Thanksgiving Is More than Turkey

Now don’t get me wrong, turkey is definitely a must for Thanksgiving dinner in my family, but it isn’t the dinner that we share as a family, it is all the memories I have and will continue to make that makes me love this holiday!

My Grandparents have a cottage on Lake Clear just outside of Eganville, and when we were kids we would go up every Thanksgiving weekend. If the weather wasn’t great we would move dinner into town where they lived. For anyone who is familiar with Eganville my grandparents were the owners of Vic’s General Store. I, along with my cousins would enjoy the weekend by playing games, running around outside the cottage and my favourite picking apples from their two apple trees. Often a ‘how high up can you climb the tree’ contest would break out…you know some friendly competition among cousins

Another tradition growing up was Birthday cake on Thanksgiving….yup, Birthday cake! I have 5 cousins that were all born within 3 months of each other and 3 of them all within a week…how often does that happen?? My brother kicked off the week of births which happened to be right around Thanksgiving! So amongst turkey and stuffing and pumpkin pie there was cake as we would celebrate their birthdays at the same time since the whole family was together.

As I got older, like most people I had to split my time between my family and my in-laws….which really isn’t a bad thing, but come Monday I had my fill of turkey (but really I could never get tired of the stuffing or pumpkin pie!). No matter what though I always tried to get up to the cottage which is now their home since selling the business. It just doesn’t feel the same if I’m not up there breathing in that good old country air!

There is nothing like a drive through the valley…..all the colourful leaves can be so breathtaking and one of the reasons I love Fall. This year we’ll be spending the day with my Grandparents, my parents and some of my cousins…..it isn’t the same as when we were kids, but I always love spending time with my family and making new memories…..that to me is what Thanksgiving is all about

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!

What are your favourite childhood memories of Thanksgiving? What do you do with your family or friends that makes this Holiday special?