It’s Thanksgiving morning, and your kids are bored.  Although it’s an afternoon filled with family, friends, eating, and talking, the morning most likely is filled with peeling, chopping, baking, boiling, table setting, and cleaning.  While the kids may want to help with this list of to-dos, they are bound to want alternate entertainment.

Anything with a screen may seem like an optimal choice, but why not amuse your children with an easy craft?  Just purchase the needed items, and you will have amusement and decorations in one package!  (Please note, younger children may need some guidance or direction with these crafts.)

Turkey Place Card Holders- Courtesy of Mary Lyon, author of The Frazzled Working Woman’s Practical Guide to Motherhood

• 1 throwaway CD
• 1 sheet of “fun foam” from a craft store
• 1 small pinecone
• 1 almond
• 1 long brown nut or brazil nut
• 2 small white beans
• 2 pipe cleaners, one red and one yellow
• 1 black marker
• 1 small bag of unsalted, shelled pumpkin seeds
• 2 or 3 tablespoons of unpopped popcorn
• 1 pair of scissors
• 1 medium-heat glue gun
• 1 bottle of regular white glue

Step One: Place, and glue the CD, SHINY SIDE UP, on the “fun foam.” Then trim around it to cut off the extra.

Step Two: Fold the yellow pipe cleaner in half. Then, fold each half in three smaller folds, to make two bird feet. Make the middle fold of each set of three – slightly bigger than the folds on either side of it, for a longer middle toe. Then glue it to the base of the pinecone, so the feet stick out from underneath.

Step Three: Determine where the larger brown nut should be – to make the body of the little turkey. With your thumb, push in several of the “petals” of the pine cone in the front, centered above where the feet stick out, to accommodate that large nut. This is where the body should be. Then glue the nut in place. Let the glue “set.”

Step Four: Cut a piece about 1-½ inches long from the red pipe cleaner. Bend it in half. That’s the wattle. Glue it on, on the top of the large brown nut, so the loop hangs down in the front a little bit. Let the glue “set.”

Step Five: Figure out the best side of the almond, and where you want the eyes to go. Then glue each small white bean in place for the eyes. Let the glue “set.” Then, carefully mark in dark pupils onto the white beans, completing the eyes.

Step Six: Glue the almond turkey head in place, on top o the ends of the red pipe cleaner wattle. Let the glue “set.”

Step Seven: Drizzle a line of white glue around the outer edge of the CD. Arrange the shelled pumpkin seeds on it, so they’re glued into place there. Let the glue dry.

Turkey Tabletop Decorations- Courtesy of Fave Crafts

Materials:

• 1 Cocoa EZ Felt Sheet, 12 x 18
• 1 Red Soft Felt Sheet, 9 x 12
• 1 Tangerine Soft Felt Sheet, 9 x 12
• 4  3/8-inch Diameter Google Eyes
• Fabric Glue
• Scissors

Step One: Trace around your child’s hand onto a piece of Cocoa EZ Felt twice.

Step Two: Cut out hands from EZ Felt Sheet.

Step Three: Cut corresponding slits on each felt hand. One hand will have a slit going from the middle finger to the center of the palm. On the other hand, the slit goes from the bottom of the palm to the center point of the hand.

Step Four: Glue google eyes onto the thumbs of the hands. This will be your turkey’s head.

Step Five: Cut 8 Feather Shapes each from the Red and Orange Soft Felt Sheets. Also cut an oval shape from the Red Felt.

Step Six: Glue feathers and oval to the turkey like shown above. Repeat for the other side. You will have to recut the slit from Step 3 on one of the hands.

Step Seven: Slip together.

If you’re looking for more Thanksgiving craft ideas, check out this article at Your Parenting Info.

It’s that wonderful time of year again- time to be thankful for all of our precious blessings and time to eat turkey and all the trimmings with those we love. No matter how you celebrate Thanksgiving this year, it is important that it provides you the opportunity to take pause, look around  and show gratitude for all that you have.

The very first Thanksgiving celebration was held in the year 1621 by the Pilgrims and the Indians. Life for the early settlers to the country was fraught with many problems, but the fall harvest was a time for celebration, so celebrate they did. This huge feast was made up of a variety of foods and the celebration itself took place over a period of three days. It was also a time for prayer and to thank God for the good crop He had blessed them with. Today many of us still eat some of the same foods that the settlers included in their big feast.

After the first Thanksgiving in recorded history, the celebration was held in a sporadic manner but largely was pushed aside until the early 1800s. Back in the early days it was celebrated in late September or October to correspond with the fall harvest. Congress declared it a national holiday in 1941 and decided that the date for Thanksgiving would be the fourth Thursday in the month of November. This year it is November 26th.

Happy Thanksgiving, folks! And then …

It’s off to the malls for Black Friday, which is an important day in the world of the retail industry. Also sometimes referred to as Retail Black Friday, this day is the day after Thanksgiving, and it is one of the two busiest shopping days of the year (the other is December 26, the day after Christmas).

The origins of Black Friday are not known, but here is a little background on where the name comes from-

For accountants and all those who work in the money trade, black is a sign for profit while red means loss. In the retail trade the Christmas holiday season brings in ½ to ¾ of their sales for the entire year. The unofficial start to holiday shopping commences the day after Thanksgiving, which means that retailers are smiling because consumers have their wallets open and are buying. Black Friday helps retailers turn losses into wins.

Enjoy Black Friday!

Aptly named, the Thanksgiving holiday is all about giving thanks. But how do you keep the thanks in this very special holiday when stress seems to be the theme of the day? Read on for some ideas …

Thanksgiving is about so much more than turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie. It is about family, friends and the heartfelt love and appreciation for the precious life you have. To make it as meaningful as possible this year and every year to come, make sure you take the time to teach your children what the holiday is all about. Discuss the history of it and if you can find a book on the holiday, then read it to them in preparation for the special day.

Encourage your children’s enthusiasm and appreciation for the holiday by letting them help you in small ways. Let them draw and color pictures and put them up for everyone to see. Let them help with decorations and setting the table for the holiday feast.

Let your children fold napkins and make place setting cards for everyone who will be in attendance. Let them know that their contribution is important and that they are doing an excellent job. Seeing the beaming look of pride in their eyes helps make the day even more thankful.

Create a Thanksgiving poem to read before the Thanksgiving meal. Ask everyone to give thanks for the many blessings they have been given. We are all thankful for our family and friends, our health, and our jobs but what about all of the other things? Dig deep and you will come up with an abundance of blessings that are sometimes not acknowledged on a regular basis.

-What about being thankful for the seasons, and the weather and the predictability of the passage of time?

-What about being thankful that you have made it to the point in your life where you are now? (You have earned every moment you have spent on the Earth after all. Celebrate it!)

-What about being thankful for your talents, your skills and the fact that every new day is a flower just waiting to blossom?

-How about being thankful for the lessons you have learned and the miles you have trod in this life?

Remember your many Thanksgiving blessings, and keep them with you every day. End your holiday with a relaxing walk and a smile of acknowledgement to the universe. This is how to keep the thanks in such a special holiday!