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CTC Readers' Poll:
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"Our family has two
Thanksgiving traditions which I just love. We have been
doing both of these for about 20 years.
First, we play Rothermich Family Trivia every Thanksgiving! My daughter and I made this game years ago. It is played on a regular Trivial Pursuit board, but we wrote the questions and I add some every year. The questions are things like: 'Who was Andy's eighth grade teacher?' 'What is our family motto?' 'What was the name of our cat when we lived in Oregon?' 'What was the highlight of David's junior cross country season?' This game always leads to lots of happy memories, although our son-in-law and daughter-in-law aren't very good at it--but they are good sports! Also, we always write a letter to each other describing our blessings from the past year. Then we read our letters aloud. When we started this, our youngest son couldn't write and drew pictures. I have saved all of these letters in a binder, which is now full of happy memories. Both of these traditions focus on what is important about Thanksgiving for us: thanking God for our many blessings and appreciating our wonderful family." ~ Kathy R., Missouri "I am single (no children) but I have enjoyed a custom some of the ladies in our church family have begun. We have a potluck dinner for Thanksgiving. Just us gals -- no children, no men. Some of the women are single moms and they've had to allow their kids to go to their ex-husband's on Thanksgiving in order to have the kids stay home for Christmas; it's hard for them to spend the November holiday without their children so this is a way to help those ladies in particular. It's also a good thing for the schoolteachers in our group to have adult company where they can be more relaxed, and for senior citizens and career women who would otherwise be alone. Many of us have no family in this part of the country, and cannot afford (or don't have enough time) to fly out of state to see family, so it is a nice way to spend the Thursday. It is a football-free feast....which is great, because several of my family's past Thanksgivings were ruined by male relatives who would gather around the TV, turn it on to sonic boom level volume and yell, 'Shut up! we're trying to watch the game,' anytime someone ventured into that part of the house....and they'd watch game after game after game so no one else could visit or have family time. The meals would be hurried, usually during a halftime, and not very enjoyable despite my grandmother's efforts to produce a delicious feast and a joyous family celebration. For my part, I am glad to leave the men to their games while I enjoy having a meaningful and quiet 'holy-day.' I hope I never have to experience any holiday ever again that involves any kind of televised sports. In the past several years, many of our church's single, divorced and widowed women, who don't have other places to go for Thanksgiving, all get together. Usually its at someone's home and we have the whole place to ourselves. We might also use the fellowship hall or an apartment complex party room. One lady makes the turkey, another one hosts, and everyone else volunteers to make a major menu item -- sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, breads, desserts, etc. Since we're all ladies, a lot of our yummies are diet and very healthy recipies. We begin the meal with a wonderful prayer from our (lady) pastor, and it brings back the religious meaning to the Thanksgiving holiday. The TV stays off, and we have soft background music and candles and fine china. We have a very relaxed holiday feast, and our "girl talk" usually gets down to some of the major issues: what's going on in our spiritual lives and in our lives in general....it's is very meaningful and deep conversation and very good bonding time. We usually sit around long after the meal and visit and it is certainly an event for which I am very thankful.." ~ Anonymous "The local Moravian Church which I attend has what is called a 'love feast' for major holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas. The service is a service of thanks and praise, served with mugs of coffee and buns, with special music that helps members appreciate what God has given and granted." ~ Carol "I wanted to share our family tradition at Thanksgiving. We are not able to travel to be with family on this holiday, so we try to remember them at our dinner. During the year, we collect the cards we receive for birthdays and holidays, and also cards reminding us of the nice things our friends (and sometimes complete strangers) have done for us. We also gather pictures, programs, and other mementos, and have a prayer circle before the big meal. Each member of our family takes turns rereading the note or card, and we pray specifically for the person who sent it, thanking the Lord for thier friendship and generosity. We pray for their family, and blessings for them throughout the year. This helps remind us of all we have to be thankful for -- our friends and family especially." ~ Heather "I married a wonderful Christian man a year and a half ago. We enjoy being empty-nesters although we do love our children dearly. Thanksgiving is a time for us to be alone and reflect on all the blessings the Lord has provided for us. We roast a turkey and make the traditional Thanksgiving fare. We spend hours talking about how we have enhanced each others lives and made them into one life. We play Scrabble and watch movies and enjoy being together. Our children always have other plans for this holiday so it works out very well for all concerned." ~ Jenni
Editor's Note: Thanks to all these readers who took time to write! |