Thanksgiving Reflection

 

 Traditions…       

Trivia…      

Thanks Living…

In our household we have certain traditions we hold on to… 

We learned from our Magic Tree House book - “Pilgrims- a Companion to Thanksgiving on Thursday,”  that traditions  are ways of doing the same things from generation to generation…   

Webster says a Tradition is:  an inherited, established, or customary pattern of thought, action, or behavior (as a religious practice or a social custom)

So, some of the actions, or customs that we have been practicing from year to year for Thanksgiving are these:

Listening to Thanksgiving music while we prepare the food… this one is for me…  keeps me calm and uplifted.

Having cheese, crackers and salami for lunch…  no lie - we have had this for years… 

Going to the park by our house…   

 

Looking at the ads for “black Friday”  to see if there is anything worth going out for… this year we will not be, as my giving son and rock star son will be working, my unique son will be fishing with his boss, and my missionary daughter is with YWAM right now. It is still fun to look though…

 

My special son loves traditions… 

he gets ready for Christmas right after Thanksgiving… 

                                                             sporting his Christmas hat…

The past two years our missionary daughter has not been with us for Thanksgiving but we have been able to talk to her on the phone.

Another Tradition we do is to write down on some sort of shape or list – 3 things we are thankful for and add that list  to our “Learning Tree.” 

On a whim, about a month ago, I threw out our Learning Tree… I was decluttering for moving (was thinking we would be moving  before the holidays… which we haven’t yet… still waiting – but that is another post for another day.)  So, I sent out my unique son on a tree hunt.  He came back with this awesome branch…

As, tradition dictates… we wrote and shared the things we were thankful for.

It is so fun to hear all the items each person had on their list.  They went way beyond the three items… so grateful to see them living thanks…

   

Tree before our thankful leaves and after the leaves are added…

   

During dinner time we played a game we play when we have family gathering dinners… (with having older/adult children – the conversation can tend to be geared toward things the younger kids do not understand or have a hard time participating in)  We started playing this trivia type of game – we call “family questions.” 

Someone comes up with a question and everyone goes around and shares…  It can be as simple as – What is your favorite flower?  to Who is your favorite “Psych” character or what is your favorite Psych episode? (one of our favorite family show and one of the favorite topic for questions this year)

some random family goofiness…

    

I am so thankful… for this family… for this place and time we are in… 

where we have been and where we are going…

            but most of all I am thankful for/and to our Creator…

who decided that this crazy, unique bunch of people would be a good idea and would be

                                              a good fit together… to reflect His image…

Reflecting on  Thanks – Giving and  Thanks – Living