I celebrated my first Canadian Thanksgiving Tuesday night, even though the holiday was actually Monday. Our son-in-law’s parents, who live in Rock Hill, are Canadian and they invited us to eat dinner with them. We ate a lot of the same things we normally eat as part of our American Thanksgiving: Turkey, dressing, sweet potato casserole, pumpkin pie, etc. It was a great meal. Even though we had a Thanksgiving dinner, the real reason for our gathering was a final meal with Evan, Jacqueline and Liam before they return to Italy. Their flight leaves Charlotte very early Wednesday morning.

Our American Thanksgiving this year will be celebrated with our daughter-in-law Sara’s family as our guests. Her parents, along with her brother and his wife, will join Steven, Sara, Monieca and me as we eat Turkey, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, corn pie, broccoli casserole and other good things fixed southern style…they’re from Long Island.

Thanksgiving is intended as a time to give God thanks for His many blessings. One of His great gifts is the gift of family. This year we get to celebrate that gift in a new way: two Thanksgivings with the families of the two people God gave our two children to be their spouses.

While family is a gift, a loving and happy family takes effort. Our family will be what we make it. We can make it special or we can mess it up. Since family is God’s gift, I suggest we do all we can to make it very special.

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving,

Pastor Steve Hogg