How are your preparations going for Thanksgiving? Is it a stressful time for you or do you enjoy all of the cooking and cleaning that comes along with the day? Do you go to a relative's house or are you that relative that everyone runs to?
I must admit that I have yet to host Thanksgiving. I am a very willing participant. As I have told you, we have a townhouse that is a split level and is not conducive to large family gatherings. There are 7 floors from the basement to the attic. That is why I am hoping some day to move to a more normal 2 or 3 floor house (when we become debt free-God willing). It was harder when the twins were babies- carrying the two of them up 5 flights of steps again and again. You better believe I taught them to crawl up the steps ASAP! It's easier now that they are 2. They get up and down the steps quicker than I do.
Our family gathering at Thanksgiving is small by most standards I suppose, but we all live pretty close so we are fortunate to be able to spend the holiday together without having to fly or take a train. We do a few simple things to make the day fun and as stress free as possible. Maybe some of these tips can help to keep your Thanksgiving simple.
- Choose one person to host Thanksgiving. I'm sure this step has been figured out for this year.
- Since we live relatively close, we split the cooking duties so that the host doesn't have to bear all of the cooking responsibilities. Each person brings his or her signature dish(es).
- The older children are in charge of organizing crafts and decorations for the younger children to make (some examples would be to have the older kids take the younger kids outside to choose some leaves for leaf rubbings). You can also download printable templates for placemat coloring sheets. This keeps all of the kids busy while the adults assemble the meal. The decorations are also treasured because they are homemade. Each family can take home their child's(children's) decorations.
- You can cover the table in bulletin board paper and let everyone draw pictures on it. Afterwards, you can laminate and use it again the next year. Everyone will have so much fun looking at their drawings from the previous year.
- At the dinner table we all write on special leaves (cut out by the kids) what we are most thankful for this year ( I like to laminate these too so that we can look back from year to year- one of the favorite activities).
- After dessert we split up the left overs so that everyone has some yummy lunches and dinners for the rest of the week. You can delegate someone to bring containers or each family to bring their own.
- Try to cook as much ahead as you can earlier in the week to alleviate the stress on Thursday.
We are planning a fun Thanksgiving this year! How are your plans coming along? I am wishing you a simple, loving Thanksgiving. I hope you have the time to be Thankful for all of the blessings that you have been given!
