Having lived in both Canada and the U.S., it is interesting to note the Thanksgiving tradition similarities shared by these two neighboring nations, even though the holiday falls differently on the calendar. Canada’s Thanksgiving is on the second Monday in October while the U.S. celebrates the fourth Thursday in November. As we prepare for Thanksgiving, I thought it would be interesting to have our inspectors and other road warriors share their holiday traditions.

British Columbia: With respect to the timing of the “Big Dinner” – I think it’s pretty well split between Sunday and Monday and, in my experience, always at supper time. Perhaps the exception would be some farm families, where lunch is the big meal of the day. 

Our family always celebrated it on the Sunday after Thanksgiving in Winnipeg with my family of duck hunters.  We celebrated on Sunday so that grandpa, dad and the uncles could go hunting on the Monday holiday! 

My uncle, aunt and cousins drove up from Minnesota every year for our Canadian Thanksgiving.  We Canadian kids envied our American cousins, as they got TWO Thanksgiving dinners, our October event and their own in November!

Now, we still celebrate on Sunday most years. It’s mostly so that all the clean-up can be done then or on Monday.  Monday dinner means that the next day is a work or school day – not always as convenient! Now, dinner rotates between various family members here in Vancouver.

Dinner traditionally includes a turkey with lots of bread/sage stuffing (I sneak a few mushrooms in too!). Cranberry sauce, a pickle tray, mashed potatoes, gravy, Brussels sprouts, peas (for those who are not enamored with Brussels sprouts) and carrots.  My side of the family always had turnips instead of the carrots – turnips are not done in my husband’s family, though!  (He turns up his nose at them – that’s his ‘turnip’ idea!)

Dessert is always pumpkin pie (though there were a couple of years when I made pumpkin cheesecake, too – yummmmmm!)

British Columbia: Thanksgiving does not involve big family traditions for me. It’s Christmas that has more of a family tradition where we lay out those pull-type fire crackers with the goofy paper hat and useless plastic toys inside - it’s an English thing. The one item we always have at Christmas is plum pudding and rum sauce. 

Now I’m not a fan of fruit cake or plum pudding, but I love the rum sauce that my grandmother makes. I’d always take just a sliver of the fruit cake and a big helping of rum sauce, which kills the taste of cake!!

This year I was going to wait for someone to host a dinner party and beg for an invite… just kidding… In all honesty, I wasn’t confident any of my friends would plan such an event.  I had looked into going to one of the hotels for a Thanksgiving buffet but they were charging $45, yikes! 

At the last minute, lo and behold, a friend decided to host a dinner, and I was invited on Saturday night for a Monday night dinner.  I was in charge of the buns and some wine - easy breezy - and I got fed!  Eight people were there - three of which I’d never met before. It was fun having the added bonus of meeting some new people.

Alberta: I wish I could help more on this, but I can’t even remember the last time I had a Thanksgiving dinner.  But when we did it was a pretty standard and boring turkey (although I was in charge of the basic sage and onion stuffing — to make sure we had enough and that it was spicy enough). 

On the side, we usually had mashed potatoes and no specific vegetable, but pumpkin pie and ice cream were always served up for dessert.  I think we usually had Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday, but I know a lot of folks who celebrate on Monday.  Most eat their meal at dinner and not lunch. 

I’ll be on the road this year for the holiday and won’t arrive home until Thanksgiving is a memory, so I’ll dine alone at a restaurant somewhere in Saskatchewan. 

Update: In Prince Albert, many restaurants were closed, so I was forced to have dinner at a Boston Pizza— dinner was a thin crust pepperoni and feta cheese pizza with a couple of glasses of Mondavi Woodbridge Cabernet Sauvignon. I was truly thankful that there was no prep work or cleaning dishes involved.

Ontario:  There are no real traditions in my family. It has never been a really big deal. We tend to eat turkey if we’re at home on Saturday to finish up the leftovers through the rest of the weekend. Usually we just go away for the weekend and enjoy the day off.

When I am working in the U.S. during the American Thanksgiving, I always crave turkey and go to one of the turkey suppers at a local restaurant, and I find they all do a great job making traditional turkey, stuffing and sweet potatoes.

Quebec:  For Thanksgiving, my family including all four siblings and their spouses, some extended family, my dad and his twelve grandchildren gather on Sunday at lunchtime at my sister’s boyfriend’s house in the country.  He lives in a farm house, and the fall foliage is gorgeous near his home. 

Last year we were there, and the kids walked through a field of corn behind his place.  This year it’s a field of broccoli, so I expect broccoli will be on the menu along with sweet potatoes, green peas (petit pois), roasted potatoes, apple-and-bread crumb stuffing, turkey gravy, steamed carrots and “tourtiere,” meat pies prepared with pork, veal and beef.

The main dish will be deep-fried capon (castrated rooster) that my sister’s boyfriend buys live and slaughters himself (he’s a hunter).  They then heat up a pot of oil over a gas burner and cook the capon very quickly (I think it takes less than 30 minutes).  The meat comes out tender and the skin nice and crispy.

My sister plans to also cook a small turkey in advance and slice it up. We may also have a small ham prepared with cloves and cherries. For dessert, we’ll have homemade pumpkin pie and lemon meringue pie.  The capon is something new in recent years; traditionally we always had turkey and a small ham on Thanksgiving. Mmmmmm.

I can’t wait.

Quebec:  I think the feast day generally varies — Sunday would be the logical night for most to accommodate any visitors who would need to travel back home on Monday. Eating turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy and veggies is a general tradition.

Personally, I am thankful every day for everything I have - never taking anything for granted - and I don't need a particular holiday to remind me of the great country we live in (freedom) and how fortunate we are.

New Brunswick:  I will describe Thanksgiving in our household from my wife’s perspective as she is a traditionalist in every sense of the word when it comes to holidays.

Of course in Canada, Thanksgiving is held as a long weekend with Thanksgiving Day on Sunday and the statutory holiday on Monday. We have our dinner on Sunday, which allows everyone to have the Monday to recover from their tryptophan and sugar overdose.

The day itself usually begins with a family breakfast; something light to allow for maximum food consumption later in the day. Homemade scones with fruit and tea are a favorite.

In our family, the afternoon holiday hike is the biggest tradition. Depending on the year, we hike up a local mountain that is close to our home. Remember this is New Brunswick, so any local mountain is really just a tall hill. 

This year, since the tide schedule is cooperating, we will hike around Minister’s Island, a local historic site and a two-hour hike. We have hiked on Thanksgiving for over 20 years, and there is no question that everyone likes to participate.  When we get home, the smell of turkey fills the house. Pure pleasure.

Being a traditionalist and raised in a time where formality was a byword in her family, my wife will have the table set with china and fine stemware.  Ours is a sit down dinner.  Don’t get me wrong— Thanksgiving for us is all about relaxation, but for her some traditions need to be preserved.

The kids and I will groan at the sight of the emerging china, as we know this means hand-washing dishes later, but the groans are always in good spirit. We understand their importance to her. 

In recent years she has finally relaxed the request (not requirement) that we dress for dinner. This meant collared shirts for the guys and something other than jeans.  Some traditions are just better off in the dustbin.

The main meal consists of a sage and celery stuffing, mashed potatoes, rosemary roast potatoes, baked cinnamon squash, homemade apple cranberries with allspice, and depending on whether she is feeling magnanimous toward me, either Brussels sprouts that she hates or broccoli that she does not.

Dessert usually consists of a choice of pumpkin pie that I do not like and apple crisp that I do. In recent times, these are accompanied by homemade ice cream, which is surprisingly easy to make.

Being a family of unrepentant heathens we do not say grace (God can only be asked to do so much), but we do toast the cook and our vast good fortune with a glass of wine. After supper, everyone except my wife helps with the dishes (hence the reason she is quite happy to pull out all the china) and then we all relax over a movie, or maybe this year a few hilarious episodes of “Little Britain.”

There you have it — our Thanksgiving in a snapshot.

Florida:  At my house the feast is prepared as a lunchtime event, and it’s always on Thanksgiving Day - the fourth Thursday in November.  Here in the U.S., as I have come to learn, it’s almost unpatriotic not to celebrate. 

On the menu is roast turkey with a mushroom, hazelnut stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, succotash and Brussels sprouts, sweet potato casserole, Mandarin oranges in a raspberry Jello (we do this instead of cranberries) and for dessert a choice of pumpkin or key lime pie with freshly made whipped cream. We like to invite a couple of guests from outside our family, usually our closest friends—the kids might bring their significant others.

The morning is spent prepping for lunch. The mealtime is a self-serve affair.  After we are seated, I read a specially prepared Thanksgiving Day grace, and we dig in. During the meal, we pass around a bowl of quotes from famous people and everyone picks one.  Then we take turns reading the quote and explaining what we think it means and how it may apply in our own lives, in the hopes of creating some stimulating conversation.

The afternoon is reserved for lounging and relaxation, maybe a movie if anyone is still awake. It’s also the time when I usually get started on my turkey soup.

Indiana:  Growing up, we would always eat our meal on Thanksgiving, usually in the early afternoon around 1 to 3 p.m. We mostly have the typical meal (turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, pumpkin pie), but one favorite dish that was always on the table was a broccoli and cheese soufflé.

I still equate this dish with holidays and family gatherings since it was always present on Thanksgiving, no matter if it was just my immediate family or a large, extended gathering. I’m not quite sure how it became such as family tradition, but I think it was a recipe passed down through the generations on my mother’s side and something that was always a crowd favorite.

Also, since I grew up in Michigan, it was a tradition to watch football on Thanksgiving since the Detroit Lions always have a game on the holiday. They have been playing a Thanksgiving game since 1932.

Another family tradition, which I bet is pretty common for the holiday, is to go around the table and have everyone say what they are thankful for that year. We usually do this throughout the meal as we are eating, and it always spurs further conversation about happy times and successes in the past year, as well as future goals.

Lastly, my family usually finishes up the evening with a game of Trivial Pursuit, which is traditionally played with the women versus the men unless one side drastically outnumbers the other. It was fun to realize I had become an adult when I could actually answer the questions and not just participate by rolling the dice.

Ohio:  I typically order a turkey from a local farmer who raises them so that the finished product doesn’t have all the additives that are put into many turkeys sold in the grocery stores. Unfortunately, this guy produces 30 to 35-pound birds, so my wife and I have come to loathe turkey (it’s also difficult to turn a bird of that size when it is roasting at 400 degrees).

This year, we’ll have chicken instead.  Other items will include stuffing, mashed potatoes, butternut squash, pumpkin pies and a cranberry compote. This is a lunchtime event at our house. Dinner, for those who can still eat, consists of leftovers. 

One tradition that will remain is that each guest receives a copy of a proclamation written by President Lincoln in 1864, announcing the first national Thanksgiving holiday in America. 

Oregon: The Thanksgiving meal is always Thursday and typically a late lunch around 3 to 4 p.m. It is tradition to have all the close family members together along with a few friends or in-laws. Usually there are around 12 to14 people, and we sit at one large table and the meal is passed around. 

Turkey is a requirement for Thanksgiving but may be exchanged for a roast or ham at Christmas. The turkey is stuffed with traditional dressing and sides include real mashed potatoes, turkey gravy from the drippings, baked yams with marshmallows, a cherry Jello with whole cherries, homemade dinner rolls and preserves, fresh green beans, cranberry sauce and black olives. 

Dessert always includes at least three pumpkin pies and any other pies that guests have brought—typically  apple, peach or cherry. Conversation around the table is always lively and with guests ranging from 17 to 77 years old who have traveled hundreds of miles away, we catch up on each other’s lives more than anything else.

The rest of the afternoon is spent nibbling on leftovers, napping in front of the television and watching some football. Having consumed our huge feast on Thursday, we still have Friday, Saturday and Sunday for outdoor activities and holiday shopping. But, there’s no early Black Friday rush for our family.

The turkey must always be huge, as we all look forward to hot turkey sandwiches for Friday’s dinner.