Ok, so I'm a little bit early with the Thanksgiving greatings. Canadian Thanksgiving isn't until Monday, which to many Americans I'm sure seems really early. But here in Canada we've been celebrating Thanksgiving on the second Monday of October since 1957 (we've observed a day of Thanksgiving since 1867 but until 1957 it jumped around a lot). When you consider that Thanksgiving is a means of celebrating the annual harvest it does make a lot of sense that we celebrate it early. What better way to give thanks to a wonderful harvest than to eat?

Perhaps due to the sunny weather it feels as though Thanksgiving has creeped up on us this year. Like Canadian Eh it seems that one minute we're trying to soak up the last warm days of summer and the next we're running to the grocery store trying to find a turkey that's not too big, not too small, but it's just right.

Now, Thanksgiving dinner in Canada does not exclusively have to be eaten on Thanksgiving Day. We accept Thanksgiving feasts on any day of the long weekend. If you're really lucky you just might manage to squeeze in a coupel over the weekend. Anna, aka Busy Mom has me tired after reading her blog. She's invited thirteen people over for dinner on Monday which means when you add in her family there will be seventeen people around the table. Seventeen!!!

And we must not forget out vegan friends. Veg Cooking has some recipe suggestions for a Vegan Canadian Thanksgiving. I think I must try the pumpkin bread recipe sometime.

If you're not a fan of turkey while not try a more international feast? Adventures of a Girl is forgoing traditional turkey for some yummy Filipino food. Full confession: there will be no turkey in my house this year. Since we'll be returning from BlogHer Boston late on Sunday and my partner in crime volunteers at a local soup kitchen on Monday nights it just doesn't make sense to cook up a big feast. I'm hoping for Chinese food personally.

When I was a kid I always loved how they scheduled teacher's conferences around long weekend to give us even more time off.
At Mom Knows Everything Tammy is stocking up for a super long weekend with the kids for just that reason.

Inkygirl delivers a touch of turkey humour with a Thanksgiving comic just for us Canucks. (It should be available as an e-card by American Thanksgiving).

But let's not forget the most important part of Thanksgiving. Reflection of the Times reminds us to give thanks for our many blessings.

For whatever reason, it's easier than falling off a log to sit around and complain about all the things that aren't going your way, and things you don't like. It takes a bit more effort to dwell on the good things and things you're thankful for. So, for the rest of the month I'm going to find at least one thing every morning that I'm thankful for.

One thankful thought every day - can you do it?

Contributing Editor Sassymonkey blogs at Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.