Blimp Friday

Just about everyone world-wide is familiar with the US term "Black Friday". This is the most celebrated shopping day on the calendar and it is the day after Thanksgiving. If merchants don't make a major haul with sales on this day, the rest of the Christmas shopping season will look like the Grinch who stole Christmas. 

What most people give little reference to is Blimp Friday. This is the same day as Black Friday, but it a bit more personal. This is the day when everyone realizes they ate more than a teenage boy who has toked a few funny joints to survive the family gathering. Thanksgiving evening and the day after, people try to rent themselves out as the new Goodyear Blimp, swearing they are never going to eat again, at least not for the next two weeks. This manages to truncate to less than 4 hours in reality when that turkey sandwich on gooey white bread with Hellmann's Real Mayonnaise is screaming your name from the fridge.

We worked diligently at polishing off our Thanksgiving dinner. Sharing our table was W. Hunter Roberts, a Swedenborg minister, Melissa and Scott Rank, and our B and B guest Vidor. Vidor is originally from the Philippines but now lives in New Jersey. Our turkey came cooked and stuffed from Culinaris, the gourmet grocery store and it ran 6 1/2 kg. (14 lbs) after being cooked. We were expecting two others, but they were held up in Prague. Prior to sitting down to  the dinner table, our gullets were prepped with hot artichoke dip, assorted crackers and goat cheese all washed down with some Asti Spumanti, donated by one of my students. Once at the dinner table, accompanying the turkey was a mountain of mashed potatoes, a bog of cranberries of various types, a canal of sweet potato casserole, boats of Brussels sprout mash, rivers of gravy, and enough stuffing for three life sized teddy bears.

Before a single fork was dislodged from its place, Ron had prearranged for Hunter to do a communion. She brought a loaf of bread, said a prayer and broke the bread passing it around to share. As tradition dictates, she did the same with a glass of wine. Ron had a copy of this prayer for anyone who wanted to recite it with him.

Prayer for Peace
God of many names, lover of all peoples; we pray for peace in our nations and in our world.
We pray for all who have the awesome responsibility of power and decision-making.
We pray for the innocent victims of violence and war.
Lead us and all the people of the world from death to life, from falsehood to truth.
Lead us from despair to hope, from fear to trust.
Lead us from hate to love, from war to peace.
Let peace and justice fill our hearts, our world, our universe.       Amen

Though none of this is something I would have chosen, it seemed to make all the rest content, so it didn't ruffle my feathers on this lovely holiday of sharing. As the dinner progressed, as we shared stories of holidays past spent with families, some rather hysterical while others bordered on OMG, I realized a new business idea. 

Remember you saw it here first. Announcing the new Family Holiday Warning Labels. Why waste time and embarrassment when you bring friends or new romances home to meet the family for a holiday? With my new offering, no one is caught off guard. As you walk in the door you slap the appropriate label on the forehead of each family member. 

Nephew Timmy: Normally a pleasant ten year-old child, but when over excited, he will bite your ankles.

Aunt Maude: Never stops talking about how much she misses her long dead husband who she hated when he was alive.  

Uncle Henry: Has dementia and may whip out his penis without warning.  

Great Aunt Minnie: If she tells you she can play a wind instrument, don't ask her to demonstrate her talent.

Mother: Still striving to look twenty-eight, she believes her breasts continue to be firm and will offer to let you squeeze them if you are good. 

Grandfather:  Will rest his dentures on the dinner table between courses after he flicks them in the hair to loosen food particles.

All in all, it was a wonderful evening of sharing.

Related articles

• 7 Fascinating Black Friday Infographics (hubspot.com)
• Black Friday warriors: They just keep on shopping (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Thanksgiving is over...Time for Black Friday (busybusyhoneybee.wordpress.com)
• Black Friday Seeps Into Thanksgiving (shoppingblog.com)
• Pepper spray and violence mar Black Friday bargain hunting (csmonitor.com)
• Did You Go Shopping on Black Friday? [Ask The Readers] (lifehacker.com)

Pin It Now!

Black Friday - Old Memories

Traditionally in the US, the day after Thanksgiving is the busiest shopping day of the year. The term originated as this was the day that retailers turned their red ink or losses during the year into the black profit margins.

When we lived in CA, this was our tradition. We headed out early in the morning and drove to a gigantic Christmas Fair in the foothills of Sonora. Entry was $3, but if you brought a can of food for the homeless shelters, you only had to pay $2. 

After spending hours at that fair making sure we covered every single merchant, we drove on to historic Jamestown, a former gold rush town. Jamestown combines history with holiday making it magical at Christmas time. Depending on our time, we may or may not have stopped at Columbia, another gold rush era historic village. 

On the way home, we stopped at an uneventful strip mall, because they had a wonderful, non-chain bookstore. I was not looking for books per se, but they had wonderful bookends that were never in other stores. They also had an unusual array of gift items. We did our best to make it a Black Friday.

Living in Budapest, the only way we could supplement the day is to go to the Christmas Fair here. We trudged out into the cold black night at 5:15 pm just to visit the same old-same old. After ten years, you can map out each and every booth and vendor. Surprise! There were three new booths this year, throwing off the schematic for all of the rest. 

Even here, they opened the fair non-traditionally early, on November 19th. In years past, the first day of Advent found the booths uncovering their goods. It was packed with people, but the hot wine could have been the main attraction in the cold. 

Later this evening, we had our first snow. Earlier than years past, the snowflakes looked barely formed they were so diminutive. It stuck to car tops, but the streets are just wet. My hopes are for no more snow until after the 19th of December when we skip town.

Related articles

• US shops hope for Black Friday success (bbc.co.uk)
• Share your Black Friday stories (timesunion.com)
• Black Friday shopping at a glance (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

Pin It Now!

Black Friday

US Americans know this day as Black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year with 'bargains' galore and extended store hours. Just to feel like I am in the swing of things, I just may go to the stores to feel like part of a crowd, any crowd.

But what about last night's dinner? Marriott delivered our dinner at 3:30, thirty minutes ahead of schedule. Since we could not eat until the others finished work, we had to refrigerate it until later. The menu, which was described as serving 4-6, left out the word children. Yes, this would have fed 4-6 children with leftovers besides, but for hungry adults it was a stretch. They did not bring the 'glazed carrots' or the 'creamed vegetables' as was listed on the order form. The 'walnut' pie that was an extra 1,200 Huf was delightfully a pecan pie instead. Fortunately, we had made extra sweet potatoes, mushrooms, and other fixings to supplement. The turkey looked fabulous when wrapped in plastic wrap, but once it was uncovered and speared with a knife, I thought it was going to deflate. It did turn out to be sufficiently meaty, tender, and moist.

We were honored to have Balazs and Sylvia, both former students as well as Hunter, Sally, and Deb join us to celebrate. As planned we started with the hot artichoke dip, which received rave reviews, followed by pumpkin soup. Everyone seemed impressed with the spread. I was in my glory having a group of wonderful people to join us in the celebration, reminding me of great times past.

Now, I am off to shop.

Pin It Now!

Post Turkey Day

Thanksgiving was a BLAST! We were a total of six for dinner. The turkey looked like a magazine picture and oozed with juice, so much so, I was concerned the meat thermometer was not working properly, but thankfully everyone is alive and well. Everything I could hope for was accomplished and the last guests left at 1:30 am. We are still munching on leftovers, the best part of Thanksgiving if you don't have any Black Friday sales on your agenda. I read one person was killed at a Wal-Mart during a rush. Thankfully, I don't have to worry about that happening here. I hope that all of you who celebrated had a great a time as we did.

Pin It Now!