Four Ways to Make Thanksgiving More Than a Mere Culinary Event

I confess that in previous years, I've not given much thought to Thanksgiving beyond menu-planning.  This year, my goal has been to move beyond a single day culinary event to make Thanksgiving the focus of our entire month.  Here's a summary of what we did this year:

1.  Learn about the historical and spiritual heritage of the pilgrims together.
Mid-October, I hit the library and requested nearly every Thanksgiving title I could find in their catalog.  As the books started arriving from various branches in early November, I get a wee little raised eyebrow from the librarian requesting that I return at least some of them sooner than my one month due date!   Next year, after reading books about Thanksgiving with the kids, I plan to make Thanksgiving story bracelets, to make sure my kids have internalized some of  the details.  Following is a list of resources which I found helpful:

Thanksgiving:  A Time to Remember by Barbara Rainey--Geared toward an audience older than preschoolers, this was a great jumping off point for me to think about ways to make God a focus of our celebration.

This is the Feast by Diane Z. Shore--This picture book is my favorite for conveying to a preschool child both the history and faith of the Pilgrims who celebrated the first Thanksgiving feast, perfect for my 4 year old.

Off to Plymouth Rock! by Dandi Daley Mackall--This picture book is simple, but focuses on the history and faith of the Pilgrims.  Ideal for my 2 year old, but also enjoyable for my 4 year old.

On the Mayflower:  Voyage of the Ship's Apprentice & a Passenger Girl by Kate Waters
Sarah Morton's Day:  A Day in the Life of a Pilgrim Girl by Kate Waters
Samuel Eaton's Day:  A Day in the Life of a Pilgrim Boy by Kate Waters--These three books filled with real photos are great to help create context.

Scholastic's Thanksgiving webpage:  Scholastic's site contains many diagrams and photographs also from Plimouth Plantation and would be a good resource for an interested slightly older child.  The pages seem to load slowly for me, and I don't love letting my kids look at web pages, so I have focused more on the books than this web source.



2.  Celebrate God's sovereignty.
Squanto and the Miracle of Thanksgiving by Eric Metaxas  This book conveys the history of Thanksgiving by following Squanto's life with a decidedly Christian perspective and highlights God's sovereignty.

3.  Cultivate a spirit of thankfulness.
Below are a few of the activities I tried with my kids:

• Make Gratitude Chains--Make paper chains, writing something for which you are grateful on each link.  Next year I want to makes these lovely gratitude garlands instead.
• Spontaneous Thank You Cards--Send just-because thank you cards throughout the month.  We made fall leaf cards and Veterans Day cards to send.  
• Memorize a Thankful Psalm--We decided to work on Psalm 100. 
• Guest-specific Gratitude Place Cards--I heard this suggestion on call-in radio show.  We didn't get to it, but I want to preserve it on this list for next year.  Create a place card for each guest invited to Thanksgiving, listing five reasons for which you are grateful for that person.  What a great way to bless each of guest.  

4.  Pray for the persecuted church.
Each year, a Sunday early in November is the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church.  As I've read and researched the story of Thanksgiving and the Pilgrims, I've come to realize it is the story of God's faithfulness to the persecuted church.  I have not figured out how to appropriately include my kids in this yet, but this month I have focused on praying for the persecuted church around the world.  After discussing this with a friend, she mentioned that she and her family were going to begin Thanksgiving day with a special breakfast and time of pray.  I may try that next year.