Our Thankful Tree

I love Thanksgiving time. And if it weren't for the days becoming extremely short, I would REALLY love November. There is something magical about the kick-off to the holidays. When I was a kid I loved the Thanksgiving crafts and the "feast" that our class would always have right before school let out for the holiday. I loved making pilgrim hats out of construction paper. I love the hand shaped turkeys. I love it all.

This week for Family Home Evening we talked about the holiday to the kids. Earlier that day I packed the kids up and we went to the Library to get some books. I about cleaned them out of Thanksgiving picture books and we have been reading them each night of the month so far. The kids favorite right now is "Arthur's Thanksgiving".

To start of family night, we read a book all about the first Thanksgiving and why and how we celebrate it today. Then we made our thankful tree. Ethan and Hailey helped me sketch and color a big trucnk with branches, and then we wrote down a few things we are thankful for and stuck them on the tree. We hung the tree on the back of the door and each day we've been adding to it with more leaves. By the time Thanksgiving gets here we hope to have it covered in pretty leaves symbolizing things we are thankful for. I love holiday traditions and this is one of our favorites!