Wednesday 8 January 2014

Canadian Thanksgiving

Corn and turkey "dressing". (We would know it as
stuffing back home.) It was the best by far!
 Surprise, surprise! I again had the privilege of enjoying food and fun with friends with the Berger family! (See previous post "Music, Ice-cream Cakes and Line Dancing") Being invited once is something but being invited back is really special. Especially for a celebration like Thanksgiving. It was absolutely brilliant!
 Thanksgiving has been celebrated on and off in Canada for a few hundred years but didn't become official until the January 31st of 1957 when the Parliament of Canada declared,

 "A Day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed – to be observed on the 2nd Monday in October."

 Well, I'm sure glad they did that! 
 What are the differences between the American and Canadian Thanksgivings? Not a whole lot. If I'm correct, the Americans originally celebrated it as thanks to God for the generosity of the Native Americans whereas the Canadian Thanksgiving is celebrated as thanking God for the harvest. (If anyone could help me out at all, that would be great!)
 After eating, we went for a walk and I was offered to try "wheat gum". It's where you chew on raw wheat grains until it has the consistency of gum. I had to try this three times but thanks to the insistence of Alex, Abby and Alethea, it eventually worked! If Extra or Wrigleys brought out a sawdust flavour gum then you'd have some idea of what it was like...
Enjoying a slice of pumpkin pie.
Thanks goes to Alex Berger for this one...
 Now, I'm used to knives of most shapes and sizes due to working in kitchens, however, I've never had need to throw them. Thanks to Hans and Abby I got the chance to do just that! It was great fun and I really enjoyed it. Thanks guys!
 Then we had another dance party! I've noticed a pattern. When friends get together to enjoy food a fun times, dancing is never usually far behind... (See previous post "Music, Ice-cream Cakes and Line Dancing") After all, this was a day of celebration, right?
 Unfortunately, it was soon time for goodbyes. It was sad but hopefully it wasn't a "goodbye" as such but rather a "see you soon". (I hope there are more of those...) I have sure learned a lot from spending time with this flat-out amazing family! Our time together won't be forgotten. Many thanks to all of you for your incredible hospitality!
 However, I had one last thing to do. It was time for a little taste-testing. Yep, you guessed it: Marmite! A few brave volunteers gave it a try and some actually liked it. It's always great fun seeing someone try something for the first time, especially when they actually like it. (Although, it is fun when they don't like it too!)

Seasoned with Thanksgiving,

Jacob

Steaming turkey, green sprouts and buttery mash

"Wheat gum" anybody?

Let's have a hand for these brave Canadians!


"To glorify my Savior, Jesus Christ, the Creator 
of the universe and spread further abroad His glorious gospel." - Yours Truly

6 comments:

  1. Oh Yes! Food, Fun and Dancing! Life's great joys!

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    1. Life's greatest joy is actually Alberta steak....... lol not really but it's pretty close......

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  2. Apparently you have to acquire a taste for wheat gum...kind of like Marmite. Though some of us enjoy both!:)

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    1. Ha, ha! I would tend to agree! Though, if it was a choice, I think the Marmite would come out on top...

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  3. Jacob, I am just in love with your blog! You make each post so individual and special and it always brings a little "Friday-ness" to my day - no matter day of the week it is! Keep it up, love hearing about the travels! :D

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    1. Hi! Thank you so, so much for your wonderful comment! It sure means a whole lot to me.

      God bless!

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