Monday October 11, 2010. It’s a big day here at the hostel. It is Thanksgiving Day – an annual Canadian Tradition. (see previous entry:THANKSGIVING: a CANADIAN Tradition)
As it is a National holiday in Canada, most shops, restaurants, pubs, clubs shut down while the city closes down and people go home for a traditional turkey dinner with family and friends.
But what about backpackers? They are all far from home and can only look forward to to a very quiet day. But we are the only inn among all of the hostels in Toronto that jumps in to fill the void.
Our signs go up in the hostel a week before:
People can sign up by Friday October 8th for a full Turkey Dinner with all the trimmings and delicious deserts. The Friday booking cut-off is to allow us to calculate just how much food we need to prepare.
(People arrive at the hostel on the weekend (9th and 10th) before Thanksgiving Monday are exempted from the deadline.
By Friday almost 100 people had booked for the Thanksgiving Brunch.
Teresa, the hostels head of housekeeping began preparation the night before Thanksgiving and worked through the night preparing nine huge birds with a combined weight of over 140 lbs.
Last Christmas we had 100 people sign up for our Christmas meal and 130 show up. We almost ran short of turkey! This Thanksgiving we were prepared!
A lot of ex-hostel residents who now have their own apartments in the city come “home” for Thnaksgiving. They know they are always welcome at their hostel/home.