Enter Thanksgiving with Thanksgiving

As I go about preparations for our Thanksgiving celebration tomorrow, my mind is flooded with memories of my childhood. For sure the holidays weren’t perfect, but the sights and sounds and smells of Thanksgiving made it seem that way.   Our home on Thanksgiving was always busy, busy, busy. For as long as I can remember my mom and grandma would work hard to make the traditional Turkey dinner. And our home would be full. I guess that is why it seems natural to have a houseful myself as I have taken over hosting.

My great-grandmother would make us memorize poetry and recite it on special occasions such as Thanksgiving . I would write plays (mainly dealing with pilgrims and indians) and my sister, Kat, would make the costumes and we would force our younger siblings to perform with us. Our family would applaud and make a big deal about it.  Thanksgiving was always a time to enjoy family and practice hospitality. Anyone was welcome.

Today, things are very similar.  We love Thanksgiving. It is a time to enjoy family and share our delight in being together with whomever so chooses to show up.  We still do the big traditional Turkey dinner,  but there are no plays. I think my daughter would happily write them like I did when I was younger, but I believe her brothers would be much harder to convince to perform…. well, all but Calvin.

Cultivating thankfulness to God is something very important in the Aldrich household. It is the way we strive to kill grumbling, complaining, and pride in our hearts. We have intentional questions we ask ourselves and our children and it is a big part of everyday life. But, we see Thanksgiving as a time where we can be extra intentional.

We have memorized “thanksgiving” Psalms, such as Psalm 100.

We have made placemats for dinner guests with their name and what we are especially thankful for about them. We have made things for other special people in our lives to purposely express thankfulness for who they are and how much they have been used in our lives.

This year, we have been working on a hymn, Count Your Blessings. My fingers are cramped from playing guitar (I haven’t played in I don’t know how long), and it has been pitifully played, but we are having a blast and it is helping us remind each other of how our Heavenly Father has cared for us this past year. We also revived this “blessing jar” my mother-in-law bought us years ago. Each evening we write out something we want to thank God for or how He is working in our lives and place it in the jar, so later we can pull the papers out and remember.

All of this is to train our minds, so as we have fun getting together with our family and friends, we come with solid, truth soaked joy. So we enter the day with thanksgiving; rather than stress and tension. We find no reason to fight and argue, display bitterness and contempt toward others when grounded in the reality of all that God has done and is doing in us and through us.

We can face the hard realities that we come face to face with this time of year, because we are overwhelmed by the work and grace of God in our lives, and we are grateful for it!

May God graciously make us grateful people, who enter Thanksgiving with thanksgiving.

Psalm 100

¹ Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth.
² Serve the LORD with gladness;
Come before Him with joyful singing.
³ Know that the LORD Himself is God;
It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

⁴ Enter His gates with thanksgiving
And His courts with praise.
Give thanks to Him, bless His name.
⁵ For the LORD is good;
His lovingkindness is everlasting
And His faithfulness to all generations.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Jasmine Aldrich