Thanksgiving get-togethers used to be so much easier when the kids were little. Well, not in the sense of getting them ready and carting them around. But you could always count on the little ones entertaining everyone.
Now that my kids and my nephews are teenagers, what often happens is that everyone disappears. So I am purposing to keep everyone together as much as possible this year.
It was kind of a last minute decision but my family has ended up with the joy of hosting Thanksgiving. Despite not being as prepared as I would like, I am going into this with a thankful heart.
I will be enlisting the help of my children, with cleaning, setting up and decorating. My daughter always enjoys helping with the cooking. But our time together won’t end there. When family walks through the door, we are going to make this a real family affair.
It actually works out that our undefeated Green Bay Packers are playing Thanksgiving morning. I am recording the game so that when everyone gets to our house in the early afternoon, we can sit down together and watch it…of course, enjoying the huge feast at the same time.
Then I have plans to break out some games, with our favorite being “Apples to Apples.” We also really enjoy electronic “Catch Phrase,” “Yahtzee” and “Uno.”
I also have a great family-friendly comedy video to watch, depending on how long everyone stays. My point is that there won’t be any earplugs in the ears, there won’t be any disappearing into bedrooms to play video games. I am banning all electronics on Thanksgiving.
It can be easy to lose sight of the importance of Thanksgiving if everyone goes off into separate locations. So I am purposing to create family memories that will last a lifetime. Yes, I am enforcing family togetherness on Thanksgiving…call me crazy.
What special plans have you made with your family for Thanksgiving?
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Photo by Michael Karshis in Flickr