Getting that Butterball ready can make any host or hostess a real Stressball!

It’s easy to get swept up in all of the “must-do’s” (must run to the grocery store, must bake this, must pre-prep that, must get fresh sheets on guest bed, etc) and lose sight of the real spirit behind the wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. If you’re feeling a little frazzled, there’s nothing like the perspective of others, and especially children, to put you in the right frame of mind. In that spirit, I tried a little something this weekend that (a) occupies tots for at least 45 minutes (woohoo!) and (b) chilled me out and put me in the perfect frame of mind as we sail into Thursday.

If you don’t have young kids, or any kids for that matter, skip over part 1 – the play date recap – and go straight to Part 2 – using the Thankful.notes

Part 1: Turkey Decorating

We arranged a play date with Will and three of his good friends after lunch. While I put newspaper down on the kitchen table and set out the markers, glue and paper, the kids ran around and goofed off. Then, once the crafts table was ready (all of 5 minutes later), we called the gang to the table to make turkeys. I went around to each child and asked them which way they wanted their turkey to face (e.g. did they want their turkey to be traced from my left hand or my right hand). Once they picked, I traced the outline of my hand on a piece of construction paper in front of them. Then they, with a little help from the grownups, cut the outline so that they had a “turkey” ready to decorate. I had gone to the craft store, Michael’s, and got glitter glue, glitter, stickers and a few other goodies – but you could just as easily have them decorate their turkey with crayons and markers. They rolled up their sleeves and got dirty. The grown ups had to check themselves and allow the kids to just explore the materials and make a mess. When they were done, we glued a popsicle stick to the bottom of the turkey for legs and put them outside on a bench to dry. The finished results make a delightful (if temporary) display for kitchen bulletin board. Please don’t feel the need to hang on to forever – just enjoy it for the next week or two and then toss it. I give you permission!

Decorating the Turkey

Decorated Turkeys

A beautiful turkey

Part 2: Thankful Notes

Once we cleaned up the kiddos, we all sat down at the table again and took a few minutes to capture what we were really grateful for. I printed out the beautiful Thankful.notes that Hollie created and cut out one note for each person. Then we went around and each child and adult told everyone what they were thankful for. Alec (age 3) kicked it off – he was thankful for “mommy and daddy.” By the time we got to Madeline (also age 3), she was practically jumping out of her chair with excitement. She shouted breathlessly, “I’m..um…really…ummm…thankful for MySNOWWHITEPRINCESSPULLUPS!” She’s also grateful for her other princess things too.

If that doesn’t just make you happy to be alive…

Madeline's Thankful.note

We gave the notes to the parents to take home along with the decorated turkeys.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!