Thanksgiving Traditions 2016

The holiday season is upon us. In the days and weeks to come, we will be bombarded with Christmas ads, shopping specials, Black Friday sales, and a whole lot of food. But the holidays offer us so much more. Memories and fun. Stories and laughter. And of course, holiday traditions.

The holidays are packed with traditions, and like most, the Higham's have their fair share. In fact, I often wonder what the holidays would be like without traditions. Today, we're sharing three of our favorite Thanksgiving day traditions.

Thanksgiving, A Time to Remember, by Barbara Rainey
A number of years ago, while our oldest boys were still young, Amy picked up Barbara Rainey's book, Thanksgiving, A Time To Remember. In the book, Barbara retells the amazing story of the first days of the early colonist. Historically accurate and filled with faith, you'll be amazed by journey of the the men and women who followed God to this new country. The book also comes with a CD of music that will help set the mood for your Thanksgiving day dinner.
​
Each year, Amy brings the book out at the start of the week and begins reading it with the kids. We want our kids to know the true story of the pilgrims, but even more, we want them to know of God's faithfulness. And of course, we play the CD of instrumental music throughout the day.

Click on the book cover to learn more about, Thanksgiving, A Time To Remember.
{ affiliate link }

Thanksgiving Dinner Helpers
A newer Tradition that has become part of our day, involves the kids helping with the dinner meal preparation. Just a couple of years ago, we discovered that each of our kids had their favorite dinner item. From the decorative candy place settings to the pumpkin pie for dessert; each one looked forward to something. Then Amy had an idea to involve the kids with the dinner prep, by asking what they love the most. She then had each kid help her with that dish of the meal. For instance, our oldest loves Amy's sausage stuffing (which we all really love) so now, each year, he helps to brown the sausage, cut the bread, and prepare the flavoring.

We accomplish a couple of thing with this. 1. Amy gets some help in the kitchen. 2. We involve our kids with dinner beyond just eating it. 3. It creates intentional one on one time. 4. It hopefully provides the opportunity to for new memories. 5. It teaching and passes down cooking and recipes!

Now we wouldn't recommend having the kids around the stove while they are super young, but even our youngest helps by making our candy place settings and table decorations.

The Official Kick Off for Christmas
We like to slow down and enjoy our Thanksgiving holiday. For the most part, we stay home and just enjoy some much needed family time. We play games, watch football and relax. But more than just being Thankful, Thanksgiving is the turning point of our year. While it's no longer a hard and fast rule, the day after Thanksgiving is the first day of our Christmas celebration.

So every year, the weekend after Thanksgiving, we pull out the Christmas decorations and we begin filling up the house with all of our favorite Christmas decor! The tree, the lights, the ornaments, the holiday decor, and of course the Christmas music and movies. It all comes out.

So what are some of your favorite Thanksgiving traditions? Do you have special meal time activities? Do you go "home" to be with family? Comment below and share your traditions!

​- the higham family

---