Thanksgiving is a holiday that celebrates the bringing in of the harvest and traditionally involves a turkey dinner and feast. Canadian Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday in October – although the actual Thanksgiving feast may be celebrated on any day of that weekend. In our area, this is usually the peak time for viewing the fall colours – that is, when the leaves of all the deciduous trees turn pretty colours making all the hills bright yellow and red.
For some, Thanksgiving is a family time. For us, Thanksgiving is a time we share with friends, catching up on all the events of the last year. Our particular Thanksgiving tradition involves renting a cottage or two somewhere between Chicoutimi, Quebec and Ottawa, Ontario. Several families decend upon the cottage for the long weekend. All the families that participate in this weekend have a Kitimat connection – that is, they have all lived in Kitimat, British Columbia at one time or another. This is one of the few yearly rituals which we have developed ourselves, rather than inheriting from our families or our society, so it is special to us.
Our tradition involves a hike to enjoy the spectacular views and a Thanksgiving feast where everyone contributes something different to the table. Dinner always involves a delicious turkey or two.
We enjoyed our hike this year on a nice bright Sunday morning, which was followed by snow flurries on Sunday afternoon! Fortunately, the snow cleared before our drive home on Monday.
This year, all the families but ours came from Chicoutimi-Jonquiere, and work at the Rio-Tinto/Alcan plants there. This is the same Alcan which Becky’s parents worked for in Kitimat, so all of them knew her parents, even those we hadn’t met before. Everyone but us has children, so it is fun for both of us to visit and play with them, but the level of kid activity is often a challenge by the end of the weekend, especially for us. This year the kids are growing up, so it is possible to send them off in the care of the oldest ones for a time. A welcome reprieve for all!
Being able to celebrate Thanksgiving in our usual way was another reminder that we are home, but seeing how the children have grown definitely showed us that time had passed in our absence.
Sunday morning walk in the woods.
Beautiful waterfall at the end of the pathway.
Yes, Scott still has some pretty amazing tan lines!
A Sunday afternoon snowfall, just to make things interesting.
Preparing a Thanksgiving feast.
Ron going a little crazy with the knife.
Sunday night we had a vistor – who enjoyed the scraps of our turkey dinner!