Thanks

Today is Canadian Thanksgiving and our family has a tradition of giving thanks before every meal.

At the beginning of a meal the French say Bon Appetit. (I can't think of that phrase without hearing Julia Child's voice in my head)

The Italian say Buon Appetito and everyone responds Grazie, altre tanto which is Thanks, and back at ya'

But what do we say in English? In English we have choices; but Rub a dub dub, dig into the grub doesn't seem very sophisticated. Our English speaking family would say grace at large holiday gatherings but it didn't always fit every situation. Saying grace didn't translate well when we had friends or colleagues over for a meal since more often than not, they were of different faiths.

When it was just my husband and I breaking bread and beaning each other over the noggin with it, we would use Italian. Ahhh, the joy of newly weds. But that didn't work for non Italians. It also didn't work well when we had children since all the food fight fun had to be curtailed.

We needed something that would involve and teach our children the habit of being thankful that we could use in every circumstances and in every language. So every evening before we begin supper we say grace. Our grace includes everyone saying two things that they are thankful for. We have to limit it, otherwise the youngest goes on... and on... and on.

He has a pretty great life.

This Thanksgiving I am very thankful for two things. I am thankful for good friends. Good friends who have rescued my family from the turkey curse by inviting us over for a Thanksgiving meal. I'm thankful for my newly painted kitchen that was totally out of commission so I did not have to cook this weekend.