Canadian Thanksgiving, a week later

On Friday morning I had a wonderful surprise. During breakfast my mother-in-law suggested to me that we have a Canadian Thanksgiving dinner in my honour the coming Sunday evening. I was quite surprised, mostly because Jonathan and I had already celebrated my Thanksgiving, not in the traditional sense, but in our own special way. The idea to have a special meal, though, was such a kind thought, and I was eternally thankful and immediately said so. Soon we were in the midst of discussions about what to have for the meal and what groceries we would need to get before the weekend.

On Sunday morning we bustled around putting together many dishes for the meal. Then we left everything in a nearly-finished state, a casserole in the oven ready to start baking at the appointed time, and took off for the cabin. We spent the afternoon bringing items inside to close off the summer season and winterizing the small chalet so that it will be ready when the snow comes. A few hours later, when we were done at the lake, we dashed back to the house and finished the few things left to do for the meal. Then all four of us sat down at the table to enjoy the first of two Thanksgiving dinners we'll have together this year. It was a fabulous feast! And then we spent more time together playing games (one of my favourite family-togetherness activities), Spot It and Apples to Apples. We had fun. We laughed. We bonded. And I gotta tell you, Canadian Thanksgiving might be even more magical than Christmas! (OK, not quite as magical, but almost. :) Thanks for the special time together, Mom and Dad in Maine! It was a great week-after-Thanksgiving surprise!

Our version of Canadian Thanksgiving dinner

The spread (That plant at the end was not to eat, although it looks quite delicious in this picture)

Four of the Gerrans clan - We forgot to get a picture of all of us together before starting the meal, so we did one before dessert

Dessert traditions - homemade cheesecake and pumpkin pie 

I'm not such a fan of pumpkin pie, so I made my traditional Q-cheesecake for half of our dessert spread. Yum! Thanks, Mum, for the recipe!