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Family Thanksgiving Traditions, Rituals, and Activities |
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Tree of Thanks
Take advantage of the fall leaves to build a Tree of Thanks.
Send the kids to the back yard for a tree branch and some fallen
leaves. Plant the branch in a pot filled with craft sand.
As family members arrive for Thanksgiving dinner, let the kids
give each person either a real leaf or a cut out leaf from paper
and ask the guests to write something on the leaf for which they are
thankful. Use either paperclips or Christmas tree ornament
hangers to hand the leaves on the branch.
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Give a Thanksgiving Dinner to Those Less Fortunate
Use the money you have been saving in your
Giving Box
to purchase a Thanksgiving dinner for those in need. Check with
your local social service organizations, senior citizen center,
or place of worship for names of families in need.
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Spend the Day Volunteering
Nothing will remind us more of how much we have to be thankful
for than spending your day at your local homeless shelter or
food kitchen serving Thanksgiving dinner.
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Share Thanks with Family
As dinner is served spend a few moments going around the dinner
table and asking each person to name something they are thankful
about for each person sitting to their left and right.
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Blessing Book
Start a blessing book by buying a simple journal and have each
family member write down one blessing from the past year. Keep
the journal from year to year and have family members add new
blessings every year. For those children that are not yet able
to write, a simple picture will do.
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Create a Family Cookbook
Create a
family cookbook by asking
family members to bring a favorite recipe to Thanksgiving
dinner. After the
family cookbooks have been
completed, give them as gifts at Christmas.
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Sharing Quotes and Words of Inspiration
“I usually put some kind of quote by everyone’s plate and have
them read it. One year the quotes were from the Dalai Lama. Last
year [my husband] read something from
Carlos Castaneda . This year I
plan to print out the
Simple Gifts song – from the
Quakers – and put it on everyone’s plate.”
Saralee Sky, owner of
Baby Nut
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Make Thanksgiving Dinner Together
Give everyone small jobs like cleaning and peeling the potatoes,
setting the table, and rolling out the crust for the pumpkin
pie. Remember kids love to help, so use the opportunity to
involve and enjoy them. The Thanksgiving meal may not end up
meeting Martha Stewart’s standards, but the time spent as a
family is definitely worth it!
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Share and Read Stories
Read books together that inspire and reinforce the idea of
thankfulness and giving to those less fortunate. Some
suggestions you might want to try by visiting Amazon.com are
Fly Away Home,
The Lady in the Box,
The Goodness Gorillas,
The Giving Tree, and
Kid's Random Acts of Kindness.
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Create Family Trading Cards and Write Letters to the Future
Play
fun games by creating
family trading cards or writing family
letters to the future.
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