Creating and Preserving Thanksgiving Memories
Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday. Families around the country gather to spend the day together, eat a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, and yet each famiily has its own traditions and its own unique ways of interacting with one another.
If you are like me, you enjoy setting a pretty table, creating delectable foods to enjoy, and making the day a real treat for your loved ones.
Why not take the time to take good photos of the table, or the food, and of the family gathered together around the table, in the kitchen, or piled on the couch around the football game? Once the photos are developed you can have lots of fun and create a memory book or layout of your Thanksgiving Day.
1. Recipe Memories. Does your grandma always bring the stuffing? Or maybe Aunt Martha has a legendary Chess Pie. Maybe a new recipe you tried has now become a hands down favorite. Make a Thanksgiving Recipes Scrapbook. Take a picture of the dish. Ask your Grandma to handwrite her recipe for the stuffing on a pretty Autumn recipe card. You will forever cherish her handwriting and the recipe can be passed down from generation to generation! You can print free recipe cards from www.alenkasprintables.com.
2. The Thanksgiving Table. After you have set the table ever so carefully, added your final touches, snap a photo at a couple of different angles. You might even want to focus on certain details like place cards or your Thanksgiving salt and pepper shakers. When doing your layout, add a list of your menu, a sample place card, and any other special mementos.
3. My Favorite Things. Create a list of all your favorite things about Thanksgiving. My Favorite Pie, My Favorite Smell, My Favorite Sound, My Favorite Activity, etc. You might even ask your husband and children to add their own lists.
4. I am Thankful For… You can create a layout of different photos, i.e. photo of the family together, one of the table, one of the food, etc., and make a bullet style list of your blessings.
5. Scarp an Activity. Why no preserve the fun of the Thanksgiving football game, or maybe your family likes to play a particular game after the meal every year. Those are memories that will mean the most long after everyone has forgotten that the green bean casserole burned, or that the pumpkin pie was out of this world yummy.
6. Record the Past. Sometimes we don’t have photos of memorable family gatherings. But you don’t need a photo to create a great scrapbook page! Record a favorite story or stories of your Favorite Thanksgiving or Dad’s Thanksgiving Football Fumble. Whatever it is, you should record the memory for your children and future generations. People don’t tell stories the way they did years ago. Children learn a lot about where they come from when they hear stories of family members that perhaps are no longer around or won’t be when they are old enough to remember.
7. Mama, the Cook. Ask your husband to take candid photos of you whgile you prepare the Thanksgiving meal. Or sneak around the kitchen while your own mother/ family member cooks! Take lots of photos to ensure that you have plenty of usuable ones. Record the memories of your apron and about the bowl you always use to make cornbread stuffing and about where you got the recipes you use today. Photos of you covered in flour may not be your idea of a flattering shot, but just make sure that you dress neatly, do your hair and makeup and smile a lot! Your children will love photos of you in the kitchen the way they remember you.
8. The Day After. Why not scrapbook about the day after? Lots of families go on their mego shopping sprees each year on the day after Thanksgiving. Why not make it even more memorable by taking photos of the vent. You could even plan a party for the evening with Thanksgiving leftovers and some additional easy snack recipes.
9. Thanksgiving Titles and Quotes.
- Give Thanks
- Turkey Day
- Tom Turkey
- Pumpkin Pie and Me
- Count Your Blessings
- Thanksgiving Memories
- Thanksgiving and Football … Oh My!
- American Pie
- Gobble, Gobble
- Little Turkey’s
- My Favorite Thanksgiving
- From My Table
- Let’s Get Stuffed!
- Pass the Pie
- Thanksgiving Traditions
- Happy Harvest
10. Scrapbooking Freebies. You can visit the following sites for more ideas, printables, and freebies:
Maple Pumpkin Pie
Who says you have to wait for Thanksgiving to enjoy a delicious pumpkin pie? I love pumpkin pie! Here is a recipe your family is sure to love!
2 large eggs
1 15 oz. can pumpkin puree
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
1 9 in. pie crust – either store bought or homemade
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, whisk together the first eight ingredients. Place the pie plate on a foil lined baking sheet (for easier clean up should the pie bubble over). Pour pumpkin mixture into the pie crust. Bake until center is set – about 60 – 70 minutes. Let cool at room temperature before serving. Serve with real whipped cream!
Note: You can make this pie up to two days in advance – just wrap and place in fridge and bring back to room temperature before serving!
Artichoke Cheese Dip
Last night we decorated the Christmas tree. We had been trying to get to it for two weeks now, but my husband seemed to always be gone! It is one of those things that just makes the whole season so magical for children. The children especially love hanging up their own ornaments that I have been collecting for them since they were first born.
What really made the party fun, though was the food! I served freshly baked chocolate fudge cookies, chips and salsa, crackers, fresh tabouli, and the following recipe:
Artichoke Cheese Dip
1 cup mayonaise
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1 cup Monterey Jack cheese
2 tsp. dill weed
1 (14 oz.) can artichoke hearts, drained
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients, breaking up artichoke hearts, and mix well. Pour into a small baking dish and bake about 30 minutes until bubbly and lightly golden brown. Serve with crackers or toasted bread.
Tip: I served this with a baguette that I thinly sliced and placed on a baking sheet. I lightly brushed the tops with melted butter and baked for several minutes until lightly crusty.
Absolutely delicious! I am making this again – in a triple batch when all the family gets here in a couple of weeks! It won’t last more than a few minutes I am sure!
Home for the Holidays
Have you been preparing your home for the holidays? Last night we made Salt Dough Ornaments. The kids loved it. It was messy and fun. The ornaments have been drying and we will finish the details tonight. This is my most favorite time of the year. Although, I have lots of favorites. I am sooo wanting to get out some sewing, but have just not had the time to do it. I itching to make some new hand embroidered pillows.
The 13yo boy we have been helping has so many emotional issues – it is emotionally draining. Not to mention the time involved. But I have been thankful to see God working in this.
We usually have a house full for Christmas, but it looks like this year there will be just my husband and I and our girls. I always love having family visit during the holidays.
I wanted to suggest little ways to make your house a merry place for your family and friends who come to visit.
#1 My children always love making fun paper chains. We hang these in the doorways and around the house. Maybe they won’t win a contest for the latest style, but the joy they bring can’t be beat!
#2 Place cinnamon scented candles in your bathrooms and even some sweet little Christmas books. If you have towel hooks, hang up a stocking in the bathroom!
#3 Use old toys to decorate the house. You can place a toy truck on a lamp table or spell words with alphabet blocks – BELIEVE, MERRY CHRISTMAS, JOY, TOYS, etc.
#4 Try to keep homemade goodies on hand for daily snacking. Fun and festive plates filled with Date Balls, Cheese Straws, Sugar Cookies, or Snowball Cookies are always a treat and your family will enjoy the fruits of your labor.
#5 If your home is messy, try to remove the clutter. It just is not a fun time when a mess is surrounding you.
#6 Keep a small pot on the stove simmering. Fill it with orange peels, a few cloves, and a cinnamon stick. Your whole house will smell wonderful.
#7 Place your favorite Christmas CD softly in the background during the day. It will set the mood.
#8 When it is time to decorate the tree, play your Christmas music, have some cookies and eggnog and make it fun!
#9 Hang lights in your children’s rooms for fun at night. Or even have a small tree in their room to enjoy. Our house is big so we have our main tree upstairs in the Dining Room in front of our large bay window. It makes for a nice display on the front of the house. But we spend most of our time in the Family Room (basement), so we have a small tree on the counter.
#10 After Christmas is a wonderful time to buy decorations that you wouldn’t normally be able to afford for next year.
Christmas Clearance
Every year, after Christmas has ended, I go shopping for CLEARANCE ITEMS to decorate with the following year. Christmas decorations can be so expensive that purchasing them after Christmas really pays off! Some of the items I have purchased for 50% – 70% off over the years:
- ornaments
- stockings
- garlands
- lights
- books
- stocking stuffers
- candy
- bath soaps and other “gift baskets”
- nuts
Wal-Mart always has a whole section devoted to Christmas Clearance – you can really get good deals! I will purchase gift sets of bath gels, lip gloss, makeup, etc. and seperate them out and stuff stockings with them. We always have our Christmas shopping done by November each year – sometimes earlier! We are always shopping the clearance items in any store we visit with a mindset of – “This would make a great gift!”
Since we have nine children, 2 daughters-in-laws, 2 son-in-laws, eight grandchildren, not to mention grandparents, aunts and uncles, neices, and friends to buy for (and our family seems to grow every year!) we have to be frugal! We never give “junk” gifts and our gifts are always thoughtful – something we know the person will love, can use or needs.
Often we will give similiar gifts to family. One year we gave beautiful patchwork quilts to everyone which we had found on sale for super cheap at Kohl’s. Another year we purchased beautiful scrapbooks and I filled the pages with scrapbook layouts using photos of their family.
One more tip I want to share – look for nuts after the holidays are over. Two years ago we went to Wal-Mart and all their leftover baking nuts – walnuts and pecans – were on clearance. We bought the entire supply and put them in the freezer. I have been able to use those nuts – to my heart’s content anytime I wanted - for two years now and I have finally run out. I am hoping to get lucky again this year!
