Thanksgiving 2017 Already!

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This post was originally published on November 19, 2017
The latest update to this post was made 4 months ago.

Thanksgiving 2017 Already!

Thanksgiving is the often forgotten holiday between Halloween and Christmas.  Christmas decorations are up in the stores and on the city streets.  Thanksgiving and Christmas decorations often blend together…  How can you take back Thanksgiving and truly give thanks?  Start by quickly refreshing yourself on the History Of Thanksgiving!

First things first!  Do not use any Christmas decorations for Thanksgiving.  Stay away from traditional green and red.  Golden fall leaves, golden reddish-orange colors, pumpkins with no faces, scarecrows, turkeys and pilgrims are what this season is made for!  Colorful gourds with candles make great table centerpieces.  Cornucopia baskets with pumpkins and other gourds look charming and inviting to all guests.

 

Shopping and Activities
Check Party City, Target, Walmart or other local stores for paper goods such as plates, cups, napkins and place mats.  Find small crafts for little ones to do on that special day.  Pinterest is full of ideas!  Even the youngest can make a thankful card for someone.  Let the kids decorate a small paper lunch sack for each member at the dinner.  Later everyone writes something they are thankful about each person and place it in their bag.  This will give everyone positive notes to read later and they are great keepsakes.

Have Thanksgiving movies to watch (See our Top 10 Thanksgiving Related Cartoons & Movies To See)!  Make sure they are appropriate for the ages watching.  Younger children would rather watch Peanuts Thanksgiving or Garfield’s Thanksgiving over Home for the Holidays.  The Hallmark Channel usually shows family friendly movies themed for the holidays around this time of year.  Christmas movies are often watched during Thanksgiving and this is just fine.  Many families will also start decorating their Christmas tree on Thanksgiving.  These are all great activities for families share.

This article, also on Blog Encounters, may be of interest:  Quick And Easy Breakfast Ideas

If movies or decorating for Christmas is not on your list, how about playing games?  Board or card games are good interaction games for family and friends!  Put the electronic devices down and interact with each other during this special day.  When the day is over, the electronic devices will still be there…  You may need to assure your teenage or tweens of this simple fact.

Involve everyone in cooking the big meal.  There is always something for all ages to do.  Younger children can help stir, mix and scoop out ingredients.  Older children can help with relish trays full of olives, pickles, and celery stuffed with cheese or peanut butter.  If you are not comfortable letting kids help cook, let them clean up.  Everyone is in the kitchen and kids want to be where you are, so let them in and give them something to do.  Maybe let the kids have a hand in making ‘Stella’s Cookies‘!

Thanksgiving is a time for us to show thanks and many treat it as a painful chore.  If this is you, then order your meal so all you need to do is heat it up!  Taking that burden off of yourself will allow you to enjoy family more and do what you like to do most.  Try having a Thankful Thanksgiving.  This is where everyone gets to have their favorite dish or side dish at dinner.  Tater tot casserole, green bean casserole, hamburgers, mac n cheese, steaks, stuffed potatoes, chicken fried steak, chicken salad, brownies, cake and pie sound like a potluck heaven, but it can also be your thankful Thanksgiving!  It is not law that you have to serve turkey, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole or pumpkin pie, so why not do something different every once in a while??? 

This article, also on Blog Encounters, may be of interest:  Valentine's Day - What Is It?

If you have family members or friends come over for Thanksgiving, let everyone bring their favorite dish.  Have a theme such as BBQ, Indian, American, casseroles or vegetarian.  Always make sure you know what everyone is bringing because as host, if you have two people bringing the same casserole, you can let one of them know and that way there is more of a variety for everyone.  Warming plates help when serving a buffet to make sure all food is warm when served.

Leftovers can be eaten for a full week from Thanksgiving.  One recent popular recipe is the Thanksgiving Leftover casserole.  This casserole is an entire meal in one casserole.  I tried it last year and it was surprisingly good!  I suggest everyone give it a try!

Making the family phone calls on Thanksgiving can take a while.  Calling family or friends who have moved, live far away or could not make it to the gathering place for that year should be called before noon.  Most people eat anywhere from noon to 6:00 pm.  Call before your family or friends eat, it is only considerate.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone reading this article!

Make the day special for yourself and everyone around you…
don’t forget to give thanks for all you have!

Tags: #thanksgiving #holidaymeals #family #holiday #turkeyday

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