Thanks to Seth Godin (whose blog I follow) I don’t have to write much today.  He offered a piece a few days ago and included a Thanksgiving Reader.

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2015/11/thanksgiving-reminder.html

There are two things on the site a button to download the reader and a short video about how to use it.

As I read through the reader (a free download – his gift to us all) I was so struck with the possibilities.  What would it look like if families (whether blood families or chosen families or families for the day) read this at the table before they ate and used some of the questions to spark conversation during our Thanksgiving meal?  I know that football and Christmas parades will be part of the day, too.  But what if….

I have always loved the idea of ceremony.  Having a Thanksgiving ceremony never occurred to me.  Thank you, Seth, for giving us one.

Our family is doing something different this year.  We sort of independently and then collectively decided that we did not want to cook all day for a 20-30 minute food orgy.  We thought about what we liked and here is the menu we have come up with.  Daughter-in-law is making her famous “Tub o’ Soup,” Son  is helping with chopping for the “Tub ‘o Soup,” Daughter is making bread, Son-in-law is monitoring toddler, and I am making Scotch Short Bread that we will each put into our individual mold – Eeyore, rocking horse, teddy bear,  angel, etc.  And Daughter-in-law is also providing a pumpkin cake in keeping with the season.  I haven’t broached the idea of a Thanksgiving Ceremony, but I hope that will be a part of what we do, too.

May you and those dear to you have a grateful and joyous Thanksgiving Day.