I write this having just arrived home from the traditional American Thanksgiving celebration. Or should I say "celebrations," since my husband and I visited both families. The day began with champagne at 11:30 a.m., followed by dinner at noon, sweets and more champagne after dinner, and then on to another house for another round of dessert at 4 p.m. I can hardly believe that I've eaten 3 kinds of pie—pumpkin, cranberry, and apple—and uncountable forms of chocolate.
What does this have to do with Filofaxes? Well, my Filo did make an appearance—I had to pull it out after dinner to schedule a board meeting with my sister-in-law for an organization she and I are both involved with. Mixing a bit of work with play.
I feel fortunate to have always had plenty of family around with whom to celebrate holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas, but I've always been fascinated by people who celebrate in an alternative way. For example, for a few years my parents fed strangers instead of friends by working at a soup kitchen on Thanksgiving. Some folks like Mexican food instead of the turkey dinner. Let's share some stories!
A more-recent American tradition is "Black Friday," the day after Thanksgiving, which is the official kick-off to the Christmas shopping season. Major retailers open at insane hours (like midnight or 3 a.m.), offering big discounts to shoppers (whose sanity is also in question, as far as I'm concerned).
What are YOU doing this weekend?
Well, since the snow made its first appearance this winter, I hope it'll stay long enough for a long walk through the wood, together with the kids.
ReplyDeleteAnd my Filofax yells that I really need to buy those winter tyres for my car .... Better get to it right away!
This weekend I'll be...going to the gym - twice (three times if you count today)...getting into the garden, if the ground's not too hard to dig...checking up on our bees...reading...nesting up with my lovely wife...and most important of all, entertaining our lovely friends Trevor and Andy to dinner on Saturday evening!
ReplyDeleteI, too, am fascinated by people who don't celebrate the "traditional" Thanksgiving dinner. To me, it's not Thanksgiving without the turkey and trimmings and family gatherings. But hearing others' stories about alternative celebrations is great! I agree about the Black Friday, Nan. I think people who head out that early to shop are a little nutty. ;) I might miss out on huge bargains by not going, but to me, the sanity I save is far more precious. I don't like shopping on normal days - there's no way I'm putting myself in the middle of that mess.
ReplyDeleteFunny, I was just finishing the dishes last night when I realized how my Thanksgiving has changed.
ReplyDeleteNot in the traditional way, still carving the turkey and eating way too much, but with the people.
Since my children are all grown, the meal (which for us has always been around 4PM) was just my wife, my youngest daughter (shes 20)and me. My son (he's 30) who lives in Philadelphia (I in hershey) and is married, decided to stay home with his wife and start their own tradition, and my middle child (she's 22) decided to eat at her friend's families gathering.
Really made this one very quiet and I'm not sure I liked it.
As for the future holiday coming (Christmas) I celebrate two, one on the 25th and one on the 7th of January. Those will be interesting also as my own siblings and I don't really talk anymore (and there are 6 of us)and my wife and I decided to stay away because of issues we can't seem to let go.
Hmmm, should be an interesting holiday season!
But I will receive my Scanda personal this week along with some new Parker pens I ordered. So that ill at least make me happy for a few weeks.
We are snowed in so it'll be snowmen and hot chocolate all weekend long! Seriously, we are getting insane amounts of snow today. I haven't seen this much snow since I lived in Russia!
ReplyDeleteIn the evenings I'll be sitting by the fire with a pile of 2011 planners trying to decide which to use next year! I'm toying (again) with the idea of going day-per-page. I can never seem to make those work for me planning-wise because I can't see the layout of my week. But I love having so much space to write each day!
Laurie, why not the good old Filo with both Weekly and Day-per-Page inserts?
ReplyDeleteAlthough, then it would become very dull on your blog ;-)
Enjoy the hot chocolate! Here, the snow is already melting away (so much for hiking through the snow).
Because my Filo is enormously fat even with only 6 months of weekly pages in it, I'd never fit day per page in also.
ReplyDeleteI thought of just using a day per page diary insert in my Filofax, but it sort of defeats half the purpose of using a day per page diary for me, which is the archival factor. I prefer a bound book for daily.
Well sadly on Turkey Day one of the largest producers of Turkey in UK died... Bernard Matthews RIP
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-11845703
Steve
Peeps and Filofaxoids!
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone have any old, 1980's-90's Filofax catalogues?
Getting LeFax stuff is possible and I thought that if we could find and disseminate any 80's stuff it would be interesting but also make it easier to identify some of the more rare models.
Just a thought
Will have to prepare for a conference this weekend. But will probably set up my cute mini filofax from ebay, do a scrapbook layout and possibly go see Harry potter. Next weekend is my bday weekend so I have lots planned!
ReplyDeleteI received my new Filofax this week so I have been enjoying it thoroughly over the holiday break. I dealt with a lot this year and so I treated myself (much deserved!) to a new model even though I have been using Filofax planners for years. I used to post here a while back under another name. Anyway, this new one is a personal size and instead of just transferring in old contents I started with empty slate and am slowly only adding what I need or want.
ReplyDeleteI also changed diary formats, I purchased the 2-days-per-page. I sort of miss seeing the whole week at one look, although I only have to flip one sheet over to see the rest of the week. I really like to scribble in diary notes at the end of the day along with random doodles so this format is giving me room for that, whereas the week-on-two-pages doesn't allow me quite enough space for that. 2-days-per-page format is very nice, Mon and Tues together on one sheet, then Wed and Thurs. Turn the page and you get Fri and Sat together, and then Sun shares its sheet with an equal size block for notes. So these benefits outweigh my seeing all seven days at once. Nice!
Thanks to everyone for sharing all of your wonderful ideas and inspirations.
Cheers and Happy Holidays!
I'm jumping in here rather late, but I have to brag about my Filofax upgrade.
ReplyDeleteI've been using a raspberry metropol for about 3 months now when my sister saw my filo and wanted one herself.
Long story short, I ordered her an elusive Amber Metropol from eBay after trying to get one from the Italy site. And the seller had no more in stock! I ended up giving her my Metropol and ordering a lovely Mustard Finchley for myself.
I'm amazed at the quality of the leather filos and OMG Cotton Cream. I adore it. YAY.
Ok, that's all. If anyone would understand, I figured you all would. :-)
Jenna - your new Finchley sounds really nice! Also, if it's the one you have, the week-to-a-page cotton cream calendar has that nice layout with an extra block for notes. I'm sure your sister is also happy with her new gift! Enjoy :)
ReplyDelete