Thanksgiving Traditions
We don't have any super solid Thanksgiving traditions. Every November this fact surprises me.
One thing I do attempt is to pull out Ox-Cart Man (featured earlier here) and make sure we read it. It's not especially a Thanksgiving book — it covers all four seasons and never even mentions Thanksgiving. But the cover looks Thanksgiving-y to me. And the characters are quite pilgrim-ish.
Plus reading it tends to make me feel thankful for what I have. In the book, the father brings home gifts for his family: a pot, a knife, a needle and a bag of peppermint candies intended to last the whole winter. It helps me remember how plentiful my life is.
Plus, plus, it's my favorite children's picture book.
Two other traditions I'm wanting to share with you:
1) My friend Laura B is trying something new this year. Every day in November, Laura is taking a photo of something she is grateful for. Then. She'll take her 30 photos and make some kind of gratitude project with them. Maybe publish them in a blurb book. Or frame them in a series. She's not sure yet what she'll make, but I sure look forward to seeing it. Laura invited lots of her friends to do it with her — and now they'll have a great excuse to get together and work on their gratitude projects. Great plan, right?
If you like this idea, don't feel like you have to dismiss it because it's no longer November 1st. Just take 6 photos today and catch up.
2) My friend Danielle B keeps a jar on her kitchen counter next to a small pad of paper and a pen. Anytime she or her husband think of something they are grateful for, they write it down and put it in the jar. They do this all year. Then, on Thanksgiving Day, they read all those little slips of paper. Brilliant!
If you haven't been doing this all year (I certainly haven't), the same idea would also work quite well from now until Thanksgiving Day.
What are your Thanksgiving tradtions?
Labels: holidays
posted by Gabrielle of Design Mom at Thursday, November 06, 2008
19 Comments:
oh, you've made my day! oxcart man was a favorite as a child and i'd forgotten about it. thanks!
I saw the idea in Family Fun magazine about writing down things you're grateful for. This family read the slips over dinner and then made a chain out of them for the Christmas tree!
What wonderful ideas! I'm going to institute the little slips of paper one this year. And I love nata-leigh's additional suggestion of making them into a chain for the Christmas tree! Brilliant!!!!
My family has been writing 'thank you' notes and keeping them in a jar for the past 20 years. Each night before we go to bed, as part of our prayers we each write down one thing that we are happy/grateful for. Each year after Thanksgiving dinner we open the jar and take turns reading notes. It has taken on different meanings over the years as our family has grown. When I left for college I would sneak notes in on my visits home, I like to surprise my Mom. As we've gotten married and started families the notes have taken on new meaning, a sort of family album.
Now that I am a teacher I do this as a yearly art project with my students, as a way to share family traditions.
My Mother is in her final stages of cancer, our family is gathering from across the world to celebrate this last Thanksgiving with her in a few weeks. I can't wait to see what she has been grateful for in her last year.
this is a realy cute book
Ahhh, I don't have a favorite Thanksgiving book off the top of my head but I love Barbara Cooney. Miss Rumphius was my favorite growing up!
I love the jar idea!
My husband's family would use the same white tablecloth at Thanksgiving dinner every year. They would each write with a Sharpie what they were thankful for at their place at the table. It became fun for them each year to find what they had written in previous years.
Not the prettiest table decorations, but a good idea, nonetheless!
Ox-cart Man is an autumn favorite in our house as well.
I love the "Little House on the Prairie" books. I especially love reading "Farmer Boy" around the holidays.
Two years ago I took 30 years of Thanksgiving photos, and scanned in a nice variety that included everyone who comes to our home for the holiday(about 30 of us). Then using a place card as template, made cards in photoshop double sided with photos of us eating, laughing, eating, talking, and eating more. Some in the photos are no longer with us, many have grown from babies to adults but they give us plenty to laugh about as we gather to eat (which from the pics is something we're very good at). And I continue to take new pics to add new ones this year!
I had entirely forgotten about Ox-cart Man. Now I need to get a copy! Thanks for the reminder. :)
I'm afraid I'm not as organized to do the jar, but it's a great idea. Some Thanksgiving traditions for us: We go around the table and say what we're thankful for. A new one for my English In-laws and friends who join us, but they really enjoy it. We also mark Thanksgiving as the day the boys can have all the Christmas books and DVDs down from the loft which gives us a bit of quiet cooking time.
Our Thanksgiving tradition that I always look forward to involves matches...each person has a LONG match at their place setting. The first person lights their match and says what they are thankful. Then he lights the next person's match and that person gets to say what he is thankful for...and so on and so on around the table.
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I love this book. Thanks for the reminder!
I love the two traditions you shared. I really think in thi sday and age traditions are HUGE. Thanks for teh great inspiration for what is usually a tense family holiday for us with my family- I can focus on some new traditions instead. love it.
I can't wait to get my own copy and add to our family traditions... I'll have a house full. And Gabrielle... a darling Traditions Journal from Cherish Bound is on its way to you!
like some other people, i had forgotten about this beloved childhood book! thanks for reminding me.
This year we started a family football pool with squares only a dollar, they could be even cheaper for less people. This made the game more fun to watch. We also had everyone write down what they are thankful for this year on cards. My husband read them right after the toast and everyone had fun guessing who wrote them. We have also started playing the card game Werewolf every year after dinner. Great fun, the game is easy and no-one has to move off the couch. The cards can be ordered online.
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