raeanna74

I know I may be going a little overboard with this but I thought I'm see what you all thought. Am I being totally ridiculous?

We are hosting Thanksgiving for our families this year. It will be Hubby's family, my family, and some close family friends. I have only 2 children who will be coming and the rest are adults. We're serving a huge banquet of food. Both of our families are strongly religious and love the religious tradition connected with Thanksgiving. I intend to have the usual Bible reading that both our families do prior to the Thanksgiving meal. I was also thinking of doing something else too and here's where you guys come in.

I was thinking of making construction paper leaves or something of the sort. Placing one at each place at the table along with a pencil. Then asking the family as they come in to write something on their leaf that they are thankful for this year. My reasoning for this is sometimes our families will ask each member to say something they're thankful for before we eat. I always struggle to come up with ONE single answer and thought this would give everyone a moment to think when they're not under pressure. Does this sound too corny?

Also what do I do with the leaves later? Just have them leave them on the table? I could put magnets on the back for them to take them home and put on the fridge. Or I could put them all up on the wall. Is this overboard? What are your thoughts and suggestions?

Lastly I'd like to hear what some of your family Thanksgiving traditions are? Especially those Americans who have strong cultural backgrounds from other countries.

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braisler

Hey, Raeanna, I like your idea with the leaves. I too have had difficulty thinking of the "right" thing to be thankful for when the time comes for me to chime in. It sounds like you have the makings of a great new tradition for your family. As for what to do with the leaves afterword, here is one idea: Draw a tree with a trunk and branches on a longer piece of banner paper (I am envisioning something 30 inches wide and 5-8 feet long). Then you could have the children place the leaves on the tips of the branches of this tree with scotch tape. Hang the tree with the "thankful" leaves up on a wall. People could wander by and see what everyone had written before/after dinner. I know that in larger gatherings everyone will not get a chance to hear what everyone else is thankful for.

Is it "corny"? Yes, maybe, but lots of family traditions are corny. While some of the teenagers in the group might moan under their breath, I'll bet that it will be something that lots of them remember and share with their families as well.

Oh and lastly, best of luck to you and your family in hosting such a large gathering. That is no easy undertaking. I hope that some of the "thankful" leaves thank you for hosting the whole of two families!

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SecretMethod70

Regarding what you should do, I don't know because I think everything is corny

My mom's side of the family is a fairly large Italian-American family, so we have Thanksgiving at my mom's parent's house. I think a typical Thanksgiving only has about 20-30 of the possible attendees between my family, my mom's 5 siblings' families, and various other family members. My generation has a very wide range of ages, not to mention both of my brothers have children now as well, so the range of ages at our Thanksgiving covers them all.

Cooking is spread out so that different people bring different things which tey have proven themselves good at. The turkey is, of course, cooked at my mom's parent's house. My mom brings her green beans almondine (with and without almonds since my brother is allergic and I don't like them) and yams (of course with brown sugar and stuff), and various other relatives bring lasagna, corn, broccoli casserole, etc. We have a healthy mixture of traditional Thanksgiving foods and Italian foods.

Dinner is typically around 3:30 or 4. My grandpa picks someone to say grace, which is always ad lib. Typically someone from my parents' generation does it, but now that me and my brothers are old enough we might get called on as well. I've only done it once so far, and probably won't again for awhile since I did a terrible job after being taken by surprise After that, we eat Oh yeah, and then the stereotypical loud Italian talking begins. Seriously.....Thanksgiving is VERY loud

Aside for that, we don't do anything special really. I think that just getting together and enjoying one anothers' company (as can be seen by how much any one person is likely to be teased ) is good enough. Some of my cousins are prone to make comments regarding how "crazy" or loud the family is compared to your typical family, but I like it. I think that my family's candid tradition, if you will, makes it all the more enjoyable to be with one another. So, I guess one could say it's also a Thanksgiving tradition to be loud and have friendly debates (that any outsider would think was an argument) Either way, I think it's fun and personally I enjoy having a Thanksgiving with more of a social than procedural tradition.

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Mary__Jane

Raeanna,

Last year, my five-year-old's class made a cute project. They took paper leaves, cut from construction paper, and wrote one thing they were thankful for on each leaf. THEN, they took a brown paper bag (lunch sized) and tied off the top. They glued a cut-out turkey head to the front and glued all the "leaves" to the back in an arrangement like feathers! It was really cute.

Since you'll have two kids there, maybe they could keep busy with the gluing while you're finishing up those last minute things and then use the turkeys as centerpieces.

I like the tree idea too, tho.

In any case, have a nice holiday! Sounds like a lot of fun work!

MJ

Grancey

I don't think the leaves are corny. And I like the ideas of making a tree or a turkey centerpiece. Any holiday occasions that you can spend with family and share traditions are to be cherished. The memory of these Thanksgiving leaves will be cherished by everyone.

Our families are scattered, and the traditions in my own family are no more. So that gives my spouse and I the option of cooking and dining alone or enjoying a Thanksgiving buffet at a local lodge or at Callaway Gardens in Georgia. I think we will go to Callaway.

Enjoy your family and traditions. The leaves are a wonderful idea. Maybe you could incorporate them into next year's Thanksgiving in some way?

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PayUp

Sounds like a wonderful plan! I hope your day goes well and I wish you a happy thanksgiving.

My house, I'll be thankfull If the arguing doesnt reach a level where I have to leave the house for more ammo.

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kurty[B]

raeanna,

sounds like a good plan to me.

For my family Thanksgiving is mainly a time for the family to get together, and enjoy each other's company. The whole turkey, and all the fixings, and what not, telling each other what we're thankful for, and so on.

Every year it becomes more important, since my parents have moved various times in the past few years, and us siblings have also been moving and spreading out, and rarely see each other very often.

This year, it is a full event. My parents are hosting it at their place. Both sets of grandparents were planning to come out, but unfortunately due to health problems with my grandma on my father's side they will be unable to. It's almost like a family reunion.

I imagine it will be similar to most Thanksgivings. My mom will cook, mi abuela will attempt to help/take charge, my sister and sister-in-laws will pitch in, or be smart and keep a 20 ft distance from the kitchen. My mom will start yelling because she forgot something, burned something, or something else, we'll make fun of her, and she'll get even more angry. We'll sit down, have a lovely meal, explain to my mother and abuela just how lovely it is, chat, talk about the past few years of our lives, then, hang out in the living room playing card games, Risk, and drinking maté and goya crackers with my grandparents in front of a fireplace.

Of course, this year everyone will be excited, because finally my parents will be becoming grandparents, and us siblings will be parents or uncles and aunts, and unlike popular belief it's not going to be a child by me out-of-wedlock (which has been the running joke in the family since I moved out of my parent's home immediately after high school).

All in all, it will be fun. Sure there will be some arguments, probably some snide remarks, but all in all, we're family, and we all love each other and want the best for each other.

good luck with the thanksgiving plans raeanna, just remember that no matter how much effort you put into it, how frustrating it may become, or stressed out you get, thanksgiving is about being thankful for what you have, and enjoying being with the people you are with on that day!