Do you celebrate Thanksgiving ... or Turkey Day? Sometimes it feels like Thanksgiving is a drive-by holiday—Christmas starts to fill the stores by September, and Halloween candy seems to mesmerize the minds of our children. The significance of Thanksgiving is often lost in the flurry of family, food, and football.

It may be time to begin some new holiday traditions so that your family can learn the meaning of a most important activity—giving thanks. Here are some ideas submitted by FamilyLife staff for honoring God in your Thanksgiving festivities.

1. A Rainey Family Celebration
Several years ago, before any of the Rainey children were married, Barbara Rainey wrote about their traditions:

Our desire is to make Thanksgiving a cherished family time devoted to thanking God for what He has done in your lives. Each year our family travels to my parents' home for the traditional Thanksgiving meal. Before we leave home, however, we enjoy another tradition—a special brunch. Everyone wears Sunday "dress up" clothes for the meal. The children decorate the table, and set it with special plates and glasses. The brunch always includes a special French toast that requires 45 minutes to bake (see recipe below).

While this meal is in the oven, we gather around the table and begin the brunch by reading about the true meaning of Thanksgiving. [Barbara has since put together this material into her book, Thanksgiving: A Time to Remember.] Just before we eat, we all write (on special place cards) five things for which we are thankful to God. On each of our brunch plates are five kernels of corn—a reminder of the Pilgrims' daily ration during one of their first difficult winters. As we eat our brunch, we pass a basket around the table, and each person places one kernel of corn at a time into the basket and tells of one thing he or she is thankful for. The basket goes around the table five times.

I'm saving all of these place cards as reminders of how God has worked in our lives. Here, for example, are some of the things our children wrote a couple of years ago on Thanksgiving:

• "I'm thankful for being able to have a family."
• "I'm thankful Ashley got to come home from college for Thanksgiving."
• "I'm thankful for having a big sister."
• "I'm thankful for God in my life."
• "I'm thankful for my ministry at my high school."
• "I'm thankful for my sisters and all they've taught me about relationships."
• "I'm thankful for a great brother."

Dennis and I were thrilled to hear the kids actually thank God for each other! After so many years of arguing and fighting with each other, they were finally beginning to show each other the affection we hope will continue through their lives.

That year we also were touched by something our son Samuel wrote: "I'm thankful for my muscular dystrophy." He had been diagnosed with the disease earlier in the year, and we had been through some wrenching, emotional months.

While Dennis and I had prayed aloud many times, thanking God by faith for how He would use this disease in all our lives, this was the first time we heard Samuel express this sentiment.

It was a big step of faith for him. And it provided another sign that our children were truly learning the true spirit of Thanksgiving.

Rainey Thanksgiving French Toast

½ cup margarine
1 ½ cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
8-12 slices of bread
8-9 eggs
pinch of salt
1 ¾ to 2 cups milk

Melt margarine in a 9 x 13 pan. Add brown sugar and cinnamon and stir. Layer bread on mixture. Beat eggs and salt together, then add milk. Pour over bread. Cover and place in refrigerator overnight. The next morning, uncover and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Cut into squares and place upside down on plate so melted sugar/cinnamon is on top.

Order Barbara's book Thanksgiving: A Time to Remember from FamilyLife's online store.

2. Feathers of Thanks
This idea is popular with small children. Using colored construction paper, create a paper turkey to place on an appropriate wall. Then cut out several feathers for the turkey. Give a feather to each person in your family, and have them either write or draw something they thank God for. When they are finished, have them tape the feathers to the turkey.

3. Thanksgiving Notebook
Purchase or create a nice notebook or journal before Thanksgiving. Over dinner, as each person tells about something they thank God for, have a family member write these down in your notebook. Then, next year, do the same. As time goes by, the notebook will become a precious record of God's provision to your family over the years.

4. Thanksgiving Placemats
A similar tradition comes from a missionary family. FamilyLife staff member Jennifer Loftin spent two years in Japan, and each of those years, she celebrated Thanksgiving with a couple who opened their home to Americans who were living in Japan. The couple would prepare a mat with a cutout for a picture, and each person at the dinner would write what we were thankful for that year. The missionary lady would laminate it, and next year it would be part of the collection of placemats. The placemats from previous years would be placed around the table so that as they ate, they could read what others had been thankful for in years past.

5. Passing on Special Memories
Thanksgiving is a good time to remember what God has provided for you in the past. Before the day comes, spend some time with your spouse writing down special memories. How did God bring you together? What are some special ways He has provided funds for special needs? How has He brought you through times of suffering? These would be great stories to pass on to your children as a legacy of God's faithfulness.

6. Blessings Jar
Ricky and Ginger Roberts have a "blessings jar." It's a decorative jar that sits in their home, so the members of the family can fill it with notes and reminders of blessings all throughout the year. This way, nothing is forgotten. On Thanksgiving, Rick and Ginger pour out the notes and read them out loud as a family.

7. Lepine's Hard Tack and Manna
Bob Lepine (co-host of "FamilyLife Today" radio) and his family follow a tradition of eating "hard tack" during their Thanksgiving meal. An unleavened bread which will last for months without spoiling, hard tack was used during the time of the Pilgrims on voyages across the Atlantic Ocean. As they eat the bread, Bob reminds his family of the hardships the Pilgrims endured to come to this country. He also asks, "Who else can you think of that needed bread to sustain them on a long trip? The answer: the Israelites, who ate the daily manna which God provided after He brought them out of Egypt. This context provides the family with an opportunity to remember how God also sustains them and provides for all their needs.

Hard Tack

1/8 teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons buttermilk
1 cup flour
4 teaspoons real maple syrup
¼ and 1/8 teaspoon salt
1 ½ tablespoon shortening

Mix baking soda and buttermilk, then set aside. Mix flour, maple syrup, 3/8 teaspoon salt, then cut in the shortening. Add the baking soda/buttermilk mixture. Roll out very thin, then score rectangles in the dough without cutting all the way through. Prick each rectangle several times with a fork. Bake 5-10 minutes or until golden brown at 425 degrees.