Thanksgiving is a holiday that seems to be more and more like a little speed bump in the decorating rush between Halloween and Christmas. Or maybe its becoming more like ‘Black Friday Eve’ – the time to rest and fuel up before we slam into the Christmas shopping season. One year we got so pre-occupied with the impending Christmas holidays that we actually forgot to pull our turkey from the freezer with enough time to defrost it. Initially I felt embarrassed that we forgot Thanksgiving, that is until I saw a dozen other people at the Acme scrambling to find a fresh turkey for the same reason.
Thanksgiving is a holiday that deserves more attention. So, to help you and your family prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving in a meaningful way, here are a few thanksgiving ideas you can consider this year.
- Place a basket in the center of your table now and every day from now until Thanksgiving have each person in your family write something they are thankful for, from this past year, on a slip of paper and place it in the basket. Then, on Thanksgiving just after the meal, before dessert, pass the basket around and have everyone read a slip of paper. End the time of thanksgiving with a prayer. If you really want to get creative, cut construction paper into leaf shapes and use those to write on.
- Decorate early. Decorate your dining room for Thanksgiving with traditional fall colors. Pick up a small leftover pumpkin and some gourds from your local supermarket and farm store to use for the table centerpiece. You can write things God did in your family that you are thankful for right on the pumpkin so that all the meal long everyone can see just how the Lord blessed you this past year.
- Take time between your main meal and dessert on Thanksgiving to sing a few worship choruses, giving thanks to the Lord.
- Invite a single to join your family who might not be able to travel home for the holiday.
- Make Thanksgiving cookies (ginger snaps, oatmeal, and snickerdoodles are good choices) and give them out to your neighbors. Don’t drop the basket and run, stop to talk. You might find the gesture provokes some great evangelistic conversation. After all, God, is the unnamed subject of this holiday.
- Start a Thanksgiving tradition that you only do on this holiday. Here are a few ideas: bob for apples (sounds corny but kids love it), make caramel apples, home made ice cream or hot cider, light a fire in a fire ring outside and enjoy a campfire.
- Memorize a different “Give thanks” passage each year as a family. (Pick one from these Psalms 7:17,28:7, 75:1, 100:4, 105:1, 106:1, 107:1)
- Help your children write meaningful thank you notes or cards to people who have been a blessing them over the past year. Mail them early enough to arrive just before Thanksgiving.
Oh, and by the way, we already purchased our Thanksgiving turkey but if you see me on church this Sunday, remind me to take it out of the freezer for Lois. I’d love to avoid last minute turkey scrounging this year.
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