|
Post by chech on Oct 13, 2014 0:55:51 GMT
To all us Canucks! Turkey is on the menu!!
|
|
|
Post by californian on Oct 13, 2014 3:06:32 GMT
Happy Thanksgiving to our friends from the North!!
|
|
|
Post by Oz-T on Oct 13, 2014 10:35:05 GMT
Well, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in Canada.
Unless you're a turkey, I suppose.
And Happy Columbus Day to those in the USA (but did Columbus ever reach the USA mainland???)
There's no equivalent to Thanksgiving in Australia and New Zealand, so excuse our ignorance. Why the different date to the US Thanksgiving?
|
|
|
Post by 1jhwks on Oct 13, 2014 17:38:44 GMT
Happy Thanksgiving, Canada! Oz, you can always start a new holiday in Australia!
|
|
|
Post by purvis on Oct 13, 2014 18:01:54 GMT
Well, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in Canada.
Unless you're a turkey, I suppose.
And Happy Columbus Day to those in the USA (but did Columbus ever reach the USA mainland???)
There's no equivalent to Thanksgiving in Australia and New Zealand, so excuse our ignorance. Why the different date to the US Thanksgiving?
|
|
|
Post by purvis on Oct 13, 2014 18:13:45 GMT
If Canadian Thanksgiving were held in late Nov. as the Americans hold it we Canuks would all be house bound by snow and ice (especially we here in the frozen north west) and thus no visiting by going thru the woods to Grandma's house . Also by late Nov. the Canadian Snow Birds (seniors) have started to fly south therefore they get to have an American Thanksgiving also thus get to enjoy two huge dinners. .With Christmas just a month away from the American Thanksgiving there is not much time to loss the weight before Christmas arrives so we Canadians decided to put 2 months between the feasts. We're not so dumb.
|
|
|
Post by Oz-T on Oct 13, 2014 21:05:52 GMT
Haha. Thanks Purvis; you've explained it well. Snow and ice is something we simply don't have to contend with here much (unless we live on a mountain in winter). It still seems rather strange to be having an annual public holiday to celebrate a bountiful harvest. I'll have to ponder about this in three weeks time when we have our next public holiday to celebrate a horse race.
|
|
|
Post by Boop on Oct 13, 2014 21:31:51 GMT
Well, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in Canada.
Unless you're a turkey, I suppose.
And Happy Columbus Day to those in the USA (but did Columbus ever reach the USA mainland???)
There's no equivalent to Thanksgiving in Australia and New Zealand, so excuse our ignorance. Why the different date to the US Thanksgiving? We Canadians need time to recover between celebrations....hic...
|
|
|
Post by purvis on Oct 13, 2014 22:01:22 GMT
Boop: Sorry I forgot to mention getting over the hangover between festivities .
|
|
|
Post by Oz-T on Oct 13, 2014 22:14:07 GMT
"We Canadians need time to recover between celebrations....hic... "That's what I assumed to be the main cause of absenteeism on this forum yesterday.....
|
|
|
Post by Oz-T on Oct 13, 2014 22:51:30 GMT
It is indeed a sad situation when Canada's cats spend Thanksgiving in this sort of way....
|
|
|
Post by chech on Oct 13, 2014 23:24:37 GMT
Tell me about it. I'm still cleaning up.
|
|
|
Post by Oz-T on Oct 13, 2014 23:52:39 GMT
Tsk, tsk. In the old days, all you had to worry about cats was when the adolescents got into the catnip...
|
|
|
Post by chech on Oct 14, 2014 0:16:06 GMT
Oh, it's gotten worse! Much worse!
|
|
|
Post by purvis on Oct 14, 2014 2:37:08 GMT
Chech: I just loved your cats photos. I do hope they had a great Canadian Thanksgiving and recover soon. Purvis
|
|
|
Post by tiffany on Oct 14, 2014 12:01:46 GMT
I hope all of the Canadians out there had a great Thanksgiving weekend. One of the reasons Canadian Thanksgiving is earlier than American Thanksgiving is because our harvest was brought in earlier than theirs due to weather. Below is a link explaining the main differences between Canadian and American Thanksgiving. www.diffen.com/difference/Thanksgiving_in_America_vs_Thanksgiving_in_Canada
|
|
|
Post by purvis on Oct 14, 2014 14:41:53 GMT
Tiffany: Thanks for the comparison chart of Canadian and American Thanksgiving differences. I knew most of the differences but not all of them. It seems that the Americans celebrate Thanksgiving more than Christmas which is strange to a Canadian.
|
|
|
Post by californian on Oct 14, 2014 15:26:52 GMT
Yes, Purvis, it is true, we celebrate Thanksgiving more than Christmas, the reason also has to do with the weather, we all have relatives all over and it's hard to travel with the uncertainty of airport closures, flight delays, etc. Plus, and is the case in my family, no all members celebrate Christmas, they use that time to go skiing or travel south, but Thanksgiving is for all. I hope you had a nice one, Purvis and didn't work too much! (My son in law and myself are in charge of the cooking every year, buy everyone brings something)
|
|
|
Post by purvis on Oct 14, 2014 16:17:42 GMT
Californian: It seems every year the TV shows Americans stranded in airports for days during the holidays because of weather delays especially in Chicago. Since most of Canada is snowbound in the winter our airports are accustomed to snow and ice storms and are equipped to handle them. Our biggest delays in winter are aircraft having to wait in line for de-icing before taking off. This is really annoying when you're on a tight schedule. I had the family over for Thanksgiving dinner this year but this may be the last time as at nearly 80 and with a torn rotator cuff in my left shoulder it was a bit difficult. Old habits are hard to break but age takes it toll. Off to sunny (I hope) Florida in just over two weeks to do my Christmas shopping. It seems a long ways to go to shop but then I really need a break as I haven't been away since last Mar. when I came home from Hawaii with pneumonia and I always find what I'm looking for in the US which isn't always the case here in the Edmonton area. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving next month.
|
|
|
Post by tiffany on Oct 14, 2014 17:20:09 GMT
Yes, Thanksgiving is a bigger holiday for American’s than it is for Canadian’s. One reason may be because it’s a 4 day weekend for them, and only a 3 day weekend for us (although I always book the Friday off from work as I have to travel to visit family). Christmas is a bigger holiday in Canada, and it could be because we get both Christmas Day and Boxing Day as a holiday, and a lot of businesses close on Christmas Eve, giving people three days off in a row (this year it falls against the weekend, which means 5 days off in a row!). I find Easter is also bigger in Canada than it is in the States, and again, it’s probably because we get Good Friday as a Stat holiday, and some provinces get Easter Monday as a Stat holiday as well, making it a 4 day weekend. If I remember correctly, American’s don’t have any legal holiday time at Easter? My cousin lives in Nashville, and she told me that Easter is not a long weekend for them.
My family has always celebrated Thanksgiving with a big meal on the Sunday, but it’s not as big of a holiday for us as Christmas or Easter, and our family makes more of an attempt to get together during those holidays than during Thanksgiving.
|
|
|
Post by solaria on Oct 14, 2014 20:06:31 GMT
Here in NZ we have a long weekend at the end of October for Labour day and thats when we start to get into holiday mood as the weather is warming up! First bbq's, familt get together and going to the beach. Xmas is important here - so much so that when I went into the local mall yesterday there were already xmas decorations up! Too early I think but I noticed that a lot of shoppers were smiling happily at the display. schools are on 6 week break over xmas into the new year and a lot if businesses close down fir 3 weeks! Very annoying when your law firm is shut until mid January when you are negotiating a house sale as we were last year!
|
|
|
Post by Oz-T on Oct 14, 2014 20:15:19 GMT
The weather seems to play quite an important role in all this. Makes sense when a public holiday is tied to a harvest season. For the record, Christmas Day is Australia's main day for quiet family gatherings (or noisy ones in some cases if the family doesn't get along well ). It'd be nice to remain true to tradition and have roast turkey or chicken, but many people are moving to other types of meal such as cold seafood (prawns and lobster etc). That's increasing in popularity when the temperature on Christmas Day is usually in the range of 24°C - 35°C (75°F - 95°C).
|
|
|
Post by tiffany on Oct 14, 2014 21:35:41 GMT
Here in NZ we have a long weekend at the end of October for Labour day and thats when we start to get into holiday mood as the weather is warming up! First bbq's, familt get together and going to the beach. Xmas is important here - so much so that when I went into the local mall yesterday there were already xmas decorations up! Too early I think but I noticed that a lot of shoppers were smiling happily at the display. schools are on 6 week break over xmas into the new year and a lot if businesses close down fir 3 weeks! Very annoying when your law firm is shut until mid January when you are negotiating a house sale as we were last year! Solaria, retailers have started putting out Christmas decorations here too, and have been since mid-September. I think it’s too early, and wish they would wait until after Halloween. People have even started decorating their homes earlier and earlier, and I’ve seen Christmas trees in people’s windows as of November 1. It’s a little too early for me, and I always wait until the end of November/beginning of December to decorate my home, but if decorating early makes people happy, then I guess it’s their right to do so. Our schools only close for 2 weeks at Christmas, and I can’t believe your schools close for 6 weeks! Is this considered their summer break as well? Our schools do close for 2 months in the summer, which for us is July and August. I don’t know of any business that closes for 3 weeks at Christmas. Most are closed for 4 days, December 24, 25, 26 and January 1, although I know some businesses that close from December 24 until January 2. My work place closes on December 24, 25, 26 and January 1, and that’s it. If you want more time off during the holidays, you have to use your vacation days. Most people book it off, but we do have a skeleton staff in case of emergencies.
|
|
|
Post by tiffany on Oct 14, 2014 21:44:39 GMT
The weather seems to play quite an important role in all this. Makes sense when a public holiday is tied to a harvest season. For the record, Christmas Day is Australia's main day for quiet family gatherings (or noisy ones in some cases if the family doesn't get along well ). It'd be nice to remain true to tradition and have roast turkey or chicken, but many people are moving to other types of meal such as cold seafood (prawns and lobster etc). That's increasing in popularity when the temperature on Christmas Day is usually in the range of 24°C - 35°C (75°F - 95°C). I’ve been told by Australian’s I’ve met on past tours that they eat seafood on Christmas Day. I guess it’s a good thing I’m not living there, as I’m allergic to seafood. My family is mostly French Canadian, and they generally celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve. It’s called the Réveillon, and traditionally you eat fish, seafood and tourtiere (meat pie). Fortunately for me, we don’t eat fish or seafood anymore, although tourtiere is still served with almost every meal over the holidays.
|
|
|
Post by Oz-T on Oct 14, 2014 21:56:32 GMT
Seafood's not the only option, Tiffany. More commonly, we would cook a roast turkey, chicken or pork the day before and serve the meat cold on Christmas Day along with salads.
A new tradition has been growing here: Christmas in July. Some restaurants have been doing well in marketing a turkey roast with all the usual Christmas trimmings, but in the month of July (our winter). We mightn't have the snow but it's cold enough to pretend we're having a northern hemisphere 'white Christmas'. It does beat slaving in a hot kitchen with the oven going on December 25.
|
|
|
Post by tiffany on Oct 14, 2014 22:12:21 GMT
Seafood's not the only option, Tiffany. More commonly, we would cook a roast turkey, chicken or pork the day before and serve the meat cold on Christmas Day along with salads. A new tradition has been growing here: Christmas in July. Some restaurants have been doing well in marketing a turkey roast with all the usual Christmas trimmings, but in the month of July (our winter). We mightn't have the snow but it's cold enough to pretend we're having a northern hemisphere 'white Christmas'. It does beat slaving in a hot kitchen with the oven going on December 25. We have Christmas in July too, but for us it is a sales pitch. Retailers put out all of the Christmas decorations, gift wrap, cards, etc., that they couldn’t sell the previous year, and people buy them at a reduced price for the upcoming holiday. Your Christmas in July sounds better with a nice turkey dinner. I can imagine that it’s not ideal cooking a big turkey dinner with all of the trimmings on a hot summer day.
|
|
|
Post by californian on Oct 14, 2014 22:20:12 GMT
I am a native of the Southern Hemisphere as well, Oz-T and I remember celebrating Christmas during the very hot weather, but our grandparents insisted we ate turkey, rich food and desserts, lots of nuts and chocolates, none of which went well in the middle of the summer, but traditions from the old world were hard to change...now New Years Eve was different, very noisy street parties, then from house to house, then clubs until 8 am, sleep a while and go to grandma again for more food...
|
|
|
Post by tiffany on Oct 14, 2014 22:24:50 GMT
I am a native of the Southern Hemisphere as well, Oz-T and I remember celebrating Christmas during the very hot weather, but our grandparents insisted we ate turkey, rich food and desserts, lots of nuts and chocolates, none of which went well in the middle of the summer, but traditions from the old world were hard to change...now New Years Eve was different, very noisy street parties, then from house to house, then clubs until 8 am, sleep a while and go to grandma again for more food... Sounds like good times Californian!
|
|
|
Post by tiffany on Nov 27, 2014 12:51:12 GMT
Happy Thanksgiving to all of our American friends on this forum! I hope you have a great holiday!
|
|
|
Post by chech on Nov 27, 2014 15:31:40 GMT
Yah! Happy Thanksgiving all!! I'm thankful for a Thursday of football!!
|
|