Thanksgiving: Canada and United States

As a newcomer to the United States ten years ago, and to California specifically, I have discovered more cultural differences than I had imagined. To repeat myself from my August 1st posting, a lot of folks figured that I would have no difficulty making the transition to American culture. As I heard over and over, "There really isn't much difference between Canadians and Americans anyway."  Fallacy. There are differences. Huge differences! 

For example consider the fall holiday of Thanksgiving. Both countries celebrate it but on different days and for different reasons. In Canada the creation of the Thanksgiving holiday happened on Thursday, January 31, 1957, when the Canadian Parliament proclaimed:  “A Day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed – to be observed on the 2nd Monday in October.”  Canadian Thanksgiving coincides with the observance of Columbus Day in the United States.  It is a nice three day weekend in October with some turkey and pumpkin pie thrown in for good measure.  It is not even a statutory (national) holiday.  When I was a child on the grain farm, sometimes my family would still be harvesting wheat or barley or oats at Thanksgiving time. Those years we had no real celebration. Magically, though, a roast chicken and a pumpkin pie would appear in the meals that my mother cooked and hauled to the field for the workers to eat as they sat in the car with the doors open or leaned on the outside of the car and ate standing up.   

Combining 

Checking the chaff to see how much wheat is ending up in the field instead of the hopper.

Three generations of farmers bringing in the harvest.

Even if we did have a celebration, it was a very low-key affair.  Canadian Thanksgiving honors no pilgrims and has no First Thanksgiving feast to remember.  Rather, it is more like a small celebration of the end of harvest.  (And a reason for a three day weekend in October.) 


Canada IS very big on having a three day weekend every month of the year and has created some real doozies to justify it.  Let’s see, the first Monday in August is Saskatchewan Day.  The third Monday in February is Family Day.  Alberta has Heritage Day in August. More traditional holidays like Boxing Day, the day after Christmas, and Good Friday, the Friday immediately preceding Easter Sunday, are holidays that are not celebrated in the United States. 


In Canada when it was time for Thanksgiving it meant that it was also time to have the garden emptied; the freezer filled with frozen vegetables and fruits;  the root cellar or cold room filled with potatoes,carrots, turnips, cabbage, pumpkins and jars of pickles, jellies and jams. It was also time for butchering.  It was the end of the road for the steers, pigs, turkeys, geese and chickens that had been fattening all summer.  Because the poultry butchering was my domain, I was always truly thankful when those birds was either in my freezer or in my customers' freezers! 

Carrying a freshly killed bird almost as big as she was!

The crew helping with the butchering...long hard days of messy work.

Thanksgiving in Canada means the end of the endless labors of summer. It is truly a time to give thanks for the bounty of the land and the fruits of our labors.

Thanksgiving here in the United States is different.  This holiday is in remembrance of the first Thanksgiving feast celebrated with the Pilgrims and the First Nations People (Indians for those of you in the USA.) According to legend (disputed by some) after a summer that produced enough food to allow the Pilgrims to live through the winter, they decided to have a celebration.  Native Americans who had taught them how to grow food, how to find game and how to survive in the New Land were invited to the feast. Thus was Thanksgiving first celebrated in the USA. Probably  the participants did not eat big white turkeys and pumpkin pie with whipped cream but instead consumed wild turkeys, geese, cod and corn. In the United States the government creation of the first official Thanksgiving holiday happened in 1863 when President Lincoln announced that there would be a national day of thanksgiving observed on the fourth Thursday of every November.  Through a Canadian's eyes it is a very different holiday than Canadian Thanksgiving. Here it is a HUGE family-oriented holiday commonly called Turkey Day. Most schools and teachers only go to school on Monday and Tuesday of that week.  Since American Thanksgiving is always on Thursday, most working people get to take Friday off as well.  Families often gather at Thanksgiving instead of Christmas.  Thanksgiving is the holiday that is truly about families. There are no obligations to produce gifts or to attend church services. Thanksgiving is about getting together with families and eating good food (oh, and watching a ridiculous amount of televised football). Then Americans' Christmas vacations are free of extended family obligations and they can celebrate at home with their gifts, or go skiing or travelling somewhere warm. 


The day after Thanksgiving here in the USA is also the busiest day for shopping all year.  For some people the shopping is what they like most about Thanksgiving.  With only one month to go until Christmas, the commercial season of Christmas shopping is kicked off at midnight on Thanksgiving night.  The bargains to lure people in their stores are almost ridiculously attractive -- perhaps 75% off the current hot items for the first one hundred shoppers through the doors. Lining up outside stores in the dark with coffee and blankets and bellies still stuffed from Thanksgiving dinner, waiting for the doors to open, trampling over each other in search of the bargains and ripping items out of each other’s hands seem to be common events on "Black Friday" (i.e. the day shops will come out of the ‘red ink’ for the year).  Television coverage always focuses on the traffic, injuries, and violence of the day.  Guns, knives, getting pepper sprayed, and trampled to death are real threats.  Apparently that adds to the appeal for some people as it becomes a high risk sport! Many Canadians flock to their closest American city (think Great Falls if you are from Alberta or Saskatchewan) for the big bargains. 

One of the biggest differences to me between Canadian and American Thanksgivings is that we cook our turkey on the barbecue. It is the California thing to do! And it is delicious! Turkey slow-roasted over a charcoal fire is wonderful! Here is our turkey, stuffed with cornbread stuffing, rubbed with vegetable oil and carried to the barbecue by a shirtless man (to avoid the oil dripping off the turkey and onto his shirt). The turkey is then plunked on the barbecue, the barbecue lid is lowered and it cooks slowly for about five hours. We collect the drippings in an aluminum foil pie pan so that I can make the gravy. The turkey and gravy have a slightly smokey taste 

that has been enough to convert this old-fashioned cook (me) to actually prefer the barbecued turkey over the oven model! On the right you can see what our turkey looks like when it comes off the grill on its way to the table! 


Pushed to make a choice, I would choose American Thanksgiving over Canadian any day. I am not a traitor to my country by any means. Listen to my reasons. They are simple.  I truly love big family gatherings, and Thanksgiving is so much more a family event in the USA than it is in Canada.  Part of the reason is that it is on a Thursday and with the right job and some luck, you can count on a five day weekend with your family. You get to have the BIG meal and then relax until Sunday to travel home. In Canada if you have the BIG meal on Thanksgiving Day, it is on Monday and then you have to travel home to work the next day. Canadian Thanksgiving is too rushed! Another reason that I think that American Thanksgiving is so special is the history that comes with the day.  Canadian Thanksgiving holds the most meaning for farm families, in my opinion, as it has been associated with the end of harvest, the end of the labor-filled summers. Most of the Canadian population now has next to nothing to do with farms or farmers so the symbolism of the bountiful harvest is lost on them. At least in the United States everyone can relate to the history of the Pilgrims, Native Americans, wild turkeys and the first Thanksgiving feast. This history combines to conjure rich stories and traditions for every age. Ok. I admit that I am a big fan of American Thanksgiving!

Taking Care of Business

It had to happen. I have to talk about the wonderful response I have received in the three weeks since I began this blog. The particular program I am using to create my blog is Blogspot from Google, and it gives me the ability to track some amazing statistics. Let me share some of them. As of today, over eight hundred visitors have come to look at this blog. Some of them are probably coming for the umpteenth time (thanks family), and some are coming for the first time and may never return.  I can’t track that. There have been visitors from several countries, listed here from most visitors to least visitors: USA, Canada,  Australia, Russia, Germany, Malaysia, Thailand and Slovakia. Visitors from the United States slightly outnumber visitors from Canada. Most readers are logging in during the evening. That is what the amazing stats page tells me.

Emails, comments and checkmarks in the response options (funny, cool, interesting) tell me so much more. The blog entries most visited are first, “Who is Cindy Anderson Deetz and why is she writing this blog?” followed by Growing old takes a long time”, my birthday entry. The comments and emails I have received have been so supportive, so positive and so helpful. In fact, this entry is my way of responding to this feedback. Some have asked me to specify what it is that I am looking for in feedback. Some have asked me to clarify why I am writing this blog. Several have written to me to ask how to post a comment or how to become a follower. Let me try to respond to these comments here.

“Who is Cindy Anderson Deetz and why is she writing a blog?” was my very first entry. Seems that I answered the first part of the title question very clearly and with a lot of detail (ho-hum-boring) but somehow I skipped over the second part. OK, I am writing this blog because I like to write, I would like to be published and I was told to do so. I attended two publishing conferences (one a weekend-long, another an evening) and both of them had noted authors, editors and publishers teaching us, the ‘wannabe’ writers. They said that it was almost mandatory in today’s writing world to develop a “platform” of readers. In other words, I must get my writing out in the world and see if anyone likes it and what parts they most like. If I can develop a strong and stable platform (or as we ordinary people call it, an audience), it is much more likely that a publisher will be interested in looking at my work.

So I began this blog. Two very observant readers have commented to me that I have not settled into a genre ~ am I going to be writing personal stories, information pieces or comments on current events? Each piece I have written fits into one of those areas, and I am relying a lot on the feedback from my readers to determine which genre I am better at, or which appeals most to you. At this point, the pieces that are more personal (“Who is Cindy Anderson Deetz….” and “It takes a long time to grow young”, written about my birthday) have been the most read and most commented on.

With this blog, I hope to see where my writing can go. I also belong to a weekly writing group, have attended two publishing conferences, attended a workshop on taking memories to memoirs, and I am registered for a weekend writing retreat on memoir-writing. I have always written for my own pleasure (or as a way to vent). I enjoy sharing my writing with others. There are many people that have been told this same thing, I am sure, but I have been told over and over that I should write a book. If I can find an audience and consistently write engaging pieces, I will know that I am heading in the right direction. If I find writing for this blog too difficult or my audience becomes too sparse, I will know that I am not meant to publish magazine articles let alone write a book.

I appreciate ALL feedback. For those that asked, here are more specifics. For those that choose not to comment, relax and read and enjoy the blog. No one need feel they have to comment (even though I love it and am begging for it!) That said  if you want to know what feedback  I am most interested in hearing, read on.  I really want to know how you react to any or every blog entry here. Was it boring, interesting, funny or flat? Is it the worst piece I have written or the best or just mediocre? Am I being too anything ~ too whiney, too sarcastic, too tear-jerking, too exaggerating, too drippy or whatever you can put too in front of? Please let me know what you felt or thought when you read it. Also, please please please let me know what you liked.  My goal is to produce more of what my readers like.

Lastly, because several of you have asked, let’s talk about how to become a follower and how to post comments. I think that the advantage to you of becoming a follower is that you receive an email notification whenever there is a new entry on my blog. For me, the advantage is that the more followers I can show, the more interest I can generate in the writing world.  To become a follower, look at the top right of my blog page. It says “Followers” and has a button to click to “Join This Site’. If you have a google account (gmail) or a yahoo account, complete the rest of the form. If you don’t have either, there is a link right there to get your own free google account. Another option is to look at the very bottom of the blog page, and find the box that is titled “Follow by email”. Fill it out and hit submit and it will pop up another window for you to complete and then you get notification of new entries. Finally, the last issue I have received a lot of questions about is how to post a comment. At the end of each article, click on comments (see the little envelope). Write your comment in the box. Now select your identity: you can remain anonymous, or use your google account or yahoo account name. If you don’t have a google or yahoo account, you will have to be anonymous and if that is what you want, great. Just know that you can add your first name, initials or nickname to your comment IF you want me to know who you are. After you have chosen your identity, hit preview and decide if you like your comment. Then hit submit and retype the nonsense word that appears and then hit “Post Comment”. There, that is all there is to it. Honestly, I follow several blogs and posting comments is easy after the first time or two. One more business thing before I end this. Please pass this website address on to your friends! The more the merrier! Thanks.

So here we are. The business is taken care of. I think. If you have other questions or comments or just want to tell me something, please let me know. To everyone that is reading this, THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart. I really appreciate every one of you taking the time to read my words!

Who is Cindy Anderson Deetz and why is she writing a blog?

   As a woman in my fifties, I count myself to be really lucky because I have had two completely diverse periods in my life: in fact, I often refer to these parts as my ‘two lives’.  These ‘lives’ have given me very different experiences and skills.  Both lives have been very challenging and educational in their own ways, and each life has given me unique knowledge and distinctive perspectives on the world.

Flaxcombe Saskatchewan

Life number one started in Saskatchewan, Canada.  First, I lived in the world’s greatest durum-growing area and then in the dairy-farm-studded woodlands area of the province.  In life number one I was the daughter of grain farmers on the family homestead.  I then went on to become a dairy farmer for twenty-three years with my former husband.  Life number one also included five wonderful children born in a short seven years.  These wonderful offspring certainly added to the workload of our mom-and-pop dairy farm.  

Capitola California

 Life number two finds me situated on the coast of the Pacific Ocean living in the eclectic culture of Santa Cruz, California.  I drive over the coastal mountains daily to teach high school in San Jose.  If someone had told me fifteen years ago that I would live on the coast of California, teach high school students with learning disabilities, earn a Master’s degree all the while championing the cause of marginalized persons and their accessibility to education and employment, I would have laughed out loud. If they had continued by predicting that I would crave raw fish (as in sushi), pick up little warm dog poops in plastic bags and love rap music, I would have roared in laughter!

I have thoroughly enjoyed both of my ‘lives’.  Both lives have given me so many opportunities to learn.  During my first life I raised five successful children (two teachers, one farmer/agricultural services salesman, one firefighter, and a psychiatric nurse-in-training) all while being tied to the regime of the dairy farm. I milked cows, delivered calves, gave needles to cows, dehorned calves and cut extra teats off heifers. I learned how to dodge lightning quick kicks and manure-crusted cow tails, to tail-jack cows to make them stand still, to halter-break calves, to identify the cows that were in heat and needed to be artificially inseminated and to bring them in and out of their specific stalls for milking. I was the surgical assistant at several Cesarean sections, gastric repairs and embryo retrieval and implantation procedures. I shoveled manure, washed milking equipment, had a huge garden, raised and butchered chickens (200 one summer) and kept laying hens to supply our own eggs and to sell in town. Once my youngest child was in kindergarten, I began to work off the farm as well. This first life also included many community and educational activities such as a 4-H club, serving on the board of a non-profit dairy association, working as a teacher’s aide in my children’s school, involvement with the provincial Spina Bifida Association, working at a sheltered workshop with developmentally delayed and mentally ill adults, working  in a group home, working as an addictions counselor, working as an employment counselor and acquiring my undergraduate degree in psychology.  It was a time when I gathered much knowledge and discovered the direction of my future endeavors.

In my second life I began working as a full-time high school Special Education teacher in Santa Cruz, California.  I completed two teaching credentials, one in Special Education, and one in English while working full time.  I followed up with a Masters of Arts in Education degree including a human research project and thesis.  Over the past nine years, I have worked with many types of disadvantaged students: emotionally disturbed, those on probation and parole, students that are parents, those fighting addictions,  students that are Autistic or have Aspergers’ syndrome, gang-affiliated students, second language learners, students with learning disabilities including cognitive delays, physical limitations such as ADD/ADHD, and students with processing disorders.  I enjoy the challenge of these populations. I think "normal" students would be boring!   

  Seldom content with the status quo, I am driven to pursue knowledge and progress, to try new things, to find new solutions to problems through diligent research.  I will always be a student! As a forty-year-old, I completed the undergraduate degree I began as a seventeen-year-old.  I found the biggest difference between my two sessions of university was that instead of wanting to know ‘just enough’ as a teenager, as an adult learner, I wanted to know it all! In my fifties, I completed my Masters in Education.

I love to take photographs, learn something new, read voraciously, write short pieces and dream of writing BIG pieces. In this blog, I intend to share some of my writing and photographs from the multiple perspectives of my life: farmer, former Prairie dweller, teacher, mother,grandmother,  perpetual student, current California resident, dual citizen of Canada and the USA just to name a few. I love to write but I also love to be read. I welcome any and all feedback. In fact, I crave it so that I can improve..

And now let the journey begin...................