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mamakay

managing a household of 10 by the grace of God

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Thanksgiving

Leaves of Gratitude

November 27, 2018 by mamakay Leave a Comment

Would you like to create a family tradition to help your family focus on gratitude leading up to Thanksgiving? I have created this Leaves of Gratitude printable to make it simple for you to enjoy this tradition. Just sign up below to have it sent right to your email box.

Family Traditions

Family traditions are so very important to me. My family of origins pretty much disintegrated soon after I left home for college. So when we started our family we decided to start from scratch. I wanted to be sure that our family had strong traditions we could rely on to tie us together and help us remain strong whatever may come.

We started slowly and have added in many things over the years. For at least the last 14 years as the month of November rolls around we practice giving thanks by creating a Thanksgiving Tree. Each year I draw a tree (even though I am NOT an artist) on a large pieces of paper and we cut out leaves. Each day everyone writes (or dictates) something we are thankful for and then we glue the leaves on the tree. By the end of the month our tree is filled with beautiful leaves and reminders of all the blessings in our lives. We call these Leaves of Gratitude.

Our Thanksgiving Tree

Thanksgiving Tree
Thanksgiving Tree

As you can tell, I am not an amazing artist by the greatest stretch of your imagination but part of what makes this tradition so sustainable to us is that it is simple.

Free Printable

This year I created a printable for you so that you can create your own Thanksgiving Tree if you would like to do this with your family! You can print the sheets on colored paper, have the kids color them as they go or just leave them white. Just click on the link below to sign up and I will email the link to you.

Filed Under: Blog, Fall, Thanksgiving Tagged With: gratitude, Leaves, Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving

November 21, 2017 by mamakay 1 Comment

It’s the week of Thanksgiving! One of my favorite times of the year.  It feels like each year the world wants us to rush past this week. Halloween gives way straight to Christmas. But I find myself wanting to hold back the rush and just savor this week. To me it is a time of reflection of the blessings God has bestowed on me. It is a time to gather family together and enjoy good food and good conversations. To connect. To be present. No need to rush around. Just time to engage right where we are. Yes there is lots of cooking to do but we can do it together and sing and talk as we go along. We keep the menu the same every year. We know what to expect and we know it will all turn out okay.

I have been pondering the question, “Do you consider yourself a grateful person?”

I want the answer to be “yes!” But is it true? Am I grateful for this life that I am living filled with complexity and uncertainty and pain? Can I find the blessings that come through all of this? I am trying to. My relationship with God has grown so much the past two years! And really isn’t that what is most important? I’m learning to connect with others on a much deeper level and I am starting to find the beginnings of community that I have been longing for.

 

I have returned to my Gratitude Journal and am determining to write in it each night before going to bed. I thought I would look back over the 1000 Gifts challenge that I documented here over the years and am floored by the fact that its been 11 years since I began working on this from Ann Voskamp’s challenge. Here is a link to my first post on it!

I encourage you to hit pause on the anticipation of Christmas and all the lists of things that need to be done to prepare for it. There will be time enough. For now reflect on God’s blessings and those around you and love them well.

Resources for Thanksgiving:

We put up our Thanksgiving Tree and have been adding leaves to it.

Here is a link to our traditional Thanksgiving feast.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!

Psalms 100:4

MamaKay

Filed Under: 1000 Gifts, Holidays, Homemaking Tagged With: Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving

November 26, 2008 by mamakay Leave a Comment

I am thanking God for

– Facebook and all of the old friends I’ve been able to find & stay in touch with it through it

– Cold Rainy days just right for snuggling with the kids

– My family

– My husband who provides so well for us financially, spiritually and so much more!

– the sermon we heard on Sunday reminding us to Give thanks in ALL things and to quit grumbing & complaining so much

– free money to buy books & music from Amazon with!

– Sara Groves’s music — it really speaks to my heart!

– lots of yummy food waiting to be cooked for tomorrow and shared with our family

– finding lost items!

– friends to celebrate 1potato’s birthday with & a great time had by all

– the freedom to homeschool and control our own schedule

– IM & how it allows me to keep in touch with my husband & my sister-in-law in Costa Rica!

– Grace & Mercy

– Special Friends

Filed Under: 1000 Gifts Tagged With: Amazon, Amp Music, Costa Rica, Facebook, Free Money, Freedom, Great Time, Happy Thanksgiving, Heart, Old Friends, Rainy Days, Sara Groves, Sermon, Sister In Law, Snuggling, Special Friends, Thanking God, Thanksgiving

Investment Cooking

November 25, 2008 by mamakay Leave a Comment

I’ve posted a couple things over here: http://investmentcooking.com/wordpress/ at my new blog. I’ve included some of our favorite Thanksgiving recipes.

Filed Under: Investment Cooking Tagged With: Blog, cooking, Investment, Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving Recipes, Wordpress

More Thanks

June 23, 2008 by mamakay Leave a Comment

I will enter your gates with thanksgiving in my heart and I will enter your courts with praise

I am thankful for a relaxing weekend with friends and family in the much cooler forest.

I am thankful for my husband who is able to drive us safely to go camping pulling a pop-up trailer.

I am thankful for the cool breezes, beautiful butterflies and blanket of stars we experienced this weekend.

I am thankful for air conditioning (especially when it is 112 degrees outside!)

I am thankful for my own soft bed to come home to.

I am thankful for my wonderful in-laws who make swim lessons an extra, special event for our girls.

I am thankful for baby smiles, toddler kisses, preschooler helpfulness, and big girls who can really help out in such a meaningful way.

I am thankful for a generous church member who gave our family the exact swing set our children have wanted from Costco for years.

I am thankful for crockpots cooking dinner.

I am thankful for all the recipes that are so easy to find on the internet.

Filed Under: 1000 Gifts Tagged With: Air Conditioning, Baby Smiles, Beautiful Butterflies, Blanket Of Stars, Breezes, Camping, Church Member, Costco, Friends And Family, Gates, Girls, Heart, Helpfulness, Kisses, recipes, Relaxing Weekend, Swing, Thanksgiving

Menu Plans

November 26, 2007 by mamakay 1 Comment

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We had a great weekend. It was 1potato’s 9th birthday on Friday, we spent Saturday cleaning/purging and then decorated our Christmas tree. I’m ready to get back on track so here is our menu for this week.

Monday:

Breakfast: Smoothies & Cinnamon Rolls

Dinner: Turkey & Stuffing Casserole

Tuesday:

Breakfast: Cinnamon Rolls

Dinner: Pizza

Wednesday:

Breakfast: Oatmeal

Dinner: Tilapia & Rice

Thursday:

Breakfast: Muffins & Smoothies

Dinner: Baked Potatoes & Salad

Friday:

Breakfast: Eggs & Toast

Dinner: Meatloaf, Green Beans & Mashed Potatoes


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Filed Under: Menu Plan Monday, Uncategorized Tagged With: Baked Potatoes, Breakfast Muffins, Breakfast Smoothies, Christmas, Christmas Tree, Cinnamon Rolls, Eggs, Green Beans, Oatmeal, Pizza, Thanksgiving, Toast, Turkey

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So glad you stopped by. I am a Christian wife and mother of 8 in the middle years. My kids are aged 4 to 20 and just about every 2 years in between. I write about our life as a big family, what God is personally doing in my life, food and books.

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