BJU Press Blog

Thanksgiving

3 Thanksgiving Traditions for Young Families

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thanksgiving traditions for young families
With the hectic hustle of the modern holiday season, it’s easy to let moments, hours, and whole days slip by without taking the time to really celebrate together. Would you like to be calmer and more intentional about the holidays this year? Then focus on establishing one or two meaningful traditions that you can carry on through the years to come. Here are three Thanksgiving traditions to get you started.

The Twelve Days of Thanksgiving

This tradition is popular in my family because it offers so many opportunities for thankfulness. On each of the twelve days leading up to the holiday, our thanksgiving centers on a specific theme. We’ve used themes like community helpers, favorite foods, relatives, leaders, or creation.

For example, if the day’s theme is creation, each person in the family names one aspect of God’s creation for which he or she is thankful. Sometimes we write those things on a chart or a list, put them on paper “leaves” and paste them onto a Thanksgiving tree, or jot them down on slips of paper and put them in a box or a jar. You can also use the Twelve Days of Thanksgiving poster!

Volunteer and Give Back

For many families, thanking community helpers and volunteering are year-round habits, but holidays offer opportunities to take those efforts further.  Make it a Thanksgiving tradition to give back and show others the love of God.

Giving back can involve signing up the whole family at a local children’s home, pet shelter, or soup kitchen. Or, for families with smaller kids, it can be as simple as paying for a police officer’s meal at a restaurant or purchasing much-needed supplies for a homeless shelter.

Wonder Walk

Enjoy that crisp, delightful fall weather and take the whole family for a “Wonder Walk” on Thanksgiving Day. Everyone can participate, from the baby in the stroller to Grandma in her wheelchair. Troop through the neighborhood, visit a local green space, or hike in a nearby nature park. If your kids are older, you may even consider signing up for a nearby “Turkey Trot” or 5K race.

As you walk, encourage your kids to point out everything that makes them curious, happy, or thankful. From acorns to hundred-year-old oaks, from the blue sky to a sparkly rock, your family may be surprised how many treasures they can find along the way. And if it rains, so what? Break out the rain boots and umbrellas and take a Wonder Walk anyway!

Forming a family tradition is not only heart-warming—it creates a hook on which you can hang future memories. It’s the beginning of a more structured, calming holiday season that leaves plenty of room for gratefulness and awe at the gifts you’ve received, as well as openings for using those gifts to bless others. We’d love to hear about some of your family’s favorite Thanksgiving traditions.

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Rebecca is a work-at-home freelance writer, novelist, wife, and the mom of two bright-eyed little ones. She credits her success in writing and her love of books to her own mom, who homeschooled three kids from pre-K through high school.

A Thankfulness Project

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a thankfulness project
During the holiday season, we often try to be more thankful. With Thanksgiving in November and Christmas in December, it’s easy to spend two months out of the year being grateful for God’s grace and His gifts to us. But what about the rest of the year? It’s not that we aren’t thankful during the other ten months. But when you’re not actively thinking about and pursuing a certain mindset, it can go by the wayside. Sure, you’ve taught your children to say “thank you,” and you demonstrate that same thankfulness in your own life. But there’s a difference between reflexively saying “thank you” and being grateful enough to recognize the daily gifts God gives us and to thank Him for them as they come.

For example, not long ago I told a friend that my life had become a series of unfortunate events. My air conditioner had died with two months of summer left. Repairs would cost a pretty penny I couldn’t afford to spend. This was just one of the “unfortunate” events, and not even the most expensive one. I had a whole list of problems. But then I stopped and listed out all the blessings I could think of from the year and found that they greatly outnumbered the unfortunate things. It’s easy to devalue God’s daily blessings to us when all we’re looking at is the negatives. So I have a couple of challenges for you.

• Be Mindful about Being Thankful 

I don’t have to tell you why you should be thankful. For many of us, however, gratitude is a reflex. We’re grateful when someone gives us something or does something for us. We don’t even have to think about it. But 1 Thessalonians 5:18 tells us, “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” In everything give thanks. I should have been grateful when my AC died. It’s definitely not an automatic response to be grateful when you have no AC during a South Carolina summer.

But if you take the time to think about the things you don’t want to be grateful for, you can see how they can be blessings in disguise. Even if the only thing your trial teaches you is that His grace is sufficient for you (2 Corinthians 12:9), you can be grateful for that. It may take some work, and you may need to reset some of the default settings in your heart, but it is possible to see how God is blessing you when you go through an “unfortunate” event.

• Start a Year-Long Thankfulness Project

If you really want to focus on thankfulness for the entire year, you’re going to need to turn it into a habit. Find some way to record the daily blessings you experience, whether the blessing is a safe field trip or a friend’s support during a hard time. You can fill a jar with slips of paper covered in blessings, or you can dedicate a journal to your family’s blessings. You could even start a OneNote notebook of blessings. When the jar is full, or you run out of pages in the journal, or you just need to remember God’s blessings, reread what you’ve put down. Then empty out the jar, get a new journal, open a new OneNote file, and start over.

Worry can’t tear you down if you’re buried in blessings!

New Additions for Your Thanksgiving Meal Plan

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your thanksgiving meal plan
We’re only a few days away from Thanksgiving, and many of us are already planning and preparing for the great feast. What was your family’s favorite part about last year’s Thanksgiving meal plan? What did you have entirely too much of afterwards? Was there anything that wasn’t as popular? (Personally, I think all Thanksgiving meals would be better with more mashed potatoes and much less stuffing.)

If you’re looking to adjust your Thanksgiving meal plan or try something new, here are a few Thanksgiving favorites from the writers of the BJU Press Homeschool blog!

Sharon’s Baked Corn

Ingredients

1 qt. corn, frozen or fresh

2 eggs, beaten

1 tsp. salt

1 cup milk

1/8 tsp. pepper

2 tsp. oil

3 Tbsp. sugar

3 Tbsp. flour

Directions

  1. Mix all ingredients well in a bowl. Pour into a greased slow cooker.
  2. Cook on high for 3 hours and then on low for 45 minutes.

Sharon loves this recipe because it gives her an easy but delicious side dish to have cooking while she’s focusing on other, more involved dishes.

Megan’s Shoo-Fly Pie

Ingredients

1 cup flour

1 Tbsp. shortening

2/3 cup brown sugar, packed

1 cup dark Karo Syrup

1 egg, beaten

3/4 cup water

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 cup hot water

1 pie crust

Directions

  1. Mix sugar, flour, and shortening until crumbs form and reserve ½ cup for top of pie.
  2. In another bowl, blend together syrup, egg, and ¾ cup water.
  3. Combine crumbs and syrup mixture with spoon.
  4. Dissolve baking soda in ¼ cup hot water and add to mixture.
  5. Pour into pie crust shell and top with ½ cup reserved crumbs.
  6. Bake at 350 for 50 minutes.
  7. Serve with whipped cream.

Megan loves this recipe because it has deep roots in Pennsylvania, where she grew up, and making it for Thanksgiving gives her an opportunity to share her history with her daughters.

Jenna’s Cranberry Salad

Ingredients

1 bag cranberries, fresh

6 apples, red delicious

20 oz. can pineapple chunks with juice

12 oz. tub whipped cream

Directions

  1. Core and slice the apples.
  2. Use blender or food processor to finely dice apple slices and cranberries.
  3. In a bowl, thoroughly mix diced apples and cranberries together with pineapple chunks, undrained.
  4. Transfer to strainer with a bowl to catch the juice; allow the mixture to drain overnight or at least 6 hours in the refrigerator.
  5. Transfer mixture back to bowl and combine with whipped cream. Serve chilled.
  6. Bonus juice: Draining the diced cranberries, apples, and pineapples will yield up to three cups of juice. Mix the juice into a pitcher of cold water or seltzer water. Add sugar to taste.

For me, Thanksgiving never feels complete without a big bowl of my mother’s cranberry salad. After she passed away, I took on the task of making it every year and sharing it with friends and family wherever I happen to be on Thanksgiving.

As the psalmist said, “Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness” (Psalm 107:8–9).

The Twelve Days of Thanksgiving

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twelve days of thanksgivingAre you looking for a new way to celebrate Thanksgiving together as a family? Use this guide to enrich the Thanksgiving experience and build a culture of gratitude in your home, starting a little over a week or so before the holiday itself. If you like, you can download and print this Twelve Days of Thanksgiving poster to hang on your fridge or on a wall in your homeschool room to go over with your kids each day. You can even turn it into a song and sing it to the tune of the familiar Christmas carol.

“On the first day of Thanksgiving, the Lord God gave to me . . .”

One Beautiful Creation 

Start your family’s days of Thanksgiving with the big picture—the beautiful world God made for human beings to live in. How can we show God we’re grateful for this planet? Talk to your kids about how they can be good stewards of the world and appreciate its beauty.

Two Family Pets

Does your family have a pet? Ask your children to think about how your pet(s) add value to your life. If you don’t have a pet, consider pets they enjoy at friends’ or relatives’ homes. How can your kids show love to some of the special animals God has placed in their lives? Treats, an extra-long walk, playtime, petting, or some soft words of affection are all great ways to show love to your family pet.

Three Fun Toys

Play is one way that children can glorify God! It’s part of what they’re meant to do as they grow and develop. Ask your kids to select three of their favorite toys and thank God for those items. To enrich the experience, discuss the origins or makers of some of the toys.

Four Friendships Given

Fellow church members, neighbors, homeschool co-op pals, sports teammates—your children’s lives are full of friends. Have each child compose a list of his or her four closest friends. They can send each friend a quick email or note, make a phone call or Skype call, or drop by for a visit. Encourage your kids to thank these people for their presence in your family’s life.

Five Senses Sound

Encourage your children to think about their five senses of hearing, taste, touch, smell, and sight. For which of those five senses are they the most grateful? Do you know anyone who lacks one of those five senses? How can you show love to that person today?

Six Public Servants

Who are the helpers in your community? Talk to your kids about the important roles of firemen, policemen, the mayor, road crews, mail carriers, and garbage pickup teams, among others. All of these people keep your town or city functional and beautiful. How can you thank them today?

Seven Favorite Foods

This is “favorite food” day! Create a list for each child, featuring his or her seven favorite foods. Choose one food from each list that you can all enjoy; and be sure to thank God specifically for those delicious treats!

Eight Books for Reading

Today is a wonderful day for reading! Ask each child to select eight favorite books; then read one or two from each stack! Maybe your kids would enjoy writing a thank-you note to an author or illustrator, expressing their gratefulness for a favorite story or novel.

Nine Crafts for Making

God gave us creative ability! Celebrate that gift today by having your kids select their favorite art supplies—crayons, pencils, googly eyes, glitter glue, craft sticks, and so on. Using those items, create nine different Thanksgiving-themed pieces of art! And thank God for art and self-expression as you work on the projects.

Ten Songs for Singing

Music is a beautiful part of God’s creation, from the songs of the birds to the ability humans have to create rhythm and melody. Talk to your children about music today! What are the favorite musical styles in your household? Favorite songs or hymns? Create a playlist and enjoy the beauty of music together.

Eleven Games for Playing

Break out the board games! Have your kids choose some of their favorite board games or card games and play them together. Don’t forget to include games of pretend too—role-playing games are a natural and exciting part of child development.

Twelve Loved Ones Caring

Today, your kids can be thankful for each other. Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins—you may have trouble limiting this list to twelve, and that’s OK! As your kids think of more and more people who love them, they’ll realize on a deeper level how much they have to be thankful for—on Thanksgiving Day and every day.

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Rebecca is a work-at-home freelance writer, novelist, wife, and the mom of two bright-eyed little ones. She credits her success in writing and her love of books to her own mom, who homeschooled three kids from pre-K through high school.

Expressing Great Gratitude to God

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our great God gives a corn harvest
Plenty of men and women have gone down in history with “the Great” after their names. Have any of the following shown up in your homeschool history lessons?

Cyrus, the king of ancient Persia who’s mentioned by name in the Old Testament, is now known as Cyrus the Great. In the New Testament, the king who ordered the massacre of the baby boys in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:16), is ironically called Herod the Great. And who hasn’t heard of Alexander the Great? Then there was Gregory the Great, a popular pope in the sixth century. Later on, the Russian Empire would be ruled by Peter the Great, Ivan the Great, and Catherine the Great. And the list goes on, reaching even to our day. Maybe your family has watched video clips of Wayne Gretzky, the Canadian hockey player known as the Great One.

These people and other “greats” have certainly done remarkable things, but as Christians, we know that no human is really great compared to our God. To declare ourselves great is something like a tiny spark (even though it can set ablaze a huge forest as the Bible says in James 3:5) claiming to be like the sun!

One November a couple of years ago, I was reading through Psalms and noticed how often the words great, greatly, and greatness crop up in those prayers—more than two dozen times! The psalmists were obviously convinced that not only is God great but so are His name, His works, and His attributes, such as His love, mercy, power, and goodness.

So I copied down some of their exclamations of praise to the Lord and about the Lord and stitched them together into what I called “A Psalm of Greatfulness.” Then on Thanksgiving Day, when my family gathered around the table, we read it aloud as a choral reading.

If you’d like to use it this year, feel free to download  “A Psalm of Greatfulness” and print out copies.

You can adapt it for the number of family members and guests who’ll be present at your Thanksgiving meal so that everyone gets to participate. (Of course, it’s also suitable to use as part of your family worship time during this season—or any other time of the year for that matter.)

Our God is great, and we are grateful!

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An editor at BJU Press until 2020, Dennis and his wife spent seventeen years homeschooling their three sons. Dennis occasionally teaches at their church and in his spare time enjoys running, playing racquetball, and interacting with their five grandchildren.