November Rituals

Written By : Hannah Corbett

There’s a certain alchemy to tradition. Those small, familiar rituals that tether us to a moment in time, year after year. As November settles in, I’ve realized how much I rely on these little consistencies to make the season feel like the season. If you reinvent the holiday every year, Thanksgiving becomes a moving target. But when a few things remain the same, the whole month softens into something warm, recognizable, and yours.

For me, it always begins with movies and music. I have a November playlist. All Too Well (10 Minute Version) is the one and only correct answer to start the season. Then comes “’tis the damn season,” “Feels Like” by Gracie Abrams, “Move” by Suki Waterhouse, so on and so forth. You get the point.

Then come the movies. A couple of years ago, when Red (Taylor’s Version) was released, my sister and I really wanted to get into the headspace of loving Jake Gyllenhaal, since that’s who most of the album was about. We watched Love & Other Drugs, with him and Anne Hathaway, and it portrayed him so well, and the season.  The leaves are falling the entire movie, and now it’s five years later, and it’s still how we ring in November.

Then follows Stuck in Love, which is just the perfect Thanksgiving movie. It follows an entire year in the life of a family. But the soundtrack, the actors, the whole coastal vibe, it’s just right. And since I watched that with Lily Collins, it naturally makes me want to watch Love, Rosie, which is also a phenomenal movie. And then that makes me want to listen to Suki Waterhouse, and then Suki reminds me of Taylor, and… well, you see. It’s literally a cycle.

Then, on Thanksgiving Eve, I watch The Sound of Music, a ritual I never consciously curated; my mom started it before I was even born. As soon as Julie Andrews twirls across the hills, I feel myself ease into the holiday.

Films have always been how I transition into a feeling, into a mood, into a moment. They’re my emotional metronome. And whether that may or may not be the case for you.  I'm encouraging you to settle into your traditions, and if you don't have one, make one!  

As I sit down to write this, easing myself into the emotional landscape of the season, I have Stuck in Love playing in the background. My cinematic warm-up. Some people make cinnamon rolls; others run a turkey trot. I press play on a movie that makes me feel everything all at once. Maybe that’s the true beauty of tradition. Not its extravagance, but its consistency. These small, repeated rituals are what turn a date on the calendar into something lived-in and meaningful.