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12 October 2026

Canadian Thanksgiving

Greetings to one and all but especially my Canadian readers.  There is something rather appealing about a country that celebrates being thankful in October, before the Christmas madness begins. 

Canadian Thanksgiving falls on the second Monday in October. The leaves are turning, the evenings are drawing in, and we English are wondering whether it is too early to put the heating on.

I understand Canadians celebrate with roast turkey, stuffing, gravy and pumpkin pie. Christmas dinner, almost, but without the expense of presents, the Christmas cards or the annual hunt for Sellotape.  I rather like the idea. Although pumpkin pie might leave me wondering what to do with the rest of the pumpkin.

Thanksgiving is about pausing to appreciate the good things in life. We have our own harvest festivals in England, of course, -  I led one yesterday.  But perhaps we could borrow a little of the Canadian spirit and set aside an autumn day for good food, friendship and a moment to count our blessings.

A quiet day of gratitude, with a roast dinner and perhaps a pudding, sounds splendid.  And if gratitude happens to come with roast potatoes, I am entirely in favour.


8 comments:

  1. I bel8eve Canadians have mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving, not roast. Which is not quite as good imho. But I can give thanks with any sort of potaoes... We who have food, and have a choice about it, are greatly blessed.

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    1. Ooh, I love mash! But, as you say, we are greatly blessed with food.

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  2. When I was young, Christmas without presents would have been like The End. But now I'm old(er), it seems quite a good idea!

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    1. I think I'm still a Big Kid. I enjoy presents especially if they are edible and I don't have to find places to put them. Other than my tummy.

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  3. Celebrating Thanksgiving in October sounds wonderful. But, if you aren't able to celebrate the Canadian Thanksgiving, you'll have another chance to celebrate it with us in the USA on the 4th Thursday in November. :)

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    1. I've got an invitation to a Thanksgiving dinner towards the end of November.

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  4. We always have to celebrate Thanksgiving a day early now as our sons need to travel back today so as to be at their jobs on Tuesday morning. We sometimes have apple pie instead of pumpkin. The rest of the pumpkin puree is usually in my case frozen to be used in even more pumpkin pies later.
    Yes usually we have mashed potatoes with loads of gravy and stuffing, must have stuffing.

    God bless.

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    1. Thank you! I hope you enjoyed your meal on Sunday!

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