Canadian Thanksgiving
If you know me and my family, you know that my mom is from Canada and we try to keep her family traditions going – even though we live in the states. We love all of my mom’s family so much and miss getting so spend holidays together with them, so we celebrate to feel like we are with them celebrating.
Last year we spent American Thanksgiving in Canada to celebrate the life of my Grandpa Brownie. I was blessed to meet up with my mom and take Annabelle to spend a few days with my Grandpa Brownie before he passed. He was the sweetest and most caring man I’ve ever known, with a little spit-fire in him too, which we all loved!
It was a time we all cherish and are grateful we were able to gather with our family to be reminded of the incredible life he lived. I still remember being in Idaho going to school and meeting people from his town and they knew him and loved sharing stories and memories they had with him. I hope to be remembered and known as well as him, because in my books, he’s a legend!
After spending those last few days with my Grandpa Brownie, I wanted to make sure we kept Canadian traditions going in my family. So, this is the first year we officially celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving and I’m so glad we did it.
I didn’t prepare a full Thanksgiving Feast, but I sure wanted to make sure we had a nice dinner to enjoy together. I decided to make a Friendsgiving Casserole, thanks to Joanna Gaines she shared an amazing recipe served with a side of green beans, because we all need veggies. To finish off the night I made a Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake, because what’s Thanksgiving without a pumpkin dessert.
While we were eating dinner, my sister asked us all what we are most thankful for from Canada. Of course, we all thought of our family and the memories we’ve made there, but we also couldn’t forget about some of our favorites. Just to share a few, we are all thankful for Grandpa’s backyard, Rogers Syrup, hockey, water slides at the hotels, Canada Day, Nanaimo bars, dill pickle flavored everything and quite a few more. If you’ve never heard of these things, take a trip to Canada and find them…they’re there and you won’t regret finding them.
Gathering with family and friends is always something I cherish. I love bringing those I love together to celebrate and just be together, because it’s when we’re together that we laugh, cry and have fun in ways that we wouldn’t if we weren’t together.
No matter if you celebrate Thanksgiving, Friendsgiving or any holiday – put together an amazing meal for the whole family. Anytime to gather as a family is a blessings, so take some time to prepare a nice meal and get everyone together…You’re about to make memories that will be cherished for years to come.
