Our Family's Favorite Thanksgiving Traditions!

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, I'm wondering where the time went! I love the holiday season, especially as a mother to young kids. Thanksgiving isn't as busy as Halloween or Christmas for us, which is nice because it gives us a chance to catch our breath, but we do have some traditions that we really love as a family.

Today I am sharing our favorite November/Thanksgiving traditions!

Gratitude Tree

Our gratitude tree is my absolute favorite tradition this time of year! I have a whole post about it here, but in brief, we put a paper tree up on the wall. Each day, every person in the family gets to add a leaf with something they are grateful for written on it. We watch the tree fill up with leaves all month and get to focus on all our many blessings.

Make Butter

I did this years ago with my girls for a homeschool activity and they have asked every single year to do it again. I use this post I found on Pinterest. I take a cup of cream and 1/4 teaspoon of salt and put them in a jar. Then the kids and I all take turns shaking the jar until it turns into butter--you can tell it's done because the butter becomes a ball in the middle with the buttermilk around it. Then we can talk about the science behind why it turns into butter and enjoy eating the butter on bread!

Dancing Corn

This is another science experiment I did years ago with the kids that they request every year. It's a super simple and fun one! You put popcorn kernels, water, and vinegar in a jar, then add baking soda. As you add the baking soda, little bubbles appear around the popcorn kernels, making them float to the top. As you watch, the kernels the move up and down in the water, looking like they are dancing.

Handprint Turkeys

Who doesn't love tracing their hand and making it into a turkey? The thumb is the head, the other fingers become the turkey feathers, and the hand itself is the body. It's such a simple activity, but my kids love it every year.

Make pie and rolls

The day before Thanksgiving is my baking day! I love making pies and rolls each for Thanksgiving and as my kids have gotten older, I have loved including them in the process and teaching them how to bake. I have a basic pie crust recipe I use every year and then I make at least one (often more than one) pumpkin pie using my great grandma's recipe and apple pie using a recipe I got from my mom. I also like to make two chocolate pies, one with a graham cracker crust and one with an oreo crust. I keep these pies simple by using whipping cream in pudding mix. This year, I am also trying out a new recipe and making a pumpkin roll cake for any of the kids who don't love pie.

Watch the parade on TV with Coloring Pages

The morning of Thanksgiving, we relax and get out Christmas coloring pages with the Macey's Thanksgiving Day parade going on in the background. I finish up any prep work for Thanksgiving. One of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving is how relaxed a holiday it is for us.

Watch A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

When my kids get tired of the parade or when it's finished, we turn on A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. I love watching it on Thanksgiving each year!

Make Turkey Hats

Every year, I print off turkey (or pilgrim) hats for the kids to color and wear on Thanksgiving. I like these ones I found on Pinterest.

Dinner with Family

Then, of course, we get together with family to eat Thanksgiving dinner. We almost always do it earlier in the afternoon to make it easier for great grandparents to come. Every other year, we get together with my father-in-law's family, and on the off years, we do something with just my in-laws at our house. We used to drive out some years to see my family, but we love spending the holiday relaxing at home, so we save those trips for other times of the year now.

Watch Miracle on 34th Street

In the evening, we are ready to just relax again! We have leftover pie and watch Miracle on 34th Street. I love watching this movie on Thanksgiving because the movie itself starts on Thanksgiving. It's such a cute, heartwarming Christmas movie to start the season off. I like both versions, but the 1947 version is our favorite.

Pie for Breakfast

The next day, we have leftover pie for breakfast! This is everyone's favorite way to continue Thanksgiving weekend.

Holly Days

Growing up, I always went Black Friday shopping with my mom. While I cherish those memories, it's not a tradition I've continued with my own kids (we don't live somewhere with great Black Friday shopping anyway and I am almost always pretty much done shopping for Christmas by Thanksgiving). Instead, we attend a local event called Holly Days. They have all sorts of fun activities and food and the kids and I love to go enjoy the day together (and Ben gets to stay home with the baby or napping toddler, which he's more than happy to do). It's a fun way to finish off the holiday weekend!

Those are our favorite Thanksgiving traditions! What are your family's favorite holiday traditions? I'd love to hear from you in the comments below!