Our Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at our house this year. It was the first time in 12 years I had been with my parents for the holiday (we normally spend it with my husband's side of the family). It was also the first time in at least twenty years that I had spent it with my brother (he is a military chaplain and has always lived far away or been deployed) and his family. It was such a good thing for all of us to be together, and especially for my two children to spend the holiday with their five cousins.

Here's the highlights of the day:

Uncle Patrick playing games with the kids:

My niece, Janie, preparing to teach the little ones how to make Oreo Turkeys:

She did a GREAT job!

Seven of the eight cousins on my side of the family :

The kids' table... Miss B and her cousin, Erin, did all of this decorating:

Here's the adult table (minus me!) - with my mom and dad at the far end. My dad just turned 80 last week!

The break from school and normal routines has been really nice. We're off to see the new Harry Potter movie this afternoon. Good times!
Blogger Templates

Our Thankful Craft/Thanksgiving Present

A few years ago I made bookmarks for a family Thanksgiving. The dinner was at my father-in-law's house, and I originally told him I would make place cards and set his table. Well, I found Bible verses which specifically dealt with thankfulness and used my scrapbooking supplies to make bookmarks. Each guest that year received a bookmark, and our blessing was done by everyone taking turns reading their bookmarks. Each time I go to my sweet father-in-law's house he has his bookmark laid out, so I know it meant something to him. We keep our bookmark from that year in our Bible.

This year we are having a crowd here for Thanskgiving, and I'd like to do the same thing again. We will be starting next week, because it will take some time to assemble all of the bookmarks. I'd also like to turn this into a craft project for my nine year old - she loves scrapbooking and this will give her something to sink her teeth into and really share in the Thanksgiving planning.

Here is the only bookmark I have left from that year -- and to me it looks very plain! I'd like to jazz them up this year, but at least you can get the basic idea:

You will need:

• cardstock (whatever color you have or like)
• patterned scrapbook paper
• paper cutter (or a child who cuts very straight!)
  
• Thanksgiving stamps, stickers, embellishments, ribbon (if you want to punch a hole and put a ribbon on the top of the bookmarks)
  
• scrapbooking tape runner (or whatever adhesive you like to use)
• laminator (optional -- but I LOVE mine and got it at BJs for just $20!)
• Bible verses about thankfulness

I plan to have the Bible verses typed out ahead of time and cut into strips. I will give my daughter some patterned cardstock and background (solid) cardstock so she can choose what she really wants the bookmarks to look like. It may take some extra time, but I will show her how to measure the paper on our paper cutter and let her cut the bookmarks and patterned paper.

This is such an open-ended project which allows for a lot of creativity - just go for it! I can't wait to do this next week, and I'll post pictures when we are finished... just wanted to get the idea out there early in case any readers want to try it as well.

Blogger Templates