Friday, November 28, 2008

The Thankful Turkey Bag

My sister-in-law Rhonda recently mentioned a Thanksgiving tradition they had of decorating a bag like a turkey and filling it with the things they were thankful for to then be read on Thanksgiving. I thought this sounded like a great idea, so I stole the tradition for us.

So, for family night the Monday before Thanksgiving, Mike did a little Thanksgiving lesson, and then the kids decorated the turkey bag. I'd envisioned a cute little lunch bag looking fully like a turkey, but we only had a very large bag, and here was the end result.

I am glad my kids found so much to be grateful for, but I was a little shocked by the amount of time they spent cutting up little papers and writing thing after thing after thing. In fact, when Mike first opened the bag he suggested, "We'll read a few every day . . . FOREVER." Our kids weren't buying that though. They weren't going to go to bed til we'd read every last little thankful paper!
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A few high-lites were:
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-- Goldie's squeals of happiness each time Mike read one of her papers (they'd put their names on the back because they wanted us to know who had written what).

-- Mike reading that Abe was thankful for hoses. Abe insisting he hadn't thought of hoses. Me suggesting, "Noses?" "Horses?" before Abe realized he'd left the "u" out of "houses."

-- Mike reading that Abe was thankful for "Spontee." And Abe glaring at how poorly Mike had read his lettering of "Squanto."

-- Seeing that each of their names had ended up in the bag as something someone else was thankful for. (And someone, apparently, thankful for their own self).
-- Mike reading that Abe was thankful for TVs and then turning to Abe and saying, "You're grounded."

-- And (half way though the million and one papers) Mike saying, "Have you guys ever heard of a game called 'speed thanks'?" -- They laughed alright, but they were not about to let him speed his way through one of their special papers.

There were a lot of the traditional good things they thought of to be thankful for, "Family," "Jesus," "The Prophet," "etc." and a surprising number of papers mentioned, "bowls" or "cups." Here are a few others I liked.

Some of Abe's:

Some of Daisy's: (Mars? Sweet).
Some of Goldie's (Often she would go whisper to some grown up what to write, but the three on the left are my favorites because I don't know that she is truly that grateful for "Hat," "Dog" or "Book" but she figured out how to spell them, so in they went -- along with quite a few that Mike was wholly unable to decipher from her cute self):
And, you can easily tell that they even got my mom involved as evidenced by this paper found in the bag!

Anyway, I thought I'd share because it is always fun to get ideas for new little traditions from others, and I thought some of you might like this idea . . . you can even make your turkey way cooler . . . if that is even possible.
Oh, and P.S. 4 mile Turkey Trot + Tons of Thanksgiving dinner and pie = No Labor.

11 comments:

jami v. said...

i love the idea and i especially love the someone is grateful for "me" :) good stuff.

sorry that trotting and turkey and thankfulness didn't lead to labor. i hope it's coming soon!!

Rhonda said...

I am so happy your kids had so much fun with this...your turkey bag is awesome! I hope that little baby comes soon! We are coming in just a few weeks and we can't wait to see everyone!

Salty Incisor said...

I really loved this post I was laughing you're grounded.
I love that goldie can write.
All of that would send me into labor and I am not even pregnant! jk I have so much preterm labor from 6mos on its ridiculous!
Good Luck
Looking forward to your post of "Sandy" or "Honey" or "Petunia" or something that matches the others!
How about "Clementine"!
Jk hope you go into labor!

Bradshaw said...

I love this idea, your kids are so cute. Hope everything is going well and good luck with #5. A turkey trot? Wow! Nancy you are so amazing!

Susan

Mugsy said...

Hee hee that was Sweeeeeet!
Why was I not a part of that fun?

Perla said...

that is a cool idea and i'm so glad that abe is thankful for amphibians and gravity. sweet. and i like this idea so that they can have time to think of all the good things they are grateful for like hat.

sorry about no labor. nobody calls me hardly so when my phone rings i always hope it is you telling me you're at the hospital.

Anonymous said...

Duh, "Marz" - she just misspelled it. Common mistake. Fun tradition. We usually have a thankful turkey with thankful feathers - but amidst everything - I forgot to do it. Thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...

PS - Have you seen twilight? What did you think? I have mixed feelings - so, just to double check my opinion - I'm going to go see it again. ;)

Nancy said...

Marzers, I saw it alright. My nieces would have it no other way, and if you were here I'd go see it with you! I thought a few of the charactars were a little powdery and not perfect (Carlisle, Jasper, etc.) BUT, they did at least get good chemistry between our main two, and that makes up for alot! Still very fun.

Anonymous said...

I liked it much better the second time. The first time I was so caught up in comparing it to the book and my ideal images - that I couldn't appreciate it. I agree with you on the makeup. I do wish that they had made Edward more sparkly - But overall, I enjoyed it and still love it. Can't wait for the next one!

Nancy said...

Alright, test 2.

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