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Our custom of making Thanksgiving menus began when my brothers and I were very little. Mama was hospitalized for a while for her diabetes, and when she came home again she brought a hospital menu with her and showed it to Josh and Justin. (This was when they were early school-age). After that they started making our own menus and showing them to Mama. At Thanksgiving time we decided that it would be fun to each make a menu for Thanksgiving and decorate them with drawings and stencils. So that is what we have been doing for many years now. First you write down what you will be eating on a separate piece of paper. (Find out from your Mom a few days before Thanksgiving.) Then, in your neatest handwriting, copy it onto the page you will be using as your menu. Now it is time to decorate it. There are any number of ways to decorate it. Here are some of the things we usually do. One of the things is to stencil fruit all around the borders or draw it. You can also draw or stencil turkeys, or pumpkins or corn and other kinds of vegetables on the borders, or even Indians and Pilgrims! Another thing you could do is to draw the foods you will be eating. One of my favorite things to do is to stencil fall leaves on the menu, which is the method we have pictured here. If you don't have leaf stencils, you can make leaf rubbings. Just put a leaf under a piece of paper and color on the paper on top of the leaf in a back and forth motion until the veins and edges of the leaf show up. Cut them out and glue them around the edges of your Thanksgiving menu. |
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Mama's note: When the kids were small, this activity kept them busy while they waited for Thanksgiving Dinner! A similar activity your kids can do is to make Thanksgiving place cards, using the above methods! Dover carries a wide variety of little stencil books for $1 apiece, including leaf stencils and Thanksgiving stencils. Write to: DOVER PUBLICATIONS 31 EAST 2ND ST. MINEOLA, NY, 11501. Ask for their catalog of children's activity books for one dollar each. They are also on the Internet at www.doverpublications.com. |
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By Jennaya Dunlap, at age 12 |
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You may make a copy for a friend. Permission is granted to publish only in full (don't omit or edit anything), and only with this notice included: Copyright 2001 by James and Joy Marie Dunlap. Excerpted from Family Discipleship Magazine, a quarterly Christian publication. Write to James Dunlap, 27695 Blue Diamond Lane, Romoland, CA 92585-9019 for current cost of sample / subscription, or e-mail to: familydiscipleship@disciples.com |
