On Halloween evening before the Trick-or-treating began, I ran to the grocery store for dry ice to make the spooky root beer and as I headed down the holiday specialty aisle, Halloween items were in discount carts and Christmas candy, glassware, decorations and baking supplies were on display. Yikes! The ghouls and goblins were still getting dressed and the strains of "Have a Holly Jolly Christmas" had begun.
What has happened to that most noble of holidays--Thanksgiving!
Although I love Christmas--my favorite holiday--I need Thanksgiving. My family needs it. I enjoy having a specific time to really reflect upon the bounty in my life. Here are some of my favorite ways to be thankful.
Remember the First Thanksgiving.
My daughter's fourteenth great-grandmother is Mary Allerton Cushman, a Mayflower Pilgrim. We take this opportunity to talk about her, the Pilgrims, and the Mayflower. One year, she even wore a Pilgrim style hat. Although our family has "Mayflower Blood", it is still a great time to teach and learn about family heritage.
(By the way, I do not have "Mayflower Blood". Chloe gets that heritage from her dad's side of the family and they are fiercely proud of that fact. So much so that in a trip to the East Coast several years ago, I couldn't be in any of the pictures at Plymouth, the Mayflower replica, etc. because I wasn't "blood"! The tables will turn however when I finally do my family history and discover that I'm really a Norwegian princess and take them to Norway.)
Count Your Blessings.
My visiting teaching lesson/tradition for the month of November involves each of us naming our blessings by going through the alphabet. We go round and round from A-Z. We have so many things to be grateful for...at least 26.
At the Thanksgiving feast, we usually have each person say one thing for which they are grateful, but occasionally we put a new twist on it. One year, I purchased a cheap white tablecloth and with a marker, everyone wrote their blessing on it . An activity and a decoration at the same time.
This year's centerpiece will be a Mayflower replica filled with strips of yellow, brown and orange construction paper with blessings written on them. Dad will read them before the bounteous feast.
Each day of the month of November, write a blessing on a green, white, or red strip of construction paper and add each one to a paper chain. Then use it as an Advent calendar to countdown to Christmas. It's an effective reminder that we have all we really need.
Start A New Tradition.
Several years ago, we started "Pie Night". The Wednesday evening before Thanksgiving, family and friends come to our home and have pie. Why did we start this? Originally, it started as a way to have and enjoy my stepdaughters on this holiday. As kids get older and families get bigger, there can be a lot of turkey to eat at a lot places and this was a way to spend some quality time without needing to eat more turkey or rush off to the next relative. Secondy, there is simply never enough room to really enjoy the pie after the Thanksgiving meal. It is one of my favorite activities of the year and in the future, I hope it will be a great bonding time for me and my daughter as we roll pie dough out together.
This year, I want to have a Thanksgiving Fast. I feel so blessed and really want to show my appreciation to my Father in Heaven. "Behold, now it came to pass that the people of (state your name) were exceedingly rejoiced, because the Lord had again delivered them out of the hands of their enemies; therefore they gave thanks unto the Lord their God; yea, and they did fast much and pray much, and they did worship God with exceedingly great joy." (Alma 45:1) I can not list how many times the Lord delivered me out of the hands of my enemies (and myself) during the past year. I want to give thanks--by fasting, praying and worshipping Him with great joy.
Now that I have the Halloween decorations put away, I can focus on the next holiday--Thanksgiving.
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you.
