We created this Thanksgiving banner to use throughout the year. Each year's banner will be such a treasure to look back on when our littles have grown.

http://seamlessdays.wordpress.com/2012/11/08/free-printable-thanksgiving-banner-to-enjoy-all-year/

Whereas tradition and rituals are important to me, they don't seem to be half as important to my husband. And we are a secular family with half of the extended family living abroad. A few years back we decided to make the Thanksgiving morning a tradition: we run/walk the Father Joe's 5 K here in San Diego (at beautiful Balboa Park.) The kids enjoy the spirit of the event, and seem to fully acknowledge the fact that we are raising money to feed the homeless.

Whereas this is a tradition we created and have sustained for the last 4 years, I still find the need to "break bread" and share gratitude, and your post just sparked my interest. We could place a "Thanksgiving jar" and some cut out leaves in the dining room all year long, so we could pause and be thankful throughout the year. We could invite friends and family to write things down too, anything ("I'm thankful they found my cat!", "I'm thankful for your friendship!") Then on Thanksgiving day, when we return from our 5 K, we could all sit down and pull the leaves out of the jar, read them and use them as centerpiece of our dinning table! That sounds lovely. I think I'll start doing it!!

When we moved to another country where Thanksgiving isn't celebrated, my husband and I thought of ways to honor what we liked about the holiday -- which usually had nothing to do with food. Seeing as the traditional holiday foods also cost a fortune here, we opted to forgo the feast.

Instead, we decided to create something new and special. Last weekend, we sat down and made a short list of everyone whom we really felt (in that moment) had added so much to our lives -- we were grateful for them.

Then, we each told stories about what that person had done for us and how we felt about them and that event, and DH typed them into a computer.

We then wrote these into thank you letters, which we printed onto watercolor paintings that DS picked out of his pile of watercolors.

This afternoon (it's Thursday here), we will go to the post office and pick out stamps for each person, and then send the letters to them.

And as far as my son is concerned, that is what Thanksgiving is, and how you celebrate it.

I just wrote about this on my blog yesterday. We're doing a family gift of infant kits to MCC. My oldest daughter is using her own money to buy some of the items for the kit. I think giving helps kids to appreciate what they and gratitude that are able to give. Yearroundmama.blogspot.com