3 November Traditions to Do with Little Ones

1. This Thanksgiving, begin a tradition where your little ones not only help make the holiday special for others with this sweet decoration or hostess gift craftivity, but provide the makings for a casserole that will use up the leftover turkey.  Create this paper bag container for the ingredients to a Gobble Good Turkey Casserole!  Find the instructions at my post GOBBLE GOOD TURKEY CASSEROLE!

2. Another really nice activity for families to do on Thanksgiving Day while they wait for dinner to be ready is the Thankful Turkey Activity from the Idea Door!  (I scanned the turkey just in case the link is broken):  http://www.theideadoor.com/?s=color+turkey+blessings.
As an alternative to a printable, Preschool Alphabet has an arts and crafty Thankful Turkey.
Hopefully everyone will begin to focus on being thankful on this special day as they read the poem and write a blessing on each feather of the turkey.

3. LAST BUT NOT LEAST, check out my NOVEMBER TRADITIONS post that has some great activities for a special Thanksgiving "Family Night".

Retro-Christmas Stockings

The first time I saw this idea was when my Aunt Phala brought one for each family at my Grandma's annual Christmas party.  These are what I call Retro-Christmas Stockings.  When I was still a newlywed, my husband's mom gave each of her children's family's one of these stockings. Growing up, he and the other siblings got at stocking each year and his mom would put their name on a slip of paper at the bottom of it so that they wouldn't get mixed up (seven children in the family).  I'm not sure of the actual history, but it seems they come from the Depression Era.  If you're thrifty, you use old, (clean) knee-hi pantyhose (stockings as we called them), however, I buy the cheapo new ones.  Then in each "stocking" you place

• about a cup of mixed nuts (in their shells--very pretty)
• an orange, couple of tangerines, and a red and green apple (I like the smaller apples)
• Christmas candy (something that won't melt!)
• and a small gift or two (could be a handmade ornament for the family tree, or for an individual, socks, gloves--a tie for men or missionaries, scarf for a woman, small toy for a child)

Distribute the items evenly throughout the stocking.  Then tie with curling ribbon.  They can be made assembly line fashion and generic so that each family gets the same thing, or you can make them by males and females each sex getting the same items.  Or if you do them for your own family members like I do (five in all), I make the small gift a little more personal.  This is also a nice gift for visiting and home teaching families and employees or coworkers.

Measuring Up...Integrity Quotes

If we were to be arrested for being Christians, I wonder if there would be enough evidence to convict us?  ~Choose You This Day, N. Elden Tanner

Conversion must mean more than just being a "card carrying" member of the Church with a tithing receipt..."  ~Harold B. Lee, "The Iron Rod," Ensign 6/71


Members of the church need to influence more than we are influenced.  We should work to stem the tide of sin and evil instead of passively being swept along by it.  We each need to solve the problem rather than avoid or ignore it.  ~Elder M. Russell Ballard


An eternal bond doesn't just happen as a result of sealing covenants we make in the temple.  How we conduct ourselves in this life will determine what we will be in all the eternities to come.  To receive the blessings of the sealing that our Heavenly Father has given to us, we have to keep the commandments and conduct ourselves in such a way that our families will want to live with us in the eternities.  ~Elder Robert D. Hales, ("The Eternal Family," Ensign, 11/96)

There's right and there's wrong.  You got to do one or the other.  ~John Wayne

Measuring Up: Improvement Quotes
Measuring Up: Time and Preparation
Measuring Up: Testimony Quotes
Measuring Up: Service and Empathy Quotes
Measuring Up: Sabbath Quotes

Setting Organizational Goals: organization part 2

In a revelation to the Prophet Joseph Smith, the Lord told us to "Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God." (D&C 88:119) ("Organize Yourselves," Ensign, Nov. 1980).  To me this scripture from The Doctrine and Covenants states the essential purpose of every homemaker.  As homemakers we are to "establish a house."  Our house should have prayer, fasting, faith, learning, glory, order and God as the foundation.  The word establish is defined as:  "To set up; found.  To bring about; generate.  To place or settle in a secure position or condition; install.  To make firm or secure."

In my opinion, being disorganized is simply a matter of having developed bad habits.  I believe being organized can be developed just as any "gift."  Organization begins with the heads of the household.  We must honestly evaluate whether or not we're truly ready for the challenge of being an "organized person."  Just like any gift, the gift of organization requires consistent effort.  Prayer, research, and study are necessary.  

Hide not your talents, they for use were made.  What's a sun-dial in the shade? ~Benjamin Franklin

When I entered the Young Women program at age twelve, I was given a beautiful Personal Progress book. It was white, full-sized, with a picture of the ideal Latter-day Saint Young Woman on the cover.  Inside were six values and homemaking was one of them, as well as my favorite.  We were given excellent step-by-step instruction on how to plan goals.  By following these simple steps, becoming more organized as a goal can be successfully accomplished.

First Evaluate:  What do I want to have happen in my life now and in the future?  Then make a Plan by setting a date for the goal to be accomplished and how this goal will be accomplished.  By having a Target Date, the goal becomes more real.  The plan needs to be broken down into small steps.  It helps to have someone to Report to.  This can be Heavenly Father if the goal is very personal, or it can be to a family member, friend or recorded in a journal.  Last, begin the process again.  The ultimate goal of an organized household can be broken into smaller, achievable goals.

The noblest search is the search for excellence. ~Lyndon B. Johnson

Gordon B. Hinkley, former president of the LDS church said, "We will not become perfect in a day or a month or a year.  We will not accomplish it in a lifetime, but we can keep trying, starting with our more obvious weaknesses and gradually converting them to strengths as we go forward with our lives."

(The Quest for Excellence," Ensign Sep. 1999)

Becoming organized is a process as well.  It can be fun and even addictive (but in a good way).  You may find yourself organizing where ever you go.  Following the goal-setting process outlined in the old Young Women Manuals helped me to earn my Young Women Medallion twice!  And I have been pretty darn organized ever since.  This has brought me much joy.  I've also taught my own children this process and it has helped them to be successful students and earn their own recognitions at church, school and scouting.

Sometimes we can plan to have a goal accomplished by a certain time and devote a particular time to complete the goal (like cleaning out the shed), but it's also true that the best time to organize is when you catch the mood.  For quite some time I may research the best way to organize the shed, and make an inventory of what needs to be in the shed and what to donate, etc. before I actually feel like doing it.  Don't be upset if you have to change the target date.  When I'm "in the mood" to organize, I do a much better job.

80% of success is showing up. ~Woody Allen

Christmas in July

Many families have what they call a "Family Night" where they make sure that at least one day each week, the family gets together to spend time with each other.  I'm always looking for meaningful, original ideas to do on Family Night.  I found just such an activity in the Ensign, a religious magazine, to get family members involved in disaster preparedness planning.  This activity helps the family prepare for times of need by having a "Christmas in July" party.  

In the south where I'm from, there is already harvesting and canning to be done in July as a new late crop is planted.  The "canners" in the family can give gifts of canned fruits and veggies.  Others can buy much needed food storage supplies such as a new box of jars.  Many items such as seeds go on sale by this time and would make great gifts that can be stored in Ziploc bags in the refrigerator ready for a future garden's bounty.  The following is an excerpt from the Ensign and shows many other ways to prepare:

In one month--on July 25--we will have "Christmas."  My brother made this announcement as he produced a large paper Christmas tree.  We will surprise each other with gifts for our year's supply.That night we had a family discussion on storing food and other items so that we would be self-sufficient in times of need.  Our family had a testimony of this principle; only a few years before, our home had been damaged by the Teton Dam floodwaters, and we remembered how grateful we had been that we were prepared during that crisis. As our "holiday" approached, each of us worked feverishly on our gifts.  My mother tied quilts.  My sister saved some money from her part-time job and bought a case of soap.  Another sister assembled a first-aid kit.  We grew closer to each other as we worked together to prepare ourselves.In some ways, our family home evening on July 25 was as much fun as Christmas morning.  And what a wonderful feeling to carry those gifts down to our storage shelves and know that we had become more prepared!  ~LaDawn G. Dalton, ("Do Not Open until July 25," Ensign 6/89)