Thanksgiving Traditions
Top Ten Thursday
- Donate to a local charity. There are many donation pop-ups around Thanksgiving, if you are unable to donate time. Like your local church. Our church has canned food drives and new/used clothing drop offs (i.e. preowned holiday wear, new socks, new towels). Even our dentist gets in the spirit with a toy drive.
- Plan Thanksgiving Dinner and Music! I am all about the experience when it comes to my celebrations. I buckle down three weeks before Thanksgiving to write out all the dishes my family enjoys to eat on the big day. Then I plan out all the jazz music I love to cook to and entertain to. YES, I make a cooking music list, too!
- Decorate the House for Thanksgiving. My house is all a buzz a few days after Halloween with ceramic turkeys, pumpkins and leaves decorations I have ready to put up! Around here we define our celebrations from Halloween to Thanksgiving to Christmas pretty well. I mourn the end of Halloween for at least two days, and I can’t rush into Christmas from Halloween, it’s just not for me. If that’s your thing, change this bullet title to Christmas and have a great time decorating.
- Rake Leaves and Jump On In! There’s just something about playing with a big pile of leaves that brings a big smile and belly laughs. Just make sure to check for ticks!
- Bake a Pumpkin Treat. Pumpkin is a fall-time favorite in our house, so we always have cans of pureed pumpkin on hand. We love to make pumpkin waffles, pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. We even make oven roasted pumpkin as a side dish. WE LOVE PUMPKIN!
- Cold Weather Movie Nights. We often have family movie nights in, but when the cold weather starts we pull out all the fluffy pillows (for the girls) and heated blankets (for me), to cozy up (to my husband) for extra loving warmth. Though I complain about the cold often, I secretly love it for the nighttime snuggles with my family. And with my husband when the girls go to bed. 😉
- Plan Friendsgiving! Our friends are much like family, so we have always celebrated Thanksgiving weekend with them in some way or another (for over 20 years!).
- Cocoa Bar. My kids would live off cocoa if I allowed it. From the start of the chilly weather, I put together a cocoa bar to kick off our series of cold weather movie nights. And anytime we have friends over. Cocoa bars a huge hit with kids.. and adults when there’s Irish Crème!
- Host Family to Dinner. The day I refer to as my super bowl! J Having our family together on Thanksgiving is a joy. Hearing our children, much like myself at their ages, talk about why they love Thanksgiving with their grandparents makes me feel full inside.
10. After Thanksgiving day…START DECORATING FOR CHRISTMAS!
Valeria Out Loud 