Thanksgiving Tradition Share Time
(& an easy, inexpensive project)


One of our favorite Thanksgiving traditions usually starts about two weeks before Thanksgiving. I set out a basket of paper strips and a pen, and everyone's instruction is to write down things they are thankful for on the strips. On Thanksgiving morning--before we head out to Gan Gan's for some of her world-famous dressing--we read the items together and talk about how blessed we are.

After we read them, I'm usually stuck with strips of paper and nothing to do with them. I have made scrapbook pages with them before, but not always. So...this year I decided to mix it up a little bit and tweak the tradition some. I really think it's gonna work great. And I thought some of you crafty people might like to do it (and, if not, just take my idea of sharing things you're grateful for and do it in your own family).

I went and bought a ONE DOLLAR 4 x 6 mini photo album from Dollar General and decorated the front with some paper strips and stickers to say "Give Thanks" and "07." Then I just found fall-colored paper and cut out 4 x 6 sheets. I set these out on the table along with a pen and told everyone to use the sheets to write their thankful items on.

After we've read them, all I have to do is slide the sheets into the album and, voila, instant Thanksgiving book of memories! And...there will be spaces left over at the end to add our Thanksgiving pictures. So it's an easy, breezy way to capture our photos and our thoughts about what we are so blessed to have in our lives.

(And, you know, the more creative you wanted to get...you could add ribbons and other embellishments to suit your style.)

I absolutely LOVE Thanksgiving. I really do think it might be my favorite holiday, because it's a very SIMPLE holiday filled with food and family and relaxation and no pressure to give gifts. Most importantly, though, it reminds us that one of the most essential things we need to do in life is to sit back and count our blessings...be grateful...give thanks. And I think this is an excellent way to capture some of that experience!