Give Thanks Jar
Last year when I had a 4 and 1 year old I realized I really wanted to come up with a more meaningful Thanksgiving tradition than the average go-around-the-table-and-say-something-you-are-thankful-for tradition a lot of people have. Let's be honest, most of the time everyone is just anxious to dive into their food before the stuffing and sweet potatoes get cold anyways. I think it's also easy to forget about all the little things we really are thankful for when we're put on the spot like that.
It's so hard to remember the things we are or should be thankful for all the time. Things we take for granted or things that you forget how much you wanted/needed after you have it for a while.
So I came up with an idea last year. After Thanksgiving I started what I called the 'Give Thanks' jar. It's a little sappy, I know, but it was my best idea. I crafted together a somewhat aesthetic jar (I have to look at it all year long after all) and pre-cut some strips of paper and left it on the fireplace mantle all year. Anytime someone had something they were thankful for they could write it down and stick it in the jar. With the littles I had to mention it because of course they don't think of it on their own, but when I noticed they were excited about something or really happy I'd ask them if they wanted to write that down. Other times I would just set the jar on the table while we did school and see if they thought of something on their own.
Fast forward to Thanksgiving this year and it's finally time to look through our jar. We made turmeric tea and all gathered around the table where the little strips were dumped out and spread around. We took turns picking up strips and reading what they said and then we would take a moment to reflect on whatever was written down. It was nice to be reminded of things that were from nearly a year ago, or celebrate things that were still exciting and new. After reading each strip we added it to a paper chain. Our chain isn't too long right now -- this was our first year and so it'll take us a while to get into the habit of remembering to add to the jar. It doesn't help that we only have a few readers in the family so it'll be easier in the future to add to the jar when our kiddos can write their own papers without lots of help. But we loved it. We all had a fun time going over the little papers. Next year we'll add to the chain and maybe some day it'll be long enough to use as a tree decoration!
My favorite strip of paper from our Give Thanks jar this year? "Mommoy" which was put in by my now 5-year-old ♡ We may need to work on his spelling a bit, but I was so happy to see my name in the jar.
What Thanksgiving traditions do you and your family celebrate? I'd love to hear about them!
It's so hard to remember the things we are or should be thankful for all the time. Things we take for granted or things that you forget how much you wanted/needed after you have it for a while.
So I came up with an idea last year. After Thanksgiving I started what I called the 'Give Thanks' jar. It's a little sappy, I know, but it was my best idea. I crafted together a somewhat aesthetic jar (I have to look at it all year long after all) and pre-cut some strips of paper and left it on the fireplace mantle all year. Anytime someone had something they were thankful for they could write it down and stick it in the jar. With the littles I had to mention it because of course they don't think of it on their own, but when I noticed they were excited about something or really happy I'd ask them if they wanted to write that down. Other times I would just set the jar on the table while we did school and see if they thought of something on their own.
Fast forward to Thanksgiving this year and it's finally time to look through our jar. We made turmeric tea and all gathered around the table where the little strips were dumped out and spread around. We took turns picking up strips and reading what they said and then we would take a moment to reflect on whatever was written down. It was nice to be reminded of things that were from nearly a year ago, or celebrate things that were still exciting and new. After reading each strip we added it to a paper chain. Our chain isn't too long right now -- this was our first year and so it'll take us a while to get into the habit of remembering to add to the jar. It doesn't help that we only have a few readers in the family so it'll be easier in the future to add to the jar when our kiddos can write their own papers without lots of help. But we loved it. We all had a fun time going over the little papers. Next year we'll add to the chain and maybe some day it'll be long enough to use as a tree decoration!
My favorite strip of paper from our Give Thanks jar this year? "Mommoy" which was put in by my now 5-year-old ♡ We may need to work on his spelling a bit, but I was so happy to see my name in the jar.
What Thanksgiving traditions do you and your family celebrate? I'd love to hear about them!
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