Thanksgiving Hearts at Home Blog Hop

The Third Thursday in November means a Hearts at Home Blog Hop. Be sure to hope over to Jill's Blog to other thoughts on Thanksgiving.

Why is Thanksgiving important to you and your family? Do you have special memories? Traditions that you keep going year to year? Recipes that have to make an appearance? How is the holiday different for you now that you are a mom?

Thanksgiving...

Traditions...

Holidays...

 

They hold so many fond memories...

And pain that attempts to seize my soul.

My Daddy was a man who embraced Thanksgiving and waited until it was over to celebrate Christmas. There was no "holiday season". It was Thanksgiving. It was Christmas. They were separate and they were special. He is gone. This will be my fifth year celebrating without Him and I still can't get past it... at this time of year.

 

I'd like to call myself a Farmer's daughter but people would challenge that definition. My dad loved to garden much of the 5 acres he owned. Still, it was far from living up to the definition. It was just more than an ordinary garden. There is a love deep in my being for the harvest. It was a family activity. The memories warm my soul and leave it terrorized all at the same time.

 

Traditions are important to me and over these past years, I've had to learn to let go. It's become more important to find meaning in the holiday rather than hang tightly to what used to be. A large family dinner attended by extended family is a bygone. Compromises are offered but it's gotten complicated somehow. It will never be the same.

 

We are exactly one week before Thanksgiving. One would be pressed to know the holidays are approaching in this household. If it weren't for the excited hearts of my children, plans would likely not even be considered.

 

These years have been a journey of letting go... and becoming. There are thoughts to start new traditions but we hold to them loosely. Part of me can't embrace anything that isn't quite as special as what used to be. I don't want my children to one day find disappointment in a holiday because they cannot separate it from the emotions of their tradition. Tradition is good. Just not the pedestal we tend to place it on.

 

Thanksgiving is an attitude I long to instill in my children as a lifestyle. This month is only meant to highlight that. Maybe next year I'll have more to offer. This year it is still simply about letting go.

Here are a couple of great ideas that have come my way in embracing Thanksgiving tradition:

Ann Voskamp's Thanks Giving Tree

Paper Coterie's Gratitude Jar