10 Ways to Celebrate Family This Thanksgiving
10 Ways to Celebrate Family This Thanksgiving
Many family members travel far and wide to spend a few days together eating Turkey, watching football, catching up with one another and let’s not forget enjoying those Black Friday sales.
The National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) found that during the 6-day Thanksgiving travel period, the number of long-distance trips (to and from a destination 50 miles or more away) increases by 54 percent, with the average Thanksgiving travel length being 214 miles. The survey also found that visiting friends and family is the single biggest reason Americans travel during the holidays. Visits to family account for 53 percent of all Thanksgiving long-distance trips.
What do these statistics reveal? Family Matters. In a time when it seems everyone is glued to their cell phones we still crave relationship and time spent with those we love the most. Yes, everyone has that one annoying family member, or the relative who tells their never-ending stories year after year yet, at the same time the holiday wouldn’t be the same if they weren’t there.
The statement still rings true, “Family… at times you don’t want to live with them, but you still wouldn’t choose to live without them.”
This Thanksgiving take some time to really focus on those relationships which make-up your family. To give you some ideas, below are 10 ways to celebrate Family this Thanksgiving.
- Be Kind. Kindness really does count. Give a little extra of yourself to make another member of your family feel valued. Take some time to listen to that never-ending story shared by your Great-Relatives, you just might find you learn something about your family you never knew.
- Give. Giving isn’t difficult it just requires effort. This Holiday Season, sign your family members up and together in some way serve the community. It may be adopting a family to provide gifts for this Christmas or volunteering at a Community shelter.
- Put away your cell phone. Have a no-cell-phone Thanksgiving together. Provide a basket and collect the phones. You will be amazed what you will learn from one another.
- Help. Get everyone involved in preparing the Thanksgiving Spread. Let the little ones make name cards or fold the napkins. It’s more fun when everyone has a part.
- Say Grace. Give thanks for the food you are about to eat and the family who is gathered around the table. Provide a blank tag and a pen and have each family member write one thing they are thankful for this year, then share them and hang each tag from a chandelier or candle stick.
- Play Ask the Oldest. Have each family member ask the oldest member of the family one question about their family heritage. You will find amazing things about your family you may not have previously known. You will also understand the Legacy that helped define you.
- Be Present. Be fully present in each moment. Give your time and attention to one another and don’t let distractions interrupt your time together. Put aside any differences from the past and enjoy the now you are given. None of us are promised tomorrow.
- Reach Out to those who are absent. If you have family who could not be with you, take some time during the day to give them a call. Let them know you miss them and you are thinking about them. Make sure you remind them how much they mean and matter to you.
- Walk off the Turkey. After you clean your plate, take a walk together. There is nothing better than spending a little time outside exploring nature. Talk while you walk, you will burn some of the calories you just consumed and be a little healthier in the process.
- Bless one another. Share a blessing over the ones you love. Speak blessing and words of affirmation over one another. One of the greatest gifts you can give to the members of your family is words that affirm and encourage them. One word of affirmation can impact the course of someone’s life.
The words thanks and giving are both verbs requiring action. Words plan but actions do. Make this Thanksgiving the best by giving a little more of yourself to your family. It’s true,
“While the world is ever-changing around us, we start and end our lives with Family.”
Guy Hatcher – known as The Legacy Guy – is the author of Your Future Reflection: How to Leave a Legacy Beyond Money available at Amazon.com. A gifted speaker, Guy speaks often on Leadership, Succession, and Legacy to both business and faith-based groups. For booking information please go to www.guyhatcher.com.
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