tradition

This is our second Thanksgiving away from home now, and this year will be my first time hosting my very own Thanksgiving dinner! I am so excited! I love throwing parties/get togethers... This is my thing! I really want to make it enjoyable and relaxing for my guests and super fun for the kids. (6 little boys!)

I have really good memories of Thanksgiving with family - the only tradition I remember besides the feast, was while we were driving to our Thanksgiving dinner destination, we would all tell each other what we were thankful for. I really loved hearing what everyone appreciated. On the Swenson side, there was ALWAYS a kid table in the kitchen- the grown-ups sat together in the dining room - away from annoying kids I assume. I loved the kid table because we usually had a little party favor or goodie at each plate and no body watched us to see if we ate all our food, we just ate what we wanted and then were off to play! It was so much fun to sit with all the cousins too and talk and joke. I also remember when us cousins were high school age complaining how unfair it was we had to sit at the kid table with all the youngsters. I don't think they got rid of the "kid table" until after I was married... and one of the last Thanksgivings I went to at Grandpa's house they had lots of little round tables set up with name tags at each seat, having us all mixed up sitting with different cousins & aunts and uncles. It was so fun. Good times.

Now that we have little kids and live away from family, I am looking to start our own Thanksgiving traditions. I need help! What do you do to make Thanksgiving day and the weekend of a special family holiday? You see, I only have 12 more days left to plan! And yes, I plan on having a kid table!

PS. Although I am excited for our very first Thanksgiving at our house, oh how we still miss our families in Utah!