I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart;
I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.
I will be glad and exult in you;
I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.
Psalm 9:1-2, ESV
In a couple of weeks Americans will celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday. For most families this means gathering with extended family and/or friends to eat a special meal, share laughter and love, and perhaps play or watch football.
Our family’s Thanksgiving gatherings are small, usually just the four of us. Even so, we have a wonderful time enjoying each other’s company and often play board games and have a backyard fire.
I am big on traditions and though some of ours have changed over the years (we used to do a backyard wiener roast until our kids decided they no longer liked hotdogs), they remain a key part of our celebration. This year I’d like to share with you a few of our family’s Thanksgiving traditions.
I’m including a PDF with some kid-friendly thanksgiving-themed bible verses.
1. We take turns sharing what we are thankful for.
This occurs before we eat, typically while we are seated at the table, though sometimes a bit earlier while on the couch.
One of us writes our ‘thankful’ statements down in our family memory book.
I love this book! We review this book periodically, remembering and reflecting on all the ways God has blessed and cared for us. (We also use this book over the Christmas holidays to write fond memories, important events, and funny stories of the year. Each of us also gets a page to write our favorites – color, movie, book, song, etc. I find it’s a wonderful way to reflect on the year, bond as a family and see our growth as a family and individually).
If you are interested in creating a memory book for your family, here’s a few available on Amazon:
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2. Before we eat, we pray.
We offer thanks to God for His many blessings, thanking him for his faithfulness and love.
3. After the meal we take turns reading selected bible verses.
These verses offer praise and thanksgiving to God.
To make reading easier, I print and cut out verse cards and place them at each plate (sometimes I put them underneath the plate to keep them clean!)
Here are a few of these verse cards, to use with your family if you’d like.
Wishing you a happy and blessed Thanksgiving!
