Planning for Thanksgiving

Hospitality is a simple way to show God's love for people - a warm meal and quality time speak love effectively for most people.  But this time of year, advertisements and store windows boast endless "needed" trinkets to make your dinner or home "perfect" enough for guests.  So before we all get caught up in planning the most extravagant, perfect Thanksgiving meal, let's consider a few things:

Most people don't care what kind of serving dishes you have.  True, a unique piece can be the beginning of a great conversation, but unique pieces don't come from big stores.  True, you need something to serve food on, but you can usually find white dishes at Walmart and Dollar stores - and white makes everything look restaurant worthy!  It doesn't even need to match, and you don't need separate dishes for every item.  Just keep it simple so you can concentrate on your guests and what they're saying or needing.

Thanksgiving isn't just for your nuclear family.  Surely you have a friend, co-worker or neighbor who won't have a family of his or her own to share Thanksgiving with.  These are the guests who bless your home when they grace your dinner table.  If you feel like it would be awkward to have a single "out of place" guest, plan to have a Thanksgiving party, inviting 4 or 5 people over.  Then no one will feel out of place.  And why should we all have our own little private dinners in our own little houses, when you're in close community with others?  Make special memories and make Mom's job easier by planning to share Thanksgiving with a friend's family.  Cooking and cleanup then are shared, making more time for lounging and enjoying each other's company.

Thanksgiving was originally about being grateful for little, not greedy for more.  Perhaps the most appropriate Thanksgiving dinner would only contain dried corn and freezing temperatures.  The moment we worry that it won't be perfect enough is the moment we've lost the point.  Now's a time to give thanks - so to prepare our hearts for Thanksgiving, why don't we make lists with our kids for what we're grateful for?  Or make garlands of paper leaves with thanks written on them?  Or pull out all of our winter coats, blankets and toys that aren't getting much use and make a family trip to give them to someone who could really use them?  Putting our attention on what good has been done for us and on others can be the start of a new tradition.

Whatever your plans this Thanksgiving, I hope you enjoy the time leading up to it as well as the day itself, with family and friends surrounding you with love!