What does your family do to show thanks on or around Thanksgiving? How do you remember the purpose of the holiday?

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We have friends and family over to feast. Our circle has a wide variety of theosophical points of view, so we don't try to make it a religious holiday. We just enjoy the opportunity to get together and celebrate plentiful food and friendship.

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When life hands you lemons, ask for tequila and salt and call me over!
Any time God closes one door, She always opens another, even though sometimes it's Hell in the hallway.
Handle every stressful situation like a dog. If you can't eat it or play with it, pee on it and walk away.
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Don't point. You'll poke holes in the air and all the faeries will escape.

Our family gets together on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. We were all always in a hurry, people rushing off to eat their second big meal at the in laws, or kids being rushed because they had to go to the other parent (in divorce situations). Now we all have time to spend with my husbands family on Thursday and my family on Saturday. No one person cooks everything, we split the duties and then set up the buffet!

My brother (whom I often only see around Thanksgiving) started a tradition called "Back Up Thanksgiving". I think it started the year we had no mashed potatoes on thanksgiving. We just make another Thanksgiving dinner on another day. Not just leftovers, more yummy food, no travel and less stress. This year he is visiting next week so we are having "Early Thanksgiving" instead.

Also, I want to write what we're thankful for on cut out leaves and hang them on the tree. We did that for Valentine's Day (things we love) and it was a lot of fun.

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we do a large thanksgiving with extended family and everyone writes what they're thankful for on a piece of paper and then places it in a large vase as a centerpiece. After dinner while vegging out and relaxing over pie, a Christmas Story, and football we'll read through them all.

This year is a bit different though. Us and my parents and siblings are having a Thanksgiving dinner next weekend as my husband and father are both being deployed on Tuesday and won't be back until the end of January. We'll then do Thanksgiving with the extended family as normal. Christmas will be backwards as we are doing the large extended family gathering as normal but the small family gathering is going to wait until they return home. We'll probably have to bust out the fake tree for that one though haha

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I did a thankful tree with DD last year, it was fun. Most of the things she was thankful for was people. It was nice.

It's usually us and my brother and his 6 kiddos, so it is alot of cooking for me! But I try to do things ahead of time and get help from the older kids.

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married 8 years to a crazy Brit, mommy to a banana, she is 5 and a pineapple who is just about 2 , mommy to 4 ~angel~ babies

We definately talk about as a group, and tell each other how we are thankful for having each other in our lives...thankful for our good health, safety etc

We also do things all year long at our church and thru different community organizations. We are very blessed, and thankful...and it's important to Dh and I (and the kids) to do for others...whether that be by donating items, $$$, our time etc