I know- it's early to think of this, but I always feel like Thanksgiving almost gets rolled over in the charge to the Christmas Season. And it's such a great holiday: I really want to start some kind of meaningful tradition for my family.

Last year we bought frozen turkeys and took them to the local food bank- ds was really scared about the whole place and now cries whenever I say we have more things to drop off there.

Last year my mom cooked a huge meal at my house- she volunteered to cook but it backfired: she didn't know where all my pots and pans were or how my stove worked, she burned up my best pot, set off the smoke alarm and took out a whole stove burner. So we sat down in a smoky house to a huge meal that everyone was too frazzled and stressed to enjoy.

We don't travel since our family is mainly local, and we can't really go out for a meal because of dd's food allergies.

So I don't know what to do this year. Does anyone want to share ideas or have suggestions- read any books that might pertain? I really want to pause and take a break and have a great time being thankful together... not just spend two hours cooking a meal we eat in 15 minutes, you know?

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I don't believe in miracles; I depend on them

For the last 2 years we have Thanksgiving with just us on Thanksgiving day. We only fix our favorite things! My oldest son likes corn casserole, and that was his favorite thing, We all like turkey! My middle son likes mashed potatoes. You get the picture. We all said what we were thankful for the past year. I really want to get into that a little more this year. We usually do a canned food drive at our church, and other things that might be going on. I am always looking for new traditions to add to what we already do, as long as they are meaningful and not selfish. Hope this helps!!

Don't have a book to suggest, but something we have done since they were in preschool is do a thankful tree in the dining room. I make a picture of a big tree,(but I admit last year just put up a big poster board paper) and make a bunch of leaves with the die-cut machine and we write things we are thankful for. We usually do it at dinner since we eat dinner in the dining room and then I post them up later. Then when we have everone over on Thanksgiving we read them out loud. Some are funny (I'm thankful mom didn't make peas tonight) to the really special that I've saved in the scrap book. It is a neat traditon that my DH initially thought was silly but gets into it too now.

I can't wait to hear what everyone else suggests!

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Debbie

"Watch the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves." --Benjamin Franklin

2 years ago we made thanksgiving placemats. I cut a sheet of posterboard in 4 pieces, used diecuts of 2 different shaped leaves, painted them fall colors and used them like a stamp on the poster board. We had the leaves overlap and used great color combinations on them - brown, orange, yellow, etc. so they really did look like fall leaves. On the back I painted my DS hand and wrote the year. I had them laminated so we could really use them and they would hold up. We used them as placemats and even just as decoration for the fall season last year.

You could also combine the tree and placemat idea and write over each leaf something that someone is thankful for. You could then use these placemats for years to come. I think ours are just precious.

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Better to give your kids the values you have
than the valuables you can't afford.

My kids always make placecards...silly ones, but they are cute. Everyone likes getting them, too. I LOVE the tree idea...and placemat one. We are going to do those this year!!

By the way...our WORST Thanksgiving...we had it at our house for the first time ever. I was so prepared....everything was planned out just so. Well, my dad goes out to the side yard to cut some firewood for the fireplace....AND CUT HIS FOOT NEARLY IN HALF WITH THE CHAINSAW! We had to spend the rest of Thanksgiving in the emergency room where he ended up being put in the hospital for over a week due to blood clot risks. I didn't have Thanksgiving at MY house for almost TEN years after that!!!

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My mom did something different. She gave us each 5 Kernals of indian corn and had us share something that we were thankful for from the last year. There is a whole story/legend that goes with it. If you're interested in it, I can ask her about more - I don't remember. I was ready to pop with Maggie last year at Thanksgiving!!

These are all great ideas! I really like the tree and placemats... those are things we can do in the days leading up to Thanksgiving so the day itself is not just a one shot deal. I would like to get a hold of that Indian corn story, too.

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I don't believe in miracles; I depend on them