We’ve already listened to Christmas music, watched a Christmas movie and honestly, I’m chomping at the bits to decorate our house. With Truth in the Tinsel already whirlling around me, I’ve had Christmas on the brain for months!
But I feel bad for lonely old Thanksgiving. I want to celebrate it with gusto. I want my kids to feel the slowness of the day and have time to contemplate what they are thankful for.
The other day we were at the Dollar Tree (picking up stuff for Operation Christmas Child) and I saw these cute autumn colored leaf doilies. I was thinking I could make a garland with them because my cousin (who lives in California and I only see and talk to via Instagram) posted a cute picture of a thankful-leaf-garland they made. And I wanted to copy her. Because that’s what I do.
Instead, I went for the less crafty idea and we are filling this pretty glass pumpkin (Walmart, $4!!) with leaves. At every meal (and somtimes at other times during the day), the kids write down what they are thankful for and we put it in the pumpkin. Then, when we eat dinner together we pull them out to read them all. Well, actually, we haven’t eaten dinner together since we’ve started doing this–but we will tonight!
Most of the time they are writing things like, “bugs”, “water”, “sunshine”. Apparently, they are super thankful! I love it, though, because I love to see their minds and hearts work. I love facilitating a simple activity for them that actually has big repercussions!
2014 Update: The kids would not throw away any of their leaves, so when we pack away the glass pumpkin, we keep the leaves inside. So, when Fall rolls around and we unpack our (very limited) Fall decor, the glass pumpkin comes out first and the kids love reading through all the old leaves and remembering the things they are thankful for. I love it!
Speaking of leaves, the new printable art for Praying God’s Word for Your Kids is up on our Facebook page. It’s nice and autumn-y for you! Like it?
Do you have any thankful Thanksgiving traditions?
Click and pin the graphic below to see all our Thanksgiving posts!
Something that I’ve done a few times and got from my mom is to place a few kernels of corn at each place then everyone says one thing they’re thankful for for each kernel. You pass a basket and put the kernels in. I guess if you had a lot of people or gave each person a lot of kernels you could make pop corn afterwards. 🙂
I’ve done a few thankful craft things through the years but we’ve not latched on to one in particular.
Oh, I’ve heard of a corn kernel tradition like that. I love it!
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I have been reading for a few years. Love your blog! We took brown paper from a grocery bag and made a large tree trunk. We taped it to the wall and made hand leaves from each kid. We put the leaves in a bowl on the table and then have the family write what we’re thankful for. Tape it to the tree. It makes quite a statement at 3 to 4 feet tall. Precious.
Love this idea, Amanda! Simple but gets right to the point of taking time to be thankful. I also love that there’s no need to feel guilty for not finishing another holiday craft project 🙂
Thanks so much! I really love the printable but can’t find it on your facebook page or get things to download (I tried Safari and Chrome). Any help would be greatly appreciated. I’m trying to get scriptures on the walls of my home to get them into my children’s hearts and minds (and mine too).
How cute! We started making a thankful tree this year and are loving it! It’s a great way to focusing on being grateful as we move into Christmas!