Our family makes a big deal of Thanksgiving. Since we have a large family, and then increase it by having a large extended family, preparations seem to take on a life of itself. Many of our family members live close by, so we get together a couple of times ahead of the day for food preparation and freezing. We all have so much fun laughing and talking, the day seems to fly by, and like magic, the food appears. Our most difficult task has been to convince one of our male family to make a Thanksgiving speech. There are so many resources online that it wasn’t too difficult for our guys to give a short meaningful speech.
And to me, one of the best parts of having grandchildren is when they ask questions. Oh, I know everyone laughs about the “Why is the sky blue?” kinds of questions, but I love it because it shows me that they are questioning their environment, and are open to learning. And it is an opportunity for us to talk about values, and possibly for Grandpa and me to instill some. Weuse different ways of getting some of their questions answered: a trip to the museum or zoo, going to the library or using the internet. The question When is Thanksgiving?” was shortly followed by “Why does the date change?, and “When did it start being a nationally recognized holiday?” to begin with.