This year, Thanksgiving was a quite one.  I am thankful for that!  Usually there is a lot of stress and places to be and people to see...but this year we were granted a reprieve from all that hustle and bustle.  I made all the fixings we like and a ham instead of a turkey!!  It was wonderful!  I wish my mom could have joined us...and that I could have given my grandma a big-ole-hug.  This is her first year through the holidays without her husband of 65 years.  Just thinking about that makes me so sad. However, the rest of the day was really great.

In honor of my mother-in-law...the newest tradition to hit our family is the 'Blessing Box.'  One writes down and/or keeps the blessings (maybe a card recieved, something special that happened that was written down, a note of encouragement, or a picture...etc.) in a box and on Thanksgiving takes them out and reads through them, sharing the blessings with everyone.  I love this!  I think that I will make a 'blessing blog' category so that I can track some of my blessings here on my blog.  Feel free to adapt, add to, or change completely any of these ideas for your family.  I love to promote family and thankfulness more than just on one day a year!  Another perk to having a blessing box is that when one is feeling down or discouraged (especially us homeschooling moms) it is wonderful to go through the blessing box and read about the good times we've had that we might have otherwise forgotten about!  Good fuel to continue on...

I think that I'll have the kids start their own Blessing Boxes this year!

One of my favorite days of the year.  Jamma Day.  It's orgins have been lost in time....but somewhere along the way of our marriage hubby and I decided that the day after Thanksgiving would be "Jamma Day."  A day where productivity is frowned upon.  A day with no cooking (why cook when we have yummy Thanksgiving food leftover?), cleaning, schooling....anything productive.

Instead the day is spent hanging out in our jammas with the kids, watching movies, playing games, video games, reading, knitting (this year teaching my youngest daughter (5.5) to crochet).  The kids LOVE this day...so do we...so much so that we usually take the next day (Saturday) also!

I love this day!  I highly recommend it to everyone, though most people like to shop on this day...and if that's what you want then great...if not consider Jamma Day...it's quite rejuvenating!!

Blessings,

Christina ~