Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and with that many people are thinking of all the things they have to be grateful for. After all, that’s what this holiday is really all about. It’s about family and giving thanks.
We would like to offer a couple of ways that you and your family can make giving thanks fun for everyone at your house. The first step, which is sometimes the most difficult, is to get everyone involved.
Getting Everyone In On The Act
Consider creating a family bulletin board that will provide a place for everyone to add their own special “I am thankful for…” message. But of course, not just any bulletin board will do – you have to make the entire process involved and interesting!
Why not cover a piece of plain Styrofoam in a cheap drop-cloth – then add painted on handprints of each member of the family? The bulletin board itself becomes a cherished family keepsake. Messages can be added on color pieces of paper and attached with tape. Younger children may choose to draw simple images to add to the board.
You Can Share Publicly or Anonymously
Another way to ‘give thanks’ is to create a special box or jar that is designated as your place for ‘Giving Gratitude’ – in fact, you can call it your ‘gratitude jar’ or box. Let the kids decorate the jar (or box) with construction paper or paint and stickers. Kids are instinctively creative – this can be seen in the decorative ideas they come up with when they write letters to Santa or even when they draw stick pictures.
Let them have fun with their creations! They can even decorate some special cards that can be used to write notes about things you and other family members are grateful for. The ‘artwork’ the kids create will become a treasured and necessary part of the process.
Get the kids involved in decorating your ‘Gratitude Jar’.
You can decide whether or not you want to add names to the cards. Then, on Thanksgiving Day, reading the notes can be a family event. This can become a family tradition that you build on as the years go by.
Giving thanks can be much more than a blessing that is said before you eat your Thanksgiving Dinner. A ‘gratitude’ jar or box can be added to year round. It serves as a reminder that we all have a lot to be thankful for – no matter what is going on in our lives or what time of year it is.
