Giving Thanks

One of my favorite t-shirts has faces of little Pilgrim and Indian children singing the praise chorus with these words:

"Give Thanks with a grateful heart,
Give thanks to the Holy One,
Give thanks for He has given Jesus Christ, His Son--
And now, let the weak say I am strong,
Let the poor say I am rich,
Because of what the Lord has done for me,
Give Thanks."

This month I want to share some ideas to give thanks--and celebrate Thanksgiving. But first---some matters of "housekeeping".

We're making some changes in our newsletter, and one change is that I'm combining "Home Matters "and "Caring for Kids" into one column. After lenghty deliberation (and lack of better ideas), I'm calling it "Heart and Home Matters". I ruled out some other names--"Home Matters", it turns out is actually part of the website of Cynthia Heald, a wonderful Christian author who writes about home organization--I mentioned her book and website (http://www.hearthandhome.com/) in an earlier blog. "Home Base" sounded like a baseball blog, which I'm certainly not qualified to write. "Home on the Range" seemed appropriate, since I live in a small town in Kansas, but the title I really would love to use is "Random House". Goodness knows, I am certainly qualified to write about this(more on that later)--but alas, the big publishing company might take offense at me using their name. So,unless anyone out there has a better idea, we're going with Heart and Home Matters.

As always, my goal is to give you (and me!) ideas to express God's love in our homes and to our families and friends in practical ways.

So, then...let us be thankful before we "talk turkey" (I couldn't resist) let's focus on our "attitude of gratitude". Being thankful is a choice--we can see what we don't have and complain to God(as the Israelites wandering in the desert)or we can determine we will look for God's blessings and goodness in all our circumstances. (Which,by the way,we are commanded to do-"Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of Christ for you."

Being thanks filled--remember the "Glad game"-Pollyanna style?

Remember the Pollyanna movie? (Watch it this month with popcorn and a hankie--tell the kids not to be scared when she falls from the window--that worried me a lot when I was little). Pollyanna's father, a minister, taught her to be glad or thankful in spite of their circumstances--we can play the "glad" or "thankful" game this month--Read on.

We all have so very much to be thankful for--our homes, families and friends, freedoms, country, talents, physical bodies, beauty all around us from God's creation, and most of all thanks for our Savior Jesus who offered us freedom from death in our sins, forgiveness and an abundant life!

This month, offer up a sacrifice of praise and "thanks offerings"--be glad for what God has done!

"He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God."_Psalm 50:23

"It is good to give thanks to the Lord."-Psalm 92:1

"Blessed be the Lord, who daily loads us with benefits, the God of our salvation."-Psalm 68:19

"He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me."-Psalm 50:23

*Write these verses, plus other "thanksgiving verses" on index cars and post them around your house for your family and guests to also read.

*Each morning, think of 5 things to thank God for and you could even write them in a"Thanksgiving Journal".

*Encourage your family to share 5 (or 3) things about their day for which they're thankful at supper.

*Talk with your family about contentment--are we content with what God has given us? When we want more, or wish things were different, we're saying we don't like what God has done for us, that it isn't enough, or that we know better what is good for us than God does! Yikes!( Our country has a big problem with contentment--so many people go into debt to have more than they can really afford. Think of all the advertising devoted to making us want more and more! Contentment is a good isssue to discuss, especially with the commercialism of Christmas lurking around the corner ).

*Print off the words, or enlarge copies of the hymns, "Count Your Blessings", "Come Ye Thankful People, Come" and "We Gather Together" to read/sing with your family.

*Visit your Christian Bookstore or library to revisit the story of the Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving. Two wonderful books are Give Thanks by Karla Dornacher(full of beautiful illustrations and a month's worth of giving thanks devotions) and Thanksgiving, A Time To Remember by Barbara Rainey(a Family Life book--you could order it from their website, http://www.familylife.com/) This is the best blending of the historical story of the Pilgrims, Biblical teachings, and family activities I've seen.

(Remember my commenting that I should write a "random house" blog? Here's the story--I have been procrastinating writing this blog--yesterday I decided to clean out the frdge instead of writing, and this morning I decided to rearrange the living room furniture. In doing so, I remembered that I store the seasonal books in one of the end tables--I found these two books just in time to share with you--hurray!)

Now that our hearts are into giving thanks , we can focus on some other ideas for this holiday and hospitality.

1. Lower your expectations--the Norman Rockwell painting of the scrubbed and happy family gathered around the table with the beautifully browned turkey may not happen for you and yours. Our family has had some wonderful Thanksgivings, but we've also had our share of 7-up and chicken soup "feasts" due to the flu bug. My youngest was 5 years old before we celebrated with extended family again! Bad weather, schedule conflicts, family squabbles, tired and cranky adults and kids can all lead to a less than "perfect" holiday--remember to be thankful no matter what! (And remember to make good memories instead of making your ideal holiday)

2. Work ahead--if you're expecting company or hostessing the big Thanksgiving dinner, be a "Martha" now so you can be a "Mary" later and enjoy the time with others. I have learned to cook the turkey several days ahead of time, put the dark and white meat in freezer bags, save the juice in another freezer container and freeze it to be warmed up on Thanksgiving day. You can also make pies ahead of time, freeze rolls, and do your shopping days earlier also.

3. Prepare your home for hospitality--clean the fridge so you have room for all the food, clean the bathrooms and pick up clutter. Decide what plates--or paper plates you'll use, where everyone will sit, who will bring what food.

4. Enlist help from your family and guests--I love having people over, but get flustered when everyone arrives and needs something done in addition to what I'm trying to finish! Make a list of what needs doing, then cut apart and put each item in a "job jar". I put my wonderful nieces and nephews in charge of icing glasses, moving tables and chairs, serving beverages, clearing plates and serving desserts. It helps to put them in teams to complete different jobs.

5. Plan some meaningful and fun activities. You can have an "I'm thankful for.." index card at each place with 5 kernels of corn to remind everyone of the "starving time" the Pilgrims went through their first winter--be sure to sing a Thanksgiving song and pray at the meal.

Play flag football, (our family activity for over 20 years) take a walk and collect leaves, put together a new jigsaw puzzle, play games, watch a good movie or football game.

For our evening meal last year after the Thanksgiving turkey feast, I broke with tradition and we roasted hot dogs and made s'mores over our firepit in the backyard.(instead of leftovers) It was a big hit--and very simple!! Afterward,we sat bundled in blankets around the fire, sang, heard amazing poetry from my nephew Ryan, and talked under the stars--what a good memory.

6. Set up a self-serve coffee/hot cocoa/hot cider "bar" with mugs and some simple snacks.

7. Make Pilgrim hats for the younger boys out of ll x 13" black construction paper by cutting a u-shaped flap to stand up as the hat top, and rounding off the corners to be the bottom of the hat. For girls, use white construction paper and fold up long edge and shape rest to head, using another piece of paper to cut in a collar shape. Indian head bands and feathers are also fun to make from construction paper. A large box can be the Mayflower ship for the kids to play in, and an Indian tepee is made with a sheet over bamboo poles or tree limbs.

8. Another Thanksgiving afternoon or other time activity can be making caramel apples. Dip apples quickly in boiling water to remove wax coating, remove stems and refrigerate to cool. Put sticks in apples, melt a 1 pound bag of caramels with 2Tbsp. of milk in microwaveor on stove,dip apples, and roll in chopped nuts or mini-chocolate chips. Place on buttered wax paper to cool. Tell kids that the Bible tells us that "you are the apple of God's eye." (This idea from Karla Dornacher's book listed above.)

9. Ask your family what traditions are important to them for the holiday (s) and what is not. You may be surprised to find a labor-intensive food or activity doesn't really matter to anyone. Serve roast beef--or pizza-if that's what your family prefers. It may be time for new traditions --or not. I read a great story about a family that always gathers to make their great-grandmother's cookie recipe after Thanksgiving. The guys all go hunting, and the women, young and old, gather ingredients and dole out tasks to make a huge batch of the cookies. They call other family members on the phone who can't make it to cookie bake fest. The funny thing is, some of the women admitted that they don't even like the cookies that well--they're heavy, dense cookies--but they love getting together to make them!

So..however you choose to celebrate Thanksgiving, give thanks--lots of thanks--with a grateful heart. Be sure to tell those nearest to you how thankful you are for them!