Thanksgiving quickly brings to mind thoughts of many wonderful things. Savory turkeys and sweet desserts. Delicious side dishes associated with the holiday over many years. Most people would agree that Thanksgiving is more about food. But we must remember it is all about being thankful!

When the family and friends gets together for the special holiday, share a bit of gratitude with each other before the meal begins. There are many ways you can make thanks the focal point of your holiday. To help you get started, check out these ways that you all can celebrate with thankfulness.

Saying Grace

If your family says grace before Thanksgiving meal, you can easily add a thankful tradition by having each person around the table express their thanks for something that has happened within the past year.

Gratitude Basket

Give everyone a sheet of paper and a pencil. Have each person to write down one thing that makes him or her feel thankful and put it in the basket. Pass the basket around and have everyone read another person’s paper. Then have everyone guess who wrote it!

Show and Tell

Have everyone bring something that reflects what they are thankful for that year. Each person can take a turn by sharing it with the group and telling a story. It can be an item, photo, song, or anything else.

Thanksgiving Sing-Along

Download and sing a kid-friendly song about Thanksgiving. Include old favorites!

Read a Story

Choose to read about the history of Thanksgiving as a group. You can also read fictional stories about the day or a book about ways for families to give thanks.

Thanks All Around

If your Thanksgiving table is filled with close family and friends, go around the table and invite each person to say what they are grateful for the person sitting next to them. It can be the person on their right, left, or both!

Make a Scrapbook

Create a Thanksgiving scrapbook filled with cherished memories of past holiday feasts. Take a blank scrapbook and each year put in photos of the family and friends gathered that year. You can include photos of the food served. Add notes about special things that occurred that day. Include recipes for the dishes and notes about who created what dish. Make sure family and friends write in the book about what they are thankful for that year!

Be sure you take out the Thanksgiving scrapbook next year and leave it within easy reach for everyone to enjoy and cherish the memories from previous years.