Crow’s Feet Writing Prompt #71-Thanksgiving
The Thankful Tree
A Thanksgiving tradition that may be worth passing along
Every family has its own holiday traditions. On Thanksgiving, the most obvious tradition is the family meal, which is likely to include the traditional turkey, stuffing and all the accompaniments.
When my wife and I were raising our young daughter, we instituted another tradition during Thanksgiving known as “The Thankful Tree.” We first helped our daughter cut a tree trunk and its limbs out of construction paper. It had to be large enough to accommodate leaves, which we also cut out of construction paper. The tree was taped onto our sliding glass door.
The paper leaves were then handed out to members of the family and the guests we invited to Thanksgiving dinner. Before we ate, everyone was asked to write down one thing they were thankful for on their leaf. Each person would read what they had written on the leaf and then tape it onto The Thankful Tree.
We were not religious, so this act of universal gratitude was a kind of secular substitute for saying grace. The Thankful Tree was spiritually meaningful all the same.
At that special meal on that special day, our young daughter, along with others seated at the…
