Happy Thanksgiving Canada

Rob at the top of the 100+ foot ladder truck, fixing the flag- QBFD  Father's Day 2013

 Canada! I live here, everyone I really know lives here. According to my Blogger Overview and Stats; the majority of my readers are Canadian. But I know I have some readers that come from different countries.. that may or may not know that much about Canada..

Here are some fun facts, or stereotypes to list and discuss..


//1    Vancouver held the Winter Olympics in 2010 and on their website there was a Q & A page. It was comical to us Canadians to read how much the rest of the world did not know about Canada. It's okay- I'm guilty of this ignorance as well. I wouldn't be able to name all of the states in America and I also have to refer to Google Maps to find out where some of my fellow bloggers live.. ( I have an idea where these places are, but I have to refer to the maps to find their countries.) Here are a list of some of the questions asked from all around the world:

Q: Are there any ATMs (cash machines) in Canada? Can you send me a list of them in Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton and Halifax? (UK)
 
Q: Are there supermarkets in Toronto and is milk available all year round? (Germany)

Q: I want to walk from Vancouver to Toronto. Can I follow the Railroad tracks? (Sweden)

 Q: Will I be able to see Polar Bears in the street? (USA)

 I live on Vancouver Island, I do not live in Vancouver. Toronto is a 42 hour drive from where I live..and it's also the fifth largest city in North America. I was born and raised in Alberta but I don't know your friend Meg from Calgary. It can get pretty cold in Canada, but I live in a heated home and I have never even seen an igloo. Aaaand, I grew up near Jasper where wildlife is plentiful. But, I still haven't seen a moose in person. Polar bears are just as mysterious to me as they are to.. you, yup- you because I bet you haven't seen one before either.

2010 Winter Olympics- Vancouver

 

 //2   One of Canada's National Symbols is the Beaver. Honestly, I find this sort of embarrassing. I know why the beaver is a symbol to us.. but it looks like an obese, wet squirrel.. The beaver is actually a huge pain in the ass in the wild. They are extremely hard workers that never stop.. but because of this their dam building causes serious flooding and has been known in the past to lose Canada millions of dollars in the timber industry. 

This guy made the news that day.. Ohhhhh Canada, I love you. (2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics)

//3   People all over the world seem to think that Canadians are obsessed with hockey. Like, you can't go into a pub or sports bar without seeing hockey paraphernalia littered all over the walls.. Or that Canadians are known for playing hooky from work to watch important hockey games during the Olympics.. And that most Canadians feel very passionately about 'their' hockey team wherever you go... Well, it's all true! Hockey is our national sport and that is a fact.

This video was recorded in the Vancouver harbour during the 2010 Gold Medal Game against the U.S of A... At 1 minute 18 seconds in, you can hear just how important hockey is to Canada.. It's actually pretty amazing..



( I get a little choked up every time I watch that... )

Aaand as Helene mentioned in her post today - that all recap posts should have some kind of a point, to make the recap more interesting. So #4 is the point of my entire post today...

//4   We have Thanksgiving too.. It's just a full month before the U.S. and that's okay! We eat the same stuff; stuffing, turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy. We talk about what we're thankful for... and we get together with family and friends to celebrate the occasion. We don't have parades, and if we do we don't televise them and I don't know anything about them... We get the Monday off, which is always a bonus. I always thought having Thanksgiving in November was too close to Christmas. It's nice to have a full month of zero turkey dinner, before having it again in December.

Our dinner, last year..

 This year, for Thanksgiving we didn't do too much. Since my sister and her family moved to the East Coast, Thanksgiving hasn't really been the same. We used to name this holiday; "Orphan Thanksgiving" because all of our parents lived elsewhere and we all just had each other. Five Thanksgivings ago, I met my best friend Katie's son Fletcher for the first time. That same Thanksgiving, Ky and Joe found out that they were pregnant with their first. This year was special because it was Alina's first turkey dinner, her first taste of pumpkin pie and of course, it was Baby's First Thanksgiving. My mom came for the day, to visit and help out. Rob ended up watching hockey, football and baseball all in one day, while he played and napped with Alina. My mom and I ended up watching the "Quarterback" episode of Glee. It was truly one of the saddest, but touching tribute episodes I've ever seen. We cried, but somehow it worked watching it on Thanksgiving because it was a reminder that we were both very grateful for each other. I have a mom that I love, that lives close. She has a daughter and a granddaughter to visit whenever she wants.

 Making a turkey dinner is getting easier and easier to do every year. It helps that I didn't have my best drinking partner with me for the last three years. The turkey was moist, the gravy plentiful and tasty and the stuffing was alright. I think it was a bit too flavourful.. but I was reassured that it was perfect. Rob whipped up the pumpkin pie and I love my husband because he tries to tackle challenges like this. The pie turned out alright and I'm sure next year it will be even better. 

 So, this year I am thankful for... my mom and our new found relationship. I am grateful for my little family; Rob, Alina and I.. Nothing else in this world matters as long as I'm waking up to those two smiling faces.

 Thank you, for the life I live- Every. Single. Day.