Canadian Thanksgiving ..........How and Why we Celebrate...My personal Story

in homesteading •  7 years ago 

This past weekend, I held our annual Thanksgiving Dinner. My children are away at University, and one of them will not be able to make it home next weekend so we enjoyed our dinner this weekend. Thanksgiving is truly a time to be thankful for so many things and for me I am so thankful for my family. As many of you know I am a widow and have 3 kids, so family just means so much to me. Thanksgiving to me is one of the reason's why I love to garden so much, I try every year to create my entire Thanksgiving meal all from my garden. I make my own homemade pies, and buns. Come take a look at how the day went, and we started at 7 am, and we ate at 3:30.

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It all traditionally starts with a Turkey.

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Then I take a stroll throughout the garden and harvest the last of the vegetables for this great feast. Squash, is a must at any Thanksgiving table.

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Traditionally we prepare our squash adding pure Maple Syrup in a recycled pop bottle from the Farm down the road.

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Then I pick the last of the green beans and Broccoli for the Broccoli sunrise salad a family tradition. It is made with raisins, bacon bits, shredded carrots, shredded cheese, and a red onion.

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And celery for my Apple Stuffing which is so tasty.

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Here is my Country Harvest Basket that I made. I will make a post about this later. I had help making it.

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This is the last of my container tomatoes, which sadly just was not ready for my dinner. Oh well next week.

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And the very traditional Pumpkin Pie. Homemade crust of course. Sadly I only had one lonely small pumpkin this year so I had to purchase a nice sized pumpkin from my fellow farmer down the road.

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Then of course there are little people who do not wish to help out cooking and you try so hard to convince them with oven mitt monsters.

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Even Lacy our rescued Australian Sheppard get's a little treat of some of the Turkey dripping and a few small pieces of the meat in her meal.

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So after a big meal, we all go for a walk at the lake to work off that Turkey coma. Hope you enjoyed our day as much as I have. I am looking so forward to your stories about how you will spend your Turkey Day or Thanksgiving next weekend or for my American friends in November.

Happy Trails

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Really great post of a lovely Thanksgiving meal. I like how you celebrate when you can. Making it a happy occasion for everyone. All of the plants you used are so big and healthy. Have fun! 🐓🐓

Beautiful post! I remember your reply in the slack channel about Plymouth rock, and I had to LOL. So I got quite interested when I saw your post to find out more details. See, I didn't even know there was a Thanksgiving in Canada. As for the American one, the media is so full of it that I was an expert on the lore long before I first went to the US.
It seems like Canadian Thanksgiving is all about harvest and family. The timing is perfect (though I suppose it also depends on your latitude) to use up the last crops from your garden for a big feast. (Way more appropriate than late Nov.) And you've illustrated this with such lovely pictures! I especially like your harvest basket, your oven mitt pic, your dog Lacy, and the last photo of your kids with the lake in the fall in the background.

Thank you @stortebeker Most Canadian's spend their Thanksgiving like this, we really do have a huge emphasis on Family in this country, and gardening, homesteading is also something that is very very popular. Canada is comprised of more population living in rural farming areas, so it is only natural that gardening and farming is what we know as Canadian's, with such a short growing season. We have it as a national holiday.

So nice! I think these are real and tangible things, that beat fairy tales about pilgrims and indians any day.

lol......you are absolutely right......true stories! I am really hoping to read about a bunch of others celebrating.

I really want to eat what you have made. really very evocative natural appetite that you apply. I beg you to share the food with me ,, hkhkhk

wow looks like an amazing spread! That Broccoli morning salad sounds amazing! Our Thanksgiving Feast is normally held at our house. My family is all grown up too.They all live here in the same area. we have 3 grandchildren to liven up the event. We have just enough pumpkins to get through thanksgiving this year.

I look forward to your story of the traditions and how you spent your day. It's all about Family and Food.

Awesome celebration! Great to have the family together!

Delicious looking meal. Always nicer when it comes from your own harvest

Happy (Canadian) Thanksgiving to you!

@originalworks

Thank you @goldendawne This is one of my most favorite holidays. Especially since my older kids have gone away to university. I love the family walk after to the lake, all the traditions.

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first of all, I delighted in your images (it tells the story ) -- so thanx for that.

2nd, I also make that #BROCCOLI & raisin & red onion salad (#Onions are so good for us) - this Salad, I find, is such a treat.. and a 'good un' for the #THANKSGIVING Feast ♦♦

Related to you enjoying using your Garden proceeds to create a fine Thanksgiving meal ♦♦ Bet you had to get up EARLY for all this prep !

Ha - Chuckled at the image (the 1 B-4 the doggie) - with "Then of course there are little people who do not wish to help out cooking and you try so hard to convince them with oven mitt monsters."

I have to admit that I didn't help my mom much w/ the Thanksgiving meal; I offered to make side dishes or pumpkin pie (she seemed to prefer having the kitchen to herself). Oh well..

Still, I cherished the holiday times with her - Bless you & yours ♥

Thank you for your kind words.

Happy to hear and see that you are now benefiting your crops at your garden...

This one of the best thing why i started my garden past 2weeks..

GOD BLESS YOUR FAMILY @gardengirlcanada

Thank you.

Your welcome my friend..

Great harvest. You're doing great with awesome homesteading. Keep it up @gardengirlcanada

Thank you I just love it, the lifestyle and the freedom it offers.

Hope you're having fun with your family.. enjoy homesteading. :)

Woww!! Nice celery you grew there!! Looks like it was a fantastic meal, and I love that you actually got out to the lake after, well done, man I can't even move after Turkey. That photo of the children at the lake is frame worthy. Just beautiful...thank you so much for sharing.

Your take a walk with me series, inspired me to post that pic of the kids. LOL, I am also going to make another post this week about a walk I will take with my dog, as I take her daily, and the area is truly beautiful. Thanks @lyndsaybowes

Right on, I'm looking forward to it and to see all those trees changing colour too, Ontario has the most vibrant fall!

It does indeed.

Thanks for sharing. I find our Canadian friends intriguing.

Thank you, We are truly a unique kinda crazy kinda people. LOL

It sounds so lovely, we don't really have an equivalent day here in the UK. I love your Country harvest basket, so would my son - a Christmas present idea - thank you. Happy Thanksgiving

Thank you. Stay tuned I am going to make a post about the harvest basket tomorrow and will add a link where you can purchase one, for a fair an accurate price. All hand made.

Lovely thank you. I'll make sure I look it up

Nicely done girlfriend. All of that hard work sure pays off.

It does indeed. Thanks my fellow Canadian and Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours next weekend

Oh, what a wonderful day, made all the better with homegrown bounty. I', also a widow with three kiddos here in the States. One of mine lives up in Canada. I haven't seen them in almost a decade and they are coming here for a visit next week. I'm thrilled beyond thrilled. Another lives in Europe. Family is absolutely everything.

We have common back grounds. I do hope that your weekend is truly filled with lots of laughs, love, smiles, great food, and memories that will last a life time. I'm so happy for you.

I can barely contain myself! I'm trying to catch up on some articles before they arrive so I can just focus on their visit. I'm such a slow writer, it takes me forever to finish a post. Hoping that improves with time and practice.

It will, I just made my son a lasagna and a big batch of Oatmeal Raisin Cookies to take back with him to University.

Great looking greens you are growing and I too am a big fan of the Turkey Coma. :) Great looking pie!

Thank you. Now following you.

Amazing lifestyle, i love your kind of food that do you grow up, this is the most important part but was a lot of work, from 7am to 3.30 pm but i am sure you enjoy with yours this great thanksgiving food.
And specially the pumpking pie.
Best regard @galberto

We spent the day together in the kitchen. We play some cards while the food is cooking. Yes Pumpkin Pie is an absolute tradition of any Canadian Thanksgiving

Ohhhhh nothing as share time with the family in the kitchen it is the best time spend in our life, yesterday i help my mom for make pupusas of loroco i post it in other moment because it is a dish that mom prepared for us when i was a child, for this reason yesterday we remenbered good moments.
Thank you for your comment. :)

Ah that is so nice, to have spent the time with your mom. Thanks for sharing.

The family is the most important part in our life. :)

indeed it is

Thanksgiving and Christmas were always my favourites. Your meal looks absolutely delicious. I too am a widow and it does make family gathering all the more special. I have two sons and 6 grandchildren in Canada and two sons and one granddaughter here in Nicaragua. Obviously, we can't all be together for Thanksgiving but I will have those in Nicaragua plus a few close friends over for dinner. It won't be turkey since turkey is expensive and hard to get here in Nicaragua. Instead we will be having BBQ spare ribs and all the fixings from the garden. After will will gather around the computer for a video call to the others who will be celebrating together in Ontario.

Aw that sounds beautiful. I wish you all the best and that the time you do have with your family via computer is precious. Ontario is where I am located and it is gorgeous right now with all the fall colors.

Happy Thanksgiving! I've enjoyed watching your garden all season and this is the perfect event to really show off all that love and hard work. Bravo!

Thank you @aunt-deb. It is truly a nice way to end a great garden season, for outdoor gardening, I am now busy setting up my indoor gardening.

What great Acorn Squash you have grown! And it's nice you could have fresh green beans, too. Canadian Thanksgiving is such a wonderful time of year. It's early enough to enjoy some warm sun, beautiful colors in the leaves, and an abundance of end-of-season produce. Our US Thanksgiving requires more work in storing or preserving some crops so they are still around at the end of November, and the leaves are all gone by then. And you get to have your Thanksgiving in peace, without Christmas shopping being the big focus the day after, lol. Enjoy your holiday time with family!

Thank you @haphazard-hstead. The US Thanksgiving get's the Christmas parades, and it is a time that many families take the time together to put up the Christmas tree. I agree having it so late does put more of an emphasis on Christmas prep but it is still a nice time of year. I think its pretty having the first snowfall too.

Super lovely! What a wonderful bounty,exquisitely photographed. Felt I was there, lovely peaceful post. Pie and everything looked fantastic! Wishing you many more Thanksgiving celebrations!
Melissa

Thank you Melissa.

Ahh...this turkey looks so huge...wish i was in Canada to visit @gardengirlcanada and partake in this turkey feast...! Great harvest...wonderful family...being a widow taking care of 3 kids is no small venture but i know you up to it... You doing great ma'am and an excellent blogger...keep it up

Thank you for your kind words.

welcome dear... and keep being an excellent mum and a great steemian... hope to visit next thanksgiving to enjoy such fresh natural foods and have some extra as take away!
do find time to check my blog posts
regards

wow ,, you have a long story in gardening, I like your dog, if I can know, what's the name?.
Than you.

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Can I come next time, what fantastic day, you make that day extra special for your family :)

I do indeed as it is all about family. Thanks @karenc54

I totally agree :)