It’s weird how quickly the switch from Halloween to Christmas happens. I know people are supposed to wait until after Remembrance Day to decorate and start gearing up for the winter holiday season, but since I’ve already been to several Christmas markets so far this fall, it seems like that’s a recommendation instead of a rule.
At this time last year, I was in the U.S. And while there was still a bit of a rush to get the Christmas lights up after the skeletons and pumpkins came down, I think things moved a bit slower because of Thanksgiving.
I miss American Thanksgiving. November feels awfully empty for me now, after living in Kansas for four years and enjoying the late fall holiday as a bit of a warm-up to the season.
I don’t like it.
I understand that a celebration showing gratitude for a good harvest should logically occur around the time that harvest ends, which would be earlier in Canada than in the U.S. But mid-October is still early autumn, and it feels like kids have just gone back to school and the summer has just cooled into fall when all of a sudden, we have a big family holiday to celebrate.
It doesn’t feel like the right time for turkey or pumpkin pie when you’ve just finished back-to-school shopping. Besides, pumpkin pie belongs after Halloween, once you’ve had a chance to enjoy your carved pumpkin with fresh pumpkin smell filling your house. You bake the seeds and then have a deliciously spiced pumpkin pie a few weeks later, with the family. It just makes sense.
And really, it’s basically the same holiday, just with less pilgrims. We still got together as a family, cooked a turkey, played games, and watched football. It’s a bigger deal in the U.S., though - almost as big as Christmas. People fly across the country to come home and spend the holiday with family - in fact, in the U.S., Thanksgiving weekend is the busiest travel time of the year. In Canada, it seems people are more likely to save up their vacation time for later in December, when they can visit family for Christmas and for New Year’s Eve.
I was fortunate this year to be able to spend Canadian Thanksgiving with my family, who came to Calgary for a weekend visit, but I still feel like I’m missing out on something during this time between Remembrance Day and Christmas. I’m not ready for Christmas carols yet. There’s supposed to be another fall holiday in here.
There is a little bit of American Thanksgiving sneaking into Canada, though. The worst part. Black Friday is becoming more popular with Canadian retailers, and I have to admit that it is nice to not have that insane shopping day associated with our Canadian holiday. I’ve always hated that Christmas ends so suddenly and everyone spends the very next day at the mall, trying desperately to return unwanted gifts for store credit to use on ridiculously cheap things that they don’t need.
But I’m no stranger to missing holidays. When I was in Kansas, I found myself feeling strangely patriotic as all the Americans around me were enjoying setting off fireworks in the streets, celebrating their independence only days after my country’s birthday was sadly ignored. I resourcefully found a website called Canada Day Across America and commiserated with some other Canadians while I made myself some butter tarts and tried to ignore the fear that some drunken idiot would set my backyard on fire.
So maybe I’ll have to start celebrating Thanksgiving twice a year.
Any excuse to have a second piece of pumpkin pie, right?
