Thanksgiving 2010 Traditions and Tablescapes

In case you were counting (ha ha ha), this is my 100th post!!!  WAHOOEEE!!!  I just wanted to shout a huge THANK YOU to all of you who have stuck with me!!!  Stay tuned, my very 1st giveaway is coming up in my 101st post, right after Thanksgiving.

In case your eyes are still burning from the last two VERY long posts, I have some good news...there is only two for this edition.  The first, is a Thanksgiving tradition from me.  The second, Wendy shares with us some uber-cute table place markers.

Ok, so here is my tradition I wanted to share with you:

photo courtesy of ProFlowers

Many people take the time on Thanksgiving to publicly give thanks for all the blessings they have in their lives. No matter where you are, or what circumstance you find yourself in, you always have something to be grateful for. I am a big believer in gratitude. Forgive the cliché, but I believe when you have the "attitude of gratitude" you open yourself up to even more things to be grateful for. So, when we are all gathered for Thanksgiving, this is how my family expresses our gratitude to those who have joined us. It is kind of a grown up version of the "car-wash" game we played in grade school. You know, the one where you go around the circle and the entire class says something they like about you.

We purchase a vase for each family unit or person that is joining us for Thanksgiving Dinner. We also purchase 3 bamboo stalks for each vase. A large bowl in the middle of the table is filled with enough river rocks for the total amount of vases. Taking turns, with each family or person having a vase with their bamboo in it in front of them, we take a stone from the bowl and say the things we are grateful for and what we love about each person at the table then drop that stone into their vase. We then take turns holding the stones and make wishes for them. The goal is for each stone, you say things you are grateful for, what you love about, and the wishes you have for them. Once you are done, you have a beautiful living piece that is infused with great energy. A great big bowl of love...who wouldn't love that?!

We wait to do it until after dinner so everyone is relaxed and not busy with last minute prep work.

This is such a powerful piece to share with those you love. There are always many hugs and tears of love to go around.  

I think this year, since it is just us, we may do a beta fish bowl for each of us, and let everyone pick out a different color of stone. The kiddos will be able to look at their bowl and have a visual reminder of all of the wonderful things they are and all that is wished for them, from not only Mom and Dad, but their siblings as well.

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Wendy made these SUPER, SUPER cute table place markers:
"I used pictures of all of the attendees for the heads, then I copied and pasted some Pilgrim outfits from the Internet and spliced them together!!!"

photos courtesy of Wendy

    
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So, what are your traditions?  Any cute ideas for the kiddos?  Tablescapes?   Share, share, share with us in the comments section!