Thanksgiving Story Activity

by Odds Bodkin

Ever ridden one of those moving walkways at the airport? You know, the kind that softly grabs your feet and moonwalks you at godlike speed past everybody else?

I love those walkways. Never miss a chance to ride one. When I do, I feel like the child I once was. How wonderful it would be to fly, or, since that's never happened, at least to walk this fast, anytime, anywhere -- to live on a cushion of motion -- at least until that clumsy little step-off at the end.

That's how I feel about the holidays, too. They're a cushion of motion. I know I'm about to step into them. Suddenly everything will move very fast.

And since the material world beckons us with the greatest variety of consumer goodies ever presented to our species, much of our attention, rightly, I guess, will be focused on what we're going to buy for loved ones over the next couple of months.

There's an economy to support, after all.

Still, in the howling gale of materialism sits the hut of love, which, once you step inside, reveals itself to be a fabulous palace, quiet and warm.

Here's a nice way to take your family inside for a respite. It's called Thanksgiving Story Wrap. Sort of like a fajita wrap, only inside there are small stories.

It's simple.

Along with turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce, it's something each family member prepares for Thanksgiving Dinner.

Thanksgiving Activity

Print out a scroll for each member of your family, and tie each one with a piece of ribbon.

Set your family scrolls in a place everyone will see between now and Thanksgiving, so that each family member is reminded, day by day, of this small love responsibility.

Tell them something like this:

Inside each of these scrolls is a very short story. Each story is about one thing someone in our family gave to you which made you happy. The only rule is: it can't be a thing. It has to be something someone in the family did for you.

That's it. Stress that there's no writing involved-- only speaking, at Thanksgiving Dinner, at the appropriate moment. Tell them there's no rush at all. And that the story is fine even if it's very short. It just has to be true.

Then, at Thanksgiving, each family member symbolically unwraps his or her story, and tells it, in the warm, quiet palace of love.

More on: Having a Thankful Thanksgiving