When one pictures a typical rendition of Thanksgiving in America, images of unlimited uncles, abundant aunts, copious cousins, and grandparents galore all assembled into one house probably come to mind. I have never known this reunion-style phenomenon.

This is largely due to the transnational path that my parents took to the U.S., with my dad hailing from South Africa, moving to Canada, meeting my mum and then both moving to the U.S. in 1997. Canadian Thanksgiving (oxymoronic though it may sound) takes place in early October and is generally a much smaller affair than its American counterpart. The majority of my Canadian relatives live more than 1,300 miles away (in normal houses, mind you, not igloos or cabins built of hockey sticks), so needless to say that family-oriented affairs like Thanksgiving are usually quiet. When we do visit my relatives from the north, there is a subtle but omnipotent distinction between Us and Them (the funniest example of which being nine-year-old me discovering the hard way that the plural of “moose” is not, in fact, “meese”).

However, there are positives to my relatively relative-less life. My immediate family has grown closer to make up for the familial distance, and I have a better relationship with my siblings than most of my friends seem to allude to in their own lives. We forge our own traditions, with fun-size turkeys and year-round pumpkin pies.  In addition, the time I do get to spend with my Canadian relatives has become a lot more meaningful, with our arrivals treated with significantly greater fanfare than would be displayed if we lived in Canada.

I have been given the chance to look at my family with a global perspective, open up many discussions as to what’s going on here versus there, and forge strong yet international bonds. There’s also a whole plethora of extended family living in South Africa, Belgium and other transcontinental locales that I would love to someday visit and see how our different ways of life compare.

Despite the fact that I may never truly experience the quintessential American Thanksgiving, I really wouldn’t have it any other way.