Thanksgiving is a favorite holiday for many people for many different reasons. For me, it is the annual ritual of decorating that house with homemade turkeys that my children have brought home over the years. It seems that every school does the same craft with the kids: dip the hand in paint and press on a sheet of construction paper. Add eyes, nose, and feathers, and you have a turkey worth saving. Of course, the first time my oldest brought one home, I thought it was so precious. I had it laminated. More kids and more turkeys started coming home every fall. I kept them all in a box in my attic, and a few years ago, I started opening the box with my kids every November and letting them hang their turkey handprint artwork around the house. This has become our family Thanksgiving ritual that I just love.
Most of them are labeled with my kids’ names and the date. Some are not labeled, and I remember thinking when each one was brought home, how could I forget whose hand this is? Well, I have. I have learned to always label their artwork, no matter how seemingly unique. Even if I think it’s not a keeper.
In addition to the turkey artwork, I have an essay that one of my daughters wrote in kindergarten when she was 5. She wrote that the first Thanksgiving took place 100 years ago and her grandparents were there to celebrate. My barely 70 year old mother and I found this hilarious, and this treasure is kept with all our other Thanksgiving artwork. When I pulled it out this year and showed my daughter, who is now 9 years old, she laughed out loud.
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