Where I come from we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving. There’s no harvest and no crops. There is religious freedom and tolerance, with special holidays set aside for major religious holidays. But nothing for “thanksgiving”. And that’s Singapore.

Here in Canada, they celebrate thanksgiving in October. In the past couple of years I’ve been here, my sister and I would go to this old lady’s house for dinner. She would make some healthy turkey meatloaf and yam with marshmallow. I liked the food she made very much and would gladly overeat at every holiday she invites us to spend with her where she would prepare the same food over and over. But then I got tired of the conversations and I got tired of the lack of conversation. Then I realized the old lady is my sister’s friend and I was the tag along.

Last year I didn’t go to the old lady’s house.

This year, I am not celebrating Canadian thanksgiving.

I am celebrating my own thanksgiving. One that I celebrate every day but today I will make an occasion of it.

Today Eli and I will cook dinner of roast chicken, potatoes and vegetables.

We will give thanks for the blessings we have received from Jesus, for the days of preparing us for each other, for bringing us together and for the joy we both now share.

There are many “origins” of why people celebrate Thanksgiving. Some say it came from the migrants, others from the end of war, and many others for the bounty and peace God has showered upon them in the year. I say it is a great idea to set aside a day to give thanks. And for whatever reason one may have.

We thank Him everyday.