Giving Thanks ~ Monday

Kelli at There Is No Place Like Home is hosting a Thanksgiving celebration for the next two weeks to help us prepare ourselves for the holiday . . . aaaaannnndddd she's having a giveaway! ;) Each day, Monday through Thursday, Kelli will share a Thanksgiving project, a cleaning challenge, and a Thanksgiving poem. To participate, you can go here to see the prizes, or visit today's post to see the rules for joining in. Each day that you participate will gain an entry for the giveaway.

For my first post, I'll share with you our modest plans for Thanksgiving. Obviously, since we live in Canada, we celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving in October. We discussed this last year on the blog, and I still had the same problem this year: I am not used to Thanksgiving in October, so it's hard for me to get into the mood for it that early in the season! So I think we're just going to give in to both countries and celebrate both! LOL

This year, Pastor Gordon Conner and his wife Josselyn have invited the other pastors and their families with American heritage, who are in the Vancouver area, for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner in their home on Thanksgiving Day. Pastor and Mrs. Conner have done this several times since we moved here, and it's a day that we always look forward to, as we enjoy the fellowship with other families in ministry so much. We get to see each other at other times through the year, but most of those times are ministry-related and we're "working." You probably wouldn't call it that to see us ladies yacking with each other! So the Thanksgiving meal allows us a chance to get together and just fellowship.

Each of us ladies take dishes that are family favorites back in the US. For me, that is my definitely-Southern sweet potato casserole and a big pan of cornbread dressing. I also take a gallon of real, brewed, southern sweet tea. We all usually bring a dessert too, because what's a dinner without tons of dessert?! This year we'll be taking the recipe Beth made yesterday, Pumpkin Praline Pie. I've also decided to try to make a little something for each family to take home with them, like a loaf of pumpkin bread or something similar, and something for the Conner family to keep and not share with the rest of us piggies descending on their house!

We've taken the school day out of our school calendar (but we will have school on Friday, since we've already had one Thanksgiving Day off this year!), and our church family has so graciously agreed to have our mid-week Bible study on Wednesday next week so that we can attend this dinner. So we're all set! I'm looking forward to this favorite holiday of mine!