I hope everyone who celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday had a marvelous time! I went for a make-your-own Thanksgiving 5k run in the morning (just around the neighborhood), and then we went to my brother’s house in New Jersey for a mid-day Thanksgiving feast. My entire family was there (including my niece’s fiance) so that was nice. Some folks played frisbee and football in the backyard. My sister-in-law took photos of my immediate family (since all 7 of us were there!). I brought my usual cranberry sauce and a great many rolls were consumed. (Indeed, that is all the 10-year-old ate.)
I drove home (we went in 2 cars so the 16-year-old could get some highway driving hours) and then had a quiet evening as my husband took all 5 kids to Zootopia 2. I read by the fire in my office, so that was nice. The one flaw in all this is that apparently my glasses case came out of my purse in the van and then my husband drove the van to the movie theater so when I took out my contacts I then realized I was going to be fairly blind for the rest of the evening. At least I could hold the book close to my face…
Today we will be getting our tree from the local fire station. Then we’ll do some holiday light activities tonight.
In the meantime, some content from this week…
At Before Breakfast, I interviewed the lovely Natalie Nixon about her new book, Move. Think. Rest., and we talked redefining productivity. For the short episodes, I suggested that we “Figure out how much time is actually available.” Given that a lot of any given workday is spent on routine tasks, a 4-hour project might actually consume all available discretionary space for 2-3 days. This is why we need to be careful with our to-do lists! I also noted that “A task is a noun plus a verb” — otherwise a to-do list starts to feel not-so-doable. And I offered suggestions on “How to shop more mindfully” — hopefully helpful with all those Black Friday sales today!
Over at Vanderhacks, my Substack newsletter, I suggested people “Create an Advent calendar of experiences.” Even just choosing one little thing per day (one reader who does this has an “extra hugs day”) to feel festive can stretch out the holiday feeling for all of December. If people are feeling a little sluggish after all that turkey, we could “Try a holiday exercise streak.” Even just 10 minutes a day can be a huge energy boost. Behind the paywall, I shared “How I did on my fall fun list.” I know I nudged myself to have a few not-entirely-convenient adventures just because I put them on this list, which is not a bad thing. Please consider either a free or paid subscription — and thank you so much for supporting me and my work!
This morning the 5-year-old excitedly told me “It’s Christmas now!” I guess his siblings had been telling him that after Thanksgiving was when the Christmas season started, but he was disappointed to learn we weren’t actually opening presents today…