The holiday season, full of gift-giving and gift-receiving, will soon be upon us! Before the craziness of December begins, the month of November is the perfect time of year to help our families and children reflect upon what they already are so lucky to have. It is so important to take the time to truly think about what each of us has to be thankful for. Keeping these things in mind will really make the upcoming festive activities and time spent with family and friends that much sweeter. Here are five ideas of how you can share what you have to be grateful for as a family:
1) Last year, my family made a "Thankful Tablecloth." All we used was a Thanksgiving tablecloth that I found on clearance at a local store and a few permanent markers. Our table cover was made of cloth, but this activity would even work with a plain, plastic table cover, and you could decorate it yourselves! Each day leading up to Thanksgiving, every member of the family thought of something they were grateful to have in their lives, and we wrote it down on the tablecloth. The kids loved adding something new each day, and it is now a great keepsake!
2) This year, we are making a "Thankful Pumpkin." All we needed for this was a plain pumpkin leftover from our Halloween decorations and a permanent marker. As a family, we are writing down everything that we are thankful for this year. It sits on our dining room table as a centerpiece, reminding us to each add something every time we sit down to dinner together!
3) Click HERE for a free A-Z Thanksgiving printable. See if you can be creative and come up with 26 things to be thankful for... in alphabetical order!
4) Write down what you are grateful for each day and collect them in a Gratitude Jar. On Thanksgiving Day, read through each slip of paper as a family. Click HERE for more information and ideas of how to create a Gratitude Jar for your family.
5) Prominently display things that your family is grateful for each day with a Family "Thankful" Board, using a dollar store glass picture frame and dry erase markers. Click HERE for more information on how to create this idea.
And of course, your family certainly doesn't have to have an elaborate way of sharing what you are thankful for. Simply discussing what makes you happy or something great that happened each day is just as beneficial, and you can do this while you are sitting down to eat a meal, or even while you are driving in the car. Then, you will have one more thing to be thankful for... the time spent with each other!
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