Of all the holidays I adopted in Canada, Thanksgiving is probably the one I like best. Fall is a gorgeous season in Ontario and the weather is usually very nice at the time of the year. The holiday is just before Mark’s and Feng’s birthdays, so we spend a week celebrating stuff. Besides, unlike Halloween or Boxing Day, Thanksgiving is not hugely commercial. Sure, supermarket aisles feature all the fixings you need for your Thanksgiving dinner, but you’re not expected to decorate your front lawn with fake glow-in-the-dark turkeys and you aren’t pressured into buying seasonal gifts, clothing or accessories. It’s a nice change, compared to Halloween, Christmas or even Easter.
Technically, Thanksgiving is all about a large family gathering around a meal. We miss the main ingredient—a large family to help us eat an entire turkey—so there is little pressure for us to celebrate. I never learned the fine art of stuffing a turkey and I can live with that. We do Thanksgiving our way.
Last Friday, the weather was gorgeous and I went hunting for “Thanksgiving mood” snapshots. It was harder than it seemed because Halloween already took over the city—there are more giant pumpkins around than signs of celebration of the harvest and other blessings of the past year. Eventually, I went straight to the source—the Experimental Farm where, indeed, fields were being harvested, and the supermarket that featured various Thanksgiving dinner ingredients—turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, sweet corn, various kinds of squashes and pumpkin pie. Phew. Saved.
Meanwhile, the long walk with my camera allowed me to think about what I was thankful for.
When I look at the big picture, I’m thankful for life in general. Life is surprising, the ups and downs are never boring and I love going through various experiences, good and meh, as long as I can feel something—excitement, love, anger, passion, enthusiasm, contentment, restlessness or joy. We are complex beings, completely illogical at times but deeply fascinating. I’m glad to be one of those.
I’m grateful for the fact that my destiny is not written for me. I’m drafting it and I love it, even when the odd typo creeps in.
I’m grateful for Feng and Mark. I wouldn’t trade them for anything in the world. They are unique and amazing.
I’m grateful for my family. I had an awesome childhood and I think my parents did a great job.
I’m grateful for my friends, who are kind and inspiring.
I’m grateful for you who take the time to read the words I type.
Thank you all. I’ll be back to my cynical self right after the holiday.
Thank YOU for your words and pictures !
You put a smile on my face 🙂
Happy Thanksgiving dear Juliette.. it’s my 1st one here in Canada woohoo! ..and thank YOU for this blog..
Warm hugs
Oh, congrats, you made it! Yay! Glad to hear from you again, although I completely understand you must have been very busy 🙂
Happy Thanksgiving! We didn’t do much, just had a quiet day and stuffed our faces 🙂 And I just felt very thankful for the Scotsman and Freddie and the cozy feeling of being a “family” (dog included lol)
It does look like a cozy house! I just saw the pictures on your blog… love the wood!
Thanks 🙂 We fell in love with it because of the coziness and then added more wood with the kitchen lol
BTW, I answered you on twitter (never saw your message!), just email me the question, it’d be my pleasure
Yep, got it yesterday! Sorry, got a bit crazy with the birthday week, I will email you soon. I should have done that in the first place, I have no idea why I went through Twitter 😆 I was trying to be hip and connected, maybe? 😆
haha just realized it’s all there, not sure if my browser is bugging?
No hurry! Enjoy the birthday week 🙂
Not sure if my reply actually disappeared or you have to accept it manually?
Anyway, I’m glad you like the kitchen and the house 🙂 We fell in love with the coziness and then added the kitchen to match 🙂 It’s a big departure from what everyone else seemed to be doing (Hello IKEA lol) but we love it.
I answered your message on twitter, I’m sorry I didn’t see it at all earlier! For sure I’d be happy to, jut email me
Happy belated Thanksgiving.
We braved up and cooked turkey for our first Thanksgiving in Canada. Even with a very small one (< 5kg) we might have leftovers that lasts until Christmas…
😆 Good job on the local custom! Eh, it’s perfect, you can celebrate the American Thanksgiving as well with the leftovers!
Happy Thanks Giving! I do appreciate my blunt friends. They are the most realistic one :)) especially women, we only hear what we want to hear.
So true… selective hearing 😉