An American in Canada for Canadian Thanksgiving, eh?

Signature Afternoon Tea Service at Urban Tea Merchant in Vancouver's North Shore.
©SueFrausePhoto

I've been in Canada several times for Canadian Thanksgiving. The first was back in the late '70s, when some Canucks invited us up north to celebrate their October feast in Egmont. All I remember is it took us a bazillion hours to get there from Whidbey Island, the food and wine were both plentiful, but it was a wee bit strange to be celebrating it a month early.

So here it is 2010, and once again I'm in BC for Canadian Thanksgiving. But I still can't figure out when they actually celebrate it with the full meal deal. Since their holiday is on a Monday, they most likely have their big turkey dinner on a Saturday or Sunday. If they had it on a Monday, then they'd have to go to work the following Tuesday, which wouldn't be good.

The best part about American Thanksgiving is that it's on a Thursday, which means turkey and all the trimmings on day one, leftovers on days two, three and four. A Canadian I met tonight said he was going to talk to Stephen Harper about changing the dates of Canada's Thanksgiving, as he thought ours made more sense. For once, the US does something right!

So what did I do on this national holiday in Canada? I spent the day and evening in Vancouver's North Shore, where I enjoyed a delicious Signature Afternoon Tea Service at The Urban Tea Merchant. Later that evening, back at the Pinnacle Hotel at the Pier, I enjoyed several glasses of Mission Hill Cabernet-Merlot along with some vegetarian spring rolls, even though there was turkey on the hotel restaurant's menu.

I'll save my real Thanksgiving dinner for Thursday, Nov. 25, back at home with Farmer Bob. That's when about 16 friends and relatives will gather round our custom-built holiday table and feast on turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberries and pumpkin and pecan pies.

As much as I love Canada, we Americans really do Thanksgiving right.