Thank You God for Thanksgiving! {Printable}

Thanksgiving happens to be my husband's favorite holiday. What's not to love about turkey, football, family and being grateful, right? Every year throughout our entire marriage we have spent Thanksgiving in New Jersey at his parent's house. Yes, this family likes their traditions!! So it's no surprise what our plans are this year! Since I don't host, I don't normally go all out decorating for Thanksgiving.

This year, we are heading down to NJ a bit earlier than normal. My mother-in-law had surgery recently, so Tommy is helping his dad with all the cooking. YES, I got a man who can cook a mean turkey and stuffing! How did I get so lucky?!

So, since the rule of our house is that Christmas decorating doesn't begin until Thanksgiving is over (although I do secretly listen to Christmas music — don't tell!), this year I'm getting into the spirit of celebrating my hubby's favorite day! And my new-found love for all things pumpkin flavored is helping!

A favorite activity we've started doing with our three-year-old is the Thankful Tree. We gather sticks from our yard, place them in a vase and then hang tags on the branches that list things we are thankful for over the past year.

Some of Levi's tags are our tree say:

Thank you God for ALL candy. (We still have way too much Halloween candy in this house.)
Thank you God for Keane and Annika (Two of his best buddies)
Thank you God for Thanksgiving.
Thank you God for George & Clifford. (That's Curious George, of course!)
Thank you God for my favorite cars.
Thank you God for Red Lambs and church. (Red Lambs is his class at Community Bible Study)
Thank you God for wearing shorts and shoes.
Thank you God for playing with my dump truck.
Thank you God for Daddy, Mommy & Silas. And Kirby too!

So, here's a 5x7 printable to get you into the spirit of Thanksgiving — or really any day! Because this Thanksgiving and throughout this Christmas season, I want our family to focus more and more on thankfulness and giving and less on STUFF.

And since Christmas is almost here, I wanted to pass along an interesting blog post I stumbled upon last week that really challenged my thinking about Santa, materialism and teaching our boys about the greatest gift of Christmas. I know, it seems a little over-the-top, but it's a great perspective! (I don't follow Jen Hatmaker regularly, but I know enough about her to know that she is the real deal.)

Finally, I'm really, really trying to hold off until after Thanksgiving, but I'm very excited about some Christmas prints that will soon be available on Etsy!! Ok, here's a hint: Isaiah 9:6. Of course I'll let you know when it's ready as a download from my shop!