I love hearing about others traditions!
Since when my sister and I were young we lived too far away from family to get together on holidays, we started our own family traditions. Now that we live closer to our grandparents, things are a little trickier. My grandparent's idea of Thanksgiving is to go out to Old Country Buffet or get pre-made food from a restaurant or store. They refuse to come down to our house. It would make a lot of sense for them to come down since our place is bigger, and we enjoy cooking. We feel that it is important to spend time with my grandparents but hate giving up our family traditions. We usually end up having two Thanksgiving celebrations one with my grandparents and aunt and the other at home. This year my mom, sister, and I are going up the day before Thanksgiving to take my grandparents out to lunch, and we are having our Thanksgiving on Thanksgiving. The four of us (my parents, my sister and me) usually have breakfast altogether (a thing that only happens on holidays or special occasions). Most times we have eggs and cinnamon rolls. Sometimes we buy Pillsbury ones and other times we make homemade applesauce cinnamon rolls (healthier and better tasting ). Then we watch the Macy's parade on TV. Usually the parade is on in the living room and my mom, dad, and I miss parts of it to start on preparing food. My dad does the turkey, and my mom and I do the rest of the food. While watching the parade, I work on cross stitch lamb ornaments. (My sister and I make one for each child in our Sunday school class one for Christmas. The lamb represents Jesus). My sister usually is in charge of setting the table and folding napkins. We have turkey, stuffing, rolls, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, favorite rice (Uncle Ben's Broccoli Rice Au Gratin) and apple pie for dessert. Only my dad likes cranberries. He used to get the jelly kind, and we would try to get it to come out and stay in the shape of the can. We usually eat mid afternoon. Someday during the weekend we go shopping. A lot of times we go to a huge mall a couple hours away the Sunday after Thanksgiving.

And let's not forget Charlie Brown. I loved seeing them on the Mayflower last Thanksgiving!

We watch the two Charlie Brown Thanksgiving specials on Thanksgiving too. In fact, the Charlie Brown /Peanuts specials are part of most of our holiday traditions.

Yeah, I don't celebrate it. I think it's one American tradition that wouldn't be bad to adopt (unlike Halloween).

I wish more places would celebrate it or something like it. Too many holidays focus on “what can I get out of it.” (I’m talking about the secular side to the holidays). I wish we would put more of a focus on it in the US. It so often gets hidden between Halloween and Christmas. The stores go right from Halloween to Christmas stuff. Not that I’m advocating that the holiday goes totally commercial, but a few nice harvest decorations / signs about being thankful wouldn’t hurt. By total commercial, I mean tacky yard decorations such as a huge inflated turkey. (Yes, I have seen one. It had a pilgrim hat on ). I firmly believe that Christmas decorations / merchandise should not be put out until after Thanksgiving (except in craft stores because projects can take a long time). [This is kind of off the topic, but then again, it is also one of our traditions to complain about the above. ]

I am thankful for:[list=a]

Maybe I should add that I'm thankful that people take the time to read long posts.

By total commercial, I mean tacky yard decorations such as a huge inflated turkey. (Yes, I have seen one. It had a pilgrim hat on ).

Hey! You've been by my house and then come here and say it's tacky? The cheek!

I'm just kidding, I wouldn't have one of those on display and even if I did it wouldn't survive 12 hours on the front lawn. The wife would sneak outside at midnight and stab it and drag the balloon corpse into the basement.

I think it's one American tradition that wouldn't be bad to adopt (unlike Halloween).

Well, at least there is one

I'm thankful for God's grace to me, for His Word, for His life that has become mine.

I'm thankful for my family, for my happy childhood, for my godly upbringing.

I'm thankful for my education, for the ability to appreciate and sometimes even create beauty.

I'm thankful for good books, the kind that scour out new paths in my brain and the kind that are comfortingly familiar.

I'm thankful for the incredible online friendships that have blessed me — no matter what that blessing may look like initially.

And I am thankful this crazy week at work is finally over!

By total commercial, I mean tacky yard decorations such as a huge inflated turkey. (Yes, I have seen one. It had a pilgrim hat on ).

Hey! You've been by my house and then come here and say it's tacky? The cheek!

Terribly sorry. I didn't realize you lived in that house that has all of the inflatable decorations for the various holidays.

I'm just kidding, I wouldn't have one of those on display and even if I did it wouldn't survive 12 hours on the front lawn. The wife would sneak outside at midnight and stab it and drag the balloon corpse into the basement.

I would completely support your wife in the murder of the turkey.
(referring to your whole post)
The part with "Terribly sorry" was typed in a joking manner and meant to be read as such. I am by no means taking back my statement that I feel that such decorations are tacky. (I was serious about supporting your wife's hypothetical actions though (Since she should have some say as to what is displayed in the front yard of the house. I assume it is considered as much hers as yours. I'm not advocating that people sneak around town killing inflated turkeys in yards that are not their own ))

My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is our "Thankful For" jar. Each year on November the first, we start passing a jar (or clear container) around the table after lunch everyday. We say something we're thankful for and then put a piece of chocolate (or candy corn or a peanut) in the jar for each "thankful for", often five or six things. Then on Thanksgiving day, we begin doing it in reverse- say what we're thankful for, then we get a piece(s) to eat. It usually take us up to two weeks to eat all of the candy - we have that much to be thankful for. I think it's a great way to celebrate Thanksgiving, and prepare your heart for the season of Advent at the same time.

I'm thankful for...
~Freedom
~Good books
~Authors such as C.S. Lewis, Leisha Kelly, and Sigmund Brouwer
~Great Christian music
~A kitchen to bake cookies in
~A warm house
~Fabric to sew with
~A great backyard
~Games like Army Monopoly and MoH

SnowAngel

For celebrating, our family will go down to my grandparents' house in Missouri to stay over the weekend. My aunt's family lives about three minutes away, so it's a nice family gathering.

What am I thankful for? There are too many things to list, so I'll just mention the main ones.

I'm thankful for my friends, family, and two cats (Pelé and Chico).
I'm thankful for music, good books, and school.
I'm thankful for all the everyday things I take for granted: food, clothing, a heart that beats, a cozy house, God, my parents, my sister. Life. Freedom.

This Thanksgiving, I don't believe we're going to see any family. My dad's side of relatives... well, at this certain time we're not exacly best friends (Meaning we're not quite getting along). My mother's side is coming for Christmas. So we may have a simple meal with my sister and brother-in-law and my two gorgeous nieces!

I am thankful for so many things.
My God and Savior, Jesus Christ. For granting me freedom and forgiveness of my sins.
My family and church family.
Narnia and C.S. Lewis and his intelligent, very interesting books.
Books!
My Victorian room (It's not very Victorian. But it's getting there).
My simple, interesting life.

Things I,m thankful for, Wow lots!
~My Parents
~My Brothers and Sisters
~My Friends!
~Thanksgiving
~A roof over my head! (Especially when its raining )
~Jesus Christ most of all! What would we do without him? We would be non-existent
~Nephews and Nieces
~Lovely Fall Weather!
~And Lots more!!!!!

-Benjamin

Things I'm thankful for???
well,
-Jesus Christ
-THIS AWESOME WORLD!!!
-Family
-My Buddies
-Narnia
-NarniaWeb
-School
-The Gift of Learning...
I could go on and on...

I am thankful for my family and many friends. Usually what I do for Thanksgiving is go to my Grandma's house and eat a warm Thanksgiving lunch! Some of our traditions are to go out and buy different random prizes, then play bingo for them. We used to have some intense coloring contests also. It's quite random, but super fun! My favorite part of Thanksgiving is getting together with family.

For Thanksgiving in my family, I must say we are very lucky. We rotate which Grandparent's house we go to for the main meal every other year. On my Dad's side, we go over and have turkey and all of the other regulars, as well as Jell-O and pie. We usually play games and/or watch TV. We don't exactly have completely set traditions on that side, though, because it's still a fairly young family (I'm the oldest grandchild. I'm also the only one out of high school). On my mom's side, we have the traditional Thanksgiving dinner, and every year either my mom or my grandma makes homemade rolls and my aunt makes rainbow Jell-O, and we have an assortment of pies. We usually play with cousins, visit, and watch TV (just about the same as the other side of the family, except that I'm one of the middle grandchildren). Then, since both my grandparents live in the same city (we are very lucky!), we always go to the other grandparents' house for leftovers from their main meal, since my siblings are always hungry again in the evening. Then, on Friday, my family has our own Thanksgiving dinner at home, complete with the traditional dinner.

As for what I'm Thankful for, I'll try not to make too big of a list...
-My wonderful parents
-My brother, who is also my best friend
-My six younger sisters (yes, six. And I love every single one!!!!!)
-My new baby brother
-My two dogs
-My two best friends
-My cousins, who are both at school with me
-The rest of my cousins
-My grandparents
-My roommates
-The scriptures
-The Gospel
-My church
-God
-Christ
-The Holy Ghost
-My talents
-My books
-The Chronicles of Narnia (of course)
-NarniaWeb and NarniaWebbers!!!
-Music
-Freedom
-Etc.

Oh, and I just remembered something new this year! This year, I got to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving! My roommate is half Canadian, and she wasn't able to go home, so we had our own Canadian Thanksgiving in our apartment. It was delicious! We also watched Shrek and had a great time! (There was also a lot of tears, and hugging, and the like, but, yeah).

In addition to our "Thankful-for" jar, my favorite Thanksgiving traditions are baking pies and taking walks as family after we enjoy our "feast".

(adding to Snow's lists)
I'm thankful for...
~My penpals
~Sewing and all of our sewing paraphernalia
~Rubber stamps (and my Stampin' Up! demonstrator )
~Cheesecake!
~Cookbooks
~Rain and snow
~Essential oils (and my gradually increasing knowledge of how to use them)
~Tea cups
~Our visiting grandparents
~Curtains (that we're currently sewing)
~Education (or my book collection would be meaningless )
~Board games
~A beautiful new washer and dryer

~Scarlet

(edited to fix typos)

In addition to our "Thankful-for" jar, my favorite Thanksgiving traditions are baking pies and taking walks as family after we enjoy our "feast".

Wow...usually I have just enough energy to walk to the couch for a nice 2 hour nap.

Well, at my home thanksgiving is with my immediate family. That include; mom and dad, three older brothers, two sister-in-laws, a nephew, two dogs, and a cat! Everyone gets to cook a different part of the meal too.

So here is my "thankful list"

1.) My Salvation and the love I have for my Lord, Master, Father, and Savior Jesus Christ. He is everything to me
2.) The love I have to share the gospel to any one I meet.
3.) the mission that God has given me to people with the Jewish faith
4.) My parents, were would I be without them!
5.) my big, protective brothers and sister-in-laws
5.) My little nephew
6.)That I'm from the most wonderful, amazing, best state of TEXAS!!!!
7.)I have the freedom to believe openly in Christ
8.) The gift God has given me to play and sing music
9.) Books!!!!!
10.) my equine therapy group I work with.
11.) Lilly and Tank, the horses I train
12.) Adventures in Odyssey
13.) my dad has had a job for almost six months now, when before when had been out of work for five years. (that is a whole testimony in itself)
14.) My wonderful church, and encouraging pastor!
15.) That I am able to have food at every meal
16.) That I don't have to sleep outside.
17.) that I have clothes
18.) I'm healthy
19.) I will be able to go to collage (OK I'm starting to cry )
20.) I love the Lord so much!!!!

I could keep going, but I have to go.

My thanksgiving tradition is usually just with my immediate family, unless my grandparents on my mom's side come down for a while, usually in the first weeks of December, as thats when my grandma's birthday is, if that happens, we usually combin thanksgiving and early christmas since me and my brother leave for wintercamp on the 26th.

Im thankful for:

My friends and family
Money
My Country
My Freedom
The people that fight and die for my freedom
and just about everything else!