Last weekend our family gathered together to celebrate our son-in-law’s 30th birthday. Matt (far-left) is also the daddy of our first grand-child due in late April (not that we’re excited or anything like that!) We had a slumber party for all 9 of us at Matt and Anne’s little apartment Saturday night and made many memories doing so!
Tomorrow I get the pleasure of hosting Thanksgiving for 21 of us. Most of our family lives in Indianapolis so usually we travel for the holidays, but this year they decided they’d rather travel than host. I’m fine with that and I’ve got my turkey thawing in the fridge!
I want you to know that I am thankful for you, my online friends, today. You encourage me, inspire me, and make my life richer. I only hope I am able to give to you a portion of what you give to me.
God has really been working in our family this year in many different ways. Some of those I’ve been able to share with you along the way and some I look forward to sharing with you in the coming months as God brings about more clarity. But even in the midst of hard and challenging times, there is much to be grateful for.
So how does your family celebrate Thanksgiving? Can you share a tradition or two? What is your favorite Thanksgiving food? Anything special that you’re grateful for this year? I’d love to hear your heart!
Okay, I am thankful for you Jill, for your family, for Hearts at Home. A few family traditions: turkey bowl football father son games for 15 years we ran them for our town- our sons' loved them!; Blessing each person at our thanksgiving meal with a praise and a prayer; candy corn cups and we had to count our blessings- one blessing for each candy corn we ate:) Thanksgiving am walk where we thank God for all we see and who we are with. This year we walk for Hungry and $ goes to feed the poor.
love you all– prayers for a blessed year from the Farrel clan
I am a young mom who is just starting Thanksgiving traditions with my family. I saw an idea for a "thankful tree". You plant branches from the yard in a vase and give each guest a tag to fill out. They write what the are thankful for this year with their name and date. You add to the tree each year and you can see your guest over time and how God has been working in each person's life. I am excited to start this in my home this year. It is easy to lose track of our blessings at times and I am working on physical reminders of God's love and grace. Happy Thanksgiving!
We are having our first Thanksgiving at home as a family – just my husband, our 4-year old son, and myself. I purchased a tablecloth with a leaf print all over it. We are starting a new tradition. Tomorrow, whoever is at our table, will pick a leaf and write one thing they are thankful including the year. Each year I plan to bring it out and review all our guests and the things we are thankful for. As I stopped at the store this morning to purchase some fabric pens, I shared my idea with the lady helping me and her eyes well up with tears. She explained her parents are elderly and she is afraid this may be the last year with them. She asked if she could "steal" my idea. I encouraged her to do so and even told her where I found the tablecloth on sale:) I will be praying for her tomorrow and thanking God for another year with those we love!!
Ladies, these are wonderful ideas! You have inspired me!
We made a paper Thanksgiving tree in mid- October. Every night after supper we would write on "leaves" what we were thankful for and tape it to the tree. It was so fun to see it grow! We had visitors join in too. See my blog for some pics – justushowells@blospot.com