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Do you remember the Thanksgiving
traditions your family observed when you were
growing up? I sure do! How many of those are part of your
Thanksgiving now? Have you added to them?
God's
Traditions
Scripture is
full of traditions for special occasions. God
knew these would help His people remember His
goodness to them and He understood how passing
them from one generation to another would create
a sense of unity and bondedness.
Many traditions
or observances God ordained for the Israelites
included a special meal. Passover is one example.
Each year, His people would remember how God
delivered them from the bondage of Egypt as they
observed the Passover meal and its attendant
ceremonies.
Help bond your
family and create memories to last a lifetime by
infusing Thanksgiving with old family traditions
as well as new ones you and your family initiate
and carry you down through the years.
Preparations
Start a week or
so before Thanksgiving by making a list of things
to do. Let family members help. Here are some
suggestions:
With the help of
your pastor or other appropriate person, find
someone in your neighborhood to help. Find out
what they need in a discreet way and begin
preparing to meet that need the best way you can.
If you plan to
provide Thanksgiving food, take it early! You may
want to do this anonymously. I suggest you do.
Just put in a loving note and say this is a gift
from the Lord.
Select a hymn of
thanksgiving to sing after the big meal. Learn
the tune and print out the words.
Find pictures,
pumpkins or other materials to decorate with and
let the family's artistic flair go wild with
decor all over the house.
Locate family
holiday recipes and find at least one new one.
Buy all the necessary food items in advance so
that great pie you mom used to bake doesn't get
left off the menu because you have no cream of
tartar.
Wash your best
table cloth, napkins, glasses and china (if you
have any!) since it may have been a while since
you used them. If you don't have china and fine
linen, here's a neat way around it - no not paper
plates and table cloth sets!
Take the kids
and go to the local second hand stores and get
lace curtains, usually under $1.00. Wash and iron
them for a lovely table cloth. Next, look for
solid colored stoneware dishes. They don't need
to match in color or still, just be solid
colored. It's the in thing now to have varied
colored settings. Go wild, these usually can be
gotten for five or ten cents each. Now look for
big paper napkins in a color to match some of
your "new" dishes.
Create a great
centerpiece for the table. One of the best ones I
ever saw was an old tin bucket (you can cover a
plastic one with aluminum foil) filled with dried
up weeds gathered by a four-year old. Take the
kids for a walk in the country and fill your
bucket. When you get home, wrap a big ribbon
around it or glue on cutout decorations made by
the kids.
Start cooking in
advance so you'll have more time with the family.
Freeze what you can.
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On Thanksgiving Day Have a family breakfast
prayer meeting in the morning. Take your time to
review God's goodness and thank Him for it. Get
out some colored markers and pass out a paper
plate to every person, instructing them to trace
their hand on the plate and color it in with a
light colored marker. In black marker, ask them
to write down something they are especially
thankful for inside the hand. Now, with the
family joined in prayer, offer these thankful
hands to the Lord and display the plates on the
wall.
Get the turkey,
ham or whatever in the oven and head out with the
family to do your good deed if it's not already
done.
Assign each
family member AND visitor a task in preparing or
serving the meal. Don't leave anybody out, no
matter how young or old. This is to be an honor,
not a chore. Babies can help by keeping you
company and cheering you as you work.
Be patient in
the kitchen. There will be spills and boo boos;
it's part of the fun. This is precious time
together.
Make a note of
your assignments and when the blessing is said
have the pray-er give thanks for that food item
and the hands that helped.
Before the meal,
hand out the words of the hymn you printed out.
Lead the singing and have everyone learn the
chorus.
After the meal,
have each person gather their dishes and
flatware, form a line and march to the kitchen
area singing the chorus to the hymn of
thanksgiving. You can have a waste basket by the
counter and a tub or pot to scrape the plates
into. They can place the plates in a waiting sink
of sudsy water. In less than five minutes the
dishes are scraped and soaking and you've cleared
the table as this happened.
Now, forget your
sense of "duty," and go spend time with
the family. The soapy water in the sink is
working for you. Relax!
Don't make a big
issue if some folks want to watch TV sports. This
shouldn't be a day of conflict, but a day of
thankful togetherness.
I don't care for
sports. In fact those who know me are grinning
and nodding right now. They know I've grossly
understated this fact. I used to be so upset when
Richard, a big sports fan set up court in front
of the TV to fill his head with the violence of
football. Now, I join him. I still hate that
game, but I love him, so this is my way to show
it.
It may not be TV
that makes your day less than perfect. It could
be anything. The relative who eats and runs, the
kids who never seem to help with chores,
whatever. Keep conflict out of the day. It's
going to take prayer!
Finally, after
guests are gone and the kitchen's clean, sit down
with your family and tell each one why you are so
thankful for their lives. Then close the day with
a mutual prayer of thanksgiving.
Don't miss
Christmas Traditions by Crystal Owings in out
December issue
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