It’s Thanksgiving Day here in the US and the holiday season has officially begun. From now through New Year’s Day, the work pace will slow down to a skeleton crew at most places, with people’s minds on their Xmas holidays or parties. The commercialism of it all will kick into high gear this year more than ever, what with Black Friday sales now starting just right after you cut the turkey instead of at 4am on Friday.
I don’t know about you, but this year I’m staying out of the stores. If I can’t find it online, I’ll live without it.
After reading about the recent natural disasters and going through all the family stresses this year, I’m going back to the true meaning of Thanksgiving, when we’re supposed to sit back and reflect on the year that’s about to end and focus on what we are thankful for…the roof over our heads, food in our bellies, shoes on our feet, and freedom outside our door. Very basic needs met for most yet wishful thinking for others, even in this bountiful country of ours.
No turkey for me, but as you can see from all of today’s pics (taken at the Dallas Arboretum), I’m going to double up on everything pumpkin and say thank you to everyone I know, for being a part of this sometimes incredible experiment I call my life. And to all my readers, thanks for another year.
Tags: Thanksgiving
This time last year my Belgian host family celebrated an American Thanksgiving by going to bed at 9pm so that we could be out the door by 3:30am for Black Friday shopping. After that experience I grumbled to myself that my favorite holiday had become too commercialized and that perhaps real traditions were going the way of dinosaurs. Fast forward one year later and I am packing for a 2.5 hours ride to the Netherlands, all the while homesick for just a taste of that Thanksgiving spirit. Perhaps it’s all the emails from work with people wishing me a happy Thanksgiving that’s making me a bit wistful. And perhaps the devilish shopaholic in me is wondering what great sales I’m missing at home!
Most of all, I miss preparing a big dinner (what a delightful excuse for indulging in food). But I can’t really complain too much about food either–see last post. In fact, a few days ago I was gifted these stone crab claws…
which I whipped up into a batch of crab eggrolls, even if the crabs were already delicious on their own:
Anyway, back to packing. It’s cold enough here now for me to test drive this very heavy Paris Byzance cardigan-coat…
but depending on the weather forecast I’ll see if it’s the brown 2.55 bag…
or the red timeless clutch that will accompany me on this trip:
The flash makes the bag look so garish, but you can see it matches much better in real life, even from this terribly fuzzy non-flash photo:
So I’ll be back in a few days with hopefully some great photos from a very desolate place; fingers crossed it won’t rain the entire time.
As you all sit down to dinner tonight and take a few minutes to think about the people who can’t make it home for the holiday because they’re serving their country, I’d like to rekindle the real tradition of treating every day as if it were Thanksgiving Day. Happy turkey feasting and let the sale season begin 
!
Tags: 2.55 bag, Black Friday, Thanksgiving, the Netherlands, timeless clutch
Hi everyone! I’ve not fallen into a food or shopping coma…yet. I promise to circle back to continue the Lanvin story in a few days, but for the time being, I’ve been hosting my Belgian family here so we’ve been on the go nonstop. Who knew LA was so big! And who knew there was a thing called the Central Market or Angel Flight downtown? But more on that in days to come.
Tonight I cooked an unconventional Thanksgiving dinner consisting of crab eggrolls and seafood crispy fried noodles, followed by lunar cake. Not at all your turkey and pumpkin pie combo, but Thanksgiving is just about getting together over a home cooked meal, regardless of content. Am I right?
As I am writing this, it is 9.30pm and the Belgians have been asleep for over an hour. They’re getting all the rest they can get so they can enjoy the real American Thanksgiving tradition tomorrow: Black Friday. The euro is still strong against our currency and they’ve been drooling for the sales since we looked at all the ads in the paper this morning.
My alarm is set for 3am. If you don’t hear back from me in a couple of days, please send a search party after me at the Grove. I’ll be the one in a Chanel peacoat and bunny slippers .
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Tags: Thanksgiving
