An 8-year Old Version Of Thanksgiving

While standing at Kroger waiting for my wife to finish her groceries, my son pulled my hand and said, “Dad, let’s go to the school supplies section. I need a poster board for a project.” I asked him, “What project? You don’t have school this Thanksgiving week.” He insisted that he has and found the cheapest board. Curious of what project he had in mind, I bought one poster board.

After dinner wearing his holiday pajamas, my 8-year old grabbed his markers and started his poster. He doesn’t want me to know what it is and wants to surprise me once it’s finished so he said, “Dad, don’t look. I’ll show it to you when I’m done.” When he wasn’t looking, I took a quick peak. It was about Thanksgiving with his family.

So, what’s Thanksgiving through an 8-year old perspective? It starts with a picture perfect day of blue and purple clouds with lots of yellow happy sunshine. All over the Autumn sky are flying W’s which I assume where migrating birds. As he drew them my son kept saying, “Go W’s, fly, fly , fly.”

Then it’s “Gobble, gobble time ” or turkey time. The turkeys we so adorable that my son chose to keep them as pets. You may ask, “What about the roasted turkey for dinner?” Hmm, we still did but I’ll explain later.

It was a cold night, so shearing the sheep was the next activity to make a warm comfy wool jacket.

Time to make a pumpkin pie but first we need to harvest them at our pumpkin garden guarded by a pumpkin scarecrow.

Thanksgiving is first about spending a wonderful time with friends and family, sharing each other’s blessings. Sharing each other’s reasons to be thankful about. Then it’s also about sharing food. A delicious medley of mouth-watering food. A friend cooked an oven roasted golden brown turkey and pineapple glazed ham which sizzled every taste bud in pure holiday delight. These were but the teaser of the rest of the Fall harvest we shared on our dinner table. Before we ate, we said a short prayer making sure we remembered those who may not have anything to eat at all and prayed that God will bless them through the generosity and kindness of others.

As we ate dessert, exchange amazing stories and laughter, our friend turned on the fireplace, creating warmth and beautiful glow inside the living room.
It was a magical night. Why? It’s because all these things that happened on Thanksgiving were drawn by my 8-year old two days prior to the actual event. Minus the purple clouds, the sheep, the pet turkeys and flying W’s, everything pretty much happened.
Thanksgiving is too about having a magical moment with family and friends. Of creating a holiday celebration that warms our hearts in the years to come. Everyday, is a chance be thankful towards people that means the world to us. Everyday is an opportunity to say thank you for our blessings and gifts God generously blessed us through the years.
From my home to yours, Happy Thanksgiving.