gratitude {+ my first giveaway!}

gratitude is power. 

i want gratitude to be a hallmark of my life; my desire is that when people think of me, they think of gratitude. that's because i believe gratitude is a noble virtue that can absolutely transform my heart and the world around me. gratitude banishes pride and selfishness and disappointment and envy and bitterness. gratitude and happiness are inextricably connected; gratitude and spreading happiness are unavoidably attached. if i am grateful, i have joy and i give joy. 

when i was growing up, early in november each year, my dad would write a poem about gratitude, and then combine it with a family picture on a card. us kids would invite a few friends over on a chilly autumn evening to help stamp, seal and address envelopes, then stuff them with poem and picture to send out to loved ones and associates near and far. with this beginning, the month was all about being thankful, culminating of course in our feast on the fourth thursday. one of my all-time favourite eyre family traditions is the gratitude list we create on thanksgiving day. we worked on it from dawn until far after dusk, numbering and listing so many things to be thankful for, usually on a receipt roll that could stretch around the entire house several times.

indeed, there is so much to be thankful for!

the boy and i decided to stretch out our gratitude list a bit over the month, so we stole a tradition from my sister shawni and put a thankful tree on our little fridge. it's pretty bare right now but i know it will fill up very quick! {i'll share a picture before thanksgiving day!}

my parents just released a new book all about gratitude, and offered to give away a copy to one of my blog readers! my sister saren is doing a similar giveaway, and i love her idea of having commenters/entries share a thanksgiving tradition. sooo.... if you want a free book (putting it on your coffee table is the perfect way to cultivate a november attitude of gratitude!):
-read the blurb below from my sweet mom & dad
-leave a comment sharing a tradition (it's okay if it's just "eating turkey!")
-i'll randomly select a winner on wednesday, november 12! 

In our family, Thanksgiving has always been the "key" holiday.  So many of our traditions have centered on Thanksgiving, and we always felt it was the perfect lead-in to Christmas and the perfect harbinger of the holidays.  After all, what could be a better precursor to Christmas and to celebrating the birth of Christ than all kinds of gratitude and Thanks-Giving!

Early in our marriage, we decided that rather than get into the Christmas Card frenzy, we would jump the gun a bit and send out a Thanksgiving Card each year.  We have done that now for 44 years, and the cards actually tell the story of our family.  The pictures that went with the cards each year show the growing up of each child, and the poems we wrote to go with the photos trace the pattern of what had happened each year and where our gratitude was centered.


Finally, as Thanksgiving continued to mean more and more to us, we decided to write a book about gratitude, and about the connections of Thanks-Giving to joy, to peace, and to family security and unity.  Since much of what we wanted to say was about feelings, we felt the book needed to be as much about pictures as about poetry and prose.  Luckily, we have some great photographers in the family, and we were able to use their work to illustrate the book.


As it was finished this fall THE THANKFUL HEART has become not only a how-to book on the ways to enhance and magnify gratitude, but a kind of short hand history of the Eyre family (Eyrealm as we call it) and we could think of no better way to start "getting it out" than on our wonderful daughters' blogs.  The publisher has agreed to a little give away where you can comment on this blog and go into a drawing for free copies.  And for those who don't win a book (we've never won a drawing in our lives) it is now on sale on Amazon.


The subtitle of the book is a good summary:  "How Deliberate Gratitude can Change Every Texture of Our Lives."


And the back cover quote is the essence:  "Gratitude does not lead to happiness; gratitude is happiness in its most obtainable form."


Hope you love it,  Linda and Richard Eyre





{artwork by laurageorge}

Comments

  1. My favorite tradition is simply being with family. Growing up, my family has lived all across the world. Thanksgiving and/or Christmas is one of the few times during the year that family gatherings consist of more than just my immediate family, grandparents, and maybe a few cousins. I love that we get to laugh and love together.

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  3. I also love doing the Thanksgiving Tree in our little family throughout the month of November!

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  4. We do not celebrate Thanksgiving in my home country. However, when I lived in the States I loved the tradition ofd doing a haywagon ride with the whole family in the dark, cold night and just feeling happy and grateful :)

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  5. Every year for the last 10 years or so we have had a pie making contest. At Thanksgiving dinner everyone brings a pie and the hosting family arranges for judges to come taste the pies. There are prizes awarded for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. And first place takes home a pie spatula that they keep for the year. I love that it gets everyone to participate in the meal and we all get to try some yummy and unique pies.

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  6. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday! Years ago I found the idea of a thankful jar to help kids feel and show more gratitude on sugardoodle.com. It has become such a hit--my kids love it and so do I. Each day we pick a slip such as I'm thankful for my ears and do an activity like listening to music all day, etc.

    Your parents book sounds great! I would love to win a copy.

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  7. My family! Gathering with my loved ones...reminiscing about the year, renewing friendships, and enjoying quality time together.

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  8. I realize this is so sad but all I can think about is we rotate years and eat turkey. I want to start more like your family.

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  9. I so want this book! Our Thanksgiving tradition is Pie and a Puzzle night. We get together as a family [sometimes friends are invited as well] the night before Thanksgiving and enjoy pie and put a puzzle together. Usually on Thanksgiving everyone is too full to enjoy the pie so we enjoy it the night before! It's the greatest! Sometimes we order "pizza pie" as well but we have pie and a puzzle. Each year a family member or friend chooses the puzzle.

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  10. I love to read stories about the first Thanksgiving to my kids during the month of November. As they get older, it can be books about William Bradford or Plymouth or Squanto. On Thanksgiving Day, my mother-in-law puts five kernels of corn by each place setting to represent the ration of 5 kernels of corn that the Pilgrims had during the winter. Then we each say five things we are thankful for. We also read Abraham Lincoln's Thanksgiving Proclamation. Very inspiring!

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  11. My family does a similar gratitude list on receipt paper, but we each have our own to fill out throughout the month. I love it! And usually keep it hanging somewhere all year long after that.

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  12. Being together as a family- so just us time!

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  13. We also put five kernels of corn by each place to remember the pilgrims, and we also make a thankful tree. However, just getting together and eating the same foods with the same people each year is enough to fill my heart with thanksgiving and a home with love!

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  14. My family and I always get together a few days before Halloween to carve pumpkins and eat chili. For some reason this is the one event that everyone attends each year, I think that is what makes it my favorite.

    Thank you for sharing your beautiful wedding, I'm so very happy for you.

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  15. I love it! "Gratitude is happiness.". So true. We are doing our fourth year of our gratitude list, inspired by your parents. I would love this book!

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  16. I love Thanksgiving because it is not commercialized. It is all about spending quality time with our family and friends. We eat until our hearts content, play games, watch football, and spend time conversing with those we love the most :) I am so grateful for my large family and all the love we share.

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  17. Every Thanksgiving we exchange Christmas ornaments that represent the year. At Christmas we have a tree full of specially selected ornaments that symbolize the most precious memories throughout the years.

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  18. I love the beauty and simplicity of Thanksgiving. This book sounds great, thanks for the giveaway :) Sausage rolls and mince pies! But mostly it's about gathering the scattered family together. As kids got older we started going bowling after dinner. It used to be a big tournament with trophies and everything, now we do fun games or challenges

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  19. I do a thankful tree with my Kindergarten students with Autism! I also love making pie with my mom!

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  20. One of our family traditions that is my favorite is singing Christmas songs and reading Christmas stories together before family prayers between thanksgiving and Christmas. I love the Thanksgiving traditions that your family has enjoyed, and look forward to reading this wonderful new book.

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  21. I grew up in Southern California and for a few years we went to Disneyland on Thanksgiving. It wasn't very crowded and it was lots of fun.

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  22. That book sounds really good! A tradition we started many years ago was using a table cloth that everyone could write a thanksgiving message on. I love getting it out each year and reading what everyone wrote in past years!

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  23. I love being all together with our family. My great, great grandmother started a tradition that on Thanksgiving she would have a wish pond. (think curtain pinned to a door jam) Using a stick or fishing pole, we fish for a wish. Its always something small but has some meaning to us. We have done it all my life, just like my dad has done it all of his. Its the greatest day!!

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  24. Awe- I love all of your parent's books. We do a thankful turkey, and add feathers to the turkey throughout the month with things we are grateful for on each feather.

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  25. I am building the traditions oof a Thankful tree and daily "what are you grateful for today" discussions at our dinner table.

    And can I say that I have never met you nor your sisters and yet I have learned so much from you! Thank you for sharing!

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  26. For the past few years I have driven home from Connecticut College to Cape Cod the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. Wednesday morning, my dad and I get back in the car and drive to Boston to pick my brother up at Northeastern University. Then we all drive 800 miles to northern Vermont for a few days to celebrate family, friends, and the beautiful mountains. We all drive back on Friday, and then back to school on Sunday so it certainly is a busy vacation, but oh so worth it.

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  27. Stuffing our thanksgiving turkey! My brother Matt made a turkey out of a box with a slot in it that everyone would write down what they were thankful for and stuff it into the turkey on thanksgiving day- at the end of the day we would sit in a big circle with our immediate and extended family or whoever we spent the holiday with and would read each one aloud. It was a great way to feel the spirit of thanksgiving:)

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  28. ps- I'm logged into my husband's account...my name is Julianna!

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  29. Thanks for this awesome giveaway opportunity! My family has a tradition of spending Thanksgiving morning together as a family in the kitchen, each helping out in preparing for the meal.

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  30. We literally "go around" the table and say what we are thankful for. As in walk around as you share. My little sister accidentally started this tradition and I love it!

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  31. Family fun run in the morning before the big meal!

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  32. My family has an ancestor that is very important to our holiday, Thanksgiving. My eighth great grandfather is Governor William Bradford. He was the governor to the pilgrims. He made friends with an Indian, Squanto. Squanto taught the pilgrims how to plant and grow crops. In gratitude they decided to have a feast, together the pilgrims and the Indians had a meal. This has made Tahnksgiving a special holiday for our family. Grateful for this beautiful land we live in. Thank you to your parents for writing this book. We can all use a reminder of the things we can be grateful for.

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  33. Being with my family and sharing food, time and love!

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  34. We have a Turkey Bowl football game every Thanksgiving morning no matter the weather. Thanks for the giveaway. I love everything Eyre!!

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  35. In high school I was challenged by a seminary teacher to onlye express gratitude during my prayers during the thanksgiving weekend. I did it and it was life changing, Ive done it every year since.

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  36. I love your parents books! My family tradition is to always get together with the extended family for thanksgiving. But as families have grown larger over the years it is harder and harder to do an actual meal for the big group so we now meet in the evening after our meals to do "pie in the park". We live in AZ so the weather is nice and we all bring pies to eat and visit while the kids play at the park for a few hours. I love having this time every year to connect.

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  37. charity, i would say that i love hanging out with my friends but since they are going to be gallivanting on their honeymoon on an island in the pacific, i'll have to go with getting a 4 day weekend which i always turn into a 6 day weekend so i can spend extra time with my favorite family.

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  38. I never really did a lot for Thanksgiving growing up but now that I've started my own family (I have a 5 month old) I'd love to get some traditions going! The Thanksgiving Tree is such a special idea and my husband and I are definitely going to turn it into a family tradition from now on! Your family is such an inspiration to me :)

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  39. I love that you had this idea. I have a lot of good traditions but my most favorite and important to me is the baking of holiday pies. My dearest grandmother taught me, and only me, how to do it at age 11. And I have been making the family pies for more than 20 years. She has passed on, but when I bake the pies, I feel her near. This year is especially poignant because my family has just moved cross country and will be celebrating thanksgiving alone. How grateful this makes me for the gospel and forever families...and for seemingly simple traditions like baking a pie. Congrats on your marriage. I've been overjoyed to read about your day!

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  40. We just get together as a family which is hard because we are far away and don't always get along but on thanksgiving we can set that aside!

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  41. I love Thanksgiving because it means traveling 14 hours to my family's house in Maryland. Big family road trip with 4 kids to spend the week with grandparents and cousins - counting our blessings, eating turkey and transitioning to Christmas. Truly my favorite week of the year!

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  42. I love being with family for Thanksgiving. We also all go around the table before we eat and day one thing we a thankful for this year.

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  43. Being with family and kicking off the Christmas season!

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  44. Thanksgiving is my favorite! I love Friendsgiving-- typically, we'll do family Thanksgiving on Thursday, but on Saturday, we host a second meal in our home for our friends.

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  45. I love getting together with my extended family and enjoying the many delicious pies made by my grandma!

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  46. Our family has pie night the night before thanksgiving, it's so fun to not have the stress of cooking and we usually have more family there that night since they're not committed to going to the in-laws house that night.

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  47. We always play football in the yard on Thanksgiving and also go around the table and say what we are thankful for.

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  48. My mom had a book that she brought out every Thanksgiving. Each one of her kids would take a turn writing down their thoughts and feelings of gratitude that particular thanksgiving. It's turned into a beautiful book!

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  49. Being together as a family. We pass around a jar of cream with marbles and shake it to make our butter for the rolls. As we each take a turn shaking, we express our gratitude.

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  50. My favorite tradition is coming home to family and the nice quiet conversations that happen over dishes or cleaning up or waiting for something to finish baking.

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  51. One of my favorite traditions is that when eating Thanksgiving dinner with my extended family on my mom's side, there is always a little cup with candy corns in it at every place. Before we eat Thanksgiving dinner, we gather around the table and each person takes turns sharing something they are grateful for--one item for each candy corn in their cup. I love how the tradition causes us to focus on what we are grateful for first before eating the much-anticipated meal.

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  52. One of my favorite thanksgiving traditions is doing a thankful tree with our kids. Another is going around the table on thanksgiving and sharing what we are thankful for.

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  53. We spend Thanks giving at my mothera cabin in Northern Maine. Some years we need to ride in on snowmobiles. Its not winterized so someone volunteers to go early and start the wood burning stove. The cabin does have a gas stove so we're able to use it to cook and we also cook a few items on the wood stove. The cabin is isolated on the woods and right on a lake. The well isn't working this time of year because of the cold so we need to bring in water. We find our centerpiece outside. It usually consists of pine greens, birch bark and colorful berries. The cabin is all aglow with candles and oil lamps ( no electricity) and the smell of the cinnamon cider on the wood stove is intoxicating. Only a few more weeks. I can't wait!

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  54. Saving a special pie for Thanksgiving night to celebrate my dad's b-day too, every year.

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  56. We always go on a family bike ride while the turkey cooks. It originated with us biking to get the Black Friday sales paper one Thanksgiving and now it's tradition! This year I'm getting married the day after Thanksgiving and I couldn't be more excited! It's the perfect time of year to start our marriage and to revel in on our gratitude for each other each Thanksgiving to come!

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  57. We also do a thankful tree - we write on leaves throughout the day and then someone, usually my brother, reads them at he dinner table before our prayer and feast. I love it. It fisnus all up with love for each other. And God.

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  58. I love looking forward to being with family and friends this year. We have no one tradition as we haves moved around the country and are never in one place. My mom's pecan pie holds a special place in my heart though.

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  59. I love to make "crapple" pie (Cran-apple) every year for Thanksgiving. It's looked forward to by all my extended family. I love that food can emote such love!

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  60. Eating pumpkin pie with my madre, since we're the only ones in the family who really like it. The one from Costco is AH-MAZE-ING, but we can never finish it because it is so humungo.

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  61. We take one of the pumpkins from Halloween and create a thankful turkey. We cut out colorful "feathers" with what we are grateful for written on them. Then we tape the feathers onto a skewer and create the fan of feathers across the back of the pumpkin.

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  62. we are starting a new tradition of doing an early morning thanksgiving hike! that way we can celebrate and appreciate the beautiful earth we've been given!

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  63. Not super original but we always go around the table and say what we are grateful for. And we always Have the best homemade rolls :) I love your parents' books

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  64. Last year was our first year doing this, and it's also where I announced our pregnancy, but we all write down what we're thankful for, put it in a jar/bowl and we try to guess which paper belongs to who.

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  65. This looks like an excellent book! Beautiful cover too. One of my favorite Thanksgiving traditions is to go around the table during dinner and express a couple things we are thankful for. It usually gets pretty deep and heartfelt! Thanks for all the inspiring words on gratitude so far.

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  66. Growing up we always listened to Christmas music while preparing our Thanksgiving feast!! What wonderful memories!

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  67. Watching football and eating! I love Thanksgiving because it is just about food and family. You don't have to worry about gifts, costumes, trees, etc!

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  68. Family tradition is to decorate the house and make a Big meal for the holiday.
    heather hgtempaddy@hotmail.com

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  70. Definitely spending the entire day together with loved ones and family. And not having to worry about receiving/giving gifts, etc. that goes along with so many other holidays. I love that this is one of the few holidays that is really NOT commercialized.

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  71. Our Thanksgiving tradition is the same as a lot of people, we gather just before the meal and take turns expressing our gratitude and what we are thankful for. There are a lot of us, sometimes this takes a while and we have had to re-heat stuff when we take too long. It usually turns into a good old fashioned testimony meeting. It's always a day for a good cry.

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  72. Growing up in a Tongan & Hawaiian family here in San Diego, our Thanksgivings consisted of Polynesian food. It wasn't until I was on my mission in New Jersey, did I come to experience a true "American" style Thanksgiving, including post-dinner Football. Man, I loved it! I think the one thing our family did as a tradition for Thanksgiving, was going around the table and expressing our gratitude of blessings we've received. I remember my Dad's Thanksgiving blessing being a lil longer because he thanked Heavenly Father for everything, big and small. However, I do like the idea of Thanksgiving cards! I think that's a great way to kick start the holiday season! I think that might become my new tradition next year! Thanks for the idea!

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  73. I'm Canadian so we didn't really celebrate Thanksgiving growing up. But now I work as a nurse and always look forward to working Thanksgiving so I can enjoy our international potluck!

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  74. We take our children camping to the same camp ground every christmas with our parents, brothers and cousins. Just as my grandparents did. It hasn't always been easy with new babies, money, work and even the weather (we camp in a tent) but we make it work regardless and our children talk all year about their next christmas holidays - so very, very special. I am so gratefull my grandparents started this tradion all those years ago and the memories we are creating for our children. A little thank you too for our beautiful blog - even if I don't win I will buy your parents book, you are so right gratitude is such a powerful feeling x

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  75. I meant your beautiful blog !! sorry

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  76. My brother is deployed right now and so this thanksgiving our family will begin a new tradition of writing thank you cards to those who protect and serve us in the military. This will be a great addition to some of our other favorite traditions which include watching the Macys Thanksgiving Day parade and enjoying a wonderful family dinner.

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  77. A crab dinner as everyone arrives in town wed night!

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  78. One of our traditions has been watching the Macy's parade! Still
    in our jammies and getting ready for the day, our kids love watching the floats go by...and of course, Santa at the end! But overall...it's the moments together that I cherish!

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  79. We always enjoy the same Thanksgiving menu as we talk about what we are thankful for...

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  80. A few years ago I was really "down". My sister had given me a gratitude journal (writing 5 things every day for a year that you're grateful for). I couldn't bring myself to start it because once I started I wanted to do it for a whole year. Once I started it though (in the middle of the year), I LOVED IT!!!!! I may pick up this book and share it with my college son who is coming home for Thanksgiving. THANKS!

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  81. Awesome! My favorite Thanksgiving tradition - - seeing family!

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  82. We are newlyweds and started a tradition this year of having a "thankful chain." Each night we write down on a strip of paper what we are thankful for and are slowly making a paper chain. We made sure that the papers are red and green so that we can put the chain on our Christmas tree to remind us of all we are thankful for throughout the Christmas season! ~Lynette

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  83. Our tradition is a story fork. After Thanksgiving dinner we pass a large fork around and everyone tells a story while they tie a piece of ribbon on the fork. After years of stories our fork is barely visible through the tangle of ribbons and there are stories on that fork from people we love, some who are now beyond the veil. I can't wait to buy this book for all my friends - thank you for sharing it. best wishes from a lurker who is so happy for your joy!

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  84. love this!! one of our traditions is writing down everything we are thankful for - my mom keeps a notebook and over the years we go back and read what we were thankful for in the past!

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  85. We've enjoyed heading outside for a fun run in the morning when weather allows and the past few years have copied Shawni's thankful tree with colored leaves. Thanks for the giveaway!

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  86. I don't know if my husband and I have have set a tradition yet for our family, even though we have been married 14 years. Maybe it's a tradition that all of them have been different from the last in some way. I like the idea of the Thanksgiving tree too. I am trying to do more FHE with my kids, so I think I will be incorporating that one in our Thanksgiving this year. Thanks for the idea and the chance to receive the book.

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  87. We have thanksgiving with our close family friends who went to medical school with my parents before they all moved to Boston together. Every year while we're eating, we go around and say what we're thankful for. As we have gotten older we have somewhat of an attitude about this tradition. A few years ago our friend's cousin from Ireland and his five children came to have Thanksgiving with us. Being Irish, Thanksgiving was a novelty for them and one of their daughters shared what she was thankful for in such a heartfelt way. So I guess our tradition is forced gratitude .Ha.

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  88. pie...lots and lots of pie.

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  89. For some reason when I was young I really wanted my mom to buy fortune cookies to eat after Thanksgiving dinner. She bought them and it has been our Thanksgiving tradition ever since. It's completely strange and random, but for me it just wouldn't be Thanksgiving without fortune cookies!

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  90. I don't know how many years we've been doing this, but we also make a Thankful Tree, and fill it with leaves of all the things we're grateful for.

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  91. I remember so clearly getting these cards from your parents each year at Thanksgiving. We all thought, and still think, that they Eyre's were so cool! :)

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  92. As I am a newlywed like you and The Boy, we have yet to figure out what our traditions are as a couple. But, we plan to be thankful for each other, for the goodness in life that we are lucky to share, and to enjoy our first Thanksgiving as a married couple!

    Good food, great family, and an abundance of giving of thanks! That's how we'll be spending this Thanksgiving - and many Thanksgivings to come!

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  93. Our Thanksgiving tradition was to go to both of my grandparents houses, one for lunch, one for supper. It's changed over the years as grandparents have passed on and other family members have their own family traditions, but it's still great memories.

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  94. Wow! Their "little" blurb about the book sounds perfect. I love Thanksgiving because we gather with loved ones, eat, and visit and eat, and browse the Black Friday ads, and eat and laugh, and eat and play games or do puzzles and eat!

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  95. My favorite tradition has to be getting together as family and sharing the love, warmth, and memories. And then of course gorging on some of the most delicious cooking.

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  96. Charity this is fabulous! Thanks so much for this extraordinary post! We'll put a link on our radio show tomorrow. You are amazing!
    Love, your mom and dad

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  97. Several years ago instead of going around the table saying what we were thankful for, I set the table with a piece of white broad cloth and laid fabric markers all along the table. Everyone at the table was able to write what they were thankful for at their leisure. Now on thanksgiving, it's fun to go around the table and read what's been written and talk about the people that have come and gone to and a from our table.

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  98. Because I'm Canadian and our thanksgiving is in October, our family tradition would be to clean off the garden. We would take all the plants up and any old veggies thst weren't good to eat got put aside. When we were finished we'd all put on gsrbsge bags and divide into teams and play baseball with the past due veggies and a PVC pipe for a bat! It was one of the funniest things we ever did together and we loved it!!!

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  99. One of my favorite traditions (courtesy of my in-laws) is Gratitude Rolls ... aka crescent rolls with paper messages rolled up inside that flaky dough! We always try and surprise each others with our little notes. Thanksgiving sure is the best!

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  100. I love Thanksgiving! From cooking with family to our annual Turkey bowl in the backyard. I have 2 favorite traditions. 1st, when my son was about 10 someone gave him a stuffed piranha. After I had put together a beautiful Thanksgiving centerpiece, he snuck (sneaked?) it into the middle and it wasn't noticed until we all sat down. 20 yrs later it is still a part of our centerpiece. My 2nd tradition was adopted from a missionary who ate with us years ago. We put a couple popcorn seeds on each plate and then go around the table expressing what we are thankful for as we pick up each seed. I am loving reading all these other traditions they make me feel all warm and cozy!

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  102. We have a "Turkey Cup" soccer game the morning of Thanksgiving, our own version of the World Cup. Every player has some sort of Pilgrim or Indian attire on. It started out with just our family looking crazy but every year a little more of the neighborhood joins us. The older generation really likes to watch and is starting to dress up themselves.

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  103. I don't have any particular traditions (YET) other than i've been fortunate to always be with at least a couple family members. Now that i'm also newly married (!!!), i love that my husband and I have the opportunity to start our own traditions (I LOVE all the traditions that you, shawni, and your parents have). I think i'll start the thankful tree TONIGHT. Oh, and i'd love the book!

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  104. My parents aren't together, so I always have had at least 3 thanksgivings! Now that I'm married, we would be having 5! But we live across the country and have to settle for one. Phew! I am so thankful for those crazy families but glad to have a little break this year.

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  105. Nicole Goodfellow10 November 2014 at 14:59

    A family tradition for us is new PJ at Christmas. My husbands whole family gets together on Christmas Eve and all the kids open their PJ. When they where younger they would put them on and show them off to the adults. As the older kiddos have gotten older we have had fewer and fewer models but a younger generation of great grandkids is coming along to keep the PJ tradition alive.

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  106. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday! I love cooking and preparing the meal with dear friends and family. I love the tradition of gathering together to enjoy each other's company and give thanks. I am another lurker. Best wishes, Charity and Ian on you marriage. I am so happy for you!

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  107. After all the turkey is eaten, dishes cleaned, and bellies full, we sit down to watch the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving video. It's a fun way to end the evening all together and grateful to be a family and fed.

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  108. I love Thanksgiving!! Being with family and friends is all that matters

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  109. Growing up we almost always had a spontaneous cousin sleep over the night of Thanksgiving.

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  110. I love Thanksgiving! Food and family has always been the main focus. I'm trying to start new traditions with my little family to incorporate gratitude all month.

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  111. We always get together to eat and watch football on Thanksgiving!! Good food and good company!

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  112. I love Thanksgiving! We have a special FHE about being grateful for our blessings early in November, and then on Thanksgiving we talk about how being especially thankful throughout the month of November has helped us to be better.

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  113. Favorite holiday.. simpler than Christmas but capturing the same warmth and closeness of family. Cooking in the kitchen all together with Mom and sisters... there are 8 of us! And, also ofcourse making our own Thanksgiving tree.

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  114. My favorite tradition is simply our extended family gathering for lunch on Thanksgiving. I love spending time with my grandma, aunts, uncles, and cousins because we have so many happy memories, for which I am very grateful!

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  115. We always write thank you cards to people during November. Instead of giving teacher gifts at Christmas (when everyone else does) our kids give them at Thanksgiving to THANK them for all they do.

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  116. It looks beautiful! We have also done a gratitude tree for a couple years and I love it! We have done a bigger version (wall size) but I think we will do a small one this year (we're a little behind!).

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  117. I LOVE Thanksgiving and my husband and I, with our 3 babies (almost 5, 3, & 8 months) have started our own Thanksgiving family traditions over the past few years. This is our 2nd year gathering branches, sticking them a vase, cutting out leaves and displaying our own little "thankful tree" on our breakfast table all month long. Is it just me or is this beautiful holiday skipped over sooner and sooner these days in preparation for Black Friday and Christmas shopping! We try to embrace it and teach our children that gratitude should be at the forefront of our thoughts, especially as we prepare to celebrate the birth of our Savior and Redeemer! Hope I win a copy but in all honesty, if I don't, I'm sure I'll read it anyway ;)
    Your family is awesome :)
    adiandmike.blogspot.com to see our thankful tree in action!

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  118. Our family goes around the table and shares what we're thankful for from that year. It's a fun, reflective way to start out dinner.

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  119. Our favorite way to express gratitude is through writing/sending thank you notes. There is nothing quite like a handwritten note to express your gratitude for someone and the influence they've had in your life.

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  120. I go to my grandma's on thanksgiving. We usually go down to the old farm house and go skeet shooting!

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  121. We do a thanks and giving tree and we each put a leaf of each. We write what we are thankful for, and something we gave.

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