November back when I was living in Italy, was the month to celebrate all dead and saints, roast the chestnuts on the fireplace and deal with the firsts cold evening rains frozen on the windshield in the morning. In elementary school we all had to study “Novembre” by Italian poet Giovanni Pascoli, it said “di foglie un cader fragile. E’ l’estate, fredda, dei morti” which means the leaves are falling and they screech when you walk on the sidewalk and sometimes it’s the Indian summer. The mood can be summed up like a series of grey thoughts and memories start sinking in. It’s not December yet, in other words.

November in Miami marks the beginning of the holiday season. Yes the days are shorter, but the sun begins to soften, it gets paler and makes the beach covetable and inviting, winking at you while you drive along South Bayshore Drive the early morning hours when you commute to work. November is Thanksgiving, the day dedicated to celebrating prosperity and bringing out your best grateful sentiments: the third Thursday of the month. Tradition wants it the most traveled holiday of the year, when families reunite and children come back home from college. The atmosphere could be compared to the one of Christmas in Italy, only difference everyone gathers in front of the turkey instead of the Christmas tree and children get mesmerized by the Macy’s Parade, the one of “Miracle on 34th Street”.

The day after Thanksgiving is called “Black Friday”, the biggest nationwide sale of the year: every brand, company, store, department store offer the best deals ever. With lots of credit card transactions, websites being blacked out and people lining up starting from midnight, every year the news report record sales and pretty barbaric and not pleasant stories of people being stampeded at the opening of the doors.

On a lighter note, making the Christmas tree and putting up the Ritz of decorations, lights and nativities happen on that same weekend: it’s all about building family memories, going to the same Christmas tree tent year after year to get tree and wreath, pulling out the boxes from the storage and hang years of decorations: all without fireplace, hats and gloves.
Last, but not least, November is the month dedicated to giving thanks with a slew of galas, fundraisers, luncheons and events alike organized to raise funds for charitable organizations. One special initiative is called The Give Miami Day organized by the Miami Foundation: a 24-hour long online fundraising marathon that brings the city to cheer and donate for a series of nonprofit all at once.

One more thing: November is the month when you start piling up all the invitations for Art Basel Miami Beach, but that is for December.

Francesca,

chifb.com