Thanksgiving weekend is almost here and I couldn’t be more excited! Back in Kuwait, we always hosted a huge potluck feast for our Canadian friends {I think we had about 35 people in our apartment last time around, hence why Miss G wore her noise cancelling headphones} and when in Canada, we’ve usually gone home to the Okanagan to celebrate there.
Today, we celebrated Thanksgiving with our Kuwait family. We hosted a traditional turkey dinner for 30+ people which meant our apartment was loud and busting at the seams, but in the very best way possible. I’m beyond grateful to have so many wonderful people in our lives. People that make being away from home on a typically very family-filled weekend less hard and more fun. I didn’t manage to take all that many photos throughout the day as I was kept fairly busy with my hosting duties, but here’s a little peek at what this year’s Thanksgiving in Kuwait looked like…
Last year Gracen and I created our first ever showcase of gratefulness with a giant thankful tree. I loved having a visual representation of all of the things she felt thankful for and the process of creating the tree together provided the perfect opportunity for us to discuss just how much we have to be grateful for. This year, we decided to switch things up a little bit. We once again created fall leaves {but this time using real leaves as stamps} and then turned them into a beautiful garland of thanks.
Last year I asked Gracen what she was thankful for, and her answers melted my heart. This year, I decided it would be fun to make a visual representation of her responses so that we could revisit and reflect upon them throughout the weekend.
A thankful tree is something I’ve actually done in my classroom many times before. We start the project out as a group with a read aloud, a discussion, and everyone contributing a few leaves, and then throughout the week the students are free to add leaves as they are reminded of things they’re grateful for. It’s always turned out to be a gorgeous project that serves as a wonderful reminder of just how much we all have to be thankful for. Our smaller at home version was no different. We’ve revisited it many times and added things as Miss G has requested to and the entire project, start to finish, was a lot of fun.
It started a week or so ago in our courtyard with a stack of coffee filters, some watered down food colouring (we used approximately 3 tablespoons of water for 10 drops of colouring), some droppers, and an old piece of cardboard as a work surface.
Using a stack of 2 or 3 at a time, Grae squeezed our homemade watercolours out onto the filters and watched the colours run and mix to create gorgeous colour combinations and patterns. Here in the October heat, they dried so quickly that I was able to cut them into very simple leaf shapes as she continued painting more filters.
Throughout the week, we talked about things we were both thankful for and I recorded one idea on each leaf.
Some of the things she felt happy to have were really eye opening. While I do appreciate the construction across the street from our building for the entertainment / education if provides Miss G, often times it just seems like a whole lot of extra noise, dust, and traffic. Well, Gracen doesn’t agree. She said she’s happy to have it because “it’s really cool and we get to watch all of the cool stuff happen like big trucks and cranes and cement coming”.
When we were ready to assemble our tree of thanks, I sketched an outline of a leafless tree onto an Ikea flatpack I had tucked away. Brad cut it out and we hung it in our main room using painter’s tape rolls.
Whew. Today Gracen and I spent over 2.5 hours driving, an addition 1.5 hours sitting at border crossings, and 3 hours bopping around Bellingham running errands and getting some shopping done. We powered straight through lunchtime and nap time, and through it all, Miss G was an absolute pleasure.
This girl. She’s my sidekick, my partner in crime, and my biggest fan. And I couldn’t love her more.
I’m one very blessed mama.
♥
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The other day, after reading a couple of books about Thanksgiving, I asked Gracen what she was thankful for. I explained that when we are thankful for something, we really love it and are happy to have it. With that, she immediately started her list…
“Stickers, puppets, and Mama! Chicken… Play dough… Papa! Yummy food. Books, balls, and parks. And schools. And swim classes!”
Love her.
♥
So much to be thankful for this year…
For the most incredible little girl (and her pretty decent daddy), for our wonderful families and friends, for bellies filled to the brim, for a lovely weekend away, and for the most gorgeous autumn weather… I am thankful.
Happy Thanksgiving!
♥