#and 2) canadian thanksgiving is different then american thanksgiving

[phoenix--flying]

I like to think that I am funny

[laresearchette]

Sunday, November 20, 2022 Canadian TV Listings (Times Eastern)

WHERE CAN I FIND THOSE PREMIERES?: 2022 AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS (CTV) 8:00pm THIS IS LIFE WITH LISA LING (CNN) 10:00pm THE L WORD (Crave) 11:00pm ZIWE (Crave) 12:00am

WHAT IS NOT PREMIERING IN CANADA TONIGHT: WHEN I THINK OF CHRISTMAS (Premiering on November 27 on W Network at 6:00pm) A WALTONS THANKSGIVING (CW Feed/Premiering on December 03 on Vision at 12:00am)

NEW TO AMAZON PRIME CANADA/CBC GEM/CRAVE TV/DISNEY + STAR/NETFLIX CANADA:

DISNEY + STAR ELTON JOHN LIVE: FAREWELL FROM DODGER STADIUM

NETFLIX CANADA AUSTIN POWERS: THE SPY WHO SHAGGED ME

FIFA WORLD CUP SOCCER (TSN/TSN4) 10:45am: Qatar vs. Ecuador

NFL FOOTBALL (TSN2) 1:00pm: Jets vs. Patriots (TSN2) 4:00pm: Raiders vs. Broncos (TSN/TSN4/TSN5) 8:15pm: Chiefs vs. Chargers

CFL FOOTBALL (TSN/TSN3) 2:00pm: Pre-Game (TSN/TSN3/TSN5) 6:30pm: Argos vs. Blue Bombers (TSN/TSN5) 10:00pm: Post Game

NBA BASKETBALL (SN/SN1) 3:30pm: Knicks vs. Suns (SN Now) 7:00pm: Warriors vs. Rockets (SN Now) 7:00pm: Heat vs. Caveliers (SN1) 7:00pm: Grizzlies vs. Nets (SN1) 9:30pm: Spurs vs. Lakers

CHRISTMAS AT THE GOLDEN DRAGON (W Network) 6:00pm:  When Romy and Rick's parents surprise them with news that they'll be closing their decades-old Chinese restaurant, the siblings soon find themselves reevaluating their futures.

REBA MCENTIRE'S CHRISTMAS IN TUNE (CTV Life) 6:00pm:  Years after their personal and professional breakup, the singing duo of Georgia and Joe Winter agree to reunite after their daughter asks them to participate in a Christmas concert, only to find themselves getting back in tune on stage and off.

NHL HOCKEY (SN) 7:00pm: Penguins vs. Chicago

HEARTLAND (CBC) 7:00pm: Amy teaches Lyndy how to barrel race; Logan's father arrives at Heartland; Jessica seeks distraction from a disappointment in New York; Katie gets her ears pierced, causing a fight with Lou...about HORSEY EARRINGS!

FRIDAY NIGHT THUNDER (APTN) 7:30pm: Another double-header at Humberstone Speedway presents the drivers with a weekend full of excitement, disappointment, confusion, redemption and unexpected glory for one driver who is on a mission to win.

HOT CHOCOLATE HOLIDAY (Super Channel Heart & Home) 7:30pm:  A coffee shop owner finds herself in competition with the handsome owner of a dessert shop whose hot chocolate tastes just like her grandmother's secret recipe.

THE GREAT CANADIAN BAKING SHOW (CBC) 8:00pm (SEASON FINALE):  Bakers demonstrate their abilities by taking on the classic Paris Brest; bakers try their hand at cassata; the bakers push their skills to the limit with a garden party dessert centerpiece made of at least three different bakes.

HUDSON & REX (City TV) 8:00pm: When an important trial is jeopardized after Sarah´s testimony is challenged by a former rival in court, it´s up to Charlie, Rex, and the rest of the Major Crimes team to uncover new evidence to save the case before time runs out.

THE BIG BAKE (Food Network Canada) 8:00pm: From marching bands to fabulous floats, Brad Smith has the baking teams take it to the streets with cakes that capture a Santa Claus Parade. Their street sensations will have to be big to impress judges Ron Ben-Israel, Eddie Jackson and Danni Rose.

A COUNTRY CHRISTMAS HARMONY (CTV Life) 8:00pm:  Estranged country music duo and former sweethearts run into each other years later and are forced to shelter together during a storm but soon realize they can only survive the holidays with each other's help.

GHOSTS OF CHRISTMAS PAST (Lifetime Canada) 8:00pm:   Ellie, a serial "ghoster" on dating apps, is told by a fortune teller that she must resolve her past and make amends with all of those she ghosted before Christmas, or she is destined never to find true love.

LET US IN (Super Channel Fuse) 8:00pm:  A 12-year-old girl is determined to uncover who or what is behind the rash of disappearances occurring in her small town.

MOONSHINE (CBC) 9:00pm: As Gale and the Marauders forcibly take Moonshine, Lidia has no choice but to free the Finley-Cullens' archenemy Jill from prison to help win the fight.

LOVE, FASHION, REPEAT (City TV) 9:00pm: Lisa returns to her hometown to seek inspiration for her new fashion line but falls for the writer tasked with fixing her autobiography.

THE CURSE OF OAK ISLAND: DRILLING DOWN (History Canada) 9:00pm:  The Laginas and their team give Matty Blake a sneak peek of Season 10.

AUSSIE GOLD HUNTERS (Discovery Canada) 9:00pm: The Poseidon Crew are running out of time to find a 1,000-ounce nugget; the Gold Retrievers work through the night in an attempt to escape dangerous summer heat.

MALCOM IS MISSING (Documentary) 9:00pm:  When her father vanishes in Mexico, his daughter contends with betrayal and corrupt police in order to bring him home.

HOW I GOT HERE (Super Channel Heart & Home) 9:00pm (SEASON PREMIERE):  Doris takes her daughter, Shetin, to Ghana to learn the truth behind her royal bloodline.

ISLAND OF BRYAN (HGTV Canada) 10:00pm (SEASON FINALE): With the completion of their Florida home, Bryan and Sarah reflect on their builds and hotel ownership experience.

OUTBACK OPAL HUNTERS (Discovery Canada) 10:00pm:  The Boulder Boys try to reach a suspected 20-meter-deep opal level by draining floodwater; Rod Manning uses his wife's opal ring as collateral.

THE CURSE OF OAK ISLAND (History Canada) 10:00pm (SEASON PREMIERE): After a decade of searching, Rick, Marty, and the team return to Oak Island and immediately uncover evidence of a tunnel in the Money Pit; the fellowship gets a clear look at an underground structure, getting it closer to solving the mystery.

CHRISTMAS IN MY HEART (CTV Life) 10:00pm:  Violinist Beth returns home after the recent death of her mother and tutors the daughter of a reclusive country music star to prepare her for the upcoming holiday concert.

GOT IDENTITY (APTN) 11:30pm:  In this episode, Nelson meets with Cree Elder Winston Wuttunee to talk about the dangers of mocking white people. Later, he meets with stand-up comedian Chad Anderson to talk about his journey towards embracing his Indigenous identity.

[afatlotofchance]

I have been asked some weeks ago about horror fattening ideas, and there is one I talked about previously fitting with the Christmas season - so I’m going to repost a bit about it.

The person fattened up or stuffed to eat at Christmas. It is a sub-type of the “fattening up the victim” scenario. In fact it is a sub-sub-type, because technically you’re got the mother-scenario of “fattening up the victim” with a sub-context (here fattening up someone for a holiday/celebration) and then this leads to a few different cases going from the Thanksgiving scenario where a human is treated like a turkey (done for example in the children horror book “Frankenturkey II” where in a nightmare realm parents eat their own children at Thanksgiving) ; or the Christmas scenario.

Christmas was always associated with feasting, with fattening meals, with abundance, but also more traditionally with the killing of a very fat animal for everyone to share. Christmas, Yule, and all its other European/American equivalents of mid-winter celebrations usually center around the old agricultural cycle of - you get your beasts in spring, you fatten them up all year long, and then you kill and eat them at mid-winter. It is part of the basic rural life and thus it reflects in the traditions, holidays and culture. For some it is the pig, for others the turkey, but there is always a fattened-up animal to eat (or a stuffed animal to eat).

Two examples of this scenario I saw in media that come to my mind are:

1) A ghost story from a ghost encyclopedia I have (currently no English version available and technically it is not a ghost encyclopedia per se but a “revenant” encyclopedia which includes more than ghosts but also specters, ghouls and other forms of undeads). It was about an English inn if I recall well, an inn where a seductive and parasitic Casanova decided to take shelter during a very bad snowstorm around Christmas time - only to find himself in the middle of a warm and welcoming Christmas party. Since there was lot of drinks and pretty girls he didn’t mind joining the fun - and though the meal was very large and heavy, with always more and more dishes coming, the man forced himself to eat beyond his capacities because the pretty girls sedusively and sexually encouraged him to do so. It was only at the end of the meal that he realized that something was missing - the stuffed turkey that everyone was talking about and reclaiming.

He understood too late that HE was the stuffed turkey (quite literaly) and that all the other guests were otherwordly ghouls haunting the inn every Christmas... 

2) “Canadian Bacon” from Nightmare Ned. If you don’t know Nightmare Ned it was this creepy cartoon (a bit a la Courage the Cowardly Dog but less famous) where the titular character, Ned, lived a nightmare every episode based on what he had experienced in the real world (the whole plot of the episode was basically him trying to escape the nightmare). In this specific episode, he dreamt that he was adopted by a family of talking pigs (because he has a piglet as a pet and... it is a long story) who warmly welcomes him with a lot of food, and who keeps promising him a delicious “canadian bacon” for Christmas - only for the viewers to realize that as months go by the pigs are fattening up Ned, and when Christmas arrives they break down the news that their version of bacon is made out of plump humans... 

[videomessiah]

Top 5 holiday movies for the viewers at home?

After much consideration, I've decided that 5 isn't enough. It must be 10. Sorry in advance to the other couple dozen movies that could have been on here. And so, in no particular order:

1: Die Hard (1988) Everybody's got to mention Die Hard, right? A group of handsome male models robbing Nakatomi Plaza during Christmas and looking gorgeous while they do it. And I guess Bruce Willis and the dad from Family Matters are there somewhere, I don't know.

2: Lethal Weapon (1987) Alright, but seriously, while the world is busy "ironically" putting Die Hard on their Christmas movie lists, they often forget about this holiday classic. Not only is it a great background setting, but I consider the Christmas spirit to be integral to both Riggs' and Murtaugh's story arcs. Die Hard and Lethal Weapon will always be double-billed here.

3: Home Alone (1990) Honestly, I wanted to put Planes, Trains & Automobiles on the list, but Thanksgiving comes before Halloween in Canada, so I have even less of an excuse to relate it to "the holidays" than Americans do. Nonetheless, a John Hughes-penned film has its place on my holiday mantel. The kids love it, the adults love it, John Candy's there. What more could you want?

4: Scrooged (1988) Sometimes lambasted as either too cynical or too sentimental, I myself believe that Scrooged gets the balance pretty near perfect. Bill Murray is at his best as the seemingly irredeemable asshole modern Scrooge named Frank Cross, and the supporting cast is fantastic. The television-faced Ghost of Christmas Future is just so damn creepy and cool in this, too.

5: Jingle All the Way (1996) Sometimes lambasted as either too cynical or too... shit, hang on. While a fantastic satire of Christmas consumerism, this movie is indeed very goofy. You're telling me that stupid kid didn't recognize his gigantic Austrian father just because he had a visor and a voice modulator? Ridiculous! Aside from that, I love Jingle All the Way with my entire heart. Have you ever noticed how many jokes there are in reviews about Arnold Schwarzenegger playing an American with an American family in this and other films? Like, do they think immigrants just hang out in their scary segregated bars all day and only marry other immigrants and pop out kids who somehow also have foreign accents? But I digress.

6: Black Christmas (1974) There's only room for one Bob Clark-helmed Christmas movie on this list, and it doesn't involve BB guns. The classic that starts all of the "can a non-Italian movie be a giallo?" and "what's the difference between a slasher and a giallo?" arguments with your friends (maybe just my friends?), it cemented the importance of Canadian productions in both the horror and holiday genres.

7: The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) Scrooge again! But this time it's got the Muppets and Michael Caine and that old-timey setting that you would be missing if you only watched something like Scrooged. And it's a musical, you have to have a musical somewhere on a Christmas movie list.

8: The Hebrew Hammer (2003) You said "holiday", not "Christmas". 'Tis the season, goyim! It's pretty fucking sad that this almost 20-year-old comedy about a Jewish private eye having to defeat the evil son of Santa Claus is one of the only Hanukkah movies around outside of Hallmark and Adam Sandler. But if this is all you're going to get, it's pretty damn great.

9: Eastern Promises (2007) It takes place during Christmas. It's a Christmas movie. Fuck you. It's a Very Cronenberg Christmas. I won't hear otherwise.

10: Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984) / Christmas Evil (1980) Breaking my own "list of 10" rule by sticking these together. There was so much controversy about a horror film having a killer Santa when Silent Night, Deadly Night was released. If anyone had ever actually seen Christmas Evil when it came out, I'm sure it would have gotten the same treatment. Both are about a traumatized man dressing up as Santa Claus and murdering people. There are plenty of differences between the two movies, of course, but I like to consider them siblings.

[justkimberley]

HSMTMTS Thoughts Episode 7

Episode 1   Episode 2    Episode 3   Episode 4   Episode 5  Episode 6

This one is also kinda long (~2200 words)

Nini and Ricky doing a fantastic job harmonizing in Start of Something New

the dance routine around them is absolutely crazy and all over the place

So it seems that Seb is just their resident piano player (side note, who ended up getting Kelsey??)

Big Red with the flashlight trying so hard to keep it on the disco ball

EJ interrupting because of the bell. Does anyone really love Thanksgiving that much??

Also I always forget that American Thanksgiving is like a month later than Canadian Thanksgiving and I was hella confused for a second.

Ricky is so surprised that Nini is complimenting him

Ashlyn as Robotics Team captain! (side note Big Red gives her an impressed look after he overhears that she’s the captain)

Also: debate team, baking club, high priestess of the Renaissance Faire

We love a multifaceted lady

Miss Jenn/Mr. Mazzarra trying to have a ‘my horse is bigger than your horse’ banter except neither of them have the horses they claim to have

“With whoever could possibly love you,” lol ok Miss Jenn went for the head

“Late night party” - party starts at 8 that’s adorable

“Small group or…” “PARTY AT ASHLYN’S HOUSE!”

It’s really interesting learning about Nini’s Lola (? I think that’s how it’s spelled, which is what I believe Filipino people call their grandmother’s), and her story

I’m just really proud of Ricky’s Dad. Like he was in such a bad place 2-3 episodes ago and now he’s taking care of himself and Ricky (even if it isn’t a grandiose Thanksgiving) he’s trying and I think he’s doing great

“We roll hard” I just really love this line

“I suppose if you’re lonely, you could always just… randomly text my drama teacher,” “Too soon… RIck,” “... yeah okay”

That was pretty funny. Also, it seems like Ricky’s okay with his dad dating?

Ricky’s mom waiting for him to call

I don’t know how I feel about this to be honest. I feel like maybe she should have tried to call him first and then if he didn’t answer or want to talk to her, that she should wait for him to make the next move then.

EJ’s truth arc is very funny to me

Big Red and Ashlyn

“I promise not to steal your phone if you promise not to throw a basketball at my face,” “No, the only thing I’d ever throw at your face is a brighter spotlight cause, I like the way you sing

Oof they’re so cute, we love little crushes

Also this might be an unpopular opinion but y’all need to calm down about the whole ‘Ashlyn and Big Red are GAY and they only THINK theyy like each other’ thing. #1 It was never confirmed for them to be gay. #2 You can still have wlw and mlm head-cannons for them! Bi, Pan, and other multiple gender attraction oriented people exist, even if you forget about us sometimes.

They are a cute little pairing of people who are always looking out and taking care of other people. It’s okay for them to do things for themselves.

Ricky debating calling his mom, it took a lot of courage and then Todd picks up.

Hangs up immediately, it almost looked like he was going to have a panic attack. That would be so hard, such an extreme shift

I guess the reason he was more okay with his Dad dating was that his Dad was open and honest with him about it. Calling your Mom only to find out that she has a boyfriend that a. She never told you about b. He knows about you and c. is trusted enough to be left alone with her phone while she showers? Is a lot, and probably means that she started dating him before the split was official.

Ricky going to call Nini and then deciding against it. Why doesn’t he feel like he can talk to Big Red about this kind of stuff? Why does he always go to Nini first?

Gina shows up, those are good looking cupcakes

She made him a hat!

She looks so hesitant before she gives it to him!

Gina’s like ‘look dude, I know something’s wrong, spill the beans’

Ignore it and push through - I understand where she’s coming from but you really shouldn’t ignore your problems, it usually just makes them worse

“Do what makes you happy,” “... Give me that hat,”

Adorable, also do what makes you happy is good advice so we’re a little all over the map here

“That’s too big,” “I’ll grow into it,” (adorable)

Miss Jenn and Mr. Mazzarra’s whole interaction is hilarious.

Don’t burn down my shop! - holy shit, foreshadowing buddies

Ashlyn is so cute! She’s so happy when people compliment her

“I highly recommend not telling someone you love them for the first time on instagram” - yup! That’s what I said in the first one of these I did.

Carlos - “The party may begin!” - I totally thought he said “The party made me gay,” the first time I watched it so uhh yeah

Big Red is lactose intolerant

Carlos’ board game is amazing

“High School Musical the Choosical,” - fantastic name

Everyone is so accepting

Ashlyn and Big Red choosing to be on the same team

“South Side Knights -” “It’s the West High Nights,” “the West High Knights”

Ej is like a compulsive truther now. And it’s kind of hilarious

His face when he says “She laughed!” is hilarious and kind of adorable

“I gotta go join the party, and admit some terrible things, you ladies, catch up!” - I wish we got to see what he was admitting to, I find this whole thing quite funny

I’m glad that Emily and Nini got some reconciliation, I know Nini felt guilty even though it wasn’t her fault

That is not a good cockney accent

Why did Ricky enter alone when him and Gina walked together?

And he left her to open the door on her own with all those cupcakes?

“Buddies,” “We,”

Ricky and Gina both laughing about YouTube, cuties

Look, feelings are feelings and you can’t help what you feel, but pushing someone away and insisting to remain only friends means that you shouldn’t be upset when he makes a new friend

Mr. Mazzara and Miss Jenn

The plug socket is in the frame, more foreshadowing

“He won’t.. Not… fall” this show loves it’s double negatives huh? I don’t not love you, he won’t not fall etc.

“Ok but the center of gravity is off,” YES to different kinds of intelligence being helpful in fields other than the main one people associate them with

Carlos thinking people are going to keep judging him and the theater people being as accepting as possible

EJ is a gleek

What I’ve Been Looking For to the rhythm of Get Your Head in the Game is hard! (Catch me on the piano later trying to figure it out lol)

It just turns into a terrible rap

EJ - “That was terrible,” Seb -  “I’m so happy”

EJ vs. Ricky - “without laughing… or killing each other,”

This is a good parallel to the basketball scene, once again they get kind of aggressive, but this time they also joke around and no one gets hurt

Also I would love to see them become friends, I mean they both need to grow a little before that happens, but I have hopes

They missed the ‘neeee howww’ part of it, I really wanted to hear them do the high voices

EJ’s little “mehh” that sounds like a duck kills me everytime

Gina and Nini awkwarddd

“I do have high hopes for a junior year at East High” oof babey :(

“It must be nice sometimes though, right?” - nini does not understand

This actually gives us an insight as to why they don’t understand each other. Nini would love nothing more than to start a new life with no drama and Gina would love nothing more than to have a life that lasts longer than a couple months before being restarted.

Gina/Nini apology very exciting, hopefully they can actually become friends

“It’s all good,” from Nini seemed disingenuous, I don’t know if it’s because of the Wonderstudy thing or the Ricky thing. 

The sleepover thing I was so worried that it would be a mean spirited thing but I’m so glad it wasn’t

Nini sits on Ricky’s lap when she goes back to the game room and I don’t know if it���s intentional or not but it’s kind of like she’s trying to lay her claim back on Ricky.

Gina looks so happy when a. Carlos calls her in and b. the happy dance about the sleepover! (why’d they have to ruin the happiness??)

Mr. Mazarra returning the favour

“It’s beautiful,” “Math often is,” dudde I feel you I fucking love math

“I cannot stress to you enough how uncomfortable that would make me feel,”

“You know what we should do?” “Break off eye contact sometime soon?”

I’m dying

“It’s about a robot!” this is… pretty adorable. She just wants to make a genuine connection with him

Also are they going to do a romance route with these two? Because I can see them setting it up but also imagine if they just become like… best friends? I feel like they’d be unstoppable.

Musical Choosical Handbook of Rulesicals

“I thought you had never actually played this with people-” “Honey not today of all days,”

Carlos and Seb are the only couple with no bad drama and I’m living for it (please let them just stay happy)

Oops! I knew that jersey question… also it’s definitely the answer Big Red would now because he’s only watched the movie with no words (at his allergists office)

“And do people usually talk like that?” “No they do not.” - gold

EJ the compulsive cheater and also compulsive truther makes a comeback (I seriously find this so funny I don’t know why)

“I love to pop and lock and jam and break,” oh GIna

She’s so happy about winning

Not realistic, you know that the second she called her mom at least someone would be like “pass the weed,” (you know because friends are awesome and also terrible)

“Can you take me off speaker”

Some people are like ‘oh no is she in trouble?’

I kind of hate that it looks like Nini looks sort of happy about Gina’s mom asking her to take her off speaker - I really don’t want Nini to turn into a catty person.

Ricky is concerned

Why did her mom tell her this right now? She should have waited until the next morning, like that wouldn’t have hurt anyone and it would have let them form stronger bonds. And Gina would have had her first sleepover and also they might form strong enough bonds to try and stay in contact with her

Ricky is worried for her, he’s like, ‘You made me feel better, so I’ll go make you feel better’

Nini’s looking upset that Ricky’s being emotionally aware for once? Like dude, he’s grown up a lot since BEFORE summer break? That’s like six months ago I think at this point?

Ricky just wants to help Gina feel better because she made him feel better

She doesn’t understand that they can stay friends even if she leaves and I just :(

“Please don’t do that” he’s so overwhelmed

“My mom moved out two weeks ago and she’s already got a new boyfriend, sound familiar?” Oooh low blow Ricky bud.

“Really don’t need advice from a .. buddy right now,”

Ok but then who does Ricky want advice from? I’m so confused. This boy needs to get a better support system and learn how to use it. Romantic relationships should not be your only outlet for your problems.

Red and Ashlyn

“I hope Gina’s gonna be okay,” - Big Red is so sweet!

They’re so cute

“Hey Big Red? Don’t forget your dip,” - oh she was so going to ask him out and then lost the nerve

Write something for yourself.

It’s a hard thing to do, dude. It’s also hard to let yourself feel so vulnerable, even if it’s only you that’s going to hear it

Gina packing, I feel so sad for her, she’s finally made some good friends and now she has to leave again. She kept the badge! :( 

EJ losing followers and being cancelled, at least we know why now

It seems like a lot of EJ’s self worth comes from how others think of him. So losing followers is probably a pretty big hit. I wonder if he’ll keep going with his whole truth thing when it has these consequences or if he’ll just go back to what he was doing before. I hope that he has a positive arc but, will it go downhill from here? I hope not.

Ricky about to apologise to Nini (why did he erase it, he probably should have sent that) - side note: their conversation before was them asking each other if they were going to the party

It’s interesting that Nini had pictures of EJ and Ricky up still

Gina’s crying face is making me cry

“Hey mom, it’s me, I miss you so much,” tears

Nini hanging up pictures of her grandma and the musical. She’s really trying to move forward from boys huh?

Is nini going to apply to the theater school??

Electrical fire???????? WHy??

[gleekto]

I always love your unwavering support of Darren (always with good reason). (I'm talking about that Becca comment. Did you listen to the Jane L. comment? I'm very puzzled about what Jane was trying to say.) Darren is so lucky to have you as a fan. I always enjoy reading your commentary. Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Thanks for the nice message, anon. I’ll start from bottom up - 

1. I’m Canadian! But happy thanksgiving to you in the United States and may we be done with this dystopia by next American Thanksgiving.

2. I am a totally inconsequential regular fan whom darren isn’t remotely aware of but thank you for appreciating my silly blogging.

3. Re: Jane and Becca comments - 

I didn’t hear but read that Jane said Darren was known as “the politician” on set of Glee - I 1000% believe that. He IS a politician if I’ve ever seen one. I have this colleague who reminds me of Darren - He’s like the Canadian rising star lawyer version of Darren - and I say this with utmost admiration. He (my colleague) is the consummate politician. He knows how to hustle, what to do and how to do it to ensure his rising success. He is hot and kind of magnetic. The thing is - He is a GREAT lawyer, extremely bright and talented. Also a genuinely nice person - not faking it. Actually really a good guy. And also really knows how to manuever himself to get to the top. Long before this comment I was like - ‘that’s Darren Criss in different form’. That’s how I see him - a politician with true passion and talent and razor sharp focus on the prize. Which I’m sure can be irritating to those around him. But he doesn’t care. He’s going to move his pieces however he needs to.

Re: Becca - A bitter comment. There is truth to what she was saying - which is that some very talented people on Glee haven’t gotten as much work perhaps because of second guessing themselves - that is certainly a valid perspective (and I note that could have easily been made without the shade). The other half though - which was clearly about Darren (I read someone thought it was Chris - no. She was talking about getting work in Hollywood/getting acting jobs. This was pretty obviously about Darren imho) - What she stopped herself from saying was “People getting work aren’t the most talented” and smartly, rephrased as “people getting work are the ones who never second guessed themselves” - That I’m sure is true (see politician above) but you could feel the resentment. Which is too bad. Because 1. Darren is that talented, 2. He does have hustle, 3. Many of the glee cast, in addition to Darren, have actually had remarkable success - Amber, Lea (some ups and downs but certainly has had work), Chris in a different genre, Harry Shum Jr (huge success) - And some haven’t. Point is - she could have easily made that comment without making it about Darren as it was really about how she was feeling and not about Darren’s indeed notable success. But she didn’t. And her bitterness was evident. Too bad.

[undercovercottonswab]

a reminder that Canadian Thanksgiving is in October. American Thanksgiving is in November. and that's just the 2 i know about. so you might see recipes n shit coming up just be aware holidays happen all over the place at different times. thanks luv u

[evaluacioneducativa461]

Goal 3.2 To choose/ design activities to assess students informally

ACTIVITY 1 (Informal)

This activity will informally assess the reading, speaking and pronunciation.

Talk with a classmate about his customs

Practice with a classmate if he has different customs, fill the blank spaces, if not, ask him to think about other local customs. Once finished switch sides.

A) Hello, can I ask you something?

B) Sure! What is it?

A) What is the favourite local custom?

B) Actually, it is __________.

A) Oh, I didn't know that one.

B) Mine is ________.

A) That one is really pretty! I feel glad that we shared them.

B) Mee too!

 ACTIVITY 2 (Informal)

The next activity will informally assess vocabulary, grammar and writing.

Write 3 sentences 2 lines long using the word “That”  for adjective clauses. Remember to talk about local customs when making the phrases.

 ACTIVITY 1 (Formal)

Test

Answer the following instructions to each activity.

A) Correct the error in the adjective clause in each sentence . (Grammar)

1.Some people don’t give yellow or orange flowers because it can mean death, it is tradition who people in Mexico believe.

2. In Denmark the person who person remains single on their birthday, their friends will shower them with cinnamon

3. In France, the 25th of November celebrates Sainte Catherine, the young patron saint of unmarried women. On this day, women that have reached 25 years of age wear green and yellow hats which signify wisdom and faith. 

4. Many travelers will be surprised to find who in India toilet paper is not commonly found in bathrooms.

5. A few weeks before a German wedding, a tradition known as Polterabend takes place. The couple’s guests bring pottery that is smashed at the couple’s home.

 B) Write a small paragraph in which you describe a holiday celebrated in your family (Vocabulary/Writing) Paragraph:

C) Read the following text and answer the questions below. (Reading)

Thanksgiving

Canada has its own Thanksgiving tradition, which is slightly different to its American counterpart. Turkey and pumpkin pie are still both centerpieces of a Thanksgiving meal in Canada. However, the date is always the second Monday in October, and it’s a statutory holiday across the nation, except for in the Atlantic provinces.

Thanksgiving was celebrated on different days and for different reasons until January 31, 1957, when Canadian Parliament said: “A Day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed…to be observed on the second Monday in October.”

1) When is Thanksgiving celebrated in Canada?

2) Where is the exception of this celebration?

3) When is the official date where the celebration was started?

Oral test (Speaking)

1) Watch and listen to the following video of Christmas Traditions in Germany, then record an audio explaining the most important aspects of the video. (Listening/Speaking)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diVh9D_5MaA&ab_channel=DWEuromaxx  

 Non- linguistic 

Assessment of non-linguistic factors focus on attitude, group work, independence, several activities, participation, etc.

As you might know, informal assessment is a way of collecting information about our students' performance in normal classroom environments. This is done without the formal conditions such as tests. On the other hand, informal is a continuous assessment of the learner's work.

We can look at these towards learning, language itself and other cultures or people. We can assess our students in different ways, one very important is the attitude; like if the students show interest and effort showing on time, being respectful, handing homework, doing group work, attending class and more.

[thejcube]

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Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends.

Scent of a Woman - 1992

Al Pacino won an Academy Award for Best actor for his portrayal of Frank Slade in this iconic Thanksgiving film.

Since Canada and the US share Thanksgiving, but have different dates, here are some fun facts about how we are different.

1) In Canada Thanksgiving isn’t the huge deal it is in the United States. Sure we eat turkey and have a nice dinner, but it’s not that big.

2) Lots of people find themselves newly single during the Canadian holiday, as students return home from University to find they Bae is now Bae with someone else - or as Frank would see it: a great time to meet college girls on the rebound.

3) Canada has a Prime Minister, not a President.

4) Our Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, is a dreamboat. On the flip side many Americans dream of sending their President adrift on a boat.

5) Canada has a Queen. Her name is Elizabeth, she lives in a castle. American has an unofficial Queen, her name is Diane Keaton and she lives in a house that Pinterest built.

6) Canada has the metric system. The United States does not.

6) Canadians are nice. We say sorry a lot.

7) Justin Bieber is Canadian - we are very truly sorry about that.

8) Canada has free healthcare. The United States does or does not still have Obamacare…I’m really not sure.

9) Ted Cruz is Canadian. Again we are very truly sorry about that, but he was born in Alberta, which is kind of America Jr.

10) Canada has two official languages: English and French. America has two sort of official languages: English and Trump.

11) Ours is bigger. Canada is 9.985 million square KMs. The United States is 9.834 million square KMs.

12) Canada has fewer people. The United States has 323.1 million people. Canada has 36.29 million. Hey, we need our space eh?

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving whenever you celebrate.

This is a longer edit of the Scent of a Woman edit I did for my Instagram feed (moviecube) for Canadian Thanksgiving. Enjoy it, eh.

[got7-updates]

How are foreign idols spending their Chuseok (Korean holidays)?

GOT7's Mark (Taiwanese-American)

What are your Chuseok plans this year? I want to eat a lot of tasty food (meat ^^), sleep and rest up. I can't reveal in detail, but we're also planning our practice!

What's a memorable holiday memory you have in Korea? When I'm in Korea, the members always take care of me, so everything goes well always. Before our debut, the foreign members got together in the dorm to eat together.

What's the difference between the holidays here and back home? In America, Thanksgiving is a little later in November. We usually eat turkey then.

What's your wish for Chuseok? I hope GOT7's comeback really is successful. We're going to practice hard! I hope more people in Korea get to know GOT7.

Super Junior-M's Henry (Taiwanese Canadian)

What are your Chuseok plans this year? I've been overseas because I had so many overseas schedules, and on Chuseok, I don't have any. I go to Han River whenever I need healing, so I'm planning to go again. I'm going to relax and rest while lying down on the grass at the Han River.

What's a memorable holiday memory you have in Korea? When I first came to Korea 6-7 years ago, it was a holiday. I didn't know that many people in Korea so I was spending it alone, and Super Junior's Siwon hyung called me suddenly and told me to come out. He called me and a few other foreign friends, bought us meat, and took care of us. It was so memorable and I'll never forget it.

What's the difference between the holidays here and back home? During Chuseok, Koreans eat songpyeon (a type of rice cake), but we eat Turkey in Canada.

What's your wish for Chuseok? I want to wish for more time with my family. Since I don't have schedules this Chuseok, I'm going to have a long video call with my family. Everyone, please enjoy your holidays!

PRISTIN's Kyulkyung (Chinese)

What are your Chuseok plans this year? If we have time this Chuseok, I want to go on a trip with PRISTIN members. I think it'll be great if we can go on a trip to Jeju Island.

What's a memorable holiday memory you have in Korea? Last Chuseok, we went to Lotte World. We had a great time, and people who recognized me asked me for my autograph. I remember giving them my autograph.

What's the difference between the holidays here and back home? I think in China, the holidays are louder than in Korea. In China, we do fireworks during the Lunar New Year. In Korea, you make songpyeon during Chuseok, and in China, you eat moon cakes.

What's your wish for Chuseok? Moon, please let PRISTIN get the rookie award this year. And please let all the PRISTIN members always be healthy!

Cosmic Girls' Cheng Xiao (Chinese)

What are your Chuseok plans this year? I'm planning to go back to China for the first time in a while. I'll see my grandparents and have fun with my family. I'll be able to watch the Chuseok variety shows I recorded with my family, so I'm already looking forward to it.

What's a memorable holiday memory you have in Korea? I spent last year's Lunar New Year with the Cosmic Girls. We ate ddukgook (rice cake soup) together, and it tasted really good. We also saw a movie together in the theater, and I still think that memory is so great. If we have a chance again, I want to spend the holidays with the members and make memories together again.

What's the difference between the holidays here and back home? I think the biggest difference is the food. Koreans eat songpyeon during Chuseok, but Chinese people eat moon cakes. Basic moon cakes have egg yolk, but I heard nowadays, there are various flavors like ice cream. When I go to China, I'm going to try it out with my family.

What's your wish for Chuseok? If I have a small wish, I hope the Cosmic Girls all end 2017 prettily and healthily. It looks like the Cosmic Girls will spend the end of the year together again, and I hope we're as happy as we are now.

CLC's Elkie (Chinese)

What are your Chuseok plans this year? This Chuseok, I'm going to stay with my family and have a great time.

What's a memorable holiday memory you have in Korea? This past Lunar New Year, we had "Hobgoblin" promotions, so Sorn unnie and I couldn't go back home, but our leader Seungyeon unnie invited us to her house. We went back home with her and ate various holiday goods such as galbijjim, Korean pancakes, and ddukgook. I was so happy.

What's the difference between the holidays here and back home? In Korea, Chuseok holidays are pretty long, and all the restaurants close and people go home for the holidays. In Hong Kong, we eat with our family at home, take moon cakes and lanterns to the park, and have fun with friends while looking at the moon. (This is my personal experience haha. Not everyone is like this).

What's your wish for Chuseok? I hope everyone can be healthy and happy, and I especially hope on Chuseok, you can spend it with your loved ones! I'm going to go walk in the park with my family, look at the moon, eat moon cakes, and have lots of conversations.

FIESTAR's Cao Lu (Chinese)

What are your Chuseok plans this year? I don't really have special plans. I worked hard this year, so I'm going to rest at home in Korea.

What's a memorable holiday memory you have in Korea? Usually during the holidays, I stayed in the dorms by myself, or worked busily. Once, Chinese friends such as miss A's Fei and Jia got goether to spend the holidays together.

What's the difference between the holidays here and back home? China has Chuseok, and we gather together with friends and family and spend time together. I usually spend the holidays in Korea by myself, with the members, or with the staff, so I don't really think of it as a holiday.

What's your wish for Chuseok? It's simple, but I hope it comes true.. I just wish my family and myself would be healthy and happy.

Black Pink's Lisa (Thailand)

Plans: If I do receive vacation days this Chuseok, I want to spend it with my parents. 

Notable Chuseok episodes: Pre-debut, I remember spending Chuseok with Chaeyoung (Rose)'s family. I've also tried to take the subway during the holidays, but it was so packed I almost couldn't get on. 

Differences between holidays in Korea and native country: In Thailand, we don't perform 'Jesa' (Korean memorial ceremony honoring one's ancestors). 

Chuseok wishes: I wish to go on a trip to Thailand with my members.

TWICE's Sana (Japan)

Plans: I think I'll be able to spend it with my family! It'll be my first Chuseok with my family, so I want it to get here quickly. 

Notable Chuseok episodes: In my trainee days, on national holidays the company always took us to eat at delicious restaurants or to the amusement park. It was always fun! 

Differences between holidays in Korea and native country: It's the same in Korea and Japan, how everyone spends holidays eating and being happy with family! 

Chuseok wishes: If you tell anyone your wish, it won't come true.

Full article (1) (2)

[theam-cjsw]

October 12, 2020: On Gratitude

Listen on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/theamcjsw/the-am-monday-october-12-2020

Stream on CJSW.com: https://cjsw.com/program/the-a-m/episode/20201012/

About an hour into this week’s episode I tried to put together some thoughts I’ve been having about Thanksgiving’s complicated past and the importance of gratitude, and because I don’t think it quite came together, I wanted to try again here. Hopefully you’ll indulge the non-musical digression.

First of all, for a bit on the history of Canadian Thanksgiving, this Macleans piece offers a well-written summary. The short of it is, there isn’t a single clear point of origin, and there are connections to indigenous harvest celebrations, Puritan days of Thanksgiving, Christian proselytizing, broken treaties, and self-serving myths, all of which make unquestioningly celebrating the holiday a difficult thing to do.

On the other hand, a day devoted to gratitude, separate from the history of Canadian and American Thanksgiving, is a good, healthy, and maybe even essential thing. Kahsto’sera’a Paulette Moore and Tehahenteh Frank Miller write in great detail about the importance of gratitude in their culture (both describe themselves as Kanyen’kehaka Mohawk, Six Nations of the Grand River Territory), and although a few things from that piece struck me, what hit me deepest was the notion of gratitude as a redemptive and reconnective practice.

They describe a dark time in their culture's history, where they were at war with each other and disconnected from their lands, which was only overcome after they were reminded of the gift of gratitude. “Our ancient practice of thanksgiving saved us time and again from the devastation of a world out of balance,” they write. “We were fearful and greedy, hoarding resources and extracting life and energy... Over time we were able to achieve what seemed impossible; we re-engaged simple acts of thanks, which led to healed relationships. Eventually we united as the people known as Rotinonhsyón:ni/Iroquois – a confederacy that remains the oldest participatory democracy on Earth.”

On the BBC News this morning, there was a report on a study promising a bleak future for humanity if we (meaning the world, but really meaning industrial nations) continue on the path we’re on. It was an eerily direct echo of Moore and Miller’s writing of their Nation’s past before rediscovering gratitude and the connections it nurtures. As in their example, practicing gratitude won't be an instant fix—it's an ongoing practice that leads to incremental change—but it may be at least part of the answer.

I ended this week’s episode by trying to show some of the gratitude that I feel for my community and the land I live on—and found it was surprisingly awkward to do. Expressing gratitude is vulnerable and bringing it up on air felt hokey, and somehow embarrassing. Afterwards I tried to figure out why that was, and I think it’s because it cuts against the grain of self-sufficiency that’s so deeply inherent in Western culture. To understand how, it helps to think about when you do and don't express gratitude. You don’t say thank you for something you did for yourself, so to be grateful for something is to say that you are dependent, or even subservient to whatever provided it. You don’t say thank you for things that are inevitable, so gratitude is a reminder that the things we value most are contingent and temporary. Both of those are vulnerable admissions. Gratitude also implies a debt of sorts, although not in the same sense that a bank loan creates a debt, where there’s an obligation to repay exactly what was given. That's a transaction, and we don’t really feel gratitude for transactions, for bank loans or purchases where we spend an amount equal to what we received. But it’s not about getting more than we put in, either. We don’t feel gratitude just because we got the better deal. Instead it seems to be about the relationship a gesture implies, and the obligation it creates isn’t to even the accounts, it’s to create more gratitude, by doing the sorts of things that others can be grateful for. In that way, the debt gratitude creates isn't owed to any one person, it's owed to everyone—and when repaid, it grows exponentially. One last though. Last month I was on the Sunshine Coast in BC, and there was a hiking path I walked on at least three different days. Every time, it was jaw-droppingly beautiful. The last time I walked it, as I was leaving, I felt the need to thank the path for those experiences--to literally say thank you to the woods for the beauty and calm it had given me. I don’t believe there was anything there, spiritual or otherwise, that could hear me and understand what I was saying. I did it because I liked the relationship it created between me and that place. Rituals of gratitude are about connection, but they’re also about your own internal attitudes, and the relationship you want to have to the world. And because of that, Thanksgiving—the concept, if not the holiday—is one of the most profound rituals we have.

Playlist is below, if you’re curious.

Hour One:

City of Mountains Various Artists, featuring Christa Belle • AUDIO: An Experimental Noise Compilation

Dream Rain Stilz, Ian Urbina • Forgotten Shores

Nashville Various Artists, featuring Ryan Hemsworth • EVER NEW

Cholorophyl Sunset Proxima Psychoacoustics • Kaznmward

Friends in Secret CRi • Juvenile

Long Road Home Oneohtrix Point Never • Drive Time Suite

Landstrasse 2020 Hainbach • Assertion

An Elephant on Your Eyelid The World Next Door • Single

Search for Peace Various Artists, featuring Ishmael Ensemble • Blue Note Re:Imagined

Thank U Malcolm Flying Lotus • Flamagra

Streetlights Buildings and Food • Up Down Strange Charm

Theme from the Cinematologists Gwenno • Podcast theme

Taking the Present for Granted (Traffik Island mix) Bananagun • Single

Hour Two:

Rivers That You Cannot See North Americans • Roped In

Thank You Brainstory • Buck

Stop and Listen Peter Broderick • Blackberry

All That Love in Your Heart Bastien Keb, featuring Claudia Kane • The Killing of Eugene Peeps

Heavy Metal Cindy Lee • What's Tonight To Eternity

Breathe SUUNS, featuring Jerusalem In My Heart • Fiction EP

Sleep Godspeed You! Black Emperor • Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven

Hour Three:

Brokenhead Zoon • Bleached Wavves

Sequel Various Artists • AUDIO: An Experimental Noise Compilation

Corsican Shores Deradoorian • Find The Sun

Never the Bride Raf Wilcot • Cinnabar Bouquet

Avalanche The Notwist • Ship

Radiation Various Artists, featuring Dark Time • The Sled Island Lemonade Stand Vol. 1 & 2

Ocean City Gunn-Truscinski Duo • Soundkeeper

Sunlight is Collecting On My Face Dixie's Death Pool • The Man With Flowering Hands

The Uncertainty Principle Heliocentrics • A World of Masks

Sweet Path Janko Nilovic, The Soul Surfers • Maze of Sounds

Awoke in the Early Days of a Better World Andrew Wasylyk • Fugitive Light And Themes Of Consolation

[tvo-ilc-wyeth]

Lesson 15, Task 2: What has influenced me?

     There are many places and cultures that have influenced my life and choices. From the influences of my parents to places I’ve travelled to different cultures have always been a large part of my life. My life is a huge mix of different cultures, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

     To start off, I adore foods from around the world. I can never give up a change to go for some Middle Eastern, Ethiopian, or Indian food. Of course my family’s Greek food is amazing too. I’m a fan of trying foods that incorporate new spices and flavours into my diet because I do not want to be limited in what I enjoy eating. I also like trying new drinks as well. I’ve always loved green tea which actually originated in China, and recently I have been enjoying a drink called Limonana which is a lemonade from the Middle East. The main components of the drink are lemon juice and crushed or blended mint leaves mixed with water and topped with ice. The mint makes it very refreshing, so I make it whenever it’s very hot outside. Like most Canadians, my family celebrates Christmas, (Greek) Easter, Thanksgiving, and other holidays with big meals and family time. Typically we each bring dishes we’ve prepared so that everyone has a chance to contribute and the cooking isn’t left up to one person. Below is a photo of my favourite Ethiopian platter of various vegetarian foods. 

Source: reddit.com

     While I myself am not very fashionable, I love the fashions of other cultures. Intricate designs on clothing from India, the use of beads in Indigenous Canadian clothing, and vibrant patterns from Africa are all incredibly beautiful and unique. These things have all influenced how I decorate the space I live in. My current apartment is full of persian rugs, indian couch pillows, and chinese ceramics. When I can, I like to wear small pieces of jewelry that I’ve purchased during my travels in other parts of the world. For example, I have been wearing a small silver cross I bought in the old bazaar in Skopje, Macedonia since I visited in June of 2019. It is very important to me because it serves as a symbol of my independence (travelling to another continent alone for the first time) and cultural heritage.

    Unlike my fashion interests, I adore simplicity and modernity in architecture. My favourite style of architecture is brutalism because it is modern, unique, and holds much cultural significance all at once. The concept of brutalism originated in Sweden in the late 1940s but quickly expanded to England, although it is most known for its influences in Eastern Europe. Brutalist buildings are made of simply-designed large blocks of poured concrete and often have hard edges or monolithic shapes. I have spent a lot of time exploring my area in search of brutalist buildings, and one of my major reasons for visiting Southeastern Europe last summer was to see the diversity in architecture and the effect of eastern bloc aesthetics on countries on its outskirts. The brutalist architecture in Skopje was incredibly different from anything in Canada, and it just makes me want to go back and see it all again! Below are a few photos I took during my travels last summer. Below are photos that I personally took in Skopje, Macedonia.

     During my free time, I love to go cycling, paint, or read. I was surprised to learn that cycling actually originated in Germany! During my time in Amsterdam in 2018 I saw more bikes in one place than I ever could have imagined which really encouraged me to bike more in an effort to have more sustainable transportation practices and get more exercise! When I want to relax at home, I usually turn to painting or reading. I love using watercolours and gouache which have been used for centuries since their first uses in medieval England. When I read I usually choose non-fiction memoirs and travel journals. 

     For entertainment I love watching TV shows and movies, and listening to all kinds of music. I watch shows and movies to relax and escape into their universes! This includes plenty of foreign films, but most of the content I consume is American. I also like to catch up on the news on TV occasionally but I most often read it online. When I am not watching something, I usually find myself listening to music which is helpful to me for both relaxing and doing tasks and chores. I often use music to distinguish certain moments or phases of my life by doing things like listening to a specific playlist when I’m travelling, collecting meaningful records and CDs, and listening to music I used to enjoy to remember past times. I enjoy most genres of music but I prefer psych rock, blues, R&B, and classical music. One of my favourite pastimes is using the app ‘Radio Garden” on my phone to randomly select a radio station from another country so that I can learn about what people around the world listen to!

[gracewithducks]

Wonder (Luke 2:1-7) - Sunday School Stories #13, preached 12/1/2019

Almost a year ago, one of my husband’s friends told Mike about the great deals his family had found at Niagara Falls in Canada over American Thanksgiving. Because it’s out of tourist season, and because Canadian children and workers don’t get a break for an American holiday, the prices and the crowds are both pretty low. Mike said, “Why don’t we go to Niagara Falls for Thanksgiving next year?”

 I’m pretty sure I rolled my eyes. I may have laughed in his face. Because Niagara Falls – in November – with children… all I could imagine were all the ways things could go wrong. It could be frigidly cold. It could rain the whole trip. We could get snowed in and not be able to go at all. Our kids might look at the waterfalls, shrug their shoulders, and say, “Meh. What else you got?” - - and we might not have a good answer.

 But Mike was persistent. Our girls were, at that moment, fascinated with waterfalls; they’re growing quickly, to the point where we no longer have to travel with strollers or plan around naptimes. We looked at prices. We discovered all kinds of indoor back-up options. And we booked a hotel we would never, ever, ever have been able to justify splurging on without the off-season deals – a hotel overlooking the Falls. We made a countdown calendar, and our kids have been crossing off the days until our trip ever since before Labor Day.

 Finally, finally, it was time to go. Our girls were nervous about crossing over into another country, only to find that Ontario, Canada looks an awful lot like Michigan. We drove past farms and forests, and lots of wind turbines, and strange foreign restaurants and shops with names like “Home Depot” and “McDonalds.” Our ten-year-old was pretty excited when we saw our first sign for Shoppers, the store mentioned in the musical Come From Away, and our five-year-old was excited with every Canadian flag we saw.

 And finally we started seeing signs for Niagara Falls. We could see the towers of hotels rising on the skyline. We could see the mist rising from the Falls, and the girls rolled down their windows to see if they could hear the water’s roar. We checked into our hotel, rode the elevator to the tenth floor, walked into our room, and the girls immediately ran to the window.

Their jaws dropped. There really is no way to prepare yourself for the Falls: they are just so big; there is so much water, rushing, pouring, constantly, unendingly, more and more and more. And the mist gives a sense of magic and wonder to it all.

 Our oldest looked. And looked. And looked. She excitedly pointed out to her sister the Horseshoe Falls, and the American Falls, and the little Bridal Veil Falls in between; she pointed to the Rainbow Bridge, and the wrecked ship which has hovered above the falls for over a century. And she said, with a contented sigh, “I don’t think I could ever get tired of that view.”

 And then she said, “Can I watch something on the iPad?”

 And we all started laughing. It became a joke this week; every time we returned to our room, one of us would look out the window, and say, “I’ll never get tired of that view… I wonder what’s on TV?”

 There we were, on the brink of one of the wonders of the world – there we were, with all the people we loved most in the world – there we were, in a place people travelled from the world over to see – in a place where explorers would fall down and pray in terror – in a place where kings and queens have walked, where daredevils dreamed the impossible – there we were, and it was amazing… but it was also amazing how quickly we just got used to that beautiful site.

 “I don’t think I could ever tired of that view… I wonder what’s on TV?”

 How quickly we lose our sense of awe; how quickly we take even the most incredible wonders for granted. I remember the first time I ever heard of electronic mail; I was amazed by the idea that I could send a message to someone and they could see it immediately. But now many of us use email daily without a second thought. I remember when our family got our first remote control for the television, and I was intimidated by the idea that you could change the channel without even standing up. And I remember our first VCR, the novelty of being able to record a program and watch it later. These days, my husband can set the football game to record on our DVR from his touchscreen pocket telephone; we don’t have to be in the house or even in the country at the time. And speaking of phones, when I was a kid, video phones were science fiction right out of the Jetsons or Star Trek – and now it stuns me to realize that my children will never remember a world where video phone calls weren’t a thing.

 And we just take it all for granted. We don’t think twice about the once unimaginable wonders around us. Machines that wash our dishes and dry our clothes. Groceries delivered right to your door. Flying machines and even a car that could travel hundreds of miles in a day were once inconceivable.

 I don’t think I could ever get used to those wonders, we say… and then we turn around and ask, what’s next?

 And nowhere do we see it more than every year at Christmastime. And I’m not even talking about the kids who count down the days until Christmas morning only to be bored with their new toys after five minutes and forget them entirely after five days… no, I’m not just talking about stuff. I’m talking about the story of Christmas itself.

 We hear the story every year; we know it so well that we take it for granted:

 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken… and everyone went to their own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David… He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn child, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

 We know the story: a Caesar, and a census; a little town, a man, a woman, and a baby in a manger. We wait for weeks every year to hear the story again; to sing the carols, to light the candles, to bask in the glow – and then we walk away, asking, “What’s next?”

 We know the story; we know it so well, maybe too well – so much so that we can shrug our shoulders, and say, “I’ve been there, and seen that; I wonder what’s on TV?”

 We can become numb to even the most amazing wonders – and this story is one. This is no ordinary story. This is the story of God entering into the world. This is the story of a God who so loved the world that God just could not stay away. This is the story of God entering into the world – not with fireworks and fanfare, but so quietly that, if you blink, you might miss it. This is the story of a God who surprises us, the story of a God who shows up in the lives of people who are being buffeted and shaped by kingdoms and powers out of their control.

 While everyone is looking at Caesar, God is looking to the ordinary people. While everyone is bustling to arrive first, God is looking towards the latecomers, the ones who show up when there seems to be no more room.

 There is a lot on our to-do lists for the month to come: shopping, wrapping, decorating, baking, travelling, taking pictures, sending cards, making calls… But my hope and my prayer is that we will take some time to enjoy the view, to remember what it is that brought us here in the first place. The story of Christmas isn’t about the presents or the decorations: it’s about a God who surprises us, who shows up in the times and the places we least expect it. Where is it, that God would surprise us today? Where are the mangers, where children have no bed? Who are our neighbors, whose lives are thrown into disarray by governments and laws beyond their control? Who are the strangers, looking for shelter, looking for a friendly face? Who are the people outside, longing for a place to belong?

 Do we see them? Do we look? And do we believe that Christ is still being born, that God is still showing up, in humble and surprising ways today? We tend to associate this story with Christmas Eve candlelight services, but the story of Christmas is about as far away from stained glass and organ music and new clothes by candlelight as you can get. The story of Christmas is about a God who shows up in real life, in the messy and difficult stuff of our every day.

 I want to encourage us to make a different kind of to-do list this year. And put on your list things like: smile at your cashier; over-tip your server on purpose, even if they’re having a bad day; donate to the giving tree; give non-traditional presents;

volunteer in the community; bake a pie for your neighbor; buy coffee for the person behind you in line; make it a point to compliment someone every day; donate pet food or old towels or blankets to the animal shelter; offer to babysit for some exhausted parents; visit a nursing home; donate new socks and underwear to those in need; volunteer to serve meals to those who are hungry; bring new coloring books and crayons to the children’s hospital; shovel your neighbor’s walk, or if you hire somebody to plow you out, ask them to do the rest of the street while they’re there; write another letter or make another call telling our leaders to stop separating families and get kids out of detention camps this Christmas; ask a family with a loved one in the service how you can help make their season brighter; pay for someone else’s groceries; invite your neighbor to share a meal with you – do whatever you can each day to find a way to show God’s love and bring hope into the world.

 The good news is, just like the waterfalls which never stop, which keep flowing and flowing, noticed or unnoticed, appreciated or not, night and day, season after season, year after year – God’s love keeps flowing and flowing, and God keeps showing up; hope keeps being born into the world. The good news of Christmas isn’t just about a story that happened long ago; it’s the good news that God is still being born into the world in unexpected and surprising ways.

 My hope and my prayer is that we won’t grow numb, that we won’t grow weary, that we won’t look away. May we have eyes to see Christ in the world this holiday season, and may we have hearts that never tire of seeking God’s presence and sharing God’s love.

  O God, let your love roll over us like thundering waters; let your justice pour out around us, and your grace flow through us. Teach our hearts to be still this holiday season, to bask in your presence, to gaze on your grace. And help us to remember that being present is so much more important than buying presents;

help us to follow your lead, and to show up in the most humble and unexpected places. May we show your love to struggling families, to immigrants and refugees, to neighbors and strangers, to the hungry and the homeless – to all those looking for a place to find rest. In your peace, by your peace, for your peace we pray; amen.

[themelaninmamifiles]

Don’t Unpack Your Baggage at Your Kids’ Feet

It’s been a bit since I’ve written my own “think pieces” on MMF, but last night into today I read something so ridiculous that I was left saying “what in the Smokey Robinson is this?!” First, let me begin by saying, I’m a huge fan of Very Smart Brothas. It’s a site that got absorbed into The Root family of websites. But I always like them because they’re equal parts intriguing and shady—and I’m always here for a bit of shade. While I’m not a super fan who goes to their site daily to check out new content, if one of their article posts manages to fight the FB algorithm and win, I usually click through and read it. And if you’re not familiar with VSB or The Root, they’re both black-centric sites/platforms that looks at everything through the lens of blackness. And in the case of VSB, it’s usually taken from an angle of an enlightened black man.

Late last night I was scrolling through FB before bed (a bad habit which I don’t have any plans on changing) and saw a post from VSB written by a guy in an interracial relationship with biracial children. The title was How Raising Multiethnic Kids Reshaped My Blackness. I was intrigued because I’m also a black parent raising a multiethnic child. I wanted to see what he had to say and clicked the link. But the very first sentence was a hot ass mess, and it went downhill from there. The article basically rolls through the psyche of a man who married out to a SE Asian Indian woman and now has to grapple with the idea of raising biracial and multicultural children and how best to expose them to their culture. On its face, this would be a good article, but it wasn’t. 

So I made a hot takes post on my personal FB feed, but I woke up still thinking about that ridiculous article, and decided to rebuttal...a tad savagely. As background if you aren’t familiar with MMF or its previous iteration, TM2B, I am a black woman raising a multicultural child who is half black and half Puerto Rican. So, I feel I can effectively talk about this article and everything I think it got wrong.

1. The first sentences makes being black sound like a life sentence.

My wife is not black.

Our daughters, by no choice of their own, are.

Quite frankly the entire tone of the article continued on in this fashion. But coupled with the picture he posted at the start of his two adorable daughters, it felt more like he was let down that his children didn’t come out super light and ambiguous. I’m not going to go so far as saying he fetishized light skinned children like a lot of people in general do, but he emphasized a bit too frequently how his daughters would be instantly identified as black rather than having people ask them “what are you” their whole life. So, as a result, the whole article reeked of “sigh...I guess they’ll be black then”.

There’s nothing wrong with being dark, or identifiably black or whatever culture you are. And this is the flip side of interracial/interethnic relationships that lead to children. The man’s wife is Indian, so even if she is light skinned, there’s a lot of genetic variation in India. I’ve been to the country (had a fab time!) and can tell you, I saw more people my shade and darker than super light. If you take Bollywood movies at face value for what Indians look like, you’re going to be disappointed. So, anytime two people from two largely varied gene pools hook up, you have no idea what skin color your child is going to have. The same thing happened with Tay Tay. Is she significantly lighter than me? Yes, however, she was born paler than my husband and now she’s his shade and there’s always the possibility she could still get darker.

2. This man mentions his wife’s ethnicity in a cringe worthy manner

Let me backtrack for a sec. While my wife isn’t black, she’s also very much not white. She’s Indian (see: Tandoori, not Thanksgiving), and she’s Canadian.

Sir...just no. Tandoori is not a way to describe people. It’s an oven and a way to cook food. Thanksgiving is hardly a positive thing to mention to Native Americans because, well, see history. I’m not sure if he was trying to be sarcastic or pithy here, but it fell flat and I wasn’t alone. People in the comments on the article page and on VSB’s FB post also called him out for it.

Also, let’s not pretend Canada doesn’t have an issue with minorities or even their own First Nations...that’s being intellectually dishonest. Are they more evolved on the whole than the U.S.? For sure...but I’ve heard plenty of stories from Black Canadians.

3. Black people are not a monolith

This was probably the most irritating part of this awkward article. I hate when people of other cultures try to pigeon hole us but it’s 10x worse when it’s coming from within. We’re not a monolith, we’re not the Borg. We don’t all have the same interests, thoughts, feelings and responses to things. If Joe in California stubs his toe, we don’t all suddenly feel a tingle telling us that Joe is injured. There’s no one defining way to be black. The narrator (a black man) had such a narrow and depressing view of what “blackness” was that if I wasn’t a black person and read that, I’d think being black was probably the worst thing that could happen to someone. According to him black people don’t:

Wear flip-flops

Listen to anything except hip-hop, R&B or soul/neo-soul music

Don’t play acoustic guitar (but like really? How would you come to this conclusion with all the black musicians who—wait for it—play the ACOUSTIC guitar?!)

Don’t go camping (I don’t go camping, however I’ve been hiking and in general do like outdoorsy things)

And apparently if we do the above, we might get our black card revoked. Meanwhile according to the author, all we do is play spades, watch Soul Train, fry up balogne on the weekends and speak solely in AAVE.

I haven’t seriously watched Soul Train since I was in high school. I don’t eat balogne because it’s literally scraps from meat processing plants pressed together into a mystery meat. I play a passable hand of spades but it’s not the first thing I run to at the cookout. And I DO NOT speak in “traditional” AAVE except for the occasional “guuurlll” or “chillllee”. However, I wear flip-flops religiously in the summer, and I live for K-Pop (BTS Army!).

4. I’m confused by what this man expected from “marrying out” but not marrying white.

In the article, he mentions how he married out, but his wife isn’t white she’s Indian. Okay. But his awkward explanation makes it seem like he thought that because he didn’t marry a white person, there wouldn’t be growing pains, disconnects or times where you won’t see eye to eye. What?!

Look, I’m 36 years old, and I’ve spent over a third of my life in an intercultural relationship with the same Puerto Rican man. Yes there are a lot of similarities between us and how we grew up, but there’s a lot that wasn’t the same. And culturally, we’re very different, even if we have shared pop cultural things like Hip-Hop, the Commodore 64 and Disney World. Heck, the hubs is probably closer to Hip-Hop than me because his dad was and is part of the rise of Hip-Hop and DJs as we know it in the Bronx in the ‘70s and ‘80s whereas I just consumed it in passing.

Even two black people from opposite parts of the country like the North and the South would have cultural differences. You could marry the boy down the street and still have cultural disconnects because...#3 WE’RE NOT A MONOLITH.

5. Why are you trying to force your kids to choose “your side” at the expense of your wife’s “side”?

I’m the first to admit that raising multicultural children can be challenging. But making the choice for them and treating them as only black or only Indian is a major disservice. They’re not just one thing. I get it, visually his children are black, but that doesn’t mean that you can legitimately deny their Indian side or downplay it—especially if mom is in the picture.

Right now, my daughter looks more identifiably Latina than anything else, right down to her hair. Although everyone says she has the hubs’ hair and skin and my face so... But the point is, she is Afro-latina. So, she’s going to learn about everything. And the choice of whether she more identifies with being Puerto Rican or black is one that she needs to make. My husband and I can’t force that on her. It’s her identity, not ours.

6. It’s clear you’re still grappling with blackness, don’t lay that at your kids’ feet

This was honestly the biggest takeaway I got from this article. He wasn’t sure how to define blackness for himself, and as a result, he’s trying to shape it in an odd way for his children. And maybe he really does feel like being black is the shit. But the way he caricatured blackness through the scope of this article was piss poor. Whether he’s feeling some type of way because he married out or because he feels his children are (unfairly?) labeled as black are things he needs to work out on his own time and not put those stigmas on his daughters.

Photo by Sai De Silva on Unsplash

[piesforjack]

CANADIAN THINGS PART 2, THE SEQUEL NO ONE ASKED FOR!!!!

hiiii yesss!! so if you’ve seen my last canada post (HA that’s a pun bc our mail service is called “canada post” har har har...anyway) u know that i had some records to set straight, so to speak, so i’m back at it again w canada FACTS aka things you probably don’t know but might be useful and helpful in your attempt to flesh out realistic Canadiana™. this is in honour of me hitting 500 followers, thank y’all so much ily all and thanks for bein awesome!!!

without further ado, buckle up, buds, here we go again!!!!

canada eradicated pennies not too long ago. basically, we don’t have a 1¢ coin anymore, we only have 5¢ coins ergo all payments paid in cash are rounded up/down accordingly. jack and ransom 100% hate this because now they’re so annoyed by the concept of carrying around pennies (”what’s the point!?!? 1¢??! USELESS!!)

along this same vein, canada doesn’t have a $1 bill, we have coins known as a loonie ($1) and a toonie ($2), the smallest bill we have is $5 (jack is still consistently weirded out by paper dollar bills. it feels wrong.)

ALSO while we’re on the topic of money, all our bills are different colours (blue for $5, purple for $10, green for $20, red for $50, brown for $100), they’re also waterproof (not heatproof tho!!!), and the $100 ARE NOT officially created to smell like maple syrup but i can assure you i’ve sniffed some bills that do smell like maple syrup and i cannot explain why (ransom still gets confused w american money “it looks like monopoly money, jack!” “i know, bro, i know”)

IN OTHER MONEY RELATED TRAINS OF THOUGHT, there are two main canadian airlines: air canada and westjet. they both have a total monopoly on canadian travel so it’s real damn expensive to fly anywhere in canada from within canada. it sucks a whole lot. (just remember than whenever you write ransom/jack flying home. it’s a pretty penny even if jack is loaded)

age of consent is 16 across canada

the drinking age in canada is 18/19 (dependent on provinces), however, CANADA WIDE the legal adult age (to vote, essentially) is 18.

driving ages differ province to province (you’d have to google because even i don’t know every province)

SPEAKING OF PROVINCES, canada is split into provinces and territories: 10 provinces and 3 territories. here’s a breakdown of each (it’s long, skip if you wanna!!):

british columbia (BC)

west coast best coast, lots of mountains, very hippy dippy, home province of vancouver aka movie city central, capital city is VICTORIA not vancouver, rains a lot, is known for being the birth city of ryan reynolds (your welcome), is split into two main sections: the mainland and the island (even though BC is composed of many islands, vancouver island is referred to as THE island), bland football team, even blander NHL team.

alberta (AB)

neighbour to BC, cowboys, hyper-conservative, also mountains, capital is EDMONTON not calgary, lots of extreme weather (sunshine and +20 (celsius) and then it’ll snow. alberta is weird like that), oil oil OIL, two mediocre football teams, home of the calgary stampede (again, cowboys), i often refer to alberta as the texas of canada and i’ve never had someone disagree tbh, mediocre hockey teams (including connor mcfuckingjesus don’t get me started)

saskatchewan (SK)

neighbour to AB, pronounced SASS-CAT-CHEW-WAH-N, flat flat FLAT, farmers galore, capital city regina (hahaha laugh it up it’s not that funny once you’re beyond the age of 10), even more mediocre football team (i’m only saying that bc i’m from manitoba, the rival province), tbh i don’t know much about saskatchewan except that we drove all the way across it once for a roadtrip and i swear to god we didn’t see another vehicle or human for the entirety of our trip across

manitoba (MB)

neighbour to SK and also the prime rival, capital city winnipeg (YES IT’S A REAL PLACE, I WAS BORN THERE, I LIVED THERE FOR 18 YEARS, CAN CONFIRM, STOP IT), cold as FUUUUUCK in the winter (-40 (celsius) and schools don’t close until it’s -45, so, deal w THAT), mosquitoes fucking galore (it’s disgusting and awful and makes being outdoors AWFUL), we also have polar bears!! (more north, but, still!!!!), really cool live theatre and music vibes, very dry heat, UBER MEDIOCRE FOOTBALL TEAM (but still better than SK rough riders bc provincial rivalry!!!), SUPER mediocre NHL team (i only say this because my mom’s a jets fan whereas i’m a pens fan...lmao BYE MOM), tbh can’t say many mean things bc i still love wpg with at least half my heart!!!!

ontario (ON)

neighbour to MB, capital city toronto, home of the capital city of CANADA, ottawa, muskoka chairs, so many fuckin lakes (everyones fave place to camp/own a cabin), extreme winters just like MB, niagara falls, again a rly cool arts district here (in TO and surrounding area), 3 football teams bc why the fuck not (fffffuck the TO argonauts), 2 NHL teams (everyone in canada hates the leafs. that’s not a fact but i could find enough evidence of it to convince you it is), basically TO is considered the center of the fucking universe according to everyone who lives in TO and everyone who lives outside of canada bc no one knows anything else about canada. canada might as well JUST be TO for all people fucking care. just. fuck toronto. (i think it’s a canadian thing to be Bitter and Annoyed about toronto’s unending praises from every corner of the map) ((jack is V much “fffffuck toronto” and ransom is V much “fuck you toronto is RAD”)

quebec (QC)

neighbour to ON, pronounced KUH-BECK not KWUH-BECK or KEY-BECK and lord have mercy on your soul if you dare say it like “Q-BECK”, capital city quebec city, french-canadian province that’s threatened to “leave” canada multiple times, HOME OF OUR DING DONG HIMSELF, MSSR. ZIMMERMANN!!!, poutine holy fucking HECK god bless poutine (if you think it’s gross i already don’t like you sorry 100000% NOT SORRY. jack and ransom love some good ass poutine oKEEEEER), a rly good music scene (osheaga music festival is top notch), essentially a canadian paris except people speak quebecois not france-french (but you can get away with it in most respects, there’s differences but the foundations are the same, bc DUH they’re the same language but essentially different dialects, KIND OF similar to mandarin and cantonese (although that particular case has more nuances than this one but you get the idea))

newfoundland and labrador (NL)

neighbour to QB, capital city st. john’s (not to be confused with saint john, NB...yeah there’s another province w almost the EXACT SAME CITY NAME sigh i know it’s dumb and rude) i’ve never really been to the east coast so idk what to tell you but LOBSTER and FISHING and WEIRD FUCKIN ACCENTS, another coastal place so it’s p weird and hippy dippy, but i’ve only ever heard that they’re lovely people, often referred to as newfies.

now, the maritime provinces....starting with new brunswick (NB)

just south of QB, capital city fredericton, v small in comparison to other canadian provinces (as u can tell), again don’t know much about NB but i know they’re big on fish and are basically Maine The Second (they’re pressed right up against maine so, it’s basically maine 

nova scotia (NS)

south-ish of NB, capital city halifax, HOME TO THE REAL LIFE DING DONG OF MY HEART, MISTER 87, SIDNEY CROSBY, a full on island, full of wonderful kind people a la mister crosby himself (honestly, it’s just a bunch of super kind people), really cool coastal scenery with amazing seafood (as you’d expect), home of the city that many a traveller has confused for sydney australia, very old-fashioned (idk how to explain???) but just like...you feel like you’re in a storybook when you’re there, lots of lighthouses, overall a v nice place to be

prince edward island (PEI)

the teeny-tiniest place in all of canada i’m certain, north-east-ish of NB and NS, capital city charlottetown, honestly i’m running out of things to say, it’s exactly like NB and NS had a baby that never grew out of infancy it’s so small.

now onto the TERRITORIES which are all up north...yukon (YT)

pronounced YOU-CON, north of BC, east of alaska, capital city whitehorse, cold as heck (tundra baby!!), extremely expensive living conditions ($9 for a 2L of milk, $18 for some fuckin apples...absolute fuckin robbery), lots of hunting and fishing goes on up here (aka lots of people hunt/prepare their own food), lots of mountains and such, v beautiful.

northwest territories (NT)

above AB and SK, capital city yellowknife, used to be bigger but then it was divided up (creating the new territory nunavut), v similar to yukon but with less mountain and more lakes, again v cold bc TUNDRA, my cousin met her husband while working in yellowknife...she’s from MB and he’s from ENGLAND aka what kinda fucking fateful BS...amazing, p cool w lots of islands and such far up north, it’s neat and suuuper beautiful in the summer (so many flowers lksdfjlskad)

nunavut (NU)

pronounced NEW-NUH-VUH-T, north of MB, capital city iqaluit (pronounced EE-CAL-EW-IT) used to be part of NT but they separated into two territories circa 1999, again v similar to the other territories, beautiful scenery with an OBSCENE amount of islands (colouring in maps was always a fucking DOOZY), again, not much to say. just a rly lovely place.

WOO congrats if you read all that lmao now lets get into some other stuff!!

our thanksgiving is in october, the second monday in october to be exact. it’s only been a thing since like??? the 60s??? like it’s a brand new concept, essentially, and i’m not even 100% sure why we have thanksgiving but we do (it’s mostly a charade, thanksgiving means nothing in canada, it’s a completely arbitrary reason to be grateful and eat some fuckin turkey) (jack and ransom both support arbitrary turkey holidays)

canada’s national sport is actually, like, officially lacrosse?????? i know what the fuck (i bet ransom follows lacrosse)

marriage equality has been a thing since 2005 (doesn’t mean jack wasn’t excited about the USA, just, not quite as overcome as bitty was)

winnie the pooh? based on a real bear from winnipeg, MB. yeah, be fuckin jealous y’all

if you didn’t know canada has universal health care. it’s pretty fucking rad.

idk if this is Too Obvious but canada has two official languages, english and french, so all of our packaging/instructions has to be in both languages. everything. from toothpaste to trampolines. everything. signage is a bit more dicey, most trans-canada highway signs are in both languages but more rural/urban ones probably aren’t (jack gets thrown off still when he instinctively looks for the french translations on packaging for nothing to be found. it happens more than you think)

oh also?? we used british spelling, meaning we add a bunch of ‘u’s where they don’t really need to be. this is 100% a point of contention between bitty and jack. 

CANADA IS METRIC. IT’S RLY SIMPLE PALS. everything is in groups of 10s. 10 millimetres = 1 centimetre. 100 centimetres = 1 metre. 1000 metres = 1 kilometre (aka how we measure speed, km/hour) you get it? (the prefixes, ie. milli, centi, kilo, are huge helpful hints)

the exception to this is baking measurements??? unlike the UK we couldn’t escape the wrath of cups and teaspoons and all those other arbitrary measurement devices. we still use those (for the most part)

we use fucking celsius okay (except on ovens, mostly because they’re american distributed machines ergo run in fahrenheit) anyway it’s p straightforward:

celsius is in relation to water temperature, ergo, 0 degrees celsius is waters freezing point, anything below that is freezing (relatively, of course), anything above it is not. this is especially useful for discussing weather, as, y’know, most people typically use temperature for (outside of the kitchen and hospitals, that is)

+20? nice summer day. -40? typical MB winter, +30? typical fuckin central canada summer, +7? dependent on where you live it could either mean SHORTS!! (central canada) or a light jacket (west coast), again it’s all relative to your acclimatization

okay i think this is long enough!! here’s some random nostalgic things that ransom and holster def remember/love dearly

i pray with all my heart that jack has this funny little soft spot for ‘corner gas’ in the same way i do (it’s a canadian prairie sitcom CLASSIC and i love it SO MUCH)

jack and ransom both have a strange crush on rick mercer

MO FUCKIN FRAGGLE ROCK BIIIIITCH

ransom definitely had some misconceptions about what being 16 would be like because of this fuckin show (he also 100% did the air guitar to the theme song)

this show meant a whole heck of a lot to lil bb jack (who 100% watched cartoons in english AND french okay????)

ALSO (i think i mentioned this in the last post but!!) ransom grew up watching caillou in english, jack in french, and they argue all the time about the differences between the two.

ransom remembers being a little bab watching this nonsense right before bed with a cup of warm milk and exactly two oreos (just me??? pshhh i don’t believe it)

jack had very strategically thought out how he would destroy his competitors at this game show

jack loved babar. don’t even touch me. just. imagine tiny jacques w a lil stuffed elephant my hearT!!!!!

ALSO MCFUCKING T’CHOUPI ET DOUDOU!!!!!! i watched this one in english but i can only imagine jack loved it

okay. okay. again, thank u for reading, i hope this was helpful!! lemme know if there’s anything i missed!! who knows, i might make a third installment one day!?!??!

[justlookfrightened]

Third part of Neighbors AU, Chapter 3, Oct. 8

Read it on AO3.

Or read Chapter 1 or Chapter 2.

Notes:

Once again, warning for homophobia -- in this case, discussions of what happened when Jack and Eric were outed months earlier. No explicit slurs or even detailed descriptions of what was said, just the fact that things were said. But also lots of fluff and cooking and bonding between Eric and Alicia, so there's that. I'm posting this more quickly than usual because, well, it was done. The next chapter will be next week sometime. I think.

Chapter Text

Jack started scanning the arrivals area at Trudeau for his father as soon as he stepped into it. He'd had to get up absurdly early to make the flight from Ottawa, and he wondered again if it was worth it.

He could have flown with the team back to Providence last night -- getting in just about the time he had to wake up to get to the airport this morning -- and spent Eric’s two days off at home with him.

But when his parents had invited them -- both of them -- for Thanksgiving, Eric had been so excited to celebrate “Canadian Thanksgiving,” as he insisted on calling it.

“Our Thanksgiving came first,” Jack had pointed out time and again.

“But we live in the U.S.,” Eric responded.

The schedule was complicated by the Falconers’ opening game in Ottawa on the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend, Eric’s determination to not leave the bakery in Dex’s hands any more than necessary and Eric’s desire to help cook. The way it worked out, Eric had arrived in Montréal the night before, but Jack was stuck in Ottawa until morning.

He’d caught a 6:20 flight, landing just after 7 a.m., and he wanted nothing more than to curl up with Eric and sleep another three or four hours.

Instead, his dad was picking him up (so Eric could sleep? start cooking?). Jack did not resent that his boyfriend had left work the afternoon before, gone home to pack, driven to the airport and arrived in Montréal to have dinner with his parents and catch almost all of Jack’s game. He did not resent that Eric had been in bed by midnight, probably 11:30, and gotten a full night’s sleep.

And still Jack was being met by his dad. Who was great. Who was a local hero, practically a national hero, who loved Jack unconditionally and had stood behind him no matter what.

But his father wasn’t Eric. Eric who worked hard, who accommodated himself to Jack’s schedule, who took care of him in so many ways. Who deserved to sleep late on the two days a week he didn’t open Sugar ‘n’ Spice. Whom Jack couldn’t really resent if he tried.

Jack caught sight of his father -- baseball cap pulled down over sunglasses -- leaning against a pillar, his head cocked to the side like he was listening to someone. Jack took a hopeful step nearer, trying to see who his dad was talking to. First there was the top of a blue beanie (Really? It was above seven degrees), then the sparkle of the morning sun off bright blond hair and shining brown eyes looking earnestly at his dad while he talked.

Jack could tell the instant Eric caught sight of him, straightening up with face splitting in a wide grin. He didn’t call out -- they tried not to draw too much attention in public -- but as Jack approached, Eric stepped into a tight embrace and reached up to kiss his cheek.

“Hi, there, sugar,” he whispered. “I missed you.”

“I was only gone two nights,” Jack said.

“Still missed you.”

Jack let him go and turned to hug his father.

“Salut, Papa,” he said. “Thanks for coming.”

“Eric would have come on his own, but he didn’t want to drive an unfamiliar car to the airport,” his father said. “I know you’d rather have him to yourself.”

“No, it’s good to see you,” Jack said. “I didn’t think Eric was going to come at all.”

“Well, we’re not eating until this afternoon, so when Eric found out the turkey wouldn’t have to go in the oven until 11:30 or so, he decided to surprise you,” his dad said, turning to lead the way to the car.

“Surprise,” Eric said. “How’re you doing? Need a nap when you get home?”

“Yes,” Jack said. “But not too long. How was it staying with my parents?”

“Oh, Jack, their kitchen is lovely. You never told me! I’ve always wanted a double oven.”

“How many ovens do you have at the bakery?”

“That’s different,” Eric said. “Anyway, your mom and dad and I have divvied everything up and checked the supplies and I think we’ll be good.”

“What do I have to do?”

“Take a nap,” Eric said. “Then you can keep me company? Your dad’s doing the turkey and stuffing, I have the pies, sweet potatoes, brussels sprouts and rolls, and your mom volunteered to put the salad together if I make the dressing. Maybe you can help her set the table? You need to rest.”

“Fine,” Jack said. “But at least lay down with me for a little while?”

“I think I have an hour or so,” Eric said. “I stayed up after dinner last night to do the prep work.”

***************************

Eric padded into the kitchen, yawning.

“Morning, sleepyhead,” Alicia said, from her spot by the sink. “Again. Good nap?”

“Mmmm,” Eric said. “Jack’s still out. How much time do we have?”

“About two hours until the turkey has to go in,” Alicia said.

“And I don’t even have to time it to get the pies done first because there are two ovens. May I take a picture for my Instagram?”

“Have at it," Alicia smiled. “I’m just glad we’ll be getting to use the kitchen to its capacity. And that you talked Bob out of deep-frying the turkey.”

“Yeah, well, I’ve seen one too many turkey-fryer explosions,” Eric said. “And I’m pretty sure Bob wants to keep his eyebrows. Not to mention that cedar siding.”

“I think I have all the good dishes washed and ready to use. I’ll get Bob to help get the serving dishes down,” Alicia said. “We keep a lot of them up in the high cupboards.”

“Perfect,” Eric said, pulling a pad of sticky notes towards him. “I’ll get the labels ready.”

As he started writing each dish on a separate slip of paper, he said, “I have to thank you for rescheduling your Thanksgiving for us. It’s much easier if we can leave tomorrow during the day instead of flying late at night, especially with Jack’s home opener on Tuesday.”

“Oh, it’s not really a big deal,” Alicia said. “It’s not like American Thanksgiving when everyone has to have the big meal on Thursday. Here, maybe because the actual holiday is the last day of the weekend, a lot of people move the celebration to Sunday, or even Saturday. Or people just use the weekend for a getaway.”

“Huh,” Eric said. “Every time we talk about it, Jack makes a big deal of telling me Canadian Thanksgiving was first, like it’s a huge thing. At least y’all don’t have fights about how soon after dinner it’s appropriate to shop.”

Alicia laughed.

“No,” she said. “Although there is football on Monday afternoon. And the game is always here in Montréal. It’s kind of strange, because the jour de Action de grâce is kind of less of a big deal in Quebec than in the rest of the country.”

“Can I ask you something?” Eric said.

“Go ahead,” Alicia answered, stopping to look at him.

“How did you decide?” he asked.

“Decide what?” she asked.

“To move here and have this life,” Eric asked. “I mean, you were a celebrity in your own right. You had a life in New York, you had your degree. You’re an American. But you ended up here in Montréal with Bob and Jack, and you’ve been here for what, 30 years?”

“Not exactly here,” Alicia said. “We bought this house after Jack got out of rehab and went to Europe. But in this area, yes. I like it here. Want another cup of coffee?”

“Sure,” Eric said. “I’ll get it. One for you, too?”

Alicia nodded.

“Montréal was always Bobby’s home,” she said. “And he was playing here when we started dating, so I would come here often to watch him play, when I didn’t have my own commitments. When I did, and his schedule allowed it, Bobby would come and visit me in New York or Los Angeles or wherever I happened to be. But there were times when I was doing less modeling and more acting and I’d be on a shoot and he’d be in the middle of his season and we wouldn’t see each other for weeks. I’d miss him so much, and when I was done, I’d come to Montréal to see him, because I didn’t have a place that I was so attached to. I’d left my own hometown for work years earlier, and I couldn’t even really stay in the Boston area after college.”

She took a sip of her coffee.

“Then after we got married, Bob was traded to Pittsburgh,” she said. “He wasn’t sure he wanted to go, but the Canadiens wanted to rebuild and needed the money they were paying him, and the Penguins needed what he could do, and he always loved Mario. We kept the house we had here, but I moved with him to the condo he rented in Pittsburgh. Then I got pregnant with Jack, and Bobby asked if I wanted to buy a house there and make that home.

“I thought about it, I really did,” she said. “But this was already home. It was where Bobby and I fell in love. I’m sorry. That sounds sappy.”

“Please don’t apologize,” Eric said. "That sounds sweet."

“We knew Bob would be retiring within a few years, and I’d stopped working so much to concentrate on the foundations I was involved with, so I could live anywhere, and I told him I wanted our home to be here,” she said. “Jack was born here -- it was the off-season, after all -- but we still spent the hockey season in Pittsburgh until Bobby retired. That was right when Jack was getting ready to start school, so it worked out.”

She shrugged.

“It wasn’t like Bob told me we had to stay here,” she said. “And for what it’s worth, no matter where his career takes him, I don’t think Montréal is home for Jack anymore. It’s where he’s from. Providence is home now, after the last eight years. It’s where he became the man that he is.”

“Thanks,” Eric said. “I know it’s not really my business. But I know Jack might get traded one of these years, and I could probably get a job anywhere, but --”

“But you’re attached to your bakery?”

“It’s not mine, really, but yes. I know it’s not a big deal like playing hockey, but it’s important to me.”

“Of course it is,” Alicia said. “And that bakery is more yours than anyone else’s. Have you thought about buying Matthew out? You know you could keep the space.”

“I’ve thought about it,” Eric said. “But I can’t afford it, not yet. Maybe in a few years? I feel like I should take some business classes or something first.”

“If it’s just the knowledge and not the degree you want, Bobby and I could probably set you up with some people to help,” Alicia.

“And Jack could get traded,” Eric said. “Then what would I do?”

“Whatever you decide at the time,” Alicia said. “But you’d be able to figure it out.”

**********************

When Jack woke up, it took a moment for him to remember where he was. Montréal. His parents’ house. In what passed for his room, although he’d never really lived here. Eric was here. Somewhere. The pillow smelled like him.

He checked his phone for the time. 11:45. Thanksgiving. Cooking. Still time for a workout before dinner.

He got up, brushed his teeth and drank a glass of water. He pulled on shorts and T-shirt and then headed to the kitchen.

Eric was standing at the sink at the island, doing something with Brussels sprouts. The mingled aromas of turkey and pumpkin and apple pies made Jack’s mouth water. He detoured from his path to the fridge to come up behind Eric and nuzzle into the back of his neck.

“I’m not sure what smells better, you or dinner,” Jack said.

Eric wiggled his hips a bit, which felt wonderful, but said, “Hush, you. Your parents will be back any minute.”

Jack stepped back and said, “Have you eaten? I was going to get some apples and peanut butter and head to the weight room. Want some?”

“Sure, I'll have a couple,” Eric said.

They worked companionably, Jack slicing apples and Eric cleaning sprouts.

When Jack’s parents came in, his father bearing the dedicated and decorated turkey platter they found in the basement storage room, Jack was smearing peanut butter on slices of apple and hand-feeding them to Eric. He couldn't help but notice his parents’ delighted smiles.

“OK, Eric, I'm gonna get a quick workout in, then I'll come help for real,” he said, kissing a stray bit of peanut butter off Eric’s lip.

“Mind if I keep you company downstairs?” his father asked. “The turkey’s in the oven and the dressing is all ready to go in.”

“Why isn't it in the bird?” Jack asked. “Isn't that how you usually do it?”

“Eric was too concerned about food safety,” his dad said, making air quotes on the last two words.

“Seriously, it's a wonder y'all haven't been killed by food poisoning,” Eric said. “Do I need to print out some materials on bacterial growth and temperature for you?”

In the weight room, Jack set the pin on the weight stack to start bench presses and turned to his dad. “Not that you're not welcome,” he said, “but was there something you wanted to talk about?”

“Not in particular,” Bob said. “But your mom and Eric have been thick as theives up there. I think they're bonding over being NHL significant others. I thought it would be good to stay out of the way.”

“Eric and I aren't married,” Jack said.

“Neither were your mother and I, at first,” Bob said.

Jack lay on his back and started lifting.

Bob watched him, and said, “It's totally up to the two of you, of course, but if you and Eric wanted to get married, we'd be behind you.”

Jack let the weights down and paused.

“We've only known each other a year,” he said. “Eric’s only 23.”

He started lifting again.

“I don't know if that would be good for him, to make that kind of commitment so young,” he continued. “I know I wouldn't have been ready then.”

“So you have thought about it,” his father said. “And Eric’s his own man. He's a lot more put together than most of us are at his age. He seemed to deal with being outed pretty well last spring. So did you, for that matter. After Kent, I was worried.”

Jack brought the weights down and reset the machine for the shoulder press.

“Kent was a lifetime ago,” he said. “We were kids. But this spring … I mean, I knew it could happen. We weren't being very careful.”

He settled himself on the bench again.

“You’re right, though. At first I was upset, with it coming right when playoffs were starting,” Jack said. “I thought it would be a distraction, even though I knew my team was behind me. But with everyone focusing on trying to win the series, there wasn't a lot of talk on the ice or anything. Now everyone’s had the summer to get used to it. It turned out to be pretty ideal.”

He didn't say anything about the handful of less-than-kind signs he'd seen at the arena in Ottawa. None of them lasted long -- security seemed to be on the lookout for them -- and they wouldn't have been shown on TV. The rainbow flags had been much in evidence, though.

“I guess I can see how that could happen,” his father said, “although I doubt it would have worked that way when I was in the league. You played well, in any case.”

Jack grunted an acknowledgement and started another set.

***********************

Alicia cleared the coffee cups and prep dishes Eric was no longer using into the dishwasher and watched Eric divide dough into individual rolls to for their second rise. They would go in the oven as soon as the pies came out.

“We've never had rolls from scratch before,” she said. “It always seemed like too much work, especially with so much else going on in the kitchen.”

“It's not bad,” Eric said. “You just need to be organized. Two ovens helps a lot, of course, and you have so much space here, it's really pretty easy.”

“That's what you say,” Alicia said, pulling a bottle of wine from the rack. “Can you take a break?”

“I'm not sure how that will help my organization, but one glass won't hurt,” Eric said.

Eric didn't actually take a break, but he did sip at his glass as he kept moving, from one dish to another, checking the turkey, sliding the baking dish of dressing in with it, checking the progress of the sweet potatoes, pulling heavy cream and a chilled mixing bowl from the fridge. As the level in his glass decreased, the sway in his hips increased, and when the wine was gone, he was positively dancing to the music that came from the speaker on the counter.

Alicia couldn't help but smile at the boy who had brought so much sunshine into Jack’s life.

“I feel terrible,” she said, knowing she sounded entirely too happy for Eric to take her seriously. “We invited you for Thanksgiving and you're doing all the work. I guess we can't count you as a guest.”

“Mm,” Eric made an inquiring noise while he evaluated the consistency of the cream. “I'm sorry to take over so much.”

“No, don't say that,” she said. “It’s just, if you’re not a guest, you’re family.”

Eric went still for a moment, and his cheeks turned even pinker. Gotcha, Alicia thought.

“That’s really nice of you to say,” he said. “Y’know, my mother was tickled that I met you. She wanted to know all about you, and I told how friendly you are.”

“I wondered,” Alicia said. “I got a package with some delicious cookies and a nice note, and I sent her a thank-you note with my email address, but I haven’t heard any more from her.”

“Lord, she’s probably just embarrassed,” Eric said. “Tell me your favorites, and she’ll make those for you. Or tell her. I’ll give you her email and once she gets used to the idea that you’re like, an actual human being --”

“One who really can’t cook.”

“-- she’ll take pity on you and send more.”

He set the bowl of whipped cream back in the refrigerator and said, “Unless you’d rather not? There’s nothing that says you and my mother have to be in contact just because Jack and me are dating, and you know I’d be happy to send you whatever.”

“No, Eric, of course I’d like to get to know your mother. She must be lovely, to have raised you so well. And I know very well that you have your hands full, what with the bakery and the skating and all.”

“And dating an NHL star?” Eric said.

“It can get time-consuming,” Alicia said. “I’ve been there.”

“That’s true,” Eric said. “I never realized how many people would seek me out because people know I’m Jack Zimmermann’s boyfriend. I had one guy in the bakery who wanted me to tell Jack how they could have a better power play. I mean, really.”

Alicia laughed.

“Believe me, I know,” she said. “And I didn’t even know anything about hockey when I got together with Bobby. But at least I had my own people to run interference for me. You have to deal with the public all the time, and everyone knows where to find you.”

“Mostly it’s fine,” Eric shrugged.

Alicia poured Eric another half-glass of wine and arranged her face in an encouraging expression.

“Providence is a big Falcs town, and Jack’s a local hero, so most people are pretty positive,” Eric said. “I think a lot of them come to the bakery just because they hope they’ll catch a glimpse of him, y’know?”

He took a gulp of the wine.

“It was worse last spring,” he said. “When people first found out. There were a couple of people who just wouldn’t leave me alone. Kept asking rude questions. One accused me of turning Jack gay. Maybe Jack could turn a straight man gay, but me?”

“Eric,” Alicia tried to break in.

“And he’s not even gay, not that anyone wants to hear that, or deserves to know anyway,” Eric continued.

“Eric, did you tell Jack?”

Eric looked horrified at the thought.

“I couldn’t,” he said. “It was playoffs.”

He shook his head.

“Jack was so busy, and when he was home, he was exhausted,” Eric said. “I couldn’t make him worry. It’s not like he could have done anything.”

“Did you talk to Georgia Martin, or anyone in Falconers’ management?”

“It wasn’t really their problem,” Eric said.

“So what did you do?”

“Well, Chowder and Dex and Derek Nurse all started staying pretty much all day, and one of them would walk me home every afternoon,” Eric said. “Which they didn’t have to do, but was nice anyway. I, uh, got to know my local police real well. They would hang around at opening and closing.”

“Did you have to call the police?” Alicia said.

“There was some graffiti, a couple of times,” Eric said. “But we got it off right away, before anyone saw it. That stuff died down after a couple of weeks, though. Now it’s mostly just fans.”

“I’m glad it got better,” Alicia said, trying to keep her voice measured. “But I really think you should tell Jack.”

“Tell me what?”

Jack was in the doorway, wiping his face with a towel.

*************************

“It’s nothing, really,” Eric said, as Jack stood watching him.

His cheeks were pink, and he wasn’t meeting Jack’s eyes, almost like he was guilty about something. Something Jack’s mother thought he should know.

“No, there’s something,” Jack said, still standing in the door. “Please tell me.”

“It’s just about how people would come around, you know, last April,” Eric said.

“What people? Come around where?” Jack said, stepping into the kitchen and leaning against one of the stools at the island. He was pretty sure he wasn’t going to like where this was going.

“People who weren’t very nice,” Eric said. “They knew I worked at Sugar ‘n’ Spice.”

“What did they do?”

“It’s nothing,” Eric said again. “No one hurt me.”

“That doesn’t mean it’s nothing,” Jack said. “Crisse, Eric, if someone is threatening you, you have to tell me.”

“But no one is threatening me now,” Eric said. “It was six months ago. It’s over.”

“But we still need to talk about it,” Jack insisted.

“Fine, but I still need to get dinner on the table,” Eric said. “Go take a shower and then we can talk while we cook.”

Jack shook his head and left. It was only when he had to squeeze past his father in the doorway that he realized his dad heard everything too. And Jack had just been congratulating himself on how well things went, too.

He may have taken a little longer in the shower than usual, trying to calm himself by focusing on his breathing. He’d been with Eric most of a year, and he knew that if he sounded like he was angry at Eric, Eric would clam up. It had only happened a couple of times, but the sight of Eric like that -- curling in on himself, like he could make himself invisible -- it broke Jack’s heart. And he wasn’t truly angry with Eric. He was angry with himself for not noticing what was happening.

When he stepped back into the kitchen, Eric was pulling pies out of the oven.

He stopped to adjust the oven temperature, and then said, “Can you hand me those trays of rolls?” and slid them in.

Then he went to where the sweet potatoes were waiting, poured in some warm milk and started mashing, his back to Jack.

‘“Eric?”

“I’m sorry, Jack,” Eric said, still without looking at him. “I wasn’t trying to keep anything from you, at least, not forever. But you were busy with the playoffs, and really nothing bad happened. I didn’t want you to worry.”

“Why don’t you start by telling me what did happen?”

“There were just some guys who would come to the bakery and be rude,” Eric said. “We made it a point to always have at least three people there, so when we asked them to leave, they did. But then they started following me and yelling things at me when I left. One of them kept asking how I turned you gay, if you can imagine.”

He gave a weak chuckle.

“But that didn’t really work for them either, because, well, yelling stuff like that doesn’t get a lot of positive attention, at least in that neighborhood of Providence, which makes it light years ahead of high school for me,” Eric said. “So then there was some stuff painted on our windows, and Chowder insisted we call the police before we washed it off. When I explained what was going on, they started making sure someone was on the block when we opened and when we closed.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t know,” Jack said.

“It’s not your fault,” Eric said. “I didn’t tell you. You had enough to deal with. And it was pretty much over by the time your season ended.”

“I still should have known,” Jack said. “But my mom’s right -- you should have told me. And if not me, someone from the team, or even my parents. You don’t have to deal with stuff like this alone.”

“It’s nothing to do with you,” Eric said. “It’s not your fault. And I wasn’t alone. I had the guys from the bakery.”

“It’s because of me, Eric,” Jack said. “I’d say it has something to do with me. I didn’t think that being public about us could be dangerous to you.”

Eric drizzled some maple syrup over the potatoes, and resumed mashing.

“I didn’t take any of it as particularly dangerous,” Eric said. “Nobody said anything I haven’t heard before. It honestly wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be.”

“You expected this to happen?” Jack asked.

Eric just looked at him.

“I guess you’re right,” Jack sighed. “I’m more insulated. What do you want to do?”

Eric shrugged.

“Can’t put the genie back in the bottle,” he said. “So I suggest we eat dinner, and give thanks for what we have, and go for a walk later, and absolutely do not play any board games with your parents tonight.”

Jack couldn’t suppress a smile.

“Sounds like a plan,” he said. “And you’ll tell me if something like that happens again, right?”

An hour later, Jack looked around the table at his parents and his boyfriend and a truly impressive spread.

“Let me go first this year,” he said. “I’m thankful for the people who love me, who stand behind me no matter what, who encourage me to keep moving forward, and who let me love them back, even when I’m not sure how. Papa, Maman, you were always there for me, even when I tried to push you away, and I’m grateful. And I’m grateful that you still like me and want me around after all that. And Eric, words can’t express how happy I am that you’re in my life, and that you let me be in your life. You’ve spent this past year teaching me about love and care and how to express that, because you care about everyone, and you love me, and you taught me how to love you, and I can’t imagine a gift more precious.”

After they’d all taken their turns, Jack got a picture of the table, carefully set and loaded with food, his parents’ and Eric’s joined hands just visible at the edge. He waited until after dinner to post it to his Instagram account. #Givingthanks.