What to Celebrate November 9 thru 15, 2020
Celebration Ideas for November 9 – 15, 2020
We’ve had an unexpectedly warm week that definitely didn’t feel like November! How about you? Of course it is November, and that means holiday prep time is here.
For many of us the holidays may look different this year. Smaller gatherings & less travel perhaps. But no matter what the official holidays look like you can always find joy and purpose in the unofficial ones.
Because pecan pie (with Georgia pecans!), split pea soup, and sundaes taste equally delicious served for one or for 20.
Thanking nurse practitioners, pathologists, and marines doesn’t require crowds, either.
So do take a peek and plan your week. And remember to always …
Enjoy!
Celebrate All November Long
Healthy skin & yummy foods. It’s looking like a deliciously fabulous month!
National Healthy Skin Month: With cold weather coming your skin is about to get unhappy. Start treating your skin right before that happens for healthy, crack-free skin all winter long (and beyond!).
National Georgia Pecan Month: It’s cookie & pie season, and pecans make both of those better! They also jazz up salads & chicken & veggies & well, just about everything! But only pecans from Georgia are allowed this month. Save your other pecans for another day.
National Peanut Butter Lovers Month: If you love peanut butter you don’t need an excuse to experiment with it in recipes. But here’s your excuse anyway. Bon appetit!
Sweet Potato Awareness Month: Mmmm … sweet potatoes. How could anyone not be aware of these delightful little root vegetables? Raise your and your family’s awareness of all the different ways sweet potatoes can make your lives more delicious. Experiment with different recipes and add your favorites to your meal rotation.
Weekly Celebrations for 11/9 to 11/15
This week is all about reading! And healing. And fueling it all with split pea soup.
National Young Readers Week (November 9 – 13, 2020): This week encourages young people to read and raises awareness of the importance of reading. If you have children, help them find books they’ll enjoy and want to read.
Children’s Book Week (November 9 – 15, 2020): Reading is so important to children’s development we have two different reading-related celebrations in the same week! This week actually celebrated its 100th anniversary last year and now happens twice a year, with special events at schools, libraries, and anywhere you can find books and kids who read them. You can also find lots of downloadable resources on the website to celebrate at home.
National Nurse Practitioner Week (November 8 – 14, 2020): This week we recognize the nurse practitioners. They are critical members of the health care team but often don’t get the recognition they deserve. Let’s change that!
National Split Pea Soup Week (November 8 – 14, 2020): Make split pea soup for dinner! Make a big pot of your favorite recipe at the beginning of the week & have leftovers later in the week. For lunch, too! Or make a few smaller batches of different recipes. Yes, there really are different split pea soup recipes! Make it vegetarian, vary the meat, use different seasonings. It all makes different soups! And then there’s this Lebanese Green Split Pea Soup, which we haven’t yet tried but probably will for this week. How about you?
Celebration Days coming up for Nov. 9 thru Nov. 15
Scrapple & reading. French dip & homunculi. Pickles & kindness. Along with vanilla cupcakes, fancy rats, teddy bears & more. It’s all adding up to another fun-tastic week!
November 9:
Microtia Awareness Day: Have you ever heard of microtia? It’s a condition where one or both ears are smaller than normal or even completely missing. Depending on how bad it is the person may also have atresia (missing ear canal). This day helps educate the public on these conditions and let patients know they’re not alone and there are treatment options.
Carl Sagan Day: Celebrate Carl Sagan’s birthday with apple pie, a stargazing party, or any other activity you feel fits this great man’s birth and life.
World Freedom Day: This celebration marks the fall of the Berlin Wall (and the effective end of communism in Central & Eastern Europe) on this date in 1989. President George W. Bush first proclaimed it in 2001.
National Scrapple Day: What the heck is a scrapple? It’s a loaf made from meat, cornmeal, flour, and spices which is then sliced & fried. It’s usually part of breakfast. Believe it or not, you can buy the stuff. So do that or make it yourself to enjoy for breakfast or any time of day. If you’re making the loaf you’ll need to plan ahead, because it takes a few hours!
November 10:
National Young Readers Day: On the 2nd Tuesday in November we get kids interested in reading by reading to and/or with them. Depending on your children’s ages, consider having them read to you too! The day is part of National Young Readers Week. Not sure what to read? Start with this list of books for children, teens, and young adults from a few years ago.
Area Code Day: Celebrate those 3 little numbers that come before your 7-digit phone number. AT&T created this numbering plan for the Bell System in the 1940s. Today they are part of the North American Numbering Plan. By assigning these numbers to specific states or areas the phone company could reuse the same 7-digit numbers and still route calls correctly. At one time entire states had one are code. These days, in some densely populated areas your neighbor across the street could have a different area code from you!
US Marine Corps Birthday: Celebrate the United States Marine Corps’ 245th birthday. It was on this date way back in 1775 that the Continental Congress established the Continental Marines. These troops reinforced the Navy during the Revolutionary War. And they disbanded at the war’s end. So technically the modern corp wasn’t born until July 1798 when Congress created it. But we still celebrate the birth of the Continental Marines as the Corps’ birthday. Why not thank any Marines you know for their service to celebrate?
National Forget-Me-Not Day: This day reminds us of the sacrifices our veterans have made for us. The day began as a fundraiser for wounded soldiers in 1921.
International Pathology Day: This day celebrates pathologists and the field of pathology, which helps diagnose and treat diseases of all kinds. Without pathologists and other medical workers in pathology labs doctors would have a much harder time keeping you well.
National Vanilla Cupcake Day: Eat cupcakes. But only vanilla cupcakes. If you can, make vanilla cupcakes to enjoy and to share.
November 11:
Armistice Day/Veterans Day: Honor all the veterans and commemorate the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, when World War I came to and end.
Homunculous Awareness Day: Celebrate tiny adult humans created in a test tube? Probably best you don’t try actually creating homunuli. But maybe read stories featuring homunculi.
National Sundae Day: Is enjoying your favorite ice cream sundae an appropriate way to celebrate homunculi? If you’ve created a homunculous do you need to share your sundae with it? We don’t know the answers to these questions! But we do know that the only way to celebrate Sundae Day is with a sundae. Ice cream flavors and toppings are all up to you.
November 12:
National Chicken Soup for the Soul Day: Nurture your soul for the day. Do something that soothes and inspires you, like taking a long walk, watching the sun rise or set, meditate, etc. Maybe even read one of the Chicken Soup for the Soul books. Or any other book that inspires you. Or write your own story like those found in the Chicken Soup books.
Fancy Rat & Mouse Day: Rats & mice make fun pets. And apparently good show animals too. No, not the big rats in the alley or the mice eating the dog poop! Cute, clean animals bred specifically to be pets. They’re quite intelligent and many people already know their joys. If you’re one, you already know how to celebrate this day. If you’re not, learn more about fancy rats & mice for the day. You’ll be ready to celebrate for real next year!
World Pneumonia Day: This day raises awareness of pneumonia and the fact that it kills millions of people, young and old, every year. This despite the fact that an effective vaccine exists.
National Philanthropy Day Virtual: National Philanthropy Day happens every Nov. 15. But this year AFP is also holding a virtual event on the 12th to celebrate the good people do with their time and money.
National French Dip Day: Enjoy a meaty, juicy, tongue-tingling French dip sandwich to celebrate this day. So simple. But oh-so perfect.
National Pizza with the Works Except Anchovies Day: Celebrate the day by making or ordering a pizza with any and all toppings you desire. Except anchovies. They’re banned from the day. (Note: We can’t support this day. Banning anchovies is wrong, wrong, wrong!🙃).
November 13:
World Kindness Day: We can always use more kindness in our lives. That’s especially true this year. So do celebrate this day by spreading kindness wherever you go. And consider expanding the celebration to every day of the year.
National Indian Pudding Day: This day celebrates the English colonists’ version of hasty pudding. They modified the recipe as necessary to use ingredients available in their new home. One of these substitutions was to use cornmeal in place of wheat flour, which also gave the dish its name (they called cornmeal Indian meal). Celebrate by making an Indian Pudding for dessert. You can even make Indian pudding in the slow cooker!
November 14:
World Diabetes Day: How much do you know about diabetes? Unless you have or care for someone with diabetes the answer is probably “not enough”. And even if you do have it you may feel you don’t know enough, especially if you’re having trouble managing it. A knowledgeable nurse can help with that. And that’s what this year’s theme—The Nurse and Diabetes—is about.
American Teddy Bear Day: Celebrate the iconic stuffed toy bear, created to honor President Teddy Roosevelt after he refused to shoot a bear tied to a tree. Did you have one as a child? Do you still have it? If it’s stored away, take it out & reminisce. Then leave it out in a place of honor.
National Seat Belt Day: Do you wear your seat belt whenever you’re in the car? This day reminds us to do just that. Because seat belts save lives. This day began just last year and doubled as the 60th anniversary celebration of Volvo’s invention of the 3-point seat belt.
National Family Pajama Day: Spend your Saturday in your favorite PJs, lounging and enjoying family time. The day was created by The Company Store, which sells (of course) family pajamas! Check them out if your family needs some new pajamas to make this day cozy.
National Pickle Day: Enjoy all your favorite pickled foods all day long. Because a pickle doesn’t have to start as a cucumber! Lots of veggies and even fruits can be pickled. And if you’re feeling especially adventurous, consider a pickled egg!
National Spicy Guacamole Day: As if pickles didn’t add enough flavor to your day, you’ll also want to enjoy some spicy guacamole! Maybe use some pickled jalapenos in that guac?
November 15:
National Philanthropy Day: On this day we honor the givers. Those people who give away their time and money to help make the world a better place.
Steve Irwin Day: Celebrate the life and legacy of the Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin. Other than his wife & kids the most important thing to him was the animals. So it’s only right that we celebrate him not on his birthday or the date he died. No, we celebrate on the birthday of one of his favorite animals, Harriet the Galapagos tortoise!
America Recycles Day: Take the pledge to recycle and/or reuse what you can and be mindful of the waste you generate. Every little bit helps and adds up to making a real difference to our environment.
National Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day: It won’t make the world a better place, but a clean, organized refrigerator will make your little corner of the world a little easier to live in. So get rid of all the old/molding/expired/icky stuff hiding in the fridge. Wipe the shelves and walls. Then put back what you’re keeping in a way that makes sense to you. Now you know what’s there and you can find it! Ahhhh …
I Love to Write Day: Join “the world’s biggest party for writers”, setting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) and writing about whatever comes to mind. It doesn’t matter how good or bad you think your writing is. The only way to improve it is to do it, so write! And if you truly do love to write you won’t stop with just this one day. You’ll celebrate every day! If you have kids who love to write, get them involved too.
National Raisin Bran Cereal Day: Whether or not you usually eat cereal for breakfast these days, start your day with a big bowl of Raisin Bran. It’s crunchy and chewy all in the same bite. And it’s a good source of fiber, so it’ll keep you full too.
National Bundt Day: Make a Bundt cake! Then eat that Bundt cake. Yes, it’s that simple. And that delicious.
National Spicy Hermit Cookies Day: Don’t fill up on Bundt cake though. You’ll want to leave room for your homemade hermit cookies. They’re soft & chewy and perfectly spicy. Make a big batch to share!
