The Family Stone: A Movie About Change, Loss, and Letting People In Episode# 847
Zen Pop
Todd and Cathy Adams
4.9 • 637 Ratings
🗓️ 16 December 2025
⏱️ 78 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Cathy and Todd talk about The Family Stone and why it works so well as “a Christmas movie that isn’t really a Christmas movie”. They explore how it’s a story about family systems, grief, belonging, and what happens when someone new steps into a familiar and often fragile emotional ecosystem. They get into the best family movies, the most uncomfortable scenes, each character’s role, birth order patterns, sibling energy, and the tension Meredith brings into the house. They also look at why this messy and tender story is still such a holiday staple twenty years later.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You don't have to be nervous. |
| 0:02.0 | I'm not. |
| 0:03.0 | They're gonna love you. |
| 0:05.0 | There's nothing harder than joining a family. |
| 0:09.0 | He intends to give that girl my mother's wedding rank. |
| 0:11.0 | Especially one like the stones. |
| 0:13.0 | She's got this throat clearing tick. |
| 0:16.0 | It's like she's digging for clams. |
| 0:18.0 | Ready? |
| 0:20.0 | Yeah, they're all watching, you know. |
| 0:23.6 | They have a funny way of making you feel at home. |
| 0:29.6 | Hello, you have a lovely home. |
| 0:31.6 | All the better to entertain you, my dear. |
| 0:33.6 | Don't dilly-dally there, pretty lady. |
| 0:35.6 | We're all going to be down here talking about you. |
| 1:32.2 | She is completely uptight. I am not sleeping with you in your belly. Is that good? Sure, I let it go. I think we can move into talking about this lovely movie. Maybe I'll play a little bit more because it's a two and a half minute and it kind of encapsulates. I feel like this is one of those movies that is really good, but not one that a lot of people have seen many, many times. I know you have, but generally speaking, I think it's one of the more out there movies, but really, really good ones. So I'm excited to talk about this. The movie we're talking about is what, sweetie? It's the family stone. And if it is true that not a lot of people have seen this a lot of times, then that is a reason to do this podcast because we should make this happen. This is exactly right. This is your invitation to do that. But what do you first tell people, we usually do the promo stuff on the back end, go ahead and go through our stuff. So quickly about Zen Pop and, you know, how you can support us. |
| 1:35.5 | And you can support Todd from afar because he has a cold right now. |
| 1:37.8 | So just send him good vibes as you're listening to this. |
| 1:41.6 | But very seriously, how you can support Todd and I and Zen Pop. |
| 1:43.8 | Team Zen is our version of Patreon. So if you scroll below, you can join Team Zen, either just to support us just for the heck of it, or you can participate in all the things we have, our own app. We have a women's group. We have Zen Parenting Live. We have so many things, a community. Follow my substack for free Zen Parenting Moment. Go to Kathy Cassaniadams.com substack. |
| 2:01.4 | Buy my books. Restoring our girls. Zen parenting, living what you want your kids to learn. |
| 2:06.3 | Check out Men Living, the organization that Todd co-founded and is the executive director. |
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