Thankful Turkey is an
easy and meaningful Thanksgiving tradition.

Here’s the How-to:

Supplies: 
Big pumpkin
Wooden skewers (from the grocery store…bbq skewers)
tape
pens or markers
cardstock or construction paper – autumn colors
Printer

Directions:
1. Print this template* on red cardstock and then cut out head and feet. 

*copyright The Education Center, used by permission, www.themailbox.com
For personal use only.

2. Print this template on one of each color of the autumn toned cardstock.  Cut as many feathers as you think you will need.  It doesn’t hurt to print and cut extra and then they will be on hand for next year.

3. Tape the head and feet to the front of the pumpkin.  See picture for placement.

4. Have everyone write something they are thankful for on a feather (and sign and date on the back side for a keepsake).

5. Tape the back of the feather to the upper portion of the skewer.  Make sure the pointy end is facing down.

6. Poke each skewer  in the back side of the pumpkin, placing them so it looks like a fan of feathers across the back.  If you zig zag the placement forward and back, it will give the turkey more dimension.

7. Display the Thankful Turkey where everyone can see it and enjoy thanking God for the things mentioned on the feathers.  You might want to write this verse to keep beside the turkey.

8. When Thanksgiving is over, keep the feathers, head, feet, and verse and store safely for next year.

Future years:
Each year your pile of feathers will grow.  We keep them in a pile on the table next to the current year’s turkey and love looking through them and remembering.

Enjoy your Thankful Turkey!  Gobble, Gobble!

For more ideas and verses on the topic of Thankfulness, see your copy of Parenting with Scripture: A Topical Guide for Teachable Moments.

It makes me sad that Thanksgiving is often overlooked or underappreciated because of Christmas coming on its heels.  I want to take advantage of the premise of this thankful holiday and help my children be so enchanted by a experiencing gratitude that it sticks with them all year long.

Here’s how our family does it:
(Click on the blue links to read details for each idea.  Or, to skim down all former Parenting with Scripture Thanksgiving ideas, including the ones below, click here.)

Thanksgiving Traditions
Family rituals are the things that your children will look back and remember.  We try to create a few of these for each holiday.

Thankful Travel Time involves no supplies…just some purposeful car time.
Thankful Turkey is a must-have member at our annual family gathering.

Thanksgiving Teachable Moments
Keep an eye out for examples of thankfulness to use as teachable moments.  I share my favorite one here…contagious thankful hearts.

Thanksgiving Hands-On Crafts
Thankful Tree is a fun and tactile way for younger ones to visualize gratitude.
Grateful Hearts is a way for all ages to express thankfulness through Scripture.

Looking for meaningful Christmas presents for friends, family members, or teachers?  Consider gifting copies of Parenting with Scripture: A Topical Guide for Teachable Moments.   If you are local (Dallas area), I’m happy to sign them!

With just 4 ingredients and a few minutes of prep, you’ll have a fun and yummy Bible treasure hunt ready for your family.

Ingredients for Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread:
1 Box Spice Cake Mix (Duncan Hines brand works best)
1 15 oz Can of Pumpkin
1/2 Cup Water
1 Bag of Chocolate Chips (any kind, but Durbins prefer Dark)
Recipe can be made without chocolate chips, buy why would anyone do that?!  😉

Prep Ahead Instructions:
Gather your 4 ingredients and print out the list of verses consolidated at the bottom (in maroon).
Cut the verses apart and hide them as follows.

• Spice Cake Mix –
  Carefully open the box, insert John 6:35, and reseal the box with glue or tape so it looks unopened.
• Can of Pumpkin –
  Carefully take off the label, tape Matthew 5:16 to the back of the label, and put the label back on the can so it looks untampered.
• 1/2 cup water –
  Fold and tape Psalm 42:1 to the bottom of the measuring cup so that the cup sits as flatly as possible.  A measuring cup that isn’t see through is preferable.
• Chocolate Chips –
  Tape Psalm 119:103 to the seam of the back side of the bag, folding it so it will show as little as possible.
• Big Mixing Bowl –
  Tape Psalm 34:8 to the bottom of the bowl so that the bowl sits as flatly as possible.

Pre-heat oven to 350.
Grease & flour 2 loaf pans. (Spray works fine.)

Teachable Moment Time!
God’s word is like a treasure hunt.  We have to make time to dig into it and explore its depths.  Doing so will bring priceless blessings.  Today we are going to remind ourselves of that by going on a Scripture treasure hunt with our recipe!  As I tell you each ingredient to put into our big bowl, you have to find the hidden verse.

Box Spice Cake Mix
Read and discuss the verse once it’s found.  Then, dump the mix in the bowl.
Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.   John 6:35

1 15 oz can of pumpkin
Read and discuss the verse once it’s found.  The connection here is that pumpkins are often used at jack-o-lanterns this time of year.  Then scoop the pumpkin into the bowl.
In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.  Matthew 5:16

1/2 cup of water
Read and discuss the verse once it’s found.  Then, pour the water into the bowl.
As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.  Psalm 42:1

NOW blend these ingredients with an electric hand mixer or stand mixer for a full two minutes.

1 Bag Chocolate Chocolate chips 
Read and discuss the verse once it’s found.  Then, pour the bag of chips into the bowl and mix by hand with a large spoon.
How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!  Psalm 119:103

Pour the batter evenly into the greased loaf pans.  As your child is helping pour and scrape the batter into the pans, see if he notices the verse on the bottom of the bowl.  Read the verse, discuss, and then ask him if he sees a clue in the verse as to what to do next. 
Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.  Psalm 34:8
Taste the batter!

Bake both loaves at 350 for 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
It’s delicious eaten warm.  We often microwave it a bit if we are eating slices later on.  It can also be made into muffins or mini-muffins.  Just adjust the cooking times.  This bread freezes well, but ours never makes it to the freezer!  We love that it makes two loaves, because often we eat one and give one away.  I watch for sales this time of year for the ingredients and stock up.  It’s not unusual for us to make as many as 15-20 batches of this between Sept – Dec each year.  We LOVE it and it’s the aroma of fall in our home.  I bet it will become a favorite of yours, too!

For further discussion –
“I hid verses in our ingredients for fun, but where does the Bible say we should hide God’s Word?  And, why?”
I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
Psalm 119:11
Consider following that up with finding a verse or two in Parenting with Scripture: A Topical Guide for Teachable Moments to memorize and continue discussing.

Cut and paste verses from here into a printable document for use in your own hunt:
Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.   John 6:35

In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.   Matthew 5:16

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.   Psalm 42:1

How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!   Psalm 119:103

Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.  Psalm 34:8

Being content certainly makes all-year-long Thanksgiving easier.  So what’s the secret?

The portion of the verse “I have learned the secret of being content” was floating around my head the other day and made me realize I needed to check the passage to make sure I knew what the secret is!

How many of us are familiar with both Philippians 4:12 and Philippians 4:13 separately, but have never tied those two together in our heads?  Please tell me I’m not the only one!

I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.  I can do all this through him who gives me strength.  Philippians 4:12-13

Try this discussion at your next family meal or devotional time:
 
1- Ask your kid if he knows the secret of being content and read Philippians 4:12-13.

My kids easily learned this verse from the Seeds Family Worship: Power of Encouragement CD we listen to in carpool every Wednesday.  You can hear a sample of the song, buy the CD, or download the single MP3 through the link.  Also, you can read here about how to incorporate Scripture through music into your drive time.

2 – Discuss ways your family members struggle to be content. 

3 – Now, read together this passage and discuss what Paul, the writer of Philippians, had been through.

*Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.
*Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones,
*three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea,
*I have been constantly on the move.
*I have been in danger from rivers,
*in danger from bandits,
*in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles;
*in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea;
*and in danger from false believers.
*I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep;
*I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food;
*I have been cold and naked.
*Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.
2 Corinthians 11:24-28

4 – Kinda puts things into perspective doesn’t it?!  If Paul can be content, surely we can too!

Are you going to ask your family if they know the secret of being content?
I bet you’ll have a great discussion!

Click here or on the image if you are interested in purchasing this beautiful wall art or similar items from Wise Décor.

For more verses, discussion questions, and Take Action ideas on the topic of “Contentment,”
see your copy of Parenting with Scripture: A Topical Guide for Teachable Moments.

“Honey, every day is Thanksgiving to me!” 

This is what a sweet older neighbor exclaimed when I asked her what she was doing for Thanksgiving.
She didn’t know yet when her kids or grandkids would be able to come to share a meal, but it mattered not to her!  She is one of those people who exudes the light of the Lord and joy and gratitude in Him!

The cheerful heart has a continual feast.  Proverbs 15:15b

I want to have a contagious heart of joy and gratitude, too, and teach that to my kids!
Don’t you?!

“Thanksgiving is always in our hearts!”
One of my favorite decorations and reminders –

For more on the topics of Appreciation and Thanksgiving, see Parenting with Scripture: A Topical Guide for Teachable Moments.

For more parenting with Scripture Thanksgiving ideas, scroll through these posts.
*Thankfulness Tree
*Grateful Hearts
*Thankful Travel Time
*Thankful Turkey

Involve the whole family in giving thanks through this Thankfulness Tree!  Trace the children’s handprints onto fall colored paper and help them cut them out , if need be.  Meanwhile, a teen or adult can prep the poster board with the title “We are thankful for…” and tree shape as seen below.  The children use glue sticks to paste their handprint leaves all over the tree.  Then, each family member can write things they are thankful for on all the leaves.  Display in the kitchen or family room for a meaningful Thanksgiving decoration. 

Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name.
1 Chronicles 29:13

Here are some of our cutie-patootie neighbor boys working on their family’s tree at our neighborhood Thanksgiving party last year.

“Lord, you have given us so much.  Give us one thing more—grateful hearts.”  (Paraphrased from original below.)

I’ve heard my sister-in-law say this many a time.  Sometimes it would be to my nieces (who may or may not have been rolling their eyes from hearing it so much growing up).  Other times, it would be a well-timed reminder amidst an extended family discussion.  Now that my nieces are older, they admit to appreciating it more.  I have adopted the saying and hope it’s a nugget of wisdom that will quickly come to the heart and lips of my children.  What a wonderful principle to live by, not only this time of year, but all year long!

Preschool – Elementary Craft idea: 
Cut out hearts from fall colored construction paper.  Have children decorate them and write (or write for them) the words of Psalm 86:12, the quote above, or simply the word “Grateful!”  Hearts could be hung from a light fixture or ceiling, strung as a garland, or put on the fridge with magnets.

Simplest Grateful Heart – Preschoolers can help glue verse and color one heart.

 I will give thanks to You, O Lord my God, with all my heart,
And will glorify Your name forever.
Psalm 86:12

“Thou that hast given so much to me give me one thing more, a grateful heart:
not thankful when it pleaseth me,
as if Thy blessings had spare days, but such a heart whose pulse may be Thy praise.”    
– George Herbert (circa 1600) 

Grateful Heart garlands by 1st, 3rd, and 5th graders
(It’s hard to see, but several words are written on each heart.
They chose between the saying from the introduction and the Bible verse.)

Do you wish for a simple way to make Thanksgiving about more than just turkey and football?  Consider adopting this tradition and adapting it in a way that fits your family schedule. 

On Thanksgiving Day each year, we have about a twenty minute drive to get to the extended family lunch or dinner.  The entire way there we go around and say what we’re thankful for.  Each person says one word each or a short phrase (“Thank you, God, for…”) as we continue around the circle of people in the car.  My husband and I started this tradition before we even had children as a way to get back to the heart of Thanksgiving.  Since then, it’s been fun to see the children catch on and participate more and more each year.  The year Jake was two years old, he thanked God for firemen every turn!   We appreciate the twenty minute time frame because it forces those of us who are beyond two years old to get creative and think past the usual thanksgivings (home, food, car, clothes) to fill up the whole time…no repetition allowed!   It puts our hearts in the right place and reminds us of our many blessings before a day of more blessings with our family. 

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever.  Psalm 136:1

Last year I was hosting Thanksgiving for my side of the family and wanted a fun way for all ages to give thanks.  I spied a big pumpkin that was still hanging around and came up with the Thankful Turkey.  The idea is for everyone to write something they are thankful for on a feather.  However, the catch is that everyone must read all the feathers that have already been written, because no two thankful feathers can be the same.  This year, to extend the idea, my immediate family will start adding feathers several days leading up to hosting my husband’s family on Thanksgiving.  The templates I used for the turkey head, feet, and feathers are copyrighted or I would have gladly attached them.  But, I think they are simple enough to eyeball and sketch out your own to match the size of your pumpkin.   Enjoy your Thankful Turkey!  Gobble, Gobble!

Supplies: 
Big pumpkin
Wooden skewers (from the grocery store…bbq skewers)
tape
pens or markers
cardstock or construction paper for the head, feet, and feathers

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to
him and praise his name. 

For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness
continues through all generations.

Psalm 100:4-5