Thanksgiving Week

We decided to take a week off of MFW K for a holiday break. Sis still did some of her regular work at the beginning of the week. We did however find time for a few Thanksgiving activities.

I wanted to find a project that the girls could do together that would encourage them to think about all that they have been blessed with. We started off by talking about how there are many people less fortunate than we are and how we have much to be thankful for. We talked about how God is the one who gives us all good things and that the Bible says that we should give thanks in all circumstances. We took a few mins and each of us tried to think of 10 things to give thanks for.We've already done the thankfulness tree in the past, and I'm getting tired of hand print turkeys, so I tried to come up with something different this year.

I came across the idea of Thanksgiving wreaths and decided it would make a cute decoration. I printed off these blank leaf templates. I can't find the exact link I used but here is one that would work Leaf Template. I traced them onto construction paper, cut them out, and had the girls write one thing they were thankful for on each leaf. Then we cut out the center of a paper plate to make a wreath. I found some clip art of a turkey online, and we gave him a little sign that says " Thank you God for...." The girls glued all the pieces onto their plates. I thought they turned out really cute!

A friend also gave us these cute foam Thanksgiving squirrel kits from Oriental Trading Company, so we glued them together one day this week too. We're going to put magnets on the back and use them for holiday refrigerator magnets.

Our tradition is to read this book together the week of Thanksgiving. We've read it every year since Sis was little and she's not tired of it yet. Boo doesn't really understand much about pilgrims and indians yet so we got to talk a little about the first thanksgiving and it's really all new to her.

Other than that we spent the week with family eating LOTS and LOTS of turkey! I think Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I've always loved Christmas so much, but the thing I like about Thanksgiving is that it's not about getting presents at all. It's just about spending time together as a family and being thankful for what you already have. Sometimes when times get hard we forget just how blessed we really are. God has given me so much to be thankful for. I pray that I will remember to give Him thanks not just on Thanksgiving day but everyday of the year!