C-Eh-N-eh-D-Eh: The October Thanksgiving.

Tomorrow is Canadian Thanksgiving. And in Canada, people eat the special dinner all weekend long. It usually starts at one family member's house on Saturday night. Then you eat at another family member's house on Sunday night. Then, depending on how many familial obligations you have, you could find yourself eating a big dinner on Monday afternoon too!

Egad!

Well, The Husband and I just have his two parents up here in Canada. And they live about two hours away (phew!) from us. So rather than us trekking out there for the holiday, we decided they would come here and that I would cook a huge feast. And now that we have had our holiday dinner (this evening), I only have one thing to note:

I am so full.

I didn't eat much. But what I did eat has filled me up and now I am thinking I might burst! An exaggeration, of course. I didn't eat very much though. But when you are the cook, you are tasting as you go... And thus getting pre-filled before dinner is even ready.

So what did I make to get me so full before we even sat down?

• Roasted Turkey Breast Roulade
• Sausage, Cranberry, Fig and Cognac Stuffing
• Cornbread (made from scratch)
• Mashed Potatoes (done by hand, or rather, with a food-mill)
• Cognac Gravy
• Maple-Roasted Butternut Squash

Here's what my plate looked like when I filled it this evening...

Not too full. It is actually a small plate. I was only able to eat a few bites of each dish, because I wanted to save myself for dessert...

Yep! That's my homemade pecan pie. Made the entire thing from scratch... Crust and all. I only got about three bites of that before I called it quits... But YUM!

A few people have asked me if I plan to make dinner again for American Thanksgiving next month. The answer to that is, "No."

I haven't really celebrated the American holiday in a few years. Only when I go home to Arizona do I celebrate it. The Husband and I used to travel over American Thanksgiving, since we used to get the days off from work. Now, I don't get the days off... So I wouldn't have time to make a huge meal... Especially not for just the two of us.

Now that my many hours of preparation, shopping and cooking are over... The Husband gets to clean up the kitchen...

And yes, I pretty much used up every cutting board, knife, bowl, dishing spoon and pot to make this dinner. The mess was spread out across all counters in the kitchen...

It was worth it. And we don't have to do it again until next year.