Today up here in Canada we celebrated Thanksgiving today! Anytime anyone says “Happy Thanksgiving” I find myself wanting to be different and always tend to respond with “Happy Gobble Gobble!”.

Being Atheist, this tends to be the holiday that I mostly gravitate towards. For me it’s a time to reflect on the past year, to sit down with my tiny family of 4 (including me) and have dinner at our mostly unused dinning room table.

It’s thought that Canada first celebrated Thanksgiving in 1578 when an exbidition from England by Martin Frobisher (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Frobisher) landed and gathered with the remainder of his fleet and they had a feast. It seems to have taken shape after that in 1604 when Samuel de Champlain shared food with Native Canadians. The dates in which our Thanksgiving Day have shifted over the years and is now celebrated the second Monday of October and has been fixed on this day since 1957.

For me it’s much less about what I’m thankful for since not a day goes by when I don’t look around and think about the good things around me, which I do to compact the negative feelings I have about all the crap that is going on. Crap that is either happening to me, those I love, or just the world in general. I have a great house (that needs some repairs), I have great friends (that I don’t see nearly enough), I have a great job, (really no down side here), I have a great family (not big but they are all I need). Thanksgiving for me is reminding myself about balance, about love. I’m truly thankful to be Canadian, to have a healthcare system that doesn’t bankrupt me or has left me for dead. To be Canadian with a leader who may not be perfect but has Canadians in his thoughts, who is a stable human being. I’m thankful that I have an audience to write to, who appreciate my quirky sense of humour and who are forgiving for my lack of writing.

I originally conceived this post to make be a bit of a commentary on the U.S. elections however I figured that wasn’t in the spirit of Thanksgiving. Well except the part where I’m thankful not to be American. That may be a post for another day, today as I write this I’m fighting the food coma that comes with having had a full plate of food. I think the only regret I have this day is that I didn’t do enough to help others today. I know that this is my first post in a very long time please forgive it’s shortness however I’m going to go and watch a movie with my mom, who I’m very thankful I can still watch movies with.

To those who are struggling (in any way) on this day know that you are in my thoughts. Today is a day of reflection, and of love and I appreciate and love all of you. I don’t always feel thankful, or even act like it some days but on this day I try to make an extra effort.

Our Turkey dinner tonight!