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The Thankfulness Tree

Posted by Patience on November 25, 2008 at 6:19 AM in Family Activities, Patience

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I always feel like Thanksgiving somehow gets lost in the shuffle between Halloween and Christmas. It's the less glamorous holiday but it continues to be my most favorite.
My sisters and I have to call each other a minimum of 684 times preparing for the day and that's if we are spending it together. Lord only knows the number if we are not.

It is a tradition to talk excessively about what time to put the turkey in and how it is never ready on time anyway. Who cares about the turkey, it's all about the side dishes. The recipes no longer exist on a 3x5 card, you must track down my mother or a younger sister with a better memory. These are the things that make a holiday.

As the years go by, I find myself marking experiences that bring us together in my own little family. Sometimes they are carefully crafted and others just spontaneously happen, some make their way into memory boxes and other just live in our thoughts.
I saw the idea of making a Thankfulness tree around the web the last few days and
thought it might be fun to make with the kids.

Of course, any project with hopes of success should start with a snack.

And then there is the token be-careful-with-the-scissors warning.

The boys cut out the leaves while I cut out the tree.

Here are the leaves, we wrote what we are thankful for on them.

This is my very nobby tree.

A few things we are thankful for: Legos, little sisters, the blackberry (papa's choice), pizza, facebook...

Our not finished tree, we thought we might take it with us on Thanksgiving day so everybody can add to it.

Who knows, it might be the next treasured tradition?

What are your Thanksgiving family traditions? Any new ones you are working on cultivating or do you prefer the kind that unfold on their own? do share...