Thanksgiving 2006

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! It still feels a bit foreign to us...this whole Thanksgiving thing. We kind of feel like we are faking it. Last year I even had to research the internet to see what we were meant to do.
I know it is all about giving thanks for the summer harvest; the gifts and bounties received throughout the year and to pray for a bountiful, fruitful "crop" to bless us, next year, and it has been a good year really. It was tough in the beginning, but the summer was very good. In fact we are very thankful that the summer has been a long one.
The nights and mornings are getting chillier, but there is still plenty of sunshine throughout the day. I can count on one hand, with fingers to spare, just how many times it has rained since August.
I actually like the idea that we speak up and give thanks for our fortunes - gratitude is a gift in itself and has its own power. I guess the "faking-it" part comes from a lack of Thanksgiving tradition. Even at Christmas, we have traditionally spent it with familly. It just seems a little quiet, a bit everyday, having such an extravegant meal, just for the four of us.....and then what?
We prepare the food, we serve it up, chase the kids all over the house, fighting with them to wash their hands and be seated so we can eat together. We negotiate about what, and how much is acceptable to be eaten before they are allowed to leave the table, and then we get disappointed that they have hardly touched the lovingly prepared meal. Then there is are a pile of dishes to do - just like every other day really, except the meal took a lot longer to prepare than usual.
Christmas with family or a dinner party with friends meant chatting and catching up before, during and after the meal. Dad would be jumping up making sure everyone has a full glass of whatever. The women were typically in the kitchen helping to get the food ready, chatting as they did so. The meal would be eaten, we would complain together about how ridiculously full our bellies were....then we'd have dessert! The younger ones would snigger at the older ones fighting the losing battle to remain awake after the hearty meal. We might go for a walk along the beach to "walk off our lunch", if we were at Mum's house or we'd play with the dogs at our place or Gandmas place. We would chat and catch up with whoever was there, while unnecessarily grazing on the irresistable colourfully wrapped chocolates from the chocolate bowl, while downing a few more wines or perhaps a coffee, and we would watch the kids playing, and interacting with older relatives - grandparents, great-grandparents, Aunts and Uncles.
Mmmmm....I am thankful I have joyful memories such as these. "My life maybe long, but my time with my loved ones, is short"....I hope to have more memories to look back on with these people - distance highlights such things.