Our Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving, that time of year when we are supposed to be thankful. I'm thankful everyday for what the Lord has done for me and provided for me. I have tried to teach my children to be thankful everyday also. That said, Thanksgiving is a great time to gather the family together and reflect on all that the Lord has done this past year.

Here are a few pictures from around our house:

2 different looks we've had on our dining room table this fall season.

In the dining room corner

The kids Thanksgiving Tree on the front door. Yes, a girl made the leaves this year!

Basket of flowers to the right of the front door

Basket of flowers and candle on the piano

Yes, those are the tissues tucked down inside the flower basket!

Our Thanksgiving Tree is where the kids, parents, and even guests and friends are welcome to take a leaf, write what they are thankful for and put it on the tree.  I try to have the kids do one leaf a day, starting on November 1st. Guests are welcome to add as many as they want. This encourages kids to think about being thankful on a daily basis. Since we've been doing this for a number of years, like almost 20?, I have had many a good chuckle at some of the things the kids put on their leaves. And, nope, I don't make them change a thing. If there are leaves on the tree that say "kool aid" and "legos", well, I'm just happy my kids are thankful they have something to drink and something to play with. :)

I had a great idea this year, instead of the Thanksgiving Tree on the front door, we would use a wreath. I had a nice grapevine wreath, and was going to buy the leaf garland to cut the leaves off. The kids would use a permanent marker to write what they were thankful for, and tuck them in the wreath. I love how pretty that sounds. My kids didn't. "But, Mom, it's tradition!" was the great chorus that went up. So I quickly gave up that idea, and went with tradition.

Food is another area of Thanksgiving that tradition dictates. Here's our menu:

Turkey
Stuffing
Mashed potatoes
Gravy
Creamed onions using onions I canned from our garden
Corn (this year, we're having corn on the cob from a neighbors garden that we froze)
Green beans
Cranberry sauce- the jellied kind, of course!
Homemade dinner rolls
Gingersnap pumpkin pie
Pumpkin pie
Apple pie
Chocolate pie

The Gingersnap Pumpkin Pie is new, and oh, so delicious. Of course, you also see the traditional pumpkin pie on the menu, too. There would be a pumpkin pie revolt from certain traditionalists if there wasn't! lol

Dad is taking his vacation this week, so no school for us!

Here are a few Thanksgiving links for you to check out:
Simple Schooling Thanksgiving Cursive Copybook
Thanksgiving and more Thanksgiving ideas
Read the Thanksgiving Proclamation
Free Thanksgiving Ebook

What are some of your favorite Thanksgiving traditions and recipes?



For more homemaking ideas, visit
Homemaker Monday
Tackle it Tuesday
Homemaking Link-up at Raising Homemakers
Works For Me Wednesday