Create a Family Thanksgiving Story

What are your favorite holiday family traditions? Are you building traditions?

One of my favorite traditions was making pies. My mom could have opened up a pie store because her pies were that good! And the smell of those pies cooking during Thanksgiving morning was glorious. Watching my grandmother and mom work side by side and including me in the baking process brings back wonderful memories.

In talking to millennials, several voice a wish for more traditions around the holidays. Many tell me they really don’t have traditions — maybe due to distance, divorce and other factors that can cause families to be disconnected. But traditions help us stay connected and build a strong bond between family members. They connect us to our history and bring generational meaning.

Traditions help pass on important family values and bring a sense of security and predictability to children. So, this Thanksgiving, consider adding a family tradition or preserving the ones you already have.

For those of you needing ideas, here are a few:

• Have a special Thanksgiving ritual around breakfast and preparing the meal. We do cinnamon rolls while we are cooking for the big meal.
• Have special activities — a football game, card games, walks or hikes. Something that is a regular part of the celebration. In my family, it was bowling!
• Make a gratitude box out of an old shoe box. Decorate the box with the kids and cut a slit in the top. Every day from now until Thanksgiving, have each person in the family write down something he/she is thankful for and put it in the box. At your Thanksgiving celebration, read the notes out loud.
• Try a few colonial crafts or foods. Yes, eel and squirrel were part of the first Thanksgiving feasts! Yikes!
• Do a service activity like serving the Thanksgiving meal at a homeless shelter, raking leaves for the elderly or shopping for food.

Whatever you decide, create your own stories and memories. This Thanksgiving, make it a tradition to give thanks to the One who provides every gift and blessing.

O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good: for His mercy endures forever … Oh that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! For He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness. Psalm 107: 1, Psalm 107: 8-9