There's no need to make the holiday season more hectic when it comes to entertaining. It may sound too good to be true, but ease and elegance can coexist. This collection of 54 festive appetizer and main dish recipes is here to help out along the way. This year, let's stress less and celebrate more with our friends and family. Isn't that what the holidays are all about?
Drama lovers are living large thanks to The Summer I Turned Pretty, Sweet Magnolias, and now My Life With The Walter Boys season 2! The show (which is basically Friday Night Lights meets Dawson's Creek) spent some time at the number one spot on Netflix’s Global English Top 10 TV list (and joined the list in 88 other countries). Netflix renewed it for a sophomore season in December 2023, and the great news is that season 2 just finished filming!
Netflix
Yes, there will be a My Life With the Walter Boys season 2! Netflix renewed the new TV show in December of 2023. The second season started filming in Calgary, Canada on August 14, 2024. Showrunner Melanie Halsall is returning for season 2, as is executive producer Ed Glauser. Becky Hartman Edwards will also serve as an EP.
While there's no book for My Life With the Walter Boys season 2, author Ali Novak revealed her upcoming sequel book won't influence the show, saying “none of the content that I am currently writing will be in the second season. They’ve just taken different directions. Still all the same characters that we love.”
The season recently wrapped in November 2024, and the cast spilled on their post-shoot plans. “We have our apartments for a little bit afterwards, so we’re definitely going to stick around,” star Asbhy Gentry tells TUDUM. The cast also talked about visiting Calgary Zoo, renting bikes, and heading to Banff (in Alberta, Canada), but was distraught when they learned their favorite dessert place had closed its doors. Thankfully, a new place called Cloud Naan came to the rescue. “It’s like Cloud Nine, but with naan,” Ashby says. Now I'm craving naan!
Netflix
We don't have an official release date for My Life With the Walter Boys season 2 yet, but we know it's coming in 2025. Considering season 1, which started streaming in December of 2023, premiered a little over a year after filming ended, it's safe to assume we'll get another December release.
“Season 2 is bigger and better,” creator Melanie Halsall tells TUDUM. “We’ve got massive set pieces in each episode, and the stories are more intricate. We found our feet with our characters, [and] the actors really understand their characters now. When I was coming back, I was excited to start shooting again because I knew we had great stories to tell.”
Netflix
Nikki Rodriguez, Noah LaLonde, and Ashby Gentry return as Jackie, Cole, and Alex respectively. We'll see other cast members like Marc Blucas, Johnny Link, Corey Fogelmanis, Connor Stanhope, Dean Petriw, Alix West Lefler, Lennix James, and Sarah Rafferty! Natalie Sharp, Carson MacCormac, Janet Kidder, Riele Downs, and Jake Manley are joining the cast.
Netflix
The My Life With the Walter Boys cast has loved their time on the show! When the first season dropped, Nikki Rodriguez posted a selfie with Noah LaLonde and Ashby Gentry with the caption "Cheers to the best time of my life."
"NUMBER ONE IN THE WORLD," Ashby said in his own Instagram post when the show hit the streaming platform's top spot. "GRATEFUL IS AN UNDERSTATEMENT."
During our own interview with the main trio, they talked about how quickly the bonded on set. "We got deep," Noah told me over Zoom.
"Nothing says bonding like goofing off," Ashby said. "I think it's easy to become a family when you include a little bit of that."
"There's so many topics that the show covers," Nikki added. "Love, loss, grief, family, and chosen family, and I feel like those are all topics we've all experienced and can connect to."
Netflix
In the My Life With the Walter Boys books, Alex and Jackie agree to just be friends after she confesses her feelings to Cole, who then confesses his own feelings in the pouring rain (dreamy!!). In the final episode of the TV show, Jackie confronts Cole after he glued her sister's broken teapot back together, and the two end up kissing. But then Cole finds Jackie has run back to New York City, leaving nothing but an "I'm sorry" note behind.
What do YOU want to see in My Life With the Walter Boys season 2? Follow us on Facebook for more pop culture news!
This post has been updated.
Break out your basketball jerseys because the Tree Hill Ravens are coming back! Multiple sources have toldVariety that Netflix will develop a sequel series to the beloved CW drama, which ran from 2003-2012. While the series hasn't officially been greenlit yet, multiple series stars have admitted they'd love to have a One Tree Hill reunion and make another installment of the show.
"I just can't see a world where something won't happen," Chad Michael Murray told E! News. "Something will happen. Whether we get everybody together and do a live reading of the show, or we create a new fictional future episode, I don't know what it will be."
"We’re all on board, we’re all friends, it would be the most fun show anybody has ever been on," Barbara Alyn Woods says in an Entertainment Tonight interview.
Noam Galai/Getty Images for Netflix
According to Variety, Sophia Bush and Hilarie Burton would return as Brooke Davis and Peyton Sawyer, respectively. Daneel Ackles would also return — and all three would serve as executive producers on the TV show alongside Warner Bros. Television, who was behind the original show.
When asked if he would return as Lucas Scott, Chad Michael Murray simply responded with “No clue." Considering previous reports suggested he had "no plans to return," this is promising news to me! He then added he hopes the sequel series “comes together for the fans.”
“I mean, this fandom that has grown, I mean, literally, I was just in Halifax a week ago and, sure enough, I’m running into 11, 12, 13-year-old kids who are in love with Tree Hill,” he continues. “They’re seeing it on Hulu and they’re going, ‘Oh, my gosh.’ It’s stood the test of time and I think to have some new stories, whatever iteration of the show that’s created, I want it for the fans.”
Warner Bros. Television
One Tree Hill doesn't have a season 10, and it's unclear what kind of sequel this new One Tree Hill series would be. But it looks like star Hilarie Burton is confident the new series would be told through the female experience. "What has been really cool for [the entire cast and crew], they're all really proud of the work that we did back then too," she told Brit + Co in September. And so to see the public support this little show we made 20 years later, that's so special and it's so rare."
“Being able to work with a team of women and look at these stories [and] these characters through a female lens is something that — whether I was doing a reboot or a brand-new show or a different movie at this phase in my life, female teamwork is something that is so vital to me,” she adds in an interview with People. “It is the core of anything I've done that's successful...So I'm excited to be able to team up with people that I look up to, people that I love dearly.”
After the One Tree Hill finale featured all of our favorite characters' kids, I've always wanted to see a One Tree Hill next generation series that brings the kids into high school, which is something other fans have been wanting too!
One viral TikTok imagines an intro for a fictional Next Gen series starring Dylan O'Brien, Candice King, and Vanessa Marano. "Could you imagine this as a reboot with the kids though," one comment reads. "We can only dream."
Warner Bros. Television
And good news for OTH fans! Jana Kramer, who played Alex during the later seasons of the show, teased she thinks Peyton and Brooke "are coming back as moms."
"I had spoken to Hilarie about it, about Alex making an appearance when I knew about it," she tells People. "We had discussed it before the news broke...I think their intention is to bring back people that make sense. And Hilarie was like, 'I never got to meet Alex, so it'd be fun to have us meet,' and I'm like, 'I would love that. Sign me up.' So, we'll see. TBD."
Brooke having to deal with her kids' TikToks? Peyton thinking about the future of art and AI? Mouth leading the Tree Hill podcast empire? There is so much to dive into here. But all in all, One Tree Hill is one TV show that gives me so much hope, no matter how many times I watch it. And I know that bringing back our favorite found family is the perfect way to bring some of that hope right back into today's TV.
Scott Gries/Getty Images
One Tree Hill also starred Chad Michael Murray, James Lafferty, Austin Nichols, Bethany Joy Lenz, Paul Johansson, Barbara Alyn Woods, Lee Norris, and Antwon Tanner. Check back here for the latest updates on the One Tree Hill reboot cast!
Warner Bros. Television
What do you think about the One Tree Hill sequel?! Stay tuned for the latest news and read up on how This One Moment Proves Brooke Davis Is The Best Character On One Tree Hill.
This post has been updated.
Thanksgiving dinner is a meal we look forward to all year long. The savory stuffing, the roasted turkey, the cranberry sauce — does it get any better than that? Well if you ask us, the best part are the leftovers! And we're talking about more scrumptious meals than the usual turkey sandwich. We've scoured the internet for different ways to put that surplus of food — trimmings included — to use. These 15 recipes will have you licking your chops.
Butternut Bakery
Don't throw away that pumpkin purée just yet! You can use it to make delicious pumpkin cupcakes the entire family will keep coming back for. Once you add in a little pumpkin pie spice, flour, baking soda, dark brown sugar, and more goodies, you'll have 12 sweet treats to munch after Thanksgiving.
P.S. You may want to have someone else bake this recipe a second time so you can have 24 cupcakes!
Cozy Cravings
Your family will become a huge fan of crostinis once they taste this recipe. Between the butternut squash, ricotta cheese, and bacon, everyone will be eating sweet as well as savory mini sandwiches.
Munching with Mariyah
Blend your leftover pumpkin and squash with coconut milk, red curry paste, ginger, and more veggies for the heartiest lentil soup you've ever tasted. Everyone will be looking to recreate this dish for a taste of lentils once they eat it, er, sip it.
Brit + Co
Bring your Thanksgiving turkey leftovers together with some cheese, peppers, and onions for a delicious frittata. You can eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner!
The Butter Half
These savory pop tarts are filled with cranberry sauce, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and bits of tender turkey, then drizzled with gravy for a snack or meal that will knock your socks off. (via The Butter Half)
Foodess
Put the sandwiches on hold, because this turkey pot pie is the *only* way to use those turkey leftovers to their greatest potential.
A Sweet Pea Chef
Take your comfort food and turn it into something nutritious by topping salad with leftover turkey and a vinaigrette made with leftover cranberries.
Spices in My DNA
This recipe stuffs your everything bagel with a poached egg, cranberry sauce, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and turkey.
The Seasoned Mom
It's cozy casserole season, so this recipe is the perfect way to use up that leftover turkey by adding it to a pasta bake that is rich, creamy, and jam-packed with flavor.
Lively Table
Nothing soothes the soul better than a steamy bowl of soup like this, filled to the brim with tender shredded turkey, nourishing veggies, and a generous dollop of Greek yogurt for extra smoothness.
The Cookie Recipe
If you don't know what to do with that heap of extra mashed potatoes, we've got you covered with these crispy potato, bacon, and cheese-filled bites of glory.
What Should I Make For...
If you want ALL the carbs, this recipe sandwiches turkey and all the fixin's between a fresh roll and it. Is. Magical.
Whitney Bond
Kick things up a notch and put a healthy spin on your leftover turkey with these veggie-filled fajita rice bowls.
Yes to Yolks
This recipe smashes the traditional pierogi together with leftover Thanksgiving goodies for a fun and seasonal spin on a classic.
Jessica in the Kitcen
Vegetarians can enjoy Thanksgiving to the max too, and if anything proves it, it's this stacked meatless 'wich that swaps the usual turkey for plant-based meatloaf.
Pickled Plum
These turkey-filled hash patties will make brunch fanatics swoon with their festive flavor and golden crisp exterior.
Bless Her Heart Y'all
This feast doesn't just give you a healthful meal after gorging on holiday eats, but it also serves as a weeknight wonder, clocking in at just 15 minutes from start to finish!
Chef de Home
Putting that leftover turkey to use never looked so good with this creamy mushroom and pasta-filled tetrazzini.
Half Baked Harvest
This Thanksgiving leftovers croque Madame sandwich is an excellent way to serve breakfast on Black Friday. After all, you'll need an extra boost from the fried eggs to get you through your mad dash at the mall!
Vikalinka
Not sure what to do with all the leftover butternut squash? Make a cheesy au gratin casserole!
Crowded Kitchen
Don't throw away your cornbread after Thanksgiving! You can use what's leftover to bake vegan cornbread stuffing to give it a toasted yet flavorful taste.
Crowded Kitchen
This tasty and crunchy pumpkin salad is a great option to make if you're confused about what to do with your leftover pumpkins.
Averie Cooks
Let's say you bought one too many apples for the apple pie you baked. Instead of lamenting over your 'mishap,' use what's leftover after Thanksgiving to make caramel apple gingerbread cookie cups!
Completely Delicious
This delicious leftover pizza is a thoughtful option for anyone who swears they're tired of eating leftover Thanksgiving turkey after a couple of days.
Pink Owl Kitchen
Chances are it'll be cold the week of Thanksgiving so use your leftover sweet potatoes to create this creamy soup. It's good for the soul!
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This post has been updated.
