I’ve wanted to reimagine this one ever since I started this tradition of taking classic TV theme songs from my childhood and giving them a holiday twist. I’m juuuuust old enough to remember bits of the show “Growing Pains” (that introduced me to Leonardo DiCaprio, Alan Thicke and Ashley Johnson) but I VIVIDLY remember that epic theme song. To me, it was THE anthem for loved ones who persevered through life together and celebrate one day at a time. As I get older, each year is more of a blur of pursuing dreams, surviving and making memories (mostly as a result of pursuing dreams and surviving). As a result, the holidays have become a time I get to slow down and reflect on the year’s absurd adventures and celebrate everything that was accomplished but was too busy to notice while it was happening.

When I look back on 2024, the reoccurring theme was friends sitting me down to tell me the could just feel the next big moment over the horizon for me. Fast forward to earlier this fall, and I was sitting in a diner eating with one of my 90s music heroes and he tells me, “You are minutes away from YOUR moment.” Every year I say something to the effect of “I can’t wait to see what’s in store…” but in a kinda hopeful way. This year because of friends, heroes and heroes that became friends, I’m sitting with that anticipation in a more real way than ever.

The past couple years have been very good to me not only in the world of music behind the scenes, but also front facing on MusicTok, music commentary and nostalgia content. I am SO GRATEFUL for what that has afforded me in experiences and opportunities and most of all, the music/nostalgia creator community of friends it has blessed me with. It seems overdue to do a Friendsgiving theme (see previous years of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years). And joining me for Friendsgiving 2024 are my dear friends (and some of your favorite creators) Jacob Givens, Allyn Aston and Daniel Wall. In addition to making viral content in our respective corners of music and nostalgia, all of us have written and recorded our own songs, toured with our own bands and performed music for various audiences. Please go check out everyone on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, but ALSO listen to everyone’s music on Spotify, Apple Music, etc!

As we wind down another year, I want to thank YOU for just…everything. Thank you for hiring me to write music for your project. Thank you for inviting me to your events, parties, red carpets and premieres. Thank you for watching my videos. Thank you for sharing my music and/or my videos. You have encouraged and supported me more than you could ever fathom.

And thank you to Allyn, Daniel and Jacob for singing with me this year (as well as Jarred Jermaine and Carlos (The Nostalgic Latino) for making cameos in the music video. I love our community and so thankful we got each other.

To everyone and all of the above, I hope you enjoy “As Long As We Got Each Other” (Holiday Version) and have a very happy and safe holiday season!

Merry FaLaLa,

-Rod