Welcome. It’s the weekend before Thanksgiving, and for some of us, that means it’s a weekend of preparation. If you’re expecting company, you might be cooking or cleaning. You might be stuffing a turkey or stuffing two years of work-from-home detritus into closets in order to make your place presentable. If you’re traveling, it’s a gas-up-the-car weekend or a try-to-snag-an-aisle-seat weekend. If your bird weighs more than 20 pounds, start thawing it today.

We’re out of practice with most of this. It might be good to acknowledge that — especially when the kitchen gets crowded, when you’ve been to two stores looking for heavy cream, when the traffic is terrible. You’ll get it done. You’ll get there.

Of course, we’re not all in preparation mode. If you’re opting for a low-key holiday (or opting out entirely), you might be reading this newsletter on your phone while waiting in line for Jane Campion’s “The Power of the Dog,” starring Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons and Benedict Cumberbatch. (It comes to Netflix on Dec. 1.) I’m excited for Mike Mills’s “C’mon C’mon”; I love his previous features “Beginners” and “20th Century Women,” and it’ll be good to get reacquainted with his sensibility.

A.O. Scott recommends “King Richard,” a “two-for-one superhero origin story” about Venus and Serena Williams, starring Will Smith as their father and the titular potentate. Mindy Kaling’s new series for HBO Max, “The Sex Lives of College Girls,” looks promising.

Read Gabrielle Hamilton on downsizing her Thanksgiving from “18 pies, my 32 capons, 50 pounds of mashed potatoes” to “dinner for a small group,” then make her McSorley’s Old Ale House-inspired fried crackers with cheddar and onions. Check out Brittany Luse and Eric Eddings’s reboot of their podcast “For Colored Nerds.” Check out Adele’s new album, “30.” Look for shooting stars.

Your list of lists.

• What’s in Our Queue? ≫ A retelling of E.M. Forster’s “Maurice.”

• The T List: Six Things We Recommend This Week ≫ Well-designed housewares.

• 5 Games to Watch This Weekend ≫ Kansas City vs. Dallas on Sunday.

• 9 New Books We Recommend This Week ≫ Including Patricia Highsmith’s diaries.

• Five International Movies to Stream Now ≫ A forest service procedural set in central India.

• Earl Sweatshirt Exhibits His Evolution, and 14 More New Songs ≫ Ibeyi’s “Made of Gold.”

P.S.

• Tell Save the Food’s Guest-imator how many people you’re expecting, how many leftover meals you desire and a few other details of your Thanksgiving dinner, and it’ll tell you precisely how much food to buy.

• There’s a documentary coming to HBO about the life of Adrienne Shelly, who wrote and directed the 2007 film “Waitress” (now a Broadway musical) and starred in the Hal Hartley indies “Trust” and “The Unbelievable Truth.” Here’s the trailer.

• I love everything about Courtney Barnett’s video for “If I Don’t Hear From You Tonight”: the Instagram filter-lit desert setting, the coveralls she and her band are sporting, the rotary office phone beside the chaise longue on which she’s playing guitar. (The song’s pretty great too.)

Tell us.

What’s on your mind as we head into the holiday season? What are you thinking, wondering, worrying about, looking forward to? Write us: athome@nytimes.com. Be sure to include your full name and location and we might feature your response in a future newsletter. We’re At Home and Away. We’ll read every letter sent. As always, you’ll find more ideas for leading a full and cultured life, at home and elsewhere, below. I’ll see you on Wednesday.

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