FAMILY TRADITIONS: THANKSGIVING

Some of my fondest memories growing up were the fun things we did as a family. Camping trips, singing together at various competitions and venues, playing on the farm, traveling around with my parents and their band. Such great times! Of course, because I grew up in New Zealand, we never celebrated Thanksgiving (The 'Mayflower' never made it that far south!), but we had wonderful family traditions nevertheless.

Not everyone is so enthused with family-based holidays. For some, it means they have to face the memory of the loss of a loved one. Perhaps they don't have a very good relationship, if any, with their family or loved ones. It could be a really lonely time. These are even greater reasons to make sure that the relationships and traditions you create with your own spouse and children are fun and full of the things you may have felt you missed out on growing up.

As a fairly new Mom of two children aged 29 months and 14 months, we have to start creating our own family traditions. For instance, where to spend Thanksgiving and what we will include on our table. Do we go to family out of town, or will we invite them to stay with us? Do we make a tradition of inviting others who may not have family nearby, or do we spend Thanksgiving feeding the homeless who don't have family instead of the usual family get together?

Whatever it is that you want to create as a tradition, ask your family members to come up with something that you are all happy with and start your own wonderful trail of happy memories. Your kids will always remember these times and treasure them growing up.

We are going to spend Thanksgiving out of town with my husband's family this year. Happy Thanksgiving to you.

  What are the family traditions that you love? Blog us.

Here are some links for fun activities for the family on Thanksgiving:
http://101coloringpages.com/t/thanksgiving-coloring-pages/
http://fun.familyeducation.com/slideshow/thanksgiving/35209.html