Thanksgiving

I admit to being ‘bah, humbug’ about holidays. And I don’t know much, beyond a children’s book retelling about the history of Thanksgiving. But why on earth did the ‘pilgrims’ put their feast so close to Christmas? Who wants to plan a Big Family Meal exactly one month before another Big Family Meal? And eat turkey when you still have the parched leftovers from the first bird still hanging around? And then there’s the problem of pumpkin pie, the candle-wax-and-smoke-infused flesh of the poor jack-o-lantern. I love pumpkin soup and pumpkin gratin, but pumpkin pie?

Canada, as is often the case, is much more sensible, celebrating its (copycat?) Thanksgiving on a Monday in early October, before the Christmas decorations are up and the travel problems due to weather are too acute. Less hoopla and less shopping too. Understatement is a Canadian strength.