Thanksgiving Traditions

Last week for FHE, we started off November with a lesson about Gratitude of course.
Something new I wanted to do this year was a "Thankful Tree" and "Appreciation Pockets".

I used a lesson on Gratitude from Lds Living. I modified it and just basically read the story from President Faust. (We only have one three-year-old child.) Then we put together our appreciation pockets and talked about them and our Thankful Tree.

For the Thankful Tree, the idea is to write what we are thankful for on a leaf and put it on the tree. I have a bulletin board tree cut-out that I am using and leaves cut out in fall colors. I would put up the Thankful Tree in my classroom during November when I taught school, and I don't remember where I got the idea. I've seen similar ideas since then.

I got the idea for appreciation pockets from a book about traditions by Kimberly Bytheway. I have modified this also. The book says to write things we are grateful for and put them in the pockets, but I am using the tree for this. My appreciation pockets are to write things we appreciate about each other and put those in the pockets.

Then, for the last Monday in November, we are going to have a pie night and read the leaves from the tree and the notes in the appreciation pockets.