Creating Thanksgiving Traditions

Fall Pinwhirls for the Thanksgiving Table

What makes Thanksgiving so special is its ability to bring extended families together year after year to celebrate and share our many blessings. Whether your Thanksgivings are formal or casual, they can always be extra special from the decorations right down to the tasty dinner.

If your family is young, you might want to brainstorm some new traditions that your children can look forward to and carry with them as they grow up. We've got some ideas to get you started.

Creating Thanksgiving Traditions for Your Family

1. Cook Together: No matter how young your children are, there are plenty of ways to get them involved with meal preparations. Ask them to help you wash veggies, peel potatoes, roll out pie dough or even help you plan the menu.
 
2. Share Stories About Your Childhood Thanksgivings: This is particularly memorable if you have some physical object to tie to the cherished memory. For example, do you use your grandmother's gravy boat every Thanksgiving? Tell your children why that item is so precious to you.
 
3. Keep a Journal of Thanks: You and your children can keep a journal of thanks all month long, filling it up with something you are thankful for every day leading up to Thanksgiving. Turn the journal into a scrapbook and fill it with family photos from Thanksgiving day.
 
4. Share Your Blessings: Volunteer as a family to serve a Thanksgiving meal at your local soup kitchen or place of worship. Taking time to serve others is a great way to spend time as a family, and it could become a family tradition that endures for many more generations.
 
5. Use Black Friday to Shop for a Needy Family: If shopping is your thing, spend Black Friday buying gifts for a needy family or a charity like Toys for Tots. You can still experience the thrill of the holiday shopping season while doing something good for someone else.
 
6. Make a Wish: Don't forget to break the wishbone! The person who gets the longest piece of the wishbone gets to make a wish. This Thanksgiving tradition actually dates back all the way to the Etruscans of 322 B.C.! Now that's a long-standing tradition.
 
7. Watch TV: Spending a little time together in front of the TV is okay too. You can cheer on your favorite football teams or pick your favorite balloons in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

What family traditions have you started at Thanksgiving?