Thanksgiving has a long history in Canada, longer even than the American Thanksgiving celebrations. The two events are celebrated on completely different dates, something I didn't realise before coming to Canada. According to Wikipedia, "Thanksgiving is related to harvest festivals that had long been a traditional holiday in much of Europe. The first North American celebration of these traditional festivals by Europeans was held in Newfoundland by Martin Frobisher and the Frobisher Expedition to find the Northwest Passage in 1578, and Canadians trace their Thanksgiving to that festival." Thus endeth the lesson.

Whatever the beginnings of Thanksgiving in Canada, it's the time when families get together to share a meal together. Because it's such a big time for families to gather, we felt really humbled to have been invited into the Zister household to share their Thanksgiving with them. Sharon and Lou opened their home to us, and along with Jack, Kay, Sharilou, Mark, Rebecca, Trevor, Shelley, Taylor, Caitlyn, Brett, Shannon, Adam, Sean, Amy, Sadee, Jim and Annamay, we were welcomed in as members of the family and we were really glad to have been able to share the weekend together with them.

As the time gets closer to the end of this exchange, it's things like this that make us realise just how much we will miss all our new Canadian friends.