Friday, October 10, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving!

"Hey, it's not time for Thanksgiving yet!" you protest.

Well, it is in Canada. We're off to the cottage for the weekend to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving with the family.

13 comments:

Brian Dunbar said...

Awesome - no way the retail stores can start decorating for Christmas before Canadian Thanksgiving.

Here ... the Christmas trees are going up in Wal-Mart starting next week.

clairev said...

yeah...we get a strange mix of halloween stuff as well as "fall" crap that bored housewives who like to do crafts buy up like it's going out of style. you know, those fake leaves and gourds that have been glazed etc. that they spread around to make centre pieces.

after halloween we have a lull while all the candy gets cleared out and then christmas creeps in say, end of the second week of November, but is in pretty much full swing 3 weeks later.

I have done thanksgiving in the states, and i must say, americans know how to make the most out of the shopping experience AND the eating experience. I had turkey and bought a pair of shoes for 7$ in one day once. yep.

c

Holly said...

It's a little different here, the decorative gourds happen (these people are *obsessed* with ornamental vegetation), but once we get to game season at the end of September (wild boar, pheasant, etc) then the lebkuchen (christmas cookies) show up in the stores and the glühwein and punch (sweet alcoholic things you drink in public all winter), and that's pretty much the only thing that changes until it's time for Advent calendars and chocolate Krampuses (evil Santas).

Brian Dunbar said...

I had turkey and bought a pair of shoes for 7$ in one day once. yep.

At the local grocery the turkeys seem to be a loss leader - they're cheap and if you just spend enough money at the store the month before they'll just about hurl them at you as you leave the store.

chocolate Krampuses (evil Santas).

My boys have this song they got from a cartoon that we sing in the car ...

'Bow down, bow down
before .. the power of Santa.
Or be crushed, be crushed
by .. his jolly boots of doom.'

I must google this 'evil chocolate Santa' you speak of. If I can find 'em they'll make nifty Christmas gifts.

clairev said...

chocolate Krampuses (evil Santas)

holly, you seriously put the most delightful thoughts into my head. better than sugarplums. i'm afraid to google it because it might not be as good as i've built it up to be.

oh to live where you are...

c

Brian Dunbar said...

i'm afraid to google it because it might not be as good as i've built it up to be.

I don't know what's in your head but the reality delighted my inner wicked child.

clairev said...

well...i can't say i saw any chocolate krampuses, but i did see a lot of real ones who were delightful.

they remind me of david sedaris' story '6-8 Black Men'. Loving it.

but seriously, where does the chocolate come in?

c

Holly said...

Claire, we live in Austria. When does chocolate *not* come into it?? Seriously, this is the only place I've ever been where chocolate is, in all actuality, and not as a kind of joke, a food group.

clairev said...

h-

my question was not "is there chocolate in austria and do they like to eat it?"

it was

"where can i find a chocolate rendering of a krampus on the internet? I was unsuccessful in my search, can someone provide me with a link if they have one?"

sorry for the lack of clarity.

for the record, i've partaken in many austrian yummies as my parents go there yearly in support of this canadian orchestra: http://www.tafelmusik.org/

my dad sits on the BOD, and they are kind enough to bring me those bizarre little sugared fruits among other goodies. i suspect that since they go in the summer they will not find me a krampus. le sigh.

c

clairev said...

nix the question, i found one. it was disappointing but still cute enough to want to put in stockings.

c

Brian Dunbar said...

i found one. it was disappointing but still cute enough to want to put in stockings

Where?

clairev said...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/apfelbaum/sets/659993/detail/

http://stormgrass.com/archives/2007/12/05/krampus/

i can't be sure, but i think that's the general idea.

I pictured bigger ones that came out of more detailed moulds (so you could bite the horns off!) that were not wrapped in foil and were less friendly looking. perhaps my imagination ran away with me...

c

Holly said...

Claire, I am relieved that I misunderstood the question. Thought it was a general one about when chocolate turns up for Christmas, which confused me, because there is never NOT an insane volume of chocolate available here.

And, yeah, the choco Krampus is a little disappointing, it's basically like a chocolate easter bunny.