Thanksgiving Memories to Preserve

Now these are some thanksgiving memories to preserve and pass on to your children and grandchildren in the future. I love talking with different people around the world about what they do for Thanksgiving. Families can be very creative and come up with fun traditions. Ah, the pumpkin pie, homemade stuffing, and turkey. I can smell it now. What are some of your favorite Thanksgiving recipes? Share them with us in the comments below.

This holiday can go by so fast that you forget to take pictures and save mementos sometimes. It is a special time with family and friends to eat, share stories, and play games or watch sports on tv. Thanksgiving is a time to forget about your diet and have fun. Don’t regret it years later, save these fun family traditions this year.

1. Recipes

Whether you all pitch in and have a pot luck Thanksgiving meal or cook all the recipes yourself, make sure you have extra copies of the recipes handy for those who ask for them. Spend time together and take pictures of the person who made the recipe, then save their picture next to the recipe in a book you create. You can use simple plastic covers and a three ring binder to make your new family cook book, to save these recipes. The advantage of the plastic cover is that when you are making the recipe, if you get flour or other liquids on the recipe, it does not ruin it. You just wipe it off the plastic and your heirloom recipes is still saved. Take a picture of the family watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade while cooking in the kitchen.

2. Your Stories

It is a time to get together and share what you are thankful for this holiday. Sometimes life can get so hectic and frustrating through out the year. This is a time to surround yourself with family and friends to support you and focus on gratitude. Many things can happen to be thankful for, like a new baby, job, reliable car, good health, great new neighbors, home, etc. Share some stories of what life was like when you were a child. Share stories about what it is like shopping on the day of Thanksgiving for those crazy stores who choose to be open that evening. What is the best Black Friday deal you have ever bought?

3. Game Time

Set up several game tables. When you have winners of the games, they can compete against the winner of another game. Go outside and play football together. Make your own family calendar using your photos you collect from this fun game time together. Whatever you do, make sure you take a photo of the final score so someone can have fun and frame it or have proof of who won when the debate comes up again next year.

4. Memorable Activities for the Younger Children

Make sure you print off free coloring pages online about Thanksgiving for the children to color. Make a turkey craft out of a tracing of their hand. Have the kids write down things they are thankful for this year on a piece of paper, to save until they graduate high school and see how their answers change over the years.

5. Make a Family Time Capsule

Teach your children or grandchildren about how to make it through life with your words of wisdom or advice. Save some of your decorations you made for the fun Thanksgiving holiday. Put your photos in the Family Time Capsule. Preserve other mementos around the house that day. Make this year the most memorable Thanksgiving ever and print photos of your family.

Put these photos on the outside of the “Any Occasion” DIY Time Capsule seen here. Then decorate it with other scrapbook type things, write on the outside of the Family Time Capsule, sign it, whatever you want. Fill in the “Do Not Open Until” date on the lid, and seal it as a family.

Then, in 10, 20, or 30 years (or whenever you want in the future) open your Family Time Capsule at Thanksgiving and celebrate what life was like for your family in the past. What a special day or remembrance that will be. I am sure your Family Time Capsule will be filled with stories and mementos of laughter and tears. These are all important Thanksgiving memories to preserve and pass on to your children and grandchildren of the future. Write yourselves “Message to the Future” letters included in these DIY Time Capsules. What do you predict will happen to yourself, family, job, etc in the future?

What are some Thanksgiving memories to preserve that you can think of? Comment below.

Making Milestone Moments Count,

– Marcie