Thanksgiving Mindset: From Food to Family

3 min read

thanksgiving traditions

I asked my wife, Susan, to share one of our Thanksgiving traditions as a family for today’s blog post. I hope you and your family have plans to relax and remember what truly matters most during this holiday season. Here’s a little bit more about what we do as a family:

Thanksgiving is steeped with aroma, more than any other holiday I know. I can smell Thanksgiving. And I hope my children will have that fragrance of roasting turkey and bubbling apple pie imprinted on their brains too.

However, Thanksgiving is more than just food and I was afraid that we were missing that. As my children aged (especially the girls), we were going straight from the dinner table to plotting a materialistic strategy for Black Friday shopping.

Thanksgiving is steeped with tradition. The tradition of food (we had that one down) but also a history rich with thanks to God, love for family, and desire for freedom.

How can we refocus our hearts and minds from food to family? I needed a solution that would be easier than the dinner. But I wanted to make the moments of reflection as sweet a memory in my children’s minds as that apple pie!

So here is what we did and here is how easy it is for you! I researched the history of Thanksgiving — it is so rich. We formatted it into story cards. It is very easy to use and a great way to turn Thanksgiving into a delightful time of…

THANKS

Consider this the whipped cream on your pumpkin pie!

Thanksgiving Story Cards

These are the story cards. They tell the real story!  Things I never knew about that first feast.  Very intriguing.  Everybody picks a card (there are 12) so everyone has a part in telling the story.

Did you know that the first Pilgrim to die was baby Oceanus?

Thanksgiving Card: The Long Journey

Do you know what “Pilgrim” means and how they got their name?

Thanksgiving Cards: The Pilgrims

Did you know the Pilgrims liked to use an f where we put an s?

Thanksgiving Card: A Letter About the Feast

Thanksgiving Share Cards

These are the sharing cards.  You put the name of one guest on each card.  Everyone picks a card and fills it out about the person they chose.  Then everyone takes turns sharing how they are thankful.  Precious.  Especially for the grandparents.  They love to hear the children share about them.

Thanksgiving Share Cards

You can download all of the cards with one hit of the print button including instructions here! If you want to share some laughs afterwards with your family, check out these fall jokes and riddles. We also have some fun Fall activities for kids here on iMOM.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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