what she said. That does not sound like you're adhering to it. If you do not adhere to it. I've good so far because it's the rain. It's like I haven't been able to really get out and do anything. Yeah. I like that.
Yeah, because I'm doing my little part time work. Am I a happy place? So by the time I get off, it's yeah, it's good.
We're just going to keep her in the rain so that she can't do any shopping and there's no one upmanship. So anyway, so that is our Christmas and we really, really really wish you all a very merry Christmas, a very happy holidays. Whatever you celebrate, I hope that it brings you deep joy and close to family loved ones, remembering that family is, you know, not always biological. Sometimes it's just your friends that become your family, like a lot of my friends are.
And gratitude for what we've all been given.
Yeah, yeah, and peace, like at the end of the day that we all have peace, and our peace is a beautiful thing.
Acceptance of others.
And you know, it's been a tumultuous year for the world in general, and my Christmas wish is that somehow it ends in a peaceful manner that where people learn to love and accept one another. And that's it right now, guys, that's like season three.
So anyway, just.
Lots and lots of love to all of you out there, and don't worry, my mom will be back for another episode that's not a Christmas episode talking about about all things Shannon, because she just told you a little story about me being a kid on wrapping presents and putting them all back together, so I'm sure she has a lot more like that. Oh maybe so good luck to all of you this year. May next year bring you an abundance of love and joy and peace, and thank you from me and Mama Rosa.
Marry, Merry Christmas, everybody, Happy Holidays,
