This document discusses Thanksgiving celebrations in Canada and Jamaica. It summarizes memories of harvesting coffee beans with family in Jamaica during childhood Thanksgivings. It also looks forward to enjoying a special jerk turkey dinner with wife for the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend and expresses gratitude for life, success, and support from readers of the author's blog. The author is a financial services expert who can be contacted via email or phone for motivational speaking, training, or mentoring.

1. This weekend we are celebrating Thanksgiving in Canada. Thanksgiving corresponds to the English and
continental European Harvest festival. The very first Thanksgiving celebration in North America took
place in Canada when Martin Frobisher, an explorer from England, arrived in Newfoundland in 1578. He
wanted to give thanks for his safe arrival to the New World.French settlers, having crossed the ocean
and arrived in Canada with explorer Samuel de Champlain, in 1604 onwards also held huge feasts of
thanks. They formed the Order of Good Cheer and gladly shared their food with their First Nations
neighbours.
Thanksgiving for me brings back precious memories of my childhood in Jamaica. In the early 1970s I
lived with my grandmotherin Mount Prospect, Manchester.She was a farmer. She planted yaw,
potatoes, carrots, cabbage, corn and turnip. She was also a coffee and tobacco farmer. I remember the
days when it was time to harvest the coffee beans—the harvest it was a community affairs. My
grandmother and my uncles, along with other adults from the community, would go through the coffee
garden picking the coffee berries. They would gather the coffee berries in either small bags or buckets.
My cousins and I were responsible for carrying the bags or buckets with the picked coffee berries to the
central collection spot on my grandmother’s land. Harvest time was a festive time. We would have
curried goat, boiled green bananas, rice and peas and lots more. There was plenty of Red Stripe beers
and Jamaican White Rum. I have memories of taking the occasional sip of a beer or rum. There was loud
music blasting from vinyl LPs or 45s vinyl records on the turn table.
Thanksgiving is a time for being gracious for life and our success. This weekend as we celebrate
Thanksgiving in Canada, I am giving thanks for my bountifulness. I am thankful for your continued
support since I started my challenge of blogging daily. Without your support and encouragement I could
not have done.
Thanksgivingalso means I get to eat "nuff" of my wife’s delectable jerk turkey. So special is this lovely
turkey if has been marinating for the past couple of days. On Sunday I have a special date with this
divine turkey. I will be eating “nuff” …it is that simple...I have a healthy appetite .......and Ican be
rapacious too…….so jerk turkey, jerk turkey you shall be devoured!
Here's to a wonderful and glorious Thanksgiving!
Mark McKenzie is a leading Subject Matter Expert in financial services regulation and supervision as well
as a professional motivational speaker, corporate trainer and youth mentor. He can be contacted by
email mastbmckenzie@gmail.com or by telephone 647-406-4622. Read my blog
http://mastbmckenzie.blogspot.ca/ and always write me a comment and share. Follow me on Twitter
@mackynacky. Connect with me on www.youtube.com, Google+, Facebook and Linkedin.