Thanksgiving Meal Traditions

What are your favorite Thanksgiving meal traditions that ensure those around the table share the spirit of gratefulness and love?  You have a few days to prepare and I have a few suggestions. 

1.    Cut out rectangle scraps of paper and have each guest write one thing they are grateful for on the paper.  Make a gratitude chain that can grow each with each Thanksgiving and be hung at this time of the year in the kitchen as a reminder of past years thankfulness. 

2.    Put all the guest names in a hat and take turns drawing names and giving thanks for one thing about the person they picked.

3.    Have guest write one thing they are thankful for and put these in a hat.  Pull the notes out and see who can guess which guest wrote what.

4.    Use a tree branch with fall leaves to make a memory tree hung with pictures of memories that will bring smiles and good stories.

5.    There is no better way to show gratitude than by serving others.  Have each guest serve another their Thanksgiving plate.

6.    Place 5 kernels of corn at each place setting and before the meal tell how in the cold, harsh winter of 1621, sometimes only 5 kernels of corn were rationed out to eat.  But even the small size of the ration was viewed as a blessing.  It’s not the size of our blessings that matter, but being grateful for the small ordinary things in life that make life so very special. 

7.    Before the meal have guests that are interested write a Thanksgiving poem or pray to be used at the meal. 

I hope these ideas remind you of your own Thanksgiving meal traditions and get you thinking of new ways to honor the holiday by ensuring gratitude is at the center of the celebration.