Giving Thanks idea

I am in the midst of decorating for Halloween. I have gotten so many new ideas this year, that the project is taking longer than I originally anticipated. And, I wish I would have gotten it done earlier so that I could have posted pictures sooner...(sigh). Well, as I was reading "Little Women" to the kids tonight, a Thanksgiving idea hit me.

I don't know about you, but Thanksgiving is always a bit of a let down for me. I LOVE Halloween, and Christmas is FABULOUS, but Thanksgiving just gets mushed in there without all of the planning that goes into other holidays. I mean, what do you do for Thanksgiving? Well, this year, we are going to make a Giving Thanks Tree. I am going to see if I can find a good branch-y branch from our obliging forest to serve as the "tree" in our tree. I will make sure there are no leaves, because these will be what we add. Prior to the first of November, I am going to cut a bunch of leaves out of some cute fall scrapbook paper. Then, each night before going to bed, each child will get to name one thing they were thankful for in the day. These will be written on the leaves and the leaves will be hung from the branches of the "tree". By Thanksgiving, we should have, instead of a bare branch, a tree full of thanks to serve as centerpiece of our Thanksgiving table. I guess I will have to find some way to preserve the leaves. If it works, it will become a yearly tradition. I'll tell you how it goes.