It’s not necessary to plan lots of fancy or elaborate activities—though you can if that’s what you love to do! There are many ways to gather around and enjoy each other’s company, share the blessings you’ve enjoyed over the past year, and get to know each other better.
Even if you haven’t kept a journal in the past, you can start now by keeping a once-a-year family journal. Buy a notebook that allows you to add pages so you can expand it as needed. Create a cover page with the current year’s date. Then simply have everyone at your family’s Thanksgiving or Christmas get-together write something about the past year. Was there a big event or change in their life or the life of the family? Was there something especially fun that they experienced? Did they go through a difficult time? Did they take a vacation or travel to a place they had never been before?
- Have each family member write in the journal in their own handwriting.
- Be sure each person signs his or her own journal entry.
- Resist the urge to type people’s entries to make them look nice. No, having your family members write their own entries won’t be as neat and clean as if you had typed their entries, but the journal will be much more personal if you can see each person’s handwriting in future years.
- If you have little ones who can’t write yet, you may want to write their information for them. Or an even better idea is to have them draw pictures of their information and have a parent write (next to the child’s drawing) what is depicted in the drawing. Again, be sure to include the child’s name and age along with the drawing. What a treasure that will be for that child’s own children or grandchildren many years from now!
- Have colored pencils or markers available for those who want to make their entries more colorful or who want to add drawings.
If you really want to get to know one another, play games together. It’s interesting to see just how much a person’s personality comes out during competitive play! There are so many games to choose from too: board games, group games, outdoor games… even printable activity-based games.
For Thanksgiving, print our Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Scavenger Hunt to do together while watching the parade. Or if you live where the weather isn’t too terribly cold during the winter, print a scavenger hunt or nature walk to do together in the yard or at a local park. These activities give children and adults a reason to spend time together, have conversations, and work together to reach a goal.
If your family gathering happens at Christmas, find some Christmas scavenger hunts or trivia games to play together. There are many available (often for free or super cheap) online.
One of my favorite memories of Thanksgiving during my growing-up years is making (well, mostly eating…) my grandmother’s delicious pumpkin pie. Nowadays, I make the same pumpkin pie with my own family each year. Two of my children are grown and have graduated from our homeschool, and my youngest is nineteen, but we treasure the memories of making the same pumpkin pie recipe every year and eating it together. I pray that I’ll one day make the same pies with my grandchildren and start the tradition all over again.
Don’t love pumpkin pie? No worries! Make Martha Washington Candy (If you’ve never had it, you should try it!) or pumpkin rolls or thumbprint cookies or whatever else you love. Just do it together.
Color holiday pictures. You’ll find many free printable holiday pictures online, or you can buy some holiday coloring books ahead of time and have them available when you gather with your friends and family. Be sure to have colored pencils, crayons, or markers available too, including washable ones for young children! Set up a small table just for those who want a place to color together, or you can purchase paper tablecloths with designs to color.
Make Thanksgiving or Christmas crafts. Look online to find all kinds of paper plate crafts, toilet paper tube crafts, origami projects, Christmas tree ornaments, and lots more. Keep in mind that making Christmas ornaments is a great activity to do at Thanksgiving too.
Here are some ideas for more crafts you can do together around the table:
- finger puppets
- cards
- stationery
- wood crafts
- yarn crafts
- ornaments
- paintings
- simple jewelry
These need not be expensive or difficult to make. In fact, you probably want to make sure they’re simple and fun. This way, those who participate are free to enjoy visiting with each other while they create.
No matter how big or small your family is, when you gather together this holiday season, be sure to take the time to appreciate each other. To get to know each other better. To love each other. Because there’s one thing we’ve learned over the last year or two: we should not take for granted those we love.