November

Two candles make the difference between a menorah and a hanukkiah. There are 16 ways to spell Hanukkah, but Chanukah is the most popular alternative. It’s older than Christmas by at least 170 years, but it didn’t become widely celebrated until the 1800s. One observance and a few differences blend together for eight very bright […]

Thanksgiving traditions have remained deliciously unchanged over the years.   Family and friends gather around the table, share a bountiful meal and bask in a holiday glow.   We give thanks for the food on our plates, roofs over our heads and festive spirits that bring us together. What about all the secret things we […]

If you could be any one of the amazing balloons floating over the skyline of Manhattan, which one would it be?   Which helium-filled star in Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade best represents your highest flying daydreams? Think carefully. Would you choose Popeye of spinach-chomping fame?   In 1957, his rain-filled sailor cap spilled and drenched […]

Turkey, stuffing, sweet potato soufflé, and some kind of cranberry concoction. Family and friends gathered round the table, it is a time to give thanks for all the blessings in our lives. That’s what Thanksgiving is all about.   Well, that and football. Actually, forget the overcooked bird, Thanksgiving is all about football. No one […]

We take it for granted every day.   We commute to work, drive across town and travel around the country on vacation. We give little thought to all those other lives we pass along our way. The third Sunday in November is always a good day to slow down and consider the harm we do […]

We are all so different, and yet, we are all so much alike.   Celebrating our individuality and saluting all that we share makes us better people. On the calendar, the 16th of November marks the International Day for Tolerance, but we should mark it in our hearts every day of the year. The world […]

They gave us chocolate, an act that surely deserves worship. However, on November 14, Spicy Guacamole Day, we praise the Aztec gods for another culinary contribution. Originally, guacamole was a frugal concoction produced by mashing ripe avocados and salt with a mortar and pestle.   However, since those sixteenth-century days, it has been elevated to […]

There is nothing like a steaming bowl of chicken soup to cure what ails you. This healing marvel, homemade with tender loving care, is often ladled up with homespun words of wisdom. Today is Chicken Soup for the Soul Day, observed annually on November 12. Over twenty years ago, a series of books began gracing […]

Veteran’s Day is one of those pseudo holidays that’s hard to know how to celebrate.   It is more about remembering and honoring rather than feasting and revelry. The word ‘Veterans’ can be vague, conjuring images of crusty bearded men with braided hair down their backs protesting, or amputees that stare out the window and […]

He might be your father or brother. She may live across the street or teach at your children’s school. Many of them are deployed in faraway places, missed by loved ones who wish they were home. Our veterans are all around us and all around the world. They volunteer for this remarkable duty performing jobs […]