And So It Begins

Non-turkey dinner

Now, that Thanksgiving is a memory, the countdown and rush to Christmas Day has begun. It arrives in less than 30 days. We hope that everyone who celebrated the turkey holiday had good times spent with family and friends and delicious food as well.

Our holiday was spent with family. Our holiday meal was a non-traditional one without turkey or fixings. Instead, we enjoyed chicken and ribs, rice, salad. Dessert was also non-traditional featuring grandpa's apple pie and brownies baked by granddaughter.

The holiday was also an early birthday celebration for grandson who be 15 years old this weekend. Since, we won't see his family again until before Christmas, we brought his gifts on this trip.

It was the day after Thanksgiving 2006, when we headed to the airport to fly to the West coast for his arrival. We were there through the holiday season. 

Grandson will be 15 years old this weekend

Here in NH, Thanksgiving eve was movie night as watching the Grinch films is one of Grenville's long-standing traditions. (Did you know that there are three movies based on the 1957 book by Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr Seuss) How the Grinch Stole Christmas! ). We watched the two shown below, both in our collection.

Two of Grenville's favorite holiday viewings

How the Grinch Stole Christmas!  is a 1966 American animated television special, directed and co-produced by Chuck Jones based on the 1957 children's book of the same name. It tells the story of the Grinch, who tries to ruin Christmas for the folks in Whoville below his mountain retreat on Mount Crumpet. Originally telecast in the U.S. in December 1966, it has become a perennial holiday special featuring the voice of the late Boris Karloff as the Grinch and narrator.

The 2000 film, How the Grinch Stole Christmas is a Christmas comedy-drama co-produced and directed by Ron Howard and released in November 2000. It was the first Dr. Seuss book made into a full-length feature film. The film is narrated by Anthony Hopkins and stars Jim Carrey as the Grinch. Critics mentioned its dark theme and scary scenes, but the film was #1 in the U.S. for four weeks and was the sixth-highest grossing film of 2000. It won the Academy Award for Best Makeup. 

Over the holiday weekend, we watched our two favorite modern Christmas themed romantic comedy films, Love Actually and The Holiday. Both are in our holiday DVD collection.

We enjoy these two romantic-comedies every holiday season

Love Actually was released in the U.S. in November 2003, a week ahead of its UK release. Directed by Richard Curtis, it features an ensemble cast of British actors with most of the film done in London locations. It explores various aspects of love as shown through 10 separate stories involving diverse characters, many are shown to be connected as the tales progress. The story begins five weeks before Christmas and plays out weekly until the holiday. A month-later epilogue takes place in a busy airport, just as in the film's start. Love Actually received mixed reviews, but was a box-office success. Usually played during Christmas, the film proved more popular with audiences than critics, and is now a modern holiday staple.

The Holiday (2006) was written, produced and directed by Nancy Meyers and filmed in California and England. It stars Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz as Iris and Amanda, two lovelorn women from opposite sides of the Atlantic, who exchange homes to escape heartbreak during the holidays. The film's leading men were played by Jude Law (Graham) and Jack Black (Miles). The film also stars the late Eli Wallach. The Holiday premiered in NYC in November 2006, before being theatrically released in the UK and the U.S. in December 2006. Despite mixed reviews, the film became the 12th highest-grossing film of the 2000s to be produced by a female director. Ironically, we saw this film in a CA theater when we were there for grandson Bobby's birth and it's become a seasonal favorite ever since.

Our first time meet-up with fellow blogger Linda and Bob

Over the weekend, we had a first-time meet-up with fellow blogger Linda and her husband, Bob. They live in PA and were in NH visiting family for the holiday and staying in Nashua. We met at a local restaurant and had a great time. This is the second time in as many months that we have met a fellow blogger. In September, we met fellow blogger Kathy and her husband, Joe when we all in PA for different events. We neglected to take photos of that meet-up; hopefully, next time.

This weekend it was also time to take down the fall decorations from our apt entry. We were planning to start with the interior as well. However, a scheduled rug cleaning appointment put it on hold until this coming weekend.

The exterior of our apartment is holiday ready

Cards shown on the apartment door and wall are card fronts saved from ones received in 2020. It's my custom to recycle them as decorations the following year. Some of these even date back a couple of years earlier as I liked the design, sentiment or both.

Holiday decorations in downtown Nashua on Main St

A couple of downtown Nashua holiday storefronts 

Meanwhile, the city of Nashua and some storefronts are also displaying holiday decorations. The top three images in this collage are of banners along downtown Main St. The holiday wreath is one of several on a side street. The nutcrackers and trees are from store displays.

Today is Cyber Monday first coined in 2005 by the National Retail Federation to encourage online shopping. It's considered to be the online shopping equivalent of Black Friday, which dates back to about the 1950s and historically has been one of the busiest yearly shopping days. The only shopping we did on Black Friday was for groceries; today is laundry day.

How about you — did you shop on Friday and/or will you today?

In answer to comments on the Friday Funnies about replacement washers/dryers. Those shown were only a few of all the replaced units. The mill building has 5 floors, each has a laundry room with a min. of 3 washers/3 dryers (a couple have more). The machines are well used with over 900 residents. There were replaced due to frequent breakdowns.