IDEA #5: PRESIDENTIAL PROCLAMATIONS

A number of U.S. presidents have issued Thanksgiving proclamations over the years. Cindy writes, "Before eating our Thanksgiving meal last year, we read a copy of Abraham Lincoln's 1863 'Thanksgiving Proclamation.' It was a beautiful reminder of what the holiday was really supposed to represent. A copy of this document can be obtained from www.infoplease.com/spot/tgproclamation.html."

Building on that idea, try doing some research about other presidential Thanksgiving proclamations. As a family, find and read as many as you can. Then, have your kids write a Thanksgiving Proclamation for your own family, listing reasons why you should be thankful this year. To make it more fun, they can try to imitate the formal style of the old-fashioned presidential proclamations.

IDEA #6: CRAFT TIME!

For a fun craft project that can be enjoyed by kids of all ages, try making personalized homemade placemats to use on Thanksgiving. "Make a placemat of thankful memories," says Gretel. "What do your children have to be thankful for this year? Is it a list of things? They could draw them, laminate the paper, and place it at someone's place for the special meal. Another possibility would be to have your kids illustrate favorite scenes from the story of the first Thanksgiving, and turn those into placemats."

IDEA #7: NEW USE FOR CHRISTMAS CARDS

Melanie Hexter shares this interesting idea to turn the tradition of Christmas cards into a meaningful experience for you and your family: "We save all the Christmas cards we get in the mail in a basket on our kitchen table. Each dinnertime beginning in late November, we pull one card out of the basket and pray for its sender. Sometimes we need to tell the kids who sent it or how we know the sender, or even show the kids a photo of the sender. We try to pray very specifically, based on what we know about the spiritual, physical, financial, and emotional needs of the card's sender; certainly we pray for salvation for our unsaved friends. Not until we've prayed for the sender do we throw the card away. Sometimes it takes months to make it through our stack of cards, but it's a great family prayer project."

IDEA #8: TEACHING OUR CHILDREN THE REASON

FOR THE SEASON
 "We love Christmas," Cindy shares, "and try to make the most of the season to teach our children about Jesus and to reach out to others that are more open to the gospel at Christmas than at other times. Because we try to seize every teachable moment during the season, we do not have Santa Claus at our house. The kids know that the historical Saint Nicholas was a generous man who reached out to the poor, but that Christmas is all about Jesus. I don't want another story to compete with the true meaning of Christmas. We decorate our house with the goal that anyone who comes through our door will know what we are celebrating. Dozens of nativity scenes are distributed throughout the inside and outside of the house. Banners are hung on the walls that remind us of the names of Christ and the prophecies about His advent."