Search Results for: blog our first thanksgiving

Tips for Coping with Politics on Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving can be stressful all by itself. Things can get even worse when a presidential election happens a few weeks before Thanksgiving day. Some of your relatives might want to talk about politics. Here are some tips for coping with political discussions on Thanksgiving. Make a conscious effort not to talk about the election at Thanksgiving dinner. Don’t ask your relatives who they voted for. Stay away from topics that were especially controversial during the election. Thanksgiving dinner is not the time to wear a political t-shirt, button, or hat that came from the campaign of the candidate you voted … Continue reading →

Tips for First Time Hosts of Thanksgiving Dinner

Thanksgiving is celebrated with family. It always includes a big dinner with tons of food. This can be overwhelming for first time hosts of Thanksgiving dinner. Don’t panic! Try these tips to help calm your nerves and make your first hosting a successful one. There are two things that can make a person who is hosting Thanksgiving dinner nervous. One is that the guests are going to expect specific foods that are made exactly the way that mom or grandma used to make. Their big expectations can be hard to live up to. The other difficulty, of course, is that … Continue reading →

Holiday Travel Potpourri

  We are entering the last days of the travel industry’s “dead zone.”  The period of time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is notoriously slow for airlines and hotels.  Consequently, you can snag unbelievable savings on airfare and accommodations if you are willing to travel during the December window. Some of the best deals are being offered on flash-sale sites.  Right now, SniqueAway.com is offering an amazing deal for travelers who have always dreamed of exploring Sonoma, California.  Popular lodgings in California’s wine country have drastically reduced rates to entice visitors.  For example, Hotel Les Mars has slashed room prices from … Continue reading →

First Thanksgiving Part I

Last year on thanksgiving I was thirty six weeks pregnant with my daughter. I remember going to our family get togethers and feeling quite self conscious of my enormous pregnant belly. My daughter missed out on last year’s thanksgiving by three weeks, but this year she most certainly made her presence known. She began her first thanksgiving giggling and playing on the bed waking me up from my slumber. She very decidedly let me know that she was done sleeping and wanted to go downstairs. Apparently she was really hungry because she ate twice as much egg yolk than she … Continue reading →

Baby’s First Thanksgiving

Today is Thanksgiving. I can’t help but think of Thanksgiving one year ago today. I was pregnant with my little baby and very anxious for him to come. In fact, I had made up my mind that I was going to have him over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend since he was due on December 3, and I had my other two kids almost a week early. It was perfect timing. However, it was not the right timing because my little guy decided to come 4 days late. He was born on December 7th. I remember that Thanksgiving like it was … Continue reading →

Thanksgiving Is For Family Fun

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and that means family time. For the genealogist in the family, it is a great time to hear family stories, both new and old, get the group together for some family photographs, and as always, listen for new family history facts that you can include in your research. You are probably even going to enjoy some of your family’s favorite recipes. This Thanksgiving, our Thanksgiving table will have something on it that is not usually a part of our menu. Because of where Thanksgiving ended up on the calendar this year, my son’s birthday cake will be … Continue reading →

Be Thankful for Your Blessings

Until we became a military family, I never quite understood the sacrifice that they paid. I knew it in theory but now it has become so much more real. We are giving up the presence of our son at the Thanksgiving table this year. It is hard for everyone to accept the first of what will likely be many holidays without him. It has given me such a greater appreciation for their service to our country and the families who are without their loved ones. Suddenly thankfulness has taken on a whole new meaning. While I have always appreciated my … Continue reading →

4 Things I Have Learned in Preparing for Thanksgiving

Last minute trips to the grocery store. Deep cleaning areas in the home that family will be gathering in. Hoping nothing has been forgotten. Figuring out what needs to go in the oven when. It’s all part of the Thanksgiving preparations. Depending on how well prepared you are, it could be a stressful next couple of days or smooth sailing. Here are some things I have learned over the years when it comes to reducing stress during the holiday season. The first is to enlist the help of family. Year after year I would be getting the home ready, complaining … Continue reading →

5 Tips for a Fitter Thanksgiving

Hosting the Thanksgiving meal this week, I have a lot to do. And I will be honest…exercising is not one of the first things on my mind. In fact, if I could have my way, it would be skipped this entire week. At least that’s what the “old” me would have done. I would have gone into this week thinking, “I already know that I will be eating more than I usually do come Thursday, so why bother to workout?” The thinking is that I will just start again on Monday. But like I said, that is what the old … Continue reading →

Spice Up Thanksgiving Layouts

Depending on the size and scope of your Thanksgiving Day festivities you could opt to create an entire scrapbook documenting the occasion or simply dedicate a few pages in a holiday-themed memory album. Many beginner scrapbookers select the latter because they don’t know how to fill the space. However, you don’t have to shoot hundreds of photos or go broke purchasing stacks of expensive embellishments to get rid of white space on your layouts. An affordable way to spice up your Thanksgiving layouts is to pepper them with poems that sum up the tone of the holiday. Fortunately, you can … Continue reading →