It seems to me as the years pass by, that Thanksgiving is becoming the “forgotten holiday.” Stores put out fall decorations early, but before Halloween is over, they put Christmas stuff out and put “fall” items on clearance – as though the holiday is totally over. This saddens me. That’s one reason I came up with this Thanksgiving tradition of the Thankful Box.
People put their Christmas decorations out as soon as Halloween is over…but, I boycott. I won’t put out Christmas things until after Thanksgiving is over. It’s my way of “sticking it to the Man.” I never want Thanksgiving to be forgotten in the Myers house. By creating Thanksgiving traditions, I am making sure that the holiday has a proper place of importance. Because y’all – it’s important in this life to be thankful.
GIVE THANKS TO THE LORD FOR HE IS GOOD; HIS LOVE ENDURES FOREVER!
Thanksgiving is the fun of Christmas without all the gifts and stress. It’s the only day of the year when you can eat all you want, and then eat pie after that. Then you can lie on the couch like a big sack of potatoes and no one says anything about it. AND you get to reflect on your year – and see how God has blessed you…reflect on just how blessed you are. Yes, we should do this more than once per year, but it’s nice to have a day dedicated totally to that.
It’s important to have an attitude of thanksgiving – otherwise you might become bitter. It’s also a great way to cut down on overwhelming feelings. If you feel like the world is about to open up and swallow you, reflect on all your many blessings. I find that for myself, I usually get rid of my pity party pretty quickly. Hasta la vista, whiny pants. Hello, turkey leg!
That’s why we decided to start a new tradition in the Myers house.
And this is one the kids can look forward to each year! When I was growing up, our Thanksgiving tradition was to go “bear hunting” (no, there were never any bears – I think they just wanted us to get out of the house – I’m wise to their scheme…now). When we were done hunting we would come in and look through the JC Penney Wish Book and make our Christmas lists for my grandmother. I remember this VERY fondly.
We want to cultivate an attitude of gratitude in our children, so we decided to make a Thankful box.
For this you just need a photo storage box – easy to find at Michael’s or Hobby Lobby or similar (make sure to use a coupon from the paper!), some markers or paints, a few stickers and some letter stencils (or a steady hand). These are all items I keep in our craft supplies anyway.
Each year, we pick 5 things each that we are thankful for and write them down to add to the Thankful box.
I want them to be specific so that the next year when we look back, we can recall what we’ve been thankful for – and see how far we’ve come. What better way to cultivate gratitude? Yes, I realize that when your kids are little, they’ll probably be thankful for stuff like:
- The dog (or cat)
- Elmo
- Ice Cream
- Beans
- Rocks
BUT, each year when we get out the Thankful Box we’re able to see the previous years’ lists and be quite tickled! And that’s what I’m looking to create – something we will always look forward to. This box is stored in the closet on a high shelf. We pull the box out each Thanksgiving, read the old lists and make a new one. It’s easy and memorable! I just love our Thankful Box Thanksgiving tradition!
What is your favorite family tradition for Thanksgiving?
I love this idea! I just told my husband about it and we will begin this tradition tomorrow morning! I have 4 little ones, so it should be fun. Looking forward to this every year. thanks for sharing this idea 🙂
🙂 Awesome!! Happy Thanksgiving to your family!
We started a similar tradition this year. We made a blessings tree. Each day of November my husband and I would each write down one blessing on a construction paper leaf and then place it on our tree. So as we approached Thanksgiving our tree blossomed with bright blessing leaves (60 in all by the end of the month.) It was way fun. I’m saving this years leaves to read again next year. Pic of our blessing tree here: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1961021/2011-11-10%2007.53.52.jpg
That looks great! My friend Rachel did a similar version and the link is at the bottom of the post. I think they are super cute. You had 60?? That’s GREAT!
Yep. My husband and I were purposeful to each do a leaf a day. So two leaves a day for the thirty days of November makes for 60 total.
That’s really great. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
I totally agree with you!! Thanksgiving is such an important holiday our nation and it seems no one gives it any thought. Grocery stores and food chains I suppose make a lot off thanksgiving but for retailers there’s not much for them to sell and make a $$. Hence just skip it? I boycot any decorations also until AFTER Thanksgiving. There’s a generation that not being taught about Thankfullness.
🙂 I’m glad I’m not the only one waiting until after Thanksgiving for decorating!
Thanks for the great idea! We’re making this for a homeschool project today and will be implementing it each as a new Thanksgiving tradition. Hopefully, I too, will not neglect to remember where ye ol’ Thankful Box resides this time next year. I think I’ll have my oldest (9) be in charge of remembering where it lives just in case. God Bless! 🙂
I could ask Barry to remember….but he’s as bad as me. Haha! 🙂 I hope you’ll send me a photo of the finished product!
You have the best ideas Stacy!
So do you….that’s why I tagged ya. 🙂
This is such a great idea–and doesn’t sound too hard! I am the Queen of Crooked as well….and so not crafty! I wanted to do a Thankful Tree, but I can’t figure out how to make one that looks halfway decent.
Me either….hence, the THANKFUL BOX. Ha! 🙂
That is a GREAT idea 🙂 We play BINGO every year on Thanksgiving to keep everyone occupied while the bird cooks 🙂
Oh man! I love Bingo!
Great idea. Thanksgiving should be about family. It seems this year retailers don’t want this to be the case with store starting Black Friday on Thursday night. I refuse to get out in it. I will stay home and enjoy my family.
Me too Shannon!
What a fun idea!
Thanks! 🙂