“May your stuffing be tasty,
May your turkey plump,
May your potatoes and gravy
Have nary a lump.
May your yams be delicious
And your pies take the prize,
And may your Thanksgiving dinner
Stay off your thighs!”
May your turkey plump,
May your potatoes and gravy
Have nary a lump.
May your yams be delicious
And your pies take the prize,
And may your Thanksgiving dinner
Stay off your thighs!”
I admit, however, that the ‘staying off your thighs’ part is not really possible (at least in my case). Thanksgiving for us means one whole week of feasting and merry-making with the entire (including extended) family camping at our place – this means dozens of kids of all age groups running around the gardens all day, prancing about in the kitchen begging for more pie, cookies disappearing miraculously from their tins – in short, it is a mad, mad Thanksgiving week at our place every year. And looking at the present situation, this time will probably be no exception.
I’m planning to draw up a list of group activities that the kids can indulge in, to keep them out of trouble. The internet was a great help to me in this, abounding with so many great ideas and fun games for kids. Here are two of them which can be enjoyable for the whole family.
Make a Thanksgiving Thankful Tree
The easy way to do this is to use a roll of brown craft paper to cut out the main trunk and branches of the tree and then tape it on a blank wall of the house. A slightly more elaborate way – through which your tree looks much better and real - is as follows:
You’re done! Right through Thanksgiving week, parents as well as kids can add their own ‘Thank you leaves’ to the branches of the tree. Going through them all once Thanksgiving is over is really satisfying and is bound to leave you with a feel-good factor till the festive season next year!
In case you wish to carry over your Thanksgiving tree to last you till Xmas, here’s how you can do it.
The ‘Thankerchief’ Game
This one calls for quality family bonding time and can ideally be played after the sumptuous Thanksgiving turkey feast. The entire family - young as well as old – sit together in a circle on the floor. Similar to ‘Pass the Parcel’ game, a handkerchief is passed around the circle and everyone recites these lines together:
‘Thankerchief, Thankerchief, around you go,
Where you’ll stop, nobody knows.
But when you do, someone must say,
What they are thankful for this day.’
Once the poem ends, the person holding the Thankerchief at that instant says aloud one thing for which they are thankful. Alternatively, this game can also be played like the typical ‘Pass the Parcel’ game with a cushion passed around while popular Thanksgiving songs like ‘Thank You Friends’ or ‘A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving’ are played in the background. Rest assured, you’ll have a memorable musical evening!
Back in the days when I was a kid, we used to have joke-telling sessions on Thanksgiving, just amongst us children. I still remember some like:
What key has legs and can’t open doors?
A turkey.
And this one:
Why did they let the turkey join the band?
Because he had the drumsticks!
So this Thanksgiving, let us all promise ourselves that we’ll be thankful not only today but every day, for all the little joys in our lives. May all of us be blessed now and throughout the rest of the year!
I’m planning to draw up a list of group activities that the kids can indulge in, to keep them out of trouble. The internet was a great help to me in this, abounding with so many great ideas and fun games for kids. Here are two of them which can be enjoyable for the whole family.
Make a Thanksgiving Thankful Tree
The easy way to do this is to use a roll of brown craft paper to cut out the main trunk and branches of the tree and then tape it on a blank wall of the house. A slightly more elaborate way – through which your tree looks much better and real - is as follows:
- Get hold of a couple of pine cones and place them in a Mason jar – this will act as the base of your Thanksgiving tree.
- Swathe some copper wire around the Mason jar to make it look more festive.
- Make use of stencils to cut out leaves (not very small so that messages can easily be written on them) from green scrapbook colored paper.
- Create a hole in each of the green-colored leaves so that a string can go through them in order to hang them on the branches.
- Make the tree trunk out of old toilet paper rolls taped to each other – make it as tall as you wish depending on the kids in question. Each child should be able to reach the highest branch of the tree.
- Use the thinner colored paper cardboard rolls to make the branches of the tree, similar as above (by taping them together).
You’re done! Right through Thanksgiving week, parents as well as kids can add their own ‘Thank you leaves’ to the branches of the tree. Going through them all once Thanksgiving is over is really satisfying and is bound to leave you with a feel-good factor till the festive season next year!
In case you wish to carry over your Thanksgiving tree to last you till Xmas, here’s how you can do it.
The ‘Thankerchief’ Game
This one calls for quality family bonding time and can ideally be played after the sumptuous Thanksgiving turkey feast. The entire family - young as well as old – sit together in a circle on the floor. Similar to ‘Pass the Parcel’ game, a handkerchief is passed around the circle and everyone recites these lines together:
‘Thankerchief, Thankerchief, around you go,
Where you’ll stop, nobody knows.
But when you do, someone must say,
What they are thankful for this day.’
Once the poem ends, the person holding the Thankerchief at that instant says aloud one thing for which they are thankful. Alternatively, this game can also be played like the typical ‘Pass the Parcel’ game with a cushion passed around while popular Thanksgiving songs like ‘Thank You Friends’ or ‘A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving’ are played in the background. Rest assured, you’ll have a memorable musical evening!
Back in the days when I was a kid, we used to have joke-telling sessions on Thanksgiving, just amongst us children. I still remember some like:
What key has legs and can’t open doors?
A turkey.
And this one:
Why did they let the turkey join the band?
Because he had the drumsticks!
So this Thanksgiving, let us all promise ourselves that we’ll be thankful not only today but every day, for all the little joys in our lives. May all of us be blessed now and throughout the rest of the year!