Thanksgiving in Canada

For my American readers, Thanksgiving in Canada is in October. Even after 3 years, this is a bit odd for me. I have lots of thoughts here. Lets see if I can articulate them for you. Please understand that I am not really upset about this, just thinking about it.

1. It is way too early for Thanksgiving. We haven't even had Halloween yet. For that matter, when do I think about Halloween if I have to give a lot of thought to Thanksgiving?

2. Speaking of thinking too much.............I was spoiled all my life. I NEVER had to think about defrosting turkeys or making gravy. [thanks, Dad] In fact, I had to make gravy up at the cottage last month and I didn't want to admit I had never made it before. (jig is up here though, as Nana Marcy reads my blog!) I figured it out. I can make a white sauce, how hard can gravy be? (gravy was fab by the way) I just came from the grocery store and on the way home I figured out that I forgot the celery. Not only does my dad do the gravy and the turkey, he makes a mean batch of stuffing. [I did remember the LARGE bottle of sage though, see below for the sage story]

3. This leads us to item 3. The grocery store has a large "ethnic" section. They have Asian food, Mexican food, Polish food, Indian food, etc. Where is the American food? Why is it that I can't find French's fried onions or Pepridge Farm bread cubes? Not only do I have to celebrate early, but I may not have green bean casserole. Blasphemy, I tell you.

4. This leads us to item 4. In the U.S., Thanksgiving dinner is cooked on Thursday. (by tradition) On Friday, one goes shopping or watches football. I have been quizzing my Canadian sources. Thanksgiving dinner can be cooked on Saturday, Sunday or Monday. (Monday is the National holiday, because Lord forbid we ever go a whole month without an extra day off. We don't have one in February and the politicians up here are using this excuse to create a new holiday and then put that on the campaign platform. Because the family is sacred here, family time is important. Or maybe it is beer sales, because HOLIDAY=BEER. Just sayin) So, when do I cook? [scratch that, when does Craig cook?]

5. On to item 5. If I cook on Sunday, (scratch that, if Craig cooks on Sunday) and we eat left-overs on Monday, when do I go shopping? When can I get Christmas shopping done? For that matter, do I celebrate American Thanksgiving next month? Will Craig cook twice? We can't afford to go to see relatives in November and December. Can I wait until December for decent stuffing? Do I dare brave the wait at the border to shop in NY on Black Friday? Do I even want to?

6. The SAGE story. My grandfather, Max, used to say that when you have enough sage, you put more in. So, we use lots of sage. He also used to utter things like "There is not enough sage in this dressing, but it is just the way I like it." This way, my Grandmother Eleanor, couldn't come after him and tell him to cook it himself. I wonder if that is where my Dad gets his gumption? Because Lord knows, I have gumption. So does our son, Aaron. It must have come from somewhere up in the gene pool!

So, those are my thoughts on Thanksgiving in Canada. It is still early enough for me to scour the stores for French's onions. I think I remember seeing them at Dominion. I have to remember to get some celery while I'm there!