I'm Just Curious...

It is November 9. Halloween was about two weeks ago. Christmas is 6 weeks away.

Last I checked, there is a holiday between the two. That holiday for turkey and football lovers alike.

Thanksgiving.

But I've noticed something. It's become sort of tradition for stores to go from Halloween to Christmas with nary a thought to Thanksgiving, save for sales on the bird.

But this year seems different.

I don't watch a lot of TV but I've noticed that there are no (at least that I've seen) commercials for Thanksgiving. Usually there are some scattered about reminding us to stock up on green beans and french fried onions for the green bean casserole. Stores are completely decorated. Christmas music is playing round the clock on a local radio station. Christmas trees are going up.

So I'm curious--what about Thanksgiving? Is it a non-issue? Are we so ready to rush time that already charges at supersonic speed?

I guess I just wonder why Thanksgiving seems to be the step-child of the holiday season. Is it as simple as there are no gifts or candy give aways associated with it? Is it because there aren't really decorations associated with it? Has it been reduced to another long weekend that just happens to have an overflow of food and football?

Perhaps Thanksgiving isn't thought of much because it requires something of us. To have a day set aside for giving thanks implies that we actually are thankful, that we realize we have things for which we are undeserving. It implies that we recognize that those things, blessings if you will, come from someone.

So, yes, while I love Christmas and all the loveliness that it brings. I also deeply love Thanksgiving because it requires some reflection, some thought.

Giving thanks has a way of humbling us and grounding us so that the loveliness and meaning of Christmas can sparkle that much more.

And that is, indeed, worthy.

Thankful, I Am

Fall has finally come to our neck of the Southern woods. The leaves have begun changing and falling almost at the same time!

I am enjoying this Thanksgiving season and really
don't want to begin the sprint into Christmas just yet!

I always hesitate to do an "I am thankful for" list
for some reason but here goes....

1) Jeff. The past couple of years have probably been two of the toughest we have had in 17 years of marriage. Through it all, he has continually shown amounts of grace, love, and support that simply amaze me. He has listened when tears and feelings probably didn't make much sense and has always believed that I am stronger and better than I am.

2) Gracen. Oh, the smiles, laughter, and joy she brings to us.

3) Extended family--grandparents, nieces and nephew (only one, right now), sisters, brothers-in-law, great grandparents. Each one is treasured and loved.

4) Friends that are, in many cases, like family.

5) A church home.

6) Books.

7) Flickering lights of great smelling candles.

8) Great music.

9) Conveniences/luxuries. Life could certainly be lived without them but is much simpler with them!

10) Pain. I've had more than I want but so much less than some. And, to be perfectly honest, I didn't want to put this on this list. I am quite simply tired of it. But, because of it, I've learned much.

"Thankfulness is a secret passageway into a room you can't find any other way. It is the wardrobe into Narnia. It allows us to find the rest of God--those dimensions of God's world, God's presence, God's character that are hidden, always, from the thankless." --Mark Buchanan
The Rest of God

Thanksgiving

We were able to spend some time over Thanksgiving with our niece Audrey (and her parents!). She is really growing. She will be 1 on January 20 (one day before Gracen turns 11)--where does the time go?!

She will become a big sister to a baby brother in April! Gracen had been praying for a boy because "she already had 2 girl cousins".
Soon there will be 3...

Top 10 Thankful List

Thanksgiving is right up there on my list of favorite holidays.

Each year, as a family, we make a thankful something--most years it has been a thankful tree. (That link is from 2005--I can't believe how different Gracen looks!) Last year we made a thankful chain which unfortunately didn't get photographed! This year we have done thankful strips which line one wall in our kitchen.

It is always interesting to see what sorts of things are written. Did my teacher heart good to see Gracen write that she was thankful for school! She's always thankful for each of the pets--this year the hamsters got their own strip!

I thought I would share my top 10 list ....

10) I am thankful for a quality artificial leg. Even though the good times in it have lately been measured in moments rather than days it still beats what some amputees in other parts of the world walk on.

9) I am thankful for my camera! Memories are such a precious thing and being able to capture them brings me great joy.

8) I am thankful for the pets that share our lives. They usually bring a smile to me at some point every day.

7) I am thankful for our home. Sometimes we get overwhelmed with all we want to do around here, but it is still a place of peace and a refuge for us.

6) I am thankful for family--both our extended biological family and our church family. Both are precious to us.

5) I am thankful for the opportunity to home school Gracen. Not only do I teach her but I learn with her and it is a privilege to watch her learn and grow.

4) I am thankful for our neighborhood. Our neighbors are great and our neighborhood is peaceful.

3) I am thankful for the 10 year old young lady that calls me Mom. She is a joy!

2) I am thankful for Jeff who loves me every day--no matter what the day brings. It is an honor to walk through life with him.

1) I am thankful for grace. I don't understand it but I know that without it, life just doesn't work.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Thanksgiving Plans

Gracen has been down for a few days with a pretty bad cough/cold so we have colored, painted, crafted, read, and watched a few movies. She is finally beginning to feel better but the cough is lingering!

To get ready for Thanksgiving, she created these placemats for our table. The turkey shapes are a pattern I found here. We plan to make some kind of centerpiece for the table using more of the patterns. We have also been working on the Thankful chain. (We did trees in the past, see here for one from 2 years ago!)

We also been reading Thanksgiving books lately.

For the first time, we are planning to stay here and I will cook Thanksgiving dinner. I sure hope the recipes I have from my grandmothers turn out as well for me as they did for them! Growing up, Thanksgiving wasn't complete without Nanny's cornbread dressing. Grandma usually made an apple pie with cinnamon red hots melted in it. Mom has always made sweet potato pies and pecan pies.

Looking through those recipes made me think: what is traditional food on your Thanksgiving table?

Paper Craft Thursday

I was trying to think of some way to spruce up the mantle for Thanksgiving. I try to buy a pair of Indians or Pilgrims each year, when I can find them on sale. I love Hobby Lobby for that reason!

I decided to take the idea of a banner and make one for Thanksgiving. The pictures didn't turn out great, but it says, "In All Things Give Thanks". (For the template, go here. The one pictured is a Valentine template.)

For more paper craft ideas, visit here.

Thanksgiving Copy Work

Part of the school morning includes copy work. This is most assuredly not Gracen's favorite part of the day, but it has helped her writing some. Plus, because she is copying things of quality, there are grammar lessons to be had as well. Most of her copy work comes from the Bible, but some are quotes or longer passages of books. For the month of November, we are incorporating some specific thankful quotes such as:

Psalm 100:4
"Enter His gates with thanksgiving
And His courts with praise.
Give thanks to Him, bless His name."

1Thessalonians 5:18
"in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

"Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not
giving it." William Arthur Ward

"There's always something for which to be thankful." Charles Dickens

Ephesians 5:20
"always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God,
even the Father."

"There is something in every season, in every day, to celebrate with thanksgiving."
--Unknown

Psalm 95:2
"Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving, Let us shout joyfully to Him with
psalms."

"For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends." Ralph Waldo Emerson

Of course, there are many, many more. And there are many extra things to do with these quotes besides just copying them. For the Bible verses, I have Gracen see how quickly she can find the verse in her Bible. We always read the surrounding verses as well and see who was talking and to whom. With the quotes, we talk about any unfamiliar words and look them up in the dictionary. The author and his/her place of birth and other writings are other things we discuss.

Happy copying!!!

Thanksgiving Books

It seems that Thanksgiving has increasingly gotten lost between Halloween and Christmas. I'm not sure why but I'm pretty sure that it isn't a good thing. Thanks giving is a quiet, reflective holiday. Maybe that in itself is part of the reason that it seems to get lost. It's not a "gimme" holiday. Yet, it may be the holiday we need most.

We need to slow down, to reflect on goodness, and to learn and express gratitude. Slow down long enough to look around and actually pay attention to our surroundings and, more importantly, the people in those surroundings. Spend some time pondering the goodness of our lives and learning to express gratitude.

In our own life, Thanksgiving is not as special as I want it to be. Part of that is because we haven't ever really had our own traditions. Some years we go to Jeff's Dad's family get together and some years we have spent with friends. I've tried to make some traditions, like our Thankful Tree.

Each year, Gracen makes a tree trunk out of paper and cuts out leaf shapes. At dinner each evening from the first of November until Thanksgiving, we each write down one thing on a leaf that we are thankful for. After about the first week, we've gone through the "easy" things (family, love, God's blessings, etc.) and are forced to delve a little deeper. It has been really uplifting to see the tree fill out. We have fun going through the scrapbooks where I've kept some of the leaves from each year and reading what we had written.

Another tradition that we started a few years ago was reading Thanksgiving books during the month of November. I am always on the lookout for good, quality Thanksgiving books. Here are some of the ones we've enjoyed so far:

Thanksgiving A Time to Remember by Barbara Rainey
This is great coffee table book gives a historical look and Thanksgiving and came with a CD of Thanksgiving music.

The First Thanksgiving by Jean Craighead George
The pictures in this book are beautiful (there's lots to look at and lots of art lessons
that can be learned from these pictures). I do have to do a bit of editing and explaining
when we read this one because the first page talks about the huge boulder (Plymouth
Rock) being a hundred million years old. (Of course, this a personal view!)

An Outlaw Thanksgiving by Emily Arnold McCully
This Caldecott Medal winner is the story of a young girl and her mother riding a train
in 1896. They are on their way to meet Father for Thanksgiving. The train gets
stuck in a snowstorm and they are forced to share Thanksgiving with strangers--one of whom is Butch Cassidy.

If You Were At The First Thanksgiving by Anne Kamma
This is a new one this year and I have briefly looked over it. It gives details about
life during the first Thanksgiving.

And, now for Gracen's absolute favorite Thanksgiving book...

Cranberry Thanksgiving by Wende and Harry Devlin
A great little book about Maggie, her grandmother, a fellow named Mr. Whiskers,
and Grandmother's secret Cranberry bread recipe. The story is delightful and
well-written. The artwork is great and it includes the secret recipe for the bread!
This is a must read for us each year.

I'd love to know if you have any favorites--please share!