When you think about Thanksgiving, images of turkeys, pumpkin pies, and warm cups of cocoa come to mind - but as the name suggests, for most, it is about much more than that.
The day is all about gratitude, appreciation, and everything that you are thankful for in your life and the life of your nearest and dearest. Traditionally, thanks or a grace is said before the meal, to bring everyone's attention to the central reason of why the day is being celebrated. But since giving thanks is the focal point of the holiday, then why not add in a few new traditions to focus on gratitude and bring attention to what really matters.
Here are a few thoughtful ways to show gratitude:
- Pass the thankful basket around
Ask your guests to write down on a piece of paper one thing that makes them feel grateful and then to fold it up and put it in a basket. Pass the basket around the guests at the dining table and get each guest to read one of the notes out - the group can then guess who wrote down each one.
- Make a Thanksgiving scrapbook
Create a scrapbook that can be cherished for years to come. Each year, fill some blank pages of the book with photos of the family and friends gathered that year. Ask each guest to write a little note into the book saying what they feel thankful for. Each year you can bring the scrapbook out and go through the memories together, whilst adding news one to the book.
One great tradition is to hide little notes in a pastry roll. As guests arrive, get them to write down a few things they are grateful for on parchment paper and then hide them in butter horn rolls - these can either be homemade or store bough Crescent Rolls. Bake the pastry until crisp - make sure you use a non-stick oven liner to minimize mess!
When the rolls are served, pass them around and watch as guests tear into their rolls and shares the words of written gratitude.
There are so many ways to show appreciation to the ones you love this Thanksgiving and one of our favorite ways at Cooks Innovations is to gift our loved ones with a delicious meal. So don’t forget to follow us on Facebook for fun, tasty meal ideas your family will love.
