Thanksgiving Traditions of TCS Staff

Thanksgiving is a holiday quite widely celebrated across Canada. Different cultures and families may have slightly different ways they spend their Thanksgiving. Traditions are such an excellent way to bond a family. Read about some of the traditions of the staff of The Canadian Schoolhouse.

Thanksgiving is one of my favourite holidays - second only to Christmas! We always have a big turkey dinner with my parents and siblings. Staples include mashed potatoes, cauliflower and cheese sauce, and a pot of corn. Apple and pumpkin pie finish off the meal nicely with a cup of tea. Sitting at the centre of the table are two little turkey figurines. I know it's 'that time of year' when those little ornamental turkeys show up!"

Carolyn Bechard

We don't really have any specific traditions yet, but every year we look forward to a big meal together with our growing family (we're up to 9) and definitely thanking God for His blessings before we pig out on Grandma's awesome cooking. Then it's just cherishing the time together afterwards. All your cares in the world are replaced with good conversation and lots and lots of laughter.

Christine Weller

Thanksgiving in our family is celebrated with family and friends joining our table. We appreciate the traditional dishes of the Canadian Thanksgiving meal. During the long weekend, we enjoy going on walks to admire the lovely autumn colors. Depending on the weather, sometimes we need to bundle up with more layers while being outside in the fresh, crisp air.

Thanksgiving includes going to church. After the service, we usually like to go to a historical village in our city, learning about the history, traditions, and resourcefulness of settlers and pioneers to the area. 

Another way my family marks the Thanksgiving weekend is by watching inspiring stories such as the movie Anne of Green Gables (1985) and the television series Road to Avonlea, both based on books by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery. 

Thanksgiving is a special and relaxing time for my family, and we are thankful to be able to give the Lord our praise and thanks during this holiday for His abundant blessings and gifts over the growing and harvest seasons and all through the year.

Barbori Streibl

Thanksgiving for us Morrison's is pretty much about family and food - as is the custom of most people for this holiday. We gather with our extended family, enjoy a spread of food for snacking and then enjoy a big meal (usually a turkey, but not always) which is finished off with some special dessert. Card games and board games are a part of some of those gatherings and of course lots of talking!

Our big family gatherings are a cherished part of the weekend, but as I consider our immediate family traditions I am most affected by the way that the focus of Thanksgiving for me personally has shifted over the last few years. I find each Thanksgiving is a bigger and better opportunity to share, and show, our thanks to God for His provision, faithfulness, and great love that definitely surpasses all understanding.

Christmas is certainly a good time to be thankful for all God has done for us too; that little Jesus got big and did so much more than we can ever truly understand. But with Christmas being a much more "involved" holiday, this mid-October holiday is one that our family can really take the time to devote our attention to how much our Lord and Saviour is greater and lovelier than we could ask for or imagine. I think of it as the primer to get our devotion right for Christmas when it can be easy to miss Christ in Christmas.

I hope we never just pick one way and stick with that as the tradition, but to share a few things we have done and things I'd like us to do, I'll give you a short list of some activities on our Thanksgiving weekend.

• Hiking on trails with the purpose of admiring His handiwork in nature.
• Taking turns reading some Psalms of thanksgiving and sharing our thoughts about them.
• Praying together with each of us saying out loud what we are thankful for in each other.
• Acknowledging all the things we have and that we have them because of God.

Being thankful and grateful are important to me, even before I knew God. I knew there was power in just appreciating what I have. However, being thankful and having God as my source means even more. His Word is filled with the instruction to give thanks always (1 Thessalonians 5:18, Ephesians 5:20, Psalm 107:1, and many more!). And I love that we can have a weekend where we focus on that aspect more diligently.

Stephanie Morrison

Thanksgiving is at the top of my list for favourite holidays. Fall is my favourite season; I love the temperature, the changing leaves, the warm sweaters, and hot drinks. I love the simplicity of this holiday without the hullabaloo of gifts. I love family and friends and spending time together. So it’s no surprise really that I love this holiday.

With being an RCMP family, we have spent many years away from our families but have been able to still create some lovely traditions. We have always had a ham dinner for our Thanksgiving meal, whether just the 4 of us, with a few guests, camping with friends or with a large RCMP family potluck style. We stick with traditional sides of potatoes, sweet potato casserole, stuffing, corn, cranberry, homemade bread, and occasionally some roasted root veggies. Apple crisp is our go-to dessert. 

One tradition we really enjoy is a form of memory keeping. We have a leather bound traveler's notebook, and each Thanksgiving we trace our hands in it and write 5 things that we are thankful for inside our traced hand. Around the outside, I write a few bullet points about that day: where we lived that year, who joined us for a meal, a bit about the weather, etc. This is a fun thing to look back on to see how the kids' hands have grown but also to look back on all the things we have been thankful for and how God has provided for us. 

Kristin Stewart

We hope you enjoyed learning about our families’ traditions and would love to learn about yours! Let us know on our social media pages some of your favourite Thanksgiving traditions.

This article has been written by homeschooling staff writers of The Canadian Schoolhouse (TCS). Enjoy more of our content from TCS contributors and staff writers by visiting our Front Door page that has content on our monthly theme and links to all our content sections.