Giving Thanks

The four day weekend is now behind us. Ours was good. We both did and didn’t do very much, which is about the way I’d have had it if I could have it any way I wanted.

Thanksgiving was nice. We had dinner with Jay’s folks, and it was good to see them again. We cleaned up on the Black Friday sales, pretty much, acquiring a whole bunch of exciting books and getting the entire series of Xena on DVD for Grace. (Well, mostly for Grace.) One of the highlights of the books I got include a nice hardcover of Richard Corben adapting Lovecraft stories. I also got a chance to read the new Hellboy one-shot, Double Feature of Evil. It was enjoyable. I loved the framing device with the old haunted cinema, and I loved that there was a nod to one of my favorite Lovecraft stories in there. But I don’t think it was quite up to the same quality as the last few Corben/Mignola team-ups I’ve read (especially “Hellboy in Mexico”).

We did some other stuff, too, but a big chunk of our weekend was occupied with re-watching the entire extended trilogy of The Lord of the Rings films. And while it was a fun adventure to undertake, I found that the movies didn’t hold the same magic for me they once did. They’re certainly still big, impressive films, and there’s definitely stuff to love in them, but on balance, well, I didn’t like them as much anymore. (Fellowship mostly gets a pass, and it was always my favorite anyway.)

There was more shopping, more movies, more hanging out and talking, and lots of other stuff over the long weekend. The best part was getting some time to decompress and just be with Grace. With as hectic as November has been so far, a weekend together largely bereft of any real plans was mostly just bliss.

Hope everyone else had a good Thanksgiving if you celebrate it, and a good few days either way.