Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Thanksgiving Traditions and a Giveaway!

For those of us in the US, we have 22 days until Thanksgiving. We (my family) celebrate Thanksgiving by spending time with family (even when we don't want to), eating too much food (one more piece won't hurt me) and in my family, falling into a "I ate too much" stupor on the couch while we stare sleepily at a Christmas movie on tv.

Last year, because my above description is accurate in my home, I decided that we should make Thanksgiving about more than just eating and sleeping in front of the tv. We do that all the time...lol! So for starters, I go to this site: http://www.jimwegryn.com/Names/FictionNames2.htm and click on the button until I come up with a name for each of my family members that seems to fit. My parent's always come over for dinner so that means eight names all together! I then print the names out on suitably "thanksgiving-ee" card stock and my Daughter and I put the name tags at the table to indicate where people sit. Last year, I confess though, that I came up with my own name for my accident prone Mother: Runs with Scissors! We all had a good laugh over that one!

The second thing we do is prepare a Thanksgiving tree. It simply consists of an ice bucket and an interesting twig from outside. I added fall colored flowers to the base for interest. We cut out leaf shapes from fall colored cardstock, enough for there to be at least two for each person. I lay these on the table in front of the "tree." Everyone is required...yes, I said required...to write on two leaves, two different things they are thankful for. This has to be done before dinner is served. After dinner, while still at the table, we read what we have written and then hang the leaf on the tree. It was awesome last year! We got everything from "I am thankful for my video games" to "I am thankful to be alive" (my Dad is a heartattack/bypass survivor). If you don't do something like this in your family, you should try it. It costs very little and is a great way to bring the family together while counting our blessings.

Here are a couple of pictures of my tree from last year:

Thanksgiving Tree close-up by you.

So now on to my first ever giveaway! I decided to have a giveaway because I have been blessed lately with winning a few of the generous ones that have been available out there in bloggy-land. It's a small way of paying it forward. For this giveaway, I made an apron (my first ever) that turned out so cute! I also have a matching potholder (purchased). The pattern is from Debbie Mumm, made for JoAnn Fabrics..



1. Due to the nature of the giveaway, it is open to US residents only. I promise, for non-US readers that I will be having a Christmas giveaway in less than a month that will be open to everyone!

2. Just leave me a comment on this post telling me your favorite Thanksgiving family tradition! Don't have one? How about your favorite side dish? I'm looking for a new one!

3. For an extra entry, in a separate comment, tell about my giveaway on your blog and leave me a link to view it!

4. Make sure you leave me an email so that I can contact you if you win. All email-less entries will be deleted.


I will be announcing the winner on Wednesday, November 12th!

Good luck!

17 comments:

Mistress Meeyee said...

My favorite side dishes are potato salad,Sweet potatos and marshmallow,cranberry sauce,broccoli with rice and cheese cassrole!

Karin said...

My favorite side dish is green bean casserole---cuz I hardly ever get to eat it except at Thanksgiving.....

Tangos Treasures said...

Cool giveaway!!
My Dad passed away in April 2007 so this is my first one with my family without him. We went to DH's family last year. He would always tell us not to feed the dog turkey! LOL We always did anyway!! hee hee turkey gave the dog bad gas!!
I got this recipe from our local news station. I have had to make 2 double batches!

Italian Asparagus

1 can Jolly Green Giant Asparagus
1/2 stick butter
1/4 C. parmesan cheese(1/4 to 1/2)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Drain most of the liquid off of the asparagus. Lay in rows on the bottom of a 9" X 9" pan and cover with cheese. Dot the cheese with slices of cold butter. Bake for twenty minutes, or until the cheese starts to brown.

cpullum said...

Our tadition is we drive down to my mom's house and we stay the night and make a huge dinner! My specialty is deviled Eggs and mash potatoes!

Patty said...

I love your tree idea! We used to have a tradition where my mom would get out the video of Do They Know It's Christmas by Band Aid and play it over and over again on Thanksgiving. I have no idea why she started doing it or why she chose the holiday, but she did it for years. And, now she no longer has a VCR so she can't watch it anymore. It was actually a video of the making of the Band Aid record and Bono, Duran Duran and George Michael look so young on it. (An odd tradition, I know.) And, thanks for doing the giveaway!

Anonymous said...

All of the family comes to my house for Thanksgiving dinner. The men do their usual football thing and we women get together while dinner is cooking and start creating handmade Christmas ornaments.

Michele P. said...

Our tradition is having friends/family over from either Brazil or Guatemala (or we go to their homes) and celebrate with a wonderful dinner-with Turkey, some Brazilian food and Guatemalan tamales. Everyone just talks about their homelands, who they miss, how fortunate they are to be here, etc... they don't celebrate Thanksgiving in those countries-so it is a great way for them to get the family together and have a great big fun get together. Also, I am usually there, instructing them about Black Friday shopping and after a huge meal around 5-6 pm we end up resting a bit, then start planning our Black Friday strategies!

micaela6955 at msn dot com

Kathy - mom of many said...

Hi, I found you through Patty at Pip Stitch. I love reading crafty blogs so I'll definitely be back to read more of yours. My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is watching the Macy's parade while preparing the meal, making cornbread dressing, stuffed celery, sweet potatoes, deviled eggs, green beans, pumpkin pies...yummy.

Anonymous said...

This apron is so pretty! My favorite Thanksgiving traditions are the meal of course and shopping on the day after with my mom and sisters. My favorite side dish would have to be sweet potatoes. Yum!

princessesindisguise(at)yahoo(dot)com

Jane's Fabrics and Quilts said...

Hi, I would love to enter and will post your giveaway on my blog too! We have always made a gingerbread house on Thanksgiving weekend, and my Christmas village is going to be up too! Check my blog to see the village come together.

silverhartgirl said...

My daughter and I she is 10 now cook together. she makes the sclloped corn all by her self and loves it. Then family comes to our house we eat and watch football.

Mary Grace McNamara said...

When I was growing up, we always watched the Macy's parade in the morning, then had a snacky kind of lunch, then the big turkey dinner in the evening. My grandmother made her noodles from scratch, dressing from scratch, cranberry sauce, pies, the whole works. What a cook! I would love to wear that apron to cook my Thanksgiving dinner this year!

MGM

Anonymous said...

I usually host Thanksgiving for my family - about 35 people! What fun we have - eat, eat, eat! Favorite side dishes - cranberry fluff salad, praline yam casserole, and green bean casserole - not to mention all the desserts and pies!

Elaine no-blog yet!
eem2848 at sbcglobal dot net

Colleen formerly of South Africa said...

We have homemade Cranberry apple salsa(relish) and White Trash candy..... if you need the recipes.... email me. Yum...yum....

Cindy Is Crafty said...

ur favorite tradition was my Mom's stuffing. One with the yucky stuff you normally throw away inside the turkey and one really great one without.

Guess you know which I ate! :O)

Mel said...

My favorite sides are quite borring I'm afraid, but I love my mother's homemade rolls just like grandma used to make!

I've posted about your party, even though there is not much time left!

debbie said...

I read about your contest on Jane's blog. Hope i am not too late. :o) My fav side dish is Holiday potatoes. It has all sorts of yummy things in it like cream cheese, sour cream, onion and sometimes we add cheese. lol then you bake it till the edges get crispy. Everyone fights for the crispy parts. lol