Thanksgiving

Truth be told, Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, actually, it is my favorite holiday. I love Christmas too, and Fourth of July ranks pretty high due to the great picnic we attend every year with our church family. But Thanksgiving is really the top on my list!

Here's why:
1. the food--and to be honest, I would like my mom to prepare my Thanksgiving dinner every year until the end of time. I'm nostalgic and I like homemade comfort food!
2. fall--stands to reason that my favorite holiday is also in my favorite season. I love the colors of fall, the decorations, the crisp air and the excitement of everything starting back up after a fun but lazy summer!
3. the simplicity--all though if you've cooked Thanksgiving dinner yourself you're probably laughing out loud at this comment, but I just mean there is no other pressure to the day. Just enjoy family, friends and food!
4. the story--I have always loved the Thanksgiving story of the Pilgrims and the Indians. Whether the way I learned it is accurate or politically correct matters not to me. When I was teaching it was also one of my favorite themes, I developed some wicked cool Thanksgiving lessons if I may say so myself!!
5. Thanksgiving Eve--usually a great church service full of testimonies of God's amazing faithfulness followed by a tradition with some of my favorite peeps--fondue! We won't be having this traditional pig-out fest this year because the peeps have literally "moved on" but I will always remember with fondness those evenings of dipping and laughing and chatting!
6. the food--oh wait, I think I said that :)

This year I decided Miss M is really old enough to comprehend the real meaning of thankfulness. I saw this great idea on pinterest to make a thankful tree. First, we went out and collected a bunch of stick, of course they loved this activity! We looked for sticks with character, not just straight ones. Then we brought them inside, put them in a vase and waa la...thankful tree! I cut out a bunch of leaves from construction paper and every night at dinner we each say one thing we're thankful for, write it on a leaf and tape it on our tree. Then we read Psalm 100, one of my favorite Psalms, and we end with a thankful song. I have a few of them up my sleeve but their favorite so far is "we've got so much, so much, so much...". It's a fun time and I'm finding that Miss M is telling me things throughout the day she is thankful for! Perfect, that's what I was hoping for!