Thanksgiving Favorite: Marshmallow Pilgrim Hats

Chocolate, marshmallows, and fudge-striped cookies all rolled into one little pilgrim hat? Now that's something to be thankful for!!!

I found this idea on FamilyFun a few years ago, and we have been making them every Thanksgiving since - so good! Of course, melted chocolate + kiddos can get a little messy...but it's totally worth it!

Thankful Turkeys

Hey everyone! Forgive the intrusion. I first wanted to give a big "thank you" to Kelli for inviting me to do a guest post on her super-cool blog. This woman is kind of my hero. So seriously, I'm honored.

Before I had children, I had all these really great ideas about how I was going to raise well-mannered, grateful, loving, selfless children. They would delight in raking leaves for the elderly, giving their toys to children in need, and never fight with each other. I know, isn't it cute that I thought that might happen? We live in a very materialistic society, and it can sometimes be a struggle to teach our families to be grateful for the things that we have, instead of focusing so hard on all the things we want.

With the holidays fast approaching, it's a wonderful time of year to focus on our blessings. To jump start our Thanksgiving month, we created a "thankful turkey". (Confession: I kind of have a little thing for turkeys. They are so goofy and cute.) I was super excited to have a turkey for our family gratitude mascot.


This guy was so easy to make. I drew him on a piece of cardstock, colored him, and cut him out. Then came the real fun...naming him. Of course, everyone in the house had a different name in mind, so we settled things the diplomatic way...we played rock paper scissors. Our turkey ended up with the name "Jacob".

After hanging Jacob in the window of our breakfast nook, we cut out construction paper feathers, and each took turns writing something we were thankful for. We have tried to add new feathers regularly. This has been a great reminder of our many blessings, and it's so fun to see the different things that our family members are grateful for. I was even pleasantly surprised to see that my name showed up on a few feathers. Hey, every mom likes to be appreciated! ;)

Tis the Season To Be Thankful

A couple of Thanksgivings ago, the kids and I made a Grateful Sayings poster - one of my favorite Fishful Thinking activities.  Being that they were only 3 and 5 years old at the time, we kept it pretty basic...

Still, it became a permanent fixture in our kitchen up until we moved this past summer. Seeing it on a daily basis was a constant reminder to be grateful even for the simplest things.

Last November, we each made individual posters as a family night activity and then added to it throughout the month - using these questions to spark ideas and help inspire an ongoing attitude of gratitude.

Now that November has rolled around again, it's time to continue the tradition and reflect on the many things we have been blessed with in our lives. The kids are currently debating between making a "Thankful Tree"- where you write what you are grateful for on a paper leaf and add to it each day - or a "Thankful Turkey" - where you add paper feathers - a clever little idea that my friend, Jenny, shared with us. Their family's turkey is already adorned with plenty of feathers which she'll be posting about this week right here!


*Does your family have a special way of showing gratitude during the holiday season or throughout the year? Thanks for sharing!