Our Canadian Thanksgiving

With a little time available after the weekend and before our company comes to visit, I want to post a short blog about Thanksgiving before I leave you for a few more days. I do this because the comments on my previous blog reveal that my American friends find it terribly odd to conceive of Thanksgiving being celebrated at this time of year. In Canada, we always celebrate it now, specifically on the second Monday of October. It's one of the major holidays of the year, the others being Easter, Canada Day (July 01), August Civic Holiday (first Monday in August), Labour Day, and, of course, Christmas and New Year.

So, why do we observe it now? Simply, I think, because we are pretty well at the end of the harvest season. This was the time to be thankful that provender was laid up for the winter. It seems to me a good thing that we celebrate Thanksgiving when we do, even in present times when very few of us live off the land. That's because we are still very aware of the time of year because it is now that the trees turn colour ever so brilliantly. Indeed the drive to Riverwood and back was resplendent with the vibrant seasonal hues, for we are now at or extremely close to peak colour. Some trees are still green, but as they turn colour, their comrades will drop theirs, so the view will most likely decrease and not vice versa. The weather was cloudy this year, so I don't have current photos to post, but I did publish a few on my blog last year (here and here) and on my own website (here and here) the year before.

It's a big holiday; families make an effort to get together, not to the same extent as over the longer Christmas holidays, but more so than at any other holiday. We usually do turkey, just as we also do at Christmas. People who shuffle between two families usually have two turkey dinners. In our case we had our own turkey dinner at home with the kids on Saturday and another at our in-laws' on Sunday. At home, we generally have a cheesy potato casserole with the turkey, as well as roasted sweet potatoes and roasted carrots. Personally, I'm extremely fond of the stuffing and gravy. For dessert, we'll normally have pumpkin pie; if we're going all out (which we didn't this year), we might also have an apple pie.

I am thankful for many things, but, in particular this year, I rejoice that we are near Butterfly and The Boy and not seven hours away. And I really rejoice that Ladybug survived the summer's bicycle wipeout (read about it here and here). I trust that you all have your own reasons to rejoice, for we have pretty well lucked out, living in our lands of plenty where our needs are pretty well met and many of our wants too.

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As a special bonus, I present this photo which I took from our bedroom window on Saturday evening, the day we celebrated Thanksgiving at our house. The foreground view, with wires and buildings and such, isn't to die for, but I think that the sky is ... to die for. I did underexpose the photo somewhat, just to darken it and make it more dramatic, but that was done when I took the picture and not in post-processing.