Happy Thanksgiving fellow Canadians (the 2-3 of us that are here lol)

[Mattsmom277]

Hope you all have a great weekend, but a extra special one for fellow Canadians.

S/O and I went shopping for remaining needs for the weekend tonight. Tomorrow I will be making pumpkin pies (had fun tracking down pie pumpkins, sold out mostly for some reason) and vanilla almond fruit torte (both desserts are sugar free). I'll also be preparing some dips and pickle trays etc and making cranberry sauce.

Sunday will be the 4 of us here, my cousin and her son and her new beau, my aunt and my brother along with his girlfriend. I had hoped my brother would have his children this weekend but they can't be here. The rest of us will enjoy though. I am making a very traditional meal as my family would revolt if we didn't do it old school .
Turkey, gravy, old fashioned savory and onion stuffing, maple and brown sugar ham, mashed potatoes, glazed carrots, turnips, green beans, a wild rice dish for those who don't like potatoes, homemade whole wheat rolls.

As insane as it is, my cousin has declared it a pyjama day. It tends to be stressful in our family at holiday gatherings due to me doing all the work, kids underfoot, not a heck of alot of space here for so many guests, pets, etc. Also we all have our own emotions about being unable to invite my mother to join us. So my cousin has declared we will have a pyjama day and just not stress anything, not worry if something doesn't cook on time or if the table is "just so". I am not sure I can go along with it, cooking in my jammies for a ton of guests or not fussing about the table looking nice and ensuring all food is done at the same time to ensure proper heat when served etc. But i certainly will clear the dinner table when we finish and join the gang by jumping into some jammies and kicking up my feet with tea and visiting.

Monday will be quiet, just myself and S/O and the kids. No cooking since we'll have loads of leftovers anyhow. We plan to go out to the lake front for a family walk since the weather looks to be beautiful, and then come home and eat whenever we all want to eat, watch movies and just enjoy the sounds of no traffic whizzing by outdoors and knowing we are lucky to all have one another to share a holiday with.

Happy Thanksgiving all I think other than Christmas, Thanksgiving is my favorite day of the year. Sometimes more than Christmas as I enjoy no gift giving etc.

 

[ThreeShadows]

Happy Thanksgiving, our neighbors to the North!

 

[tiredmommy]

Happy Thanksgiving! I count myself with you for several reasons: husband is a naturalized American born in Canada, my mother lived in Canada for 31 years (and I spent a large chunk of my childhood there), my brother and his family still live there, I live in a border community but mostly because:

It's good to be thankful! ​

Enjoy your day, your family and your feast! We often dress casually (jeans, sweatpants or pj's) on US Thanksgiving. We usually just have the three of us. We watch the Macy parade, eat our meal around 3pm, watch movies and read the paper. It's a relaxing day spent reflecting on what and who is important to us. ​

 

[ctmom05]

Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends in Canada - even the ones I haven't met yet. I hope you each have a blessing bestowed upon you.

 

[trinityroyal]

Happy Thanksgiving Mattsmom, to all the other Canadians on the board, and to everyone else who wishes to join in celebrating and giving thanks with us.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Trinity

 

[shellyd67]

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL MY FRIENDS IN CANADA !!!! OH, A TURKEY DINNER SOUNDS SOOOOOO DELICIOUS !!!!!

 

[ScentofCedar]

Oh, wishing you all a very Happy Thanksgiving! I think Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, too. Something about all that cooking in a nice warm house when it is cold outside, and all the faces I love at my table! Wish I could be there for yours! ) It seems your Thanksgiving traditions are similar to ours? Pumpkin pie, cranberries, turkey. What kind of stuffing will you make? In Wisconsin, we make sausage stuffing with bread cubes. In Florida, they make oyster stuffing with corn bread. When we are down south, they like to have collard greens cooked with salt pork on Thanksgiving.

Wherever we are, we always open the meal with Oysters Rockefeller and a toast to one another.

Wishing a lovely holiday. )

Barbara

 

[Mattsmom277]

We have a very simple old fashioned stuffing. Basically just cubed bread, sauteed onions (Lots!), salt, pepper, savoury and sometimes a few other spices/herbs (But I dont add more, I have to make it as my grandmother did or the family will rebel lol). I've sampled various very delicious stuffing recipes, but there is something so simple about the flavors of this recipe that blend so well with turkey gravy and dont' compete with the other foods etc that I love. I do make more gourmet stuffings for say a chicken dinner for just us here or something. But at turkey time it has to be my simple passed down one. Actually I think most people around here make their stuffing very similarly. I'd love to try the sausage one though. Just not on turkey day haha.

I do enjoy others traditions, particularly some of the yummy sweet potato casseroles etc. Its nice when I'm invited and get to try something that isn't how we make it. I just love the simplicity I guess of the food my grandmother and great grandmother would make. Seasonal root vegetables, natural flavor instead of a ton of glazes etc. Just tastes and looks so earthy or something. I do rebel against the fam about ham though and always do a maple and brown sugar glaze type thing on it. MMMM mmmm MMM!

 

[katya02]

I grew up with the bread stuffing you describe (northern Ontario and then Ottawa). Maybe it's an Ontario thing! I've changed it a little over the years to combine it with the way husband's mother made her stuffing for the family, and it works very well. I add just a little bit of ground beef and pork sausage, cooked so that it's crumbled into small bits, not chunks. It moistens the bread a bit more and adds a little something to the overall flavor. Otherwise I don't mess with a great thing!

We can't get back to Ontario this weekend but will have two of the kids home, so that's special. I love having two Thanksgivings!

 

[Mattsmom277]

I do think it's a northern thing (the stuffing lol). I'm in northern Ontario. About 2 hours or so north of Barrie. That variation sounds delicious! I think maybe I'll try it next time I'm making turkey without having guests. The kids don't eat stuffing so maybe S/O and I will give it a whirl.

My house smells divine and I'm wiped right out. I've still got pies in the oven and muffins to go in (at least they are ready to go). And I have to peel and prep all of the veggies. And get the stuffing going so it can meld flavor over night. I seem to be gathering guests. Up another 2 guests. I now have 3 tables going and still the 3 younger kids will be eating in the living room. YIKES!

The insane part though is every single person offered to bring something and DOH! I said no! I thought it would be a smaller group. What can you do though. Thank goodness I can do nothing at all but rest on Monday!!!

 

[ScentofCedar]

You sound happy, Mattsmom.

I love Thanksgiving!

Barbara

 

[Mattsmom277]

I am happy . It is sad how small my family is and we had mostly drifted apart for many years. It felt a empty thing at holidays when it was only myself and the kids. When my favorite aunt passed away about 6 years ago I was crushed, we were so close. I found myself speaking frankly and very bluntly to the remaining family members about the sad pathetic state of our family for those of us local to each other. Told them I loved them all muchly however no more stop off for a coffee and 30 minute visit at Christmas (only visit all year usually) to feel "good" they'd dropped a unneeded gift for kids or whatever. I said I wanted a real relationship or quite frankly none at all. It felt so fake and after being close as a family in my childhood, it really affected me as an adult.
My cousin and I are again closer than siblings, truly feels like sisters. Everyone ended up realizing just how far apart we were and my little temper tantrum changed things for the better. We now always get together for the kids birthday dinners, adult birthdays we go for coffee and a dessert, and we usually always do Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners together. Aside from that through the years we stay in touch more and tend to have impromptu visits, bbq's etc.
I guess it is probably the reason I get this happy preparing a large meal and all the work going into it I try to take in stride (in spite of going to bed at 2a.m. and rising at 6a.m. and my MS is flaring badly, feel like run over by a truck ... yet smiling lol). I just really enjoy the warm feeling of all of us gathering together, sharing a great meal and ensuring the kids have the family memories that we all enjoyed as kids.

As for my day so far: house nearly cleaned, 3 loads of laundry done, 4 pots bubbling on the stove, turkey in the oven, ham basted and smelling delish in the slow cooker, showered, dressed, pickle trays done. Just need to do finishing touches to the final dessert and set the table and make a arrangement for the center. And its only noon. Thank goodness for my S/O! He just says "dictate, that way it gets done how you want it and saves time and me being in twubble" (HAHAHAHA! I love this man). I might even get to relax and even snooze on the sofa for an hour before people arrive!

And my brother and the teen boys are on clean up duty after dinner. So my work here is nearly done and I can enjoy

Did I mention I love Thanksgiving? I honestly have so much to be thankful for, this is a holiday with a ton of meaning for me especially the older I get and the more life I've lived.

 

[katya02]

Sounds great, mattsmom! Enjoy! My turkey is in the oven and daughter just finished peeling potatoes and putting them on to boil ... the house smells great.
The weather has turned cool and the colors are gorgeous - a perfect day for a roast turkey dinner. The oven warms the house just enough.
Wish all the kids could have made it home, but having two here is lovely.

 

[Mattsmom277]

I hope you all enjoyed your holiday. Katya, how nice 2 of your kids could be home. Those smells are just the smell of fall to me, turkey on the air and looking out at those leaves, recipe for a perfect day. Tomorrow easy child and I are going to go on a walk with our cameras to get some pictures while the colors of the leaves are most vibrants. Some of the reds and oranges are so brilliant.

Our day was wonderful, best holiday dinner in I don't know how long (and we always enjoy ourselves). My neighbor who is widowed joined us as well when I learned her daughter couldn't be bothered to ask her over to eat with her and grandkids etc. She sort of adopted my family for the past 6 years and we've adopted her. It was so nice to see her blend well with my family. She lingered for hours after dinner just enjoying the banter of all of us who are so familiar and asking what was funny we'd laugh at a inside family joke , so the stories came out and we all spent hours laughing until our sides hurt. Another friend joined us, she's a J/K teacher (and vice principal) and she enjoyed being around so any adults and some older kids. We had to borrow chairs from my neighbor and drag in another table from storage in order to accomodate everyone. 3 tables all together haha. It was the most fun. The last of our guests didn't leave until nearly 10:30p.m. , having all arrived between 1-2. That is a sure sign that I wasn't the only one who really enjoyed it.

It does my heart good to know my kids will have these memories. easy child told me it is better than Christmas because no focus on anything but each other all day, and she loved it the bigger the group got through the day. Maybe we'll find another stray for Christmas to add to the table lol.

To my southern neighbors, I hope you all are looking forward to your Thanksgiving!

 

[ScentofCedar]

Even moreso now, Mattsmom.

Half the fun of every celebration is anticipation.

it's been wonderful to share your Thanksgiving!

Barbara

 

[TeDo]

I grew up with the bread stuffing you describe (northern Ontario and then Ottawa). Maybe it's an Ontario thing!

I am from Minnesota and that is how my family has always made our stuffing. The only spice we add is a little sage (not much). Maybe it is a northern thing that includes the northern US? I can't wait for out Thanksgiving in November. I just love the smells also!!

 

[Circetay]

I'm new to the boards, and am happy to see some fellow Canucks here!

 

[Jena]

hey so so sorry i'm late!!

Happy Thanksgiving, i hope you enjoyed the day! your dinner sounds great!!

 

[Mattsmom277]

Welcome Circetay ... its nice to see a new face! Have you posted a introduction thread? If I missed it I'll find it but if you haven't please do start a new thread and tell us about you! It's a great bunch here, it's easy to see quickly.

 

[Circetay]

Hi Mattsmom! Thanks for the welcome. I have posted a sort of introduction thread, it is here I'm sort of just lurking around, reading stuff at the moment. I'm struggling with day to day stuff and it's exhausting.