Thanksgiving

Dear Family & Friends,

Happy Thanksgiving!

As I sit and write this, at work, I must admit (shhh!), I don’t find it as weird to be at work on Thanksgiving as I thought I would. But it is definitely not a normal feeling to know that I don’t have a giant pile of ads to look through, a leisurely lounge-y morning ahead of me, and a big dinner with family and/or friends tonight. American (real!) Thanksgiving isn’t really acknowledged here, and although I’m sure there are some groups of Americans who get together, plenty more head south of the border. Even some Canadians have their eyes southward, fixed on tomorrow’s big sales.

Even though we could have joined a group like Democrats Abroad tonight for a traditional turkey meal, we went a different direction. We talked about a couple different options, but renée and I (and to be fair, it was my choice as the American) settled on Silver Spoon. We haven’t been in a while, and the dedication to local, organic and/or seasonal seemed all to appropriate for Thanksgiving. Without my knowledge renée contacted Chef Rocco to see if he could do anything Thanksgiving-y; apparently, a pumpkin tart is on the menu and he’ll see what he can do with an amuse or appetizer. We’re looking forward to the meal quite a bit.

I also must admit that even though I love Thanksgiving more than any other holiday, the Canadians have the time of year a little bit better figured out. Since I still think theirs is too early, I think ours should be moved up a bit. The problem, of course, would be the extended Christmas shopping season, but think of the good fresh stuff available in the northern climes a couple weeks ago versus now. But alas, there’s no point in trying to move mountains – or at least, not this one – and I still love Thanksgiving and all its trappings. I love the long weekend, the kick-off of the holiday season, and even the uniquely American tradition of absurd shopping habits on still overly-stuffed stomachs. It doesn’t hurt that, as one blogger I read puts it, Thanksgiving is “the most adored food holiday in all the land.”

Weirdest of all, of course, is that for the first time in my life – and quite sincerely, I hope the last – I will not be with my parents and sister. Although I will be with my (growing) family, not being with the family I grew up with means it won’t be a perfect holiday. rIAm and I don’t know for sure where life will take us, or you, but we are firm in our conviction that we really want to be stateside for future Thanksgivings. Although it did occur to us that it could be great fun for you to come to us sometime, one day, but that’s just an idea and maybe we’ll think more about it some year.

So on this day of Thanksgiving, I’ll share with you that I am vey thankful for many things. I have all I could need and am particularly grateful that I am confident renée and I can weather the economic storm in the face of bringing our first child into the world, which, of course, is what I’m most thankful for: an expanding family, and one that seems to be as healthy (and active!) as possible. I am surrounded in my life by wonderful family and friends, and indeed, what else could a person want?

Lots of love-
Be well,
jft