We LOVE traditions in our house! The tradition of getting toothpaste on our shirts as we walk out the door. The tradition of waking up bright and early on the weekends when we have no place to go. And we LOVE the traditions of the holidays. Okay, so maybe the first two I mentioned could go by the wayside…Regardless, tradition has always been very important to my family. I can name off a dozen family traditions that are important to me for Christmas, but somehow Thanksgiving has yet to develop a specific tradition for our little family of four. Outside of having the traditional big turkey lunch with our extended families and watching the Cowboys play football, we have nothing that we do that I would classify as a Thanksgiving tradition. As a sentimental mom who doesn’t want to miss a “teaching moment’, I’ve decided that we need to start a new Thanksgiving tradition this year!
So, I’ve searched and searched the interwebs for Our Family’s Thanksgiving tradition and found a few ideas that I thought were great, but not something I felt was THE Thanksgiving tradition for our family. I was looking for ideas that were meaningful, but frankly weren’t going to take a huge amount of time to complete and didn’t break the bank.
Here’s a list of a few ideas I loved, but didn’t quite feel would be “the one” for us.
- Make a Thanksgiving table cloth out of a white tablecloth or king sized sheet. I found several suggestions for using acrylic paint to make hand prints for each kiddo in the family. Another great spin on this idea was to use fabric markers to write a little note or list of gratitude for each family member. It can be added to each year! It would be a fun way to see a physical change in your kiddo’s and family throughout the years.
- A special Thanksgiving breakfast. Since the big Thanksgiving meal is generally a little later than lunchtime, having a special breakfast would be a great way to start the day! One alternative to a big breakfast was for the kids to start out the day with a piece of dessert so you can enjoy the treat when you’re actually hungry!
- Collecting food items for a local food bank for families in need is a great way to help your family learn to count their blessings.
- Make a family video that can easily be uploaded and added to by far-away family members.
I loved all these ideas, and we may implement some aspect of these over the next few years, but we decided that our new Thanksgiving Tradition would be a “Thankful Tree.” For the ten days prior to to thanksgiving we will have a daily reflection of thankfulness each night before bedtime. The boys will write something they are thankful for on some simple tags I made using notepads from the Dollar Spot at Target and the arts and crafts supplies in our basement. The tags will hang on small branches from the tree in the backyard that are arranged in a container. Each year, I’ll make a color copy of each child’s tags and enjoy looking at the evolution of their reflections and their handwriting! Since we’re just getting started with this tradition, I’m not going to do too much to make the tree beautiful, however you could spray paint the branches to give it a little character and match your decor. I love the natural look, and since my boys are always scavenging the back yard for sticks to use as light sabers, swords or other weapons, the bare branches will always remind me of their backyard fun.
We have so much to be thankful for, and I hope to instill the love and appreciation of family with our Thanksgiving tradition, besides eating too much and watching the Cowboys play football!
