Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving is one of those lovely, relaxed holidays that revolves around family, friends, and food - and we've been having a good dose of each of those.   


I added some autumn decorations to help us all get in the Thanksgiving mood.  You've got to love decorations you can eat - aren't these the most interesting squash.

We've also been enjoying the incredibly warm weather,

and the gorgeous fall colours.  We went for hikes on both Saturday and Sunday.

We also enjoyed our turkey dinner!  I love that it is the same meal - the exact same menu - every year.   You know that the turkey with gravy is going to be amazing, the mashed potatoes yummy, the dressing will be fantastic - love the dressing - all followed by pumpkin pie with whipped cream.  The best!

There is so much to be grateful for.  This year we are especially thankful that my father (you can see him at the end of the table) is recovering so well from his recent surgery.  

We missed having Kate home for the weekend as she is at university in Halifax and William flew down for the weekend to visit her.  Yep, we missed them both!  We are, however, grateful that Kate is enjoying her program, has met some good friends, and did well on her first paper.  William misses Kate a lot so they are having some good sibling time this weekend.

This year we had a couple of guests join us for Thanksgiving dinner.  Christie, our daughter-in-laws' sister came home with her for the weekend.  We've enjoyed getting to know her more and she was a huge help in the kitchen with the vegetable chopping and pumpkin pie making and drying the dishes - thanks Valerie!  

We also had a new friend from India join us (you can see him sitting at the left side of the table in the photo above).  I know it is going to sound strange, but I met him on the airplane coming back from India.   Trust me, I don't usually start talking to strangers and then invite them home to dinner, but this guy seemed like our kind of fellow.   He is on a four month work contract here in Toronto.  It is his first time in Canada and he is keen to see as much as he can of the rocks and trees and wild-lands.  It was fun seeing a Canadian Thanksgiving through a visitor's eyes.  He seemed to particularly like the colourful fall leaves and the pumpkin pie.

Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian friends.