November 25, 2008, Chevy Chase, Md. Thanksgiving.

This American Thanksgiving is the best holiday of the year. The food is always the same, so no decisions have to be made. The families and friends gather together without regard to religion or creed. No presents have to be purchased and exchanged. The only thing that must be done is to get yourself from one place to another in order to celebrate the season with your family and friends. The food is even easy to prepare, so no wonder everyone loves Thanksgiving. In the United States, everyone goes home for Thanksgiving. The travel industry is busiest over Thanksgiving than any other time of the year. In Canada, I do not recall their Thanksgiving makes for a huge holiday. In fact, my recollection is that the holiday is more a Harvest Festival, rather that the huge Family celebration such as exists in the U.S. Of course, the October Thanksgiving in Canada has nothing to do with the Pilgrims. Because the date is in late November, many families with young children go home to the grandparents for Thanksgiving and then celebrate Christmas at home, so Santa Claus can find the children at their own home. For all those reasons, Thanksgiving is greatly beloved here.

For the past few years we have been in Nova Scotia for Thanksgiving, where we celebrate with our friends Mary and Walt. Mary is from Chicago so likes to celebrate the American Thanksgiving. She also celebrates Canadian Thanksgiving too. Mary is a very good cook so celebrating with them ia always a pleasure. Many years we celebrated at the farm with Andrew and Christina and the girls. The weather at the farm is wonderful in November, so it is always a pleasure to be there. One year I taught Christina to fix the turkey and dressing, as Andrew asked for dressing just like his Mother, so from that day until now, that is how Christina makes her turkey. Now I am not known as a wonderful cook, so that must be the only time any one asked me to prepare anything. Texas is another place we have celebrated Thanksgiving. We met Suzanne's grandparents over the holiday when both boys went hunting at their ranch. In fact we ate our turkey dinner with the Capp's family in Pontitoc, before David and Suzanne married. I love Thanksgiving and I love turkey. Now I am looking forward to the festivities.