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Building Memories with a Thanksgiving Tablecloth Project is a post from guest writer Colleen from Raising Lifelong Learners.
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Keeping the focus on faith and family in the midst of the craziness of the holiday season can sometimes be tough. We’ve tried to start numerous traditions over the years, and have found that they all eventually go by the wayside.
Why?
We just don’t follow through or we get too busy or we forget what tradition we’d attempted to start. Ever been there?
One year, we decided to try something super simple, yet meaningful. Something we would see every year so we’d be reminded to continue the tradition. Something fun – and a great way to remember our family’s growth over the years. We started a new tradition with our Thanksgiving Tablecloth Project.
How to Start Your Own Thanksgiving Tablecloth Tradition
The kids and I picked up an inexpensive white tablecloth at the discount store, some fabric markers, and found a Catholic prayer on the Internet. Of course, you could use any prayer, quote, or saying that you think would be perfect for your family.
We then spent an afternoon decorating that tablecloth’s center with the prayer, pictures, and what we were each thankful for right then—and it will now adorn our holiday table every year.
Sometimes Thanksgiving dinner is just the five of us, sometimes there are others who join in the meal: grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, or friends. We keep fabric markers handy, and have guests write what they are thankful for on our Thanksgiving Tablecloth when they join us for the meal.
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Each year, I plan to have the kids add a picture or another hand print turkey to see how they grow. They will then write what they are most thankful for that year, adding the date. It will be a living testimony to the thankfulness we feel, and want our kids to feel, each time we’re blessed to share another holiday season with one another.
What are some of your favorite Thanksgiving traditions?
Other Thanksgiving Projects and Printables You’ll Love:
3D Turkey Cut Out Art Project Printable
Thanksgiving Activity Page / Placemat Free Printable
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This post was originally published on November 9, 2012. It was last updated November 2016.
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This is wonderful idea. I like the idea of making it ahead of time. Last year, we tried a similar idea by decorating the tablecloth after Thanksgiving Dinner. But, we had to dodge spills of gravy and stuffing!
Thanks, Eric! I wanted to do this on Thanksgiving, and probably will add to in before we eat {to avoid the spills!} in the future, but the kids were excited, so we gave it a shot. It was a lot of fun, and now they’re looking forward to seeing it on the table.
Which Catholic prayer did you use? I might try this–but I like the idea of that being at the heart of the cloth. 🙂
Hi Heidi! I used this one: http://www.catholic.org/prayers/prayer.php?p=492 I simply googled Catholic Thanksgiving prayers, and read through a half dozen or so with my son, and we decided on it together.
I hope you let me know if you make one.
I started this last year and when I got the tablecloth out this year what was written last year had smudged. You can still read it but it doesn’t look how it did and I’m afraid it will eventually smudge so much you won’t be able to read it. How do you keep yours from doing this?