Just had the most blissful four days for American Thanksgiving – I personally don’t go in for the turkey and pumpkin pie but when you are a working girl, four days off at a really busy time of year is just a gift from the heavens, let me tell you. We did have a lovely American friend over for a big meal and I (hopefully) didn’t traumatise her too much by serving up roast lamb instead of turkey. We had apple pie and salted caramel icecream for dessert to make up for it. Just refuse to have roast turkey twice in six weeks, that’s just crazy talk.
And while my brother informed me we should be watching NFL American football on Thanksgiving, we showed our true colours and watched NZ play Australia at test cricket instead. Much better, though some of the family went to see UC Berkeley (Cal) play Arizona State last night so feel we have played our part in being alien Americans.
The thing about having time off at this time of year is you really get to enjoy the late fall (autumn). The trees are just resplendent in all their bronzed colors, the weather is crisp and clear and definitely chilly, which after wearing shorts most of the year, is pleasantly refreshing. I am about to go out for a walk and check out what the neighbors are doing for Christmas wreaths. I am tossing up between getting a real one which I will no doubt kill or a fake one maybe with lights so people can make out our front door. I am starting the first neighborhood book club meeting on Thursday night so that might look jolly.
The beauty of Thanksgiving too is that Christmas is just a few weeks away which I like to go BIG with, within David’s bah-humbug limits. Christmas is normally a non-event here – people just take one day off work. I’ve tried to explain we tend to take six weeks off in NZ and Oz but that just doesn’t compute here. I have been allowed to take the week off between Christmas and New Year’s so feel very lucky. Then it’s the big birthday in February to look forward to and a conference at the end of January in New York which will take me to my favorite US city so 2016 is not looking too shabby.
More to come before Christmas I am sure, meanwhile I am off out into that crisp, nearly winter air to freak out the neighbors by squinting at their front doors.