We live in the U.S., but Jim is Canadian. Since it is his day, he chose
the menu. We're having roast duck breast, buttercup squash, asparagus,
and pumpkin pie (from the Libby's can) if he feels like making pies. Or
we might go with apple and pear crisp instead since squash and pumpkin
at one meal is repetitive.


--Lia


Michel Boucher wrote:

> Of course there was. I didn't mean to say that it WAS a harvest
> festival, only that an original Thanksgiving was at one time a
> harvest festival. The practice of Thanksgiving was brought here by
> loyalists who fled the depredation of the Revolting which affected
> the US for a time. This is why it is of little interest to French-
> Canadians and until recently was in fact used by the Church as an
> unofficial holiday, like Labour Day, where people would go spend the
> day in church. Well...it kept them off the streets...
>
> The reason the Canadian Thanksgiving is earlier is because it was
> ostensibly made to coincide with the earlier (to New England) harvest
> and in fact the 1957 act of Parliament which instituted it as a
> statutory holiday (rather than relying on the former practice of
> successive Royal Proclamations) specifically said it was to be "a day
> of general thanksgiving to almighty God for the bountiful harvest
> with which Canada has been blessed."
>
> http://www.web-holidays.com/canada/
>
> http://www.thanksgiving-traditions.com/html/canada.html
>
> http://www.pch.gc.ca/progs/cpsc-ccsp...a/action_e.cfm
>
> There is no gift-buying holiday associated with Thanksgiving in
> Canada. Today I am going wargaming at a friend's house.
>
> Our smarmy, dysfunctional family reunion holiday is Christmas.
>