You Were in Canada for American Thankgiving?

Yes I was, thank you for asking.
And it was absolutely delightful, on the realzie.
As harsh as this may sound,
it was so good to get away from my immediate family,
even if it were only for 5 measely days.
I hadn't seen my grandma or my uncle in a long while
because of the play keeping me at school 'til 7 every night.
So it was awesome to spend some quality time with just them.
(Since they brought me, of course.)
And I hadn't seen any of my relatives in Canada
since a wedding I went to up there last year.
I even met some relatives I didn't know I had,
which sounds really weird to say.
I went on one walk the entire break,
just by myself, around the neighborhood
of my great-aunt's house which is where we stayed.
Every morning I woke up late,
and every morning breakfast and laughter
were waiting for me in the kitchen.
Every night I stayed up til 4 am,
playing cards and sharing stories
with my Canadian family.
I listened to so much Jamie T
and watched the snow fall
outside of Notre Dame Basilica.
I signed the visitor's book in Notre Dame
saying something really lame like,
"Wicked. Awesome."
because it definitely was, but still.
Sounds pretty immature to say about such a
magnificently built place of flucking
worship, y'know?
Anyways.
We walked around
Old Montreal and browsed through
some tacky Christmas shops.
We went 'into town' as my great-uncle called it,
which is basically the bustling-city-aspect of Montreal.
We drove around and shopped around
and went to the metro, but not on the metro,
but it was interesting all the same.
We went to the underground shops,
which blew my mind,
the amount of floors filled with shops
built underground. Insanity, I tell you.
Every person I encountered was beautiful,
I have not a doubt about it.
For the sake of my Irish heritage,
we also made a quick stop
to The Black Rock, also known as
the Irish Commemorative Stone.
It was raining outside.
We even had a turkey dinner on
Thursday since it was American Thanksgiving.
On that Friday night we went to
a party held by my deceased grandfather's side of the family.
That was probably the most adventuresome for me
because just about all of my relatives that
were there were drunk and carefree
and just having a plain "good ol' time."
My grandfather's sister,
who drops F bombs like it's nobody's business,
told me all about my papa from her eyes
and from her memories
with the most distinct tang of pure humor
I've ever known to experience in having a story told to me.
I met my cousins from New Jersey,
Pat and Jeff, and their sons Terry and Robby.
Robby and I talked of Jazz school
and how I look nothing like what I should for my age.
He and Jeff strummed their guitars
and sang us songs, from Bob Dylan to Elton John
to Gwen Stefani, all until 1 am rolled around.
By then everyone had sobered down a bit
and we watched a video made from my
uncle Eddie's wedding last year
and relived the whole shibang.
Watching myself dance
was utterly hilarious.
On Saturday I spent the day
coloring with markers on the floor
and talking about Disney princesses
and pouring chocolate milk
into plastic cups
with my two little cousins,
Megan and Allyssa.
I have so many pieces of
prized artwork from them
that I took home, it's ridiculous.
They also gave me this very bulky and chunky beaded necklace
that probably weighs about 5 pounds.
I wore it during dinner to please them.
I ate poutine.
I ate smoked meat.
I ate May West.
I ate St. Hubert's.
I ate Ah Caramel!.
I ate homemade fudge.
I drank so many flucking cans of Crush Cream Soda,
I could feel the layers of sugar building upon my teeth.
I somehow got into a discussion with my cousin Lori
about Smarties, y'know, the little fruit flavored
powered tablet candies? Which,
just by calling them "powered tablets"
makes them sound so very unappetizing but,
you know what I mean right?
Apparently those are called Rockets, in Canada,
and their Smarties are similar to our M&Ms,
only with a thicker shell and milkier chocolate inside.
I didn't overanalyse American candy vs Canadian candy,
I swear.
I just wanted to say
that Canadian Smarties
are very delicious.
I took many photos,
not as many as I would have liked to though.
I held meaningful conversation
with distant family
and swam in every minute of it.



I really miss Montreal.