Monday, November 15, 2010

Thanksgiving Tree

The year we moved to Canada, we started our Thanksgiving Tree tradition.  We get to celebrate Thanksgiving twice - once for Canada in October and then again in November.  Two turkey days!  Brilliant.  And - twice the reminder to be grateful!

I haven't been incredibly successful at capturing a photo of our finished tree . . . but, I have a goal to do it this year.   We began by making leaves out of each of our hand prints.  And, then when we finally pull down our Thanksgiving tree and replace it with our Christmas tree, I pull off all the leaves and save them.  This year - as a special memory of our last Thanksgiving in Canada - we are using red maple leaves and then orange and yellow leaves for color.

2008: Our First Thanksgiving Tree


We also visited my family in Virginia in 2008 and each of the kids made turkey hats.  They were all such cute little turkeys.  I love little Trent's gobble gobble spirit.  



2009: 2nd annual Thankful Tree

Yes, they do appear to be sad little pumpkins at the bottom.  I'm sure those frowns were added in one of Autumn's finer moments.


2010

We started our tree tonight for FHE.  We made spice cake cupcakes with cream cheese frosting . . . and everyone had to write down at least 5 things in order to get a treat.  We all quickly surpassed our goal.  And, we'll keep adding from the bowl of leaves on our table through next week.


My favorite thing to be thankful for came from Gavin . . . who was very thankful for 'plates.'

I think Jeff's favorite was my leaf for 'heartburn medicine.'  Seriously . . . it's saving me right now.  I'm opposed to medicine when I'm pregnant.  But, without Zantac, I wouldn't sleep.

The part that warmed my heart the most came from our little artist, Autumn.  The second I told her this morning that we were going to make our Thanksgiving tree, she went to work creating her own - complete with an owl and leaves that flip down so you can read both sides.  She really is amazing.


My first leaf was for 'My husband.'  Jeff told me not to be cheesy.  On my second leaf I wrote that I was 'thankful for being a Mommy.'  Cheesy or not . . . it's just so true.

I am so incredibly grateful for my sweet family.  We laugh together and we drive each other crazy - but, we always love each other.  I can't imagine my world without them.  

2 comments:

  1. Her tree is awesome, little artist you have there :) and what a great idea, I may have to borrow the idea myself.

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  2. I love this...we just did this for family night. Grandma and Grandpa showed up in the middle of it and the kids gave them the finished tree to take home in the end. Although I wanted to keep it, I thought it was sweet and gives us a good reason to do another one.

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