National Philanthropy Day

November 15: Charitable giving continues to trend downward-falling 5.7 percent last year from 2007 figures. This year, it's worse. According to a Chronicle of Philanthropy report, the nation's 10 largest charities are reporting a 9 percent drop in 2009.

Republican governors association

November 18-20: Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour will chair the three-day meetings in Austin, Texas, to strategize for gubernatorial races in 2010. Next year 36 states will elect governors. The meetings' location in Texas could be a boon for incumbent Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who faces a stiff primary challenge from retiring Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson.

New Moon

November 20: The Twilight saga continues with the theatrical release of New Moon today. The first installment of the romantic fantasy series based on books by the same name debuted in theaters last year and rang up nearly $400 million in sales. The teen vampire flick is expected to do just as well and to be the second of four planned films adapted from the Stephenie Meyer books.

Happy birthday, Darwin's Origins

November 24: On this day in 1859, evolution theorist Charles Darwin published the first edition of his landmark On the Origin of Species. Darwin had worked out his general thesis more than 20 years prior, but circumstances kept the work from being published for decades. Now, 150 years later, Darwin's opus remains hotly controversial for many who view Darwin's work as a debasement of God's creation story.

Thanksgiving

November 26: This Thanksgiving Day's feasts will be a bit trimmer than previous years. Turkey growers have raised an estimated 250 million birds for this holiday season, down 8 percent from last year. Even with the decreased bird production, Minnesota leads all turkey-producing states, followed closely by North Carolina, Arkansas, and Missouri.

Black Friday

November 27: While the Commerce Department reports that the nation has slogged its way out of a recession, the true test will come on what's often regarded as the busiest shopping day of the year. Black Friday unofficially opens the crucial Christmas shopping season, a time major retailers depend on to turn the accountants' red ink into black. A strong showing by American shoppers today could suggest more than just a short-term, government-induced resuscitation for the nation's beleaguered economy.

Honduran elections

November 29: First the ousted Manuel Zelaya will be returned to power. Then Hondurans may vote on whether to return him to power. Under a U.S.-brokered arrangement the deposed president will be restored to his office, which in the eyes of many Latin countries also will restore legitimacy to political crisis that began last June when Zelaya was arrested and deported by the military, under orders from the Honduran Congress and Supreme Court, for violating the country's constitution.