How Rich People Celebrate Thanksgiving!

Well crap, the election in America has absorbed all our attention for the last many months, but suddenly there's Christmas decorations all over the place and here we are with Thanksgiving right on top of us! There'll be friends popping in for the feast of course - but alarmingly there'll also be family showing up for an unpredictable amount of time. God have mercy!

To sort this all out, if you have a couple of minutes let me try to describe the differences between how the super rich celebrate the holiday compared to all the rest of us peasants.

PARTY STYLES: First and foremost, if this is a big event for friends and associates, did you send out Save-the-Date notices followed by a formal invitation for the Thanksgiving feast? Do you have an events planner to coordinate everything? A caterer to make all the food and a bartender to serve up the libations? Do you have Valet Parkers engaged at your front door? Did your groundskeepers properly light up your runway and helicopter landing pad, according to FAA guidelines?  And last but hardly least, have you hired security guards to surround your house and protect all the diamonds, pearls and haute couture furs coming through your front door, not to mention all the luxury cars parked outside? If our answer is "No" to any of the above questions, then we're quite possibly in the peasant class.

MENUS: Yes, my observation is that the rich usually have a traditional turkey on the table. But there might also be other exotic fowl as well, such as Egyptian pheasant under glass, or bacon-wrapped grilled quail. To the traditional turkey-dressing and green-bean casserole, add some $2,500/ per pound truffles and a couple of pounds of Almas Caviar (roughly $25,000) and you've got a nice spread for your fancy friends. Is this similar to your table? If not, then I'm afraid we're peasants without pheasants.

GUESTS: Do your over-night Thanksgiving guests have their own private bedrooms, complete with marble bathtubs, cable TV, internet connectivity, and an Upstairs Maid to tidy up their mess? Or, are your guests sleeping on pull-out sofas, palates on the floor, or perhaps in your four-wheel camper outside? If so, then we're in danger of being considered not just peasants but very near Trailer Park trash as well.

BLACK FRIDAY SHOPPING: While many of us might be standing on line at retail stores and slugging it out for Black Friday bargains, I assure you the super-rich will be sipping Mimosas on their yachts or sunning themselves on a Caribbean beach somewhere. When it comes to what they want, cost is not even the slightest consideration. Of course, if they do want bargain prices for some of the perfunctory gifts they have to give to business associates and the like, then they'll send out their Personal Assistant, Personal Shopper, or some idiot like me to stand on the long lines.

So that's about it. I hope this hasn't been irritating, but the divide between the rich and all the rest of us is so very enormous. Personally I'd rather be sleeping on a pull-out sofa or a palate, surrounded by loving family and friends, than by an impersonal Upstairs Maid who wishes you'd get out as soon as possible, or perhaps never having shown up in the first place. :)

Best wishes to all for a blessed and wonderful Thanksgiving!

Andrew

Halloween Costumes for the Rich!

While quietly minding my own business today, out of the blue a FedEx package arrived from a fairly-renowned costume shop in Hollywood.

What?

It was addressed to my ancient old employer of course. But as his trusted, loyal and discreet assistant, I took it upon myself to open it - along with Ester the upstairs maid who has a similar snoopy curiosity as to what is going on around here from day to day.

Inside the box there was a cape, a tweed cap, and a pipe. And while I'm sure you've already guessed it, apparently the old buzzard is going to a Halloween party this year dressed as Sherlock Holmes!

We weren't aware that he'd received any invitations this year for Halloween, but somehow the costume seems to suit his self image as an intelligent gentleman - as opposed to going as Dracula which would better reflect his true nature and demeanor toward others.

My spy confidant at the office, who has access to his weekly calendar, doesn't know what party he's going to either. She said there's a note for Saturday October 29 that only says "Angela 8:00pm". Well, just who the heck is Angela? A name we've not heard around here before, but fear the worst - another new girlfriend showing up? Ugh!

About this time last year I wrote about the elegant costumes and parties the former Missus used to throw around here in a post entitled Halloween Parties for the Rich - so I'll not bore you with all that again.

But there was this one year when she wanted to dress up as Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany's, complete with black evening gloves and a rare silver-and-gemstone cigarette holder. I tried to dissuade her, explaining that it's mostly Drag Queens who dress up like Holly. But she was not deterred, and was actually the hit of the evening. The major difference being that Holly's pearl and diamond necklace was merely costume jewelry.

Unlike the quiet rich however, Hollywood celebs are somewhat more flashy and splashy in their Halloween attire, to say the least. If you're looking for costume inspiration, here's a look at fifty-five celebrities that made the pages of Harper's Bazaar - "From sultry to spooky" and all done up for "Trick-or-Treating".

As always, thanks for stopping by this evening.

I hope you have a fun and wonderful Halloween weekend! But beware, the onslaught of Christmas begins the very day after!

Andrew