Thanksgiving Crafts For Every Member of The Family

I've always known that my sister-in-law was a fabulous and crafty person but when I asked her for some suggestions on Thanksgiving crafts families can do together I had no idea she had this many helpful suggestions. So, Thank you to my wonderful sista Leesh!
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1. Make Holiday Place Mats
I found a Blog sight called The Domestic Notebook where the writer gives a wonder and easy suggestions for both Thanksgiving and Holiday handmade place mats that you can get laminated and use every year. 

http://thedomesticnotebook.blogspot.com/2009/11/holiday-handprint-placemats.html

2. Do a "thankful/service jar" filled with slips of paper with ways to serve others or ways to show gratitude. Each day you pull one out and do it as a family, you could do it all month long or just the week before Thanksgiving.


3. Make Hand Turkeys

Trace your child’s feet (while she’s wearing shoes)onto brown or black construction paper and cut them out. Trace your child’s hands on various other colors of construction paper. The “feet” will become the turkey’s body and the handprints his tail feathers. Cut out all the pieces you just traced. Use the image above as a guide on how to assemble your turkey. Cut eyes, a beak and a waddle out of remnants of construction paper and glue them on your turkey.


4. Fall Glitter Leafs-cut out paper into leaf shapes, paint with watered down glue and put small squares of fall colored tissue paper on top then paint watered down glue over that and sprinkle a little glitter. They look really pretty and a bunch of them could be a fall center piece.


5. The Thankful Tree (times 2)

#1. Make a Thankful tree by using brown paper to make a tree and branches. Make it small or wall sized depending on space. Just make a basic tree outline taping pieces of paper together if you need to. Then cut out paper leafs. Kids can write/draw something they are thankful for on a leaf. They could put there name on a leaf when they do a service for another person. You can also make the Fall Glitter Leafs to add for some glitter and color. You could do this all month or week of Thanksgiving. Also an owl or acorn could adorn the tree to for fun.

#2. Make the leafs like in the first example but instead of placing the tree on the wall, collect some branches, but them in a vase and attach the cutout leafs with what their thankful for on the branches and use that as the centerpiece for your Thanksgiving dinner.


5. The Thankful Turkey

A lot like the previous craft but using a turkey and it's feathers. Cut out a turkey from brown construction paper, add eyes, a beak, and it's dangle thingy (yes, that's its technical name :)) and then cut out turkey feathers from different colored construction paper. Have each family member write down what they are thankful for and add all the feathers onto the turkey to make it's tail. Place the finished turkey on a wall near the dinner table as a reminder of what you're all thankful for this thanksgiving.  


6. Make Thank You cards by hand. Just simple with construction paper and markers and either hand deliver them on Thanksgiving day or send them to those who you truly are thankful for.


7. Thankful Collages. Give the kids some safety scissors and a stack of magazines and let them make a collage of the things the are grateful for.


8. Sneaky Treats or an act of service. Let the kids help you make some treats to sneakily drop off at friends houses, or do a service for others as a family. Get the kids involved by choosing what service and who to help as well as participating in the service act.


9. And lastly, here is a link to print out free Thanksgiving color pages. This is a good project if you need the kids to be occupied for just a little bit longer while you but the finishing touches on the dinner. 

http://www.free-coloring-pages.com/thanksgiving.html

Pie Can’t Thank You Enough!

By Jana

I love the holidays... all of them.  I am grateful for this chance to share a few of my holiday traditions through this blog.  Especially because I am putting together a holiday cookbook that I hope will help fund our adoption.  

Thanksgiving is a time for reflection on our many blessings, family, and of course Food! 

The pilgrim’s rations were down to 3 kernels of corn a day, until that bounteous, Thanksgiving harvest.  Each night in November we have given the kids three candy corns and ask them to be specific about three things they are grateful for.  It has been very fun and is cultivating an attitude of gratitude in our home.   

What would Thanksgiving be without pie?  I love to make pies. I consider it slightly therapeutic.  I usually spend much of this month in the kitchen.  For me, memories are made in the kitchen! How grateful I am to have one.  One of my favorite things about being a mom is having helping hands in the kitchen.  I love to have the kids stir and mix pound, etc.

Here is one of our traditional Thanksgiving kid pies 

Pieces Pie

1/4 cup butter

4 cups miniature marshmallows

6 cups crisp rice cereal                       

 1-1/3 cups Milk Chocolate Chips

1/2 cup flaked coconut (optional) 

2 cups Reese's Pieces

Directions

In a microwave-safe bowl, heat the butter and marshmallows on high for 1 minute; stir until marshmallows are melted. Add the cereal; mix well. Press onto the bottom and up the sides of two greased 9-in. pie plates. 

In a microwave or heavy saucepan, melt chocolate kisses; stir until smooth. Spread over prepared crusts. Sprinkle with coconut and candy pieces; press down lightly. Let stand until chocolate is set. Cut into slices. Yield: 2 pies 

What Did I do Today?

Sorry, I realize it's been a couple of weeks since I last posted. I've been working on this blog piece for a while but couldn't quite get it right till now. Plus, I've been sick for the last little bit and now I'm feeling revitalized and ready to jump in again. So here's my latest post!
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I don't consider myself a Natural Mother. You know, those moms who were born to be moms. They can't wait to get married and have kids, and when they do, they are fabulous! Those moms that make being a mom look so easy. They have those natural instincts that just amaze and astound those of us who are complete messes. I feel like I struggle everyday to figure what I'm suppose to be doing as a mom and I question almost everyday if I'm doing it right.

It's when I'm in bed at night, trying to wined down and fall asleep. That's when I look back and think about what kind of mother I was to my kids that day. Did I teach them anything new? Did I tell them I loved them? Did I yell or loose my temper? Was I the best mom I could be?

Have you ever thought, "I'm not the best, but I'm not the worst, I'm just good." You're very happy that you're not the worst mom you know (cause lets face it, we all know a mother who we're worried about her kids) but you envy the mom who seems to do everything perfectly. I'm not talking about being a competitive mother like recent post on this blog, but just realizing what kind of mother you're being. Are you doing everything you can to better your children's lives?

There's times when I look back at the day and feel guilty that I spent more time watching television or working on the computer or doing house work than spending quality time with my kids. It's those nights when it takes me longer to fall asleep. I usually lie around in my guilt for a while and then resolve to do better the next day. I wake up with a plan of how I can make that day better then the day before. Play children's music in the house instead of having the tv on. Work on teaching my daughter a new letter, or put a puzzle together with her, or color a picture. We write letters to family members for play games on the computer.

Just something that I can do to get myself feeling like I'm might actually be one of those Natural Moms. Like I'm more than good and definitely not the worst. It kicks my butt into doing the right thing, the best thing, for me and my family, and in the end I enjoy doing those little things with my kids more than sitting around watching television or playing on the computer. It actually helps me to understand them better and have more patience with them in the future, cause I've taken the time to get to know them. Then I have this wonderful memory of the 2 of us doing this fun activity together.

Motherhood takes effort even if you're one of those Natural Moms. If we've decided to bring these little people into the world, then we need to make the effort to help them, teach them to become the best that they can be. We constantly have a job to do for them, and I don't mean feeding them and clothing them. But it's our job to better them as well. I hope everyone of you take the time each night to look back and examine what kind of mom you were and make a plan for the next day. It doesn't have to be a big plan, just change one thing that you can do differently to better yourself and your family.