Thanksgiving... and puppies

  We spent the weekend at my sister's place in Ottawa celebrating Thanksgiving. "Waddaya mean Thanksgiving," I hear you expostulate. "Thanksgiving's in November." Well, yes, for most of you it is. But for those of us fortunate enough to live in Canada, Thanksgiving falls in October.

  It wasn't always thus. The first recorded Thanksgiving Day after confederation was observed on April 15, 1872, to celebrate the recovery of The Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) from a serious illness. No record is found of a Thanksgiving Day between 1872 and 1879. I guess we didn't have anything to be thankful for. Or, perhaps we simply took our good fortune for granted. Whatever the reason, the celebration of Thanksgiving resumed in 1879. Until 1898 it was observed on a Thursday in November. In 1899, it was fixed on a Thursday in October, where it stayed until 1907, with the exception of 1901 and 1904 when the date was fixed on a Thursday in November. Are you following this?

  From 1908 to 1921, it was observed on a Monday in October, the exact date being appointed by proclamation. Which means that parliament had to actually spend time debating and voting on the matter every year. No wonder we Canadians have the reputation of being the diplomats of the world. From 1921 to 1930, the Armistice Day Act provided that Thanksgiving would be observed on Armistice Day, which was fixed by statute on the Monday of the week in which November 11 fell. In 1931, Parliament adopted an Act to amend the Armistice Day Act, providing that the day should be observed on November 11 and that the day should be known as "Remembrance Day". Accordingly, the old practice was resumed of fixing Thanksgiving Day by proclamation, and it has been since 1931 on the second Monday of October, with the exception of 1935 where, after Thanksgiving Day had been fixed on October 14, it was decided to hold the general election on that date. A new proclamation was issued deferring the observance to October 24, a Thursday.

  Deep breath.

  From 1936 to 1956, inclusive, a proclamation was issued yearly to appoint the second Monday of October as Thanksgiving Day. In 1957, a proclamation was issued fixing permanently Thanksgiving Day on that day, thus eliminating the necessity of an annual proclamation. For those Americans in the audience, this makes it fall on the same date as your Columbus day, which celebrates your fine Italian heritage. I only mention it because my wife is Italian, which sort of makes me a spiritual brother to all of you.

  Back to my Sister and Brother-in-Law's generous hospitality over the long weekend. Bill cooked the Thanksgiving feast, including a great big turkey, and both pumpkin and apple pie. The mmmness was outstandingly large. Now, for those of you to whom I promised them, here is a puppy picture. We took Shadow with us to Ottawa, where he spent the weekend cavorting with Oddball, my Sister's Dalmation/Bull Terrier cross. As you can see, they tired themselves out  and had to crash on a regular basis. More pictures to come in a later entry.