American Thanksgiving with Canadians, the NFL and CFL

We celebrated American Thanksgiving a few days late by inviting our Canadian friends the Murphy's over to watch the Bears play the Eagles in American football followed by dinner and then the Grey Cup, which is the Canadian football version of the Superbowl. It was a great day with the Bears winning, Packers and Vikings losing and the Montreal Alouettes winning the Grey Cup. 

We had an entertaining time with our friends who always make us laugh. It was a great way to wrap up American Thanksgiving weekend. Now to get ready for Christmas. Not.

We have to remind our friend Dean that this is not Quebec Chainsaw Massacre

Duke assumes his usual position in the kitchen

Table setting by Kish and Louis, photo by Danielle

We introduced our Canadian friends to the Pisani way of choosing American wine....we select by the label. This wine also reminds us of our sister-in-law Margie who always served it for holidays...

Two boys hungry for turkey after playing hockey in the basement

Watching the Grey Cup after dinner...one of those gatherings where it was okay to unbutton pants and get comfortable

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Dogs can get turkey hangovers too.

And this is a border

There's actually a line in the sand right here...or more appropriately a line in the snow. This is a U.S. border. A small one. No real issues here, no "don't touch my junk" or pat downs. Just a small border crossing between Quebec and Vermont in a quaint town called Troy. We had a meeting at Owl's Head in the Eastern Townships, about two hours away, where Louis will start his Special Olympics skiing in a few weeks. We decided to take a quick drive across the border to check it out since we were so close and had never gone through this crossing. (We like to judge the crossings). Of course we didn't bring back Grey Goose and Patron anything. Really.

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We had our first somewhat significant snow fall yesterday morning. On the first snowfall Duke usually runs out as usual in the morning, stops in his tracks and is all "wwwaaaaiiiitttt a minute, what the?" Actually he loves the snow. It usually means he starts leaving his impression on a different plant. The start of winter also means the beginning of oh so many gifts he will leave behind from now until the thaw in March. See, around here, once it starts snowing, it just accumulates, accumulates and accumulates. The snow and other things.

The American representing Quebec...in America

Danielle left this morning on her way to New York City (actually they are staying in New Jersey). She's part of the Quebec Rugby team and will play in a 7's tournament on Saturday in the City. We reflected on how strange it is to have this American kid, representing Quebec, playing in America. This is her second time representing Quebec in rugby. She loves the game and is certain to have a nice time visiting NYC for the first time.

When we woke up this morning Montreal was recovering from a bit of a freezing rain storm. Since we're not quite ready for winter and can't find our winter provisions, Louis did some improvising getting the car ready to take Danielle to meet her team.