10 days of thanksgiving: tradition (and the making of our new thanksgiving garland)
As progressive as I like to think myself, nothing made me more of a traditionalist than when I became a parent. Suddenly, it was important to me to have all kinds of traditions in my home: we have Friday night movie night (complete with air mattress in the family room), huge Saturday morning breakfasts, and special foods that we eat for various holidays. Traditions can help make a home feel like a haven, I think. Traditions are important.
I mentioned a few days ago that I felt like I was at a bit of a loss when it came to Thanksgiving, having never grown up with the holiday -- I felt like it was missing something. So, with your help, I thought I'd share what we're going to do this Thanksgiving, thanks to your inspiration. Feel free to do it in your home this holiday as well (or if you don't celebrate, just in preparation for the end of the year to make your home festive), if it feels right.
First, I went to Michaels and bought some spindly garland (you can get whatever kind you want, I just figured this would be easier to work with). I wanted one that looked both autumny and year-end-y, so this is what I got:
Next, I headed over to an office supply store and got marking tags, with the strings already attached:
And that's it.
Now, on Thanksgiving day, our family is going to take the marking tags, and write down all the things we're grateful that happened during 2012. (For demonstration purposes, Alex and I did a couple, but we're really saving it to do on Thanksgiving day.) Once we've written down all or gratitude thoughts, we're going to tie them to the garland, like this:
Once we're done, we'll likely decorate our fireplace mantle with the garland (or we would, if our renovation was done). And then, once the Christmas tree goes up, we'll move it to the tree (and free up our mantel for the Christmas decorations). Since we're of the position that everything goes on the tree, this garland will be perfect.
After the tree comes back down, I'll probably cut the tags off and tape them into my journal. Then we'll put away the garland for next Thanksgiving.
And this folks, is about as crafty as I get, but I have to admit, I'm feeling pretty proud of this one. The Chookooloonks family officially has a Thanksgiving tradition! And this feels like a good thing.
Day 9 prompt:
Today, take some time to focus on the traditions that make the end of the year so lovely for you. And if you don't have any, I strongly recommend creating one! After all, traditions have to start somewhere, right?
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If you haven't been playing along with our 10 days of Thanksgiving, and would like to catch up, here are our previous days' prompts!
Day 1: HOME
Day 2: GIFTS & SUPERPOWERS
Day 3: COOLER WEATHER
Day 5: CREATIVITY
Day 6: COMFORT FOOD & DRINKDay 7: MUSIC
Day 8: CHANGE