Happy Thanksgiving Month!
October for Hannah Kate was a busy one! We had our week after week, daily shoots for our Spring 2018 Catalog! Our Fall shipments speeding out to delivery, and our Vintage Hannah Kate offer more wonderful vintage Hannah Kate! (check out the Facebook page for that if you haven’t!) Halloween was a highlight for all the fun of dressing up, candy, and school shows. Then before we knew it, Thanksgiving was on the horizon.
And football. Of course, college football, please. For us, high school football plus pee-wee football is all apart of our fall too. In the past years, fall has been our busiest, most enjoyable season for so many reasons. Football being one of the main ones. That’s why here I am putting in these adorable pictures of our Fall football tees, because really, they are just so very cute!!
My kids are always ready to purchase pumpkins by September!
They rave about painting them, and can you believe it, this year was my first ever year for me personally to sit down and actually carve my very OWN pumpkin. I will not be posting a picture of it ha!
However, Thanksgiving is still pumpkin fever don’t you think? No need to stop doing the simple crafts that make our kids enjoy this time. If you haven’t yet, buy simple paints (not water color, but craft paint like Deco Art or Acrylic) and cheap paint brushes and pick up those pumpkins now on sale at your local grocery store! Put down some paper bags or cardboard and let them keep creating.
We even re-paint our pumpkins! My kids never cease to get tired of this craft.
About ten years ago we decided to do something new. We decided to make our own family tradition that was unique to us. We decided every Thanksgiving we would go camping. And sure enough, we have every single one since. We’ve cooked pumpkin pie over a fire, we’ve eaten off of paper-plates in all sorts of beautiful outdoor environments, both warm and chilly. The memories have been absolutely wonderful and I exchanged the stress of family gatherings for the stress of camping with a group of kids! Ha!
I don’t think any of us would have it any other way now.
Of course this isn’t for everyone but what stands out to me is how wonderful it is to develop your very own traditions unique to your little family, outside your extended family. What is it that makes you, YOU? What is that sets you apart in their minds, that they will love to remember one day?
It can be as simple as a certain special meal, or recipe that just YOU have special on Thanksgiving that’s not a regular Thanksgiving food. It could be that you always play musical chairs together as a family. It could be that you all go outside and play a game of kickball, everyone, including mom! It could be that you paint pumpkins or make them into turkeys. {Look at this adorable idea!} Maybe it’s that you make it a tradition to always write Thanksgiving letters to another member in the family and do a letter exchange.
Whatever it is, simple or no, enjoy this season making it especially your own in some way. No stress, just a simple thing that you make your own tradition apart from everything else that is already is on the agenda. Kids remember, and now years later — as I listen to my older kids, it’s the little things that made our family unique that they appreciated so much, or … laugh about. And that makes me thankful.
On another fun note! Pies!!
Here are some of my favorite links!
Pumpkin Pie tricks of the trade.
Pecan Pie – we know The Pioneer Woman knows what’s up about that!
Best Pies to be thankful for! 🙂 Thank you, Country Living, you’re the pro.
And, because authenticity is the best “pie” I can offer in a pinch, in that moment where you find out you don’t have enough pie because your sweet kids are bringing more friends home from college over the weekend! – Costco makes some wonderful, large, pecan and pumpkin pies ha! 😉
Now we’ve got all the pie bases covered.
Last but not least, don’t stress. Do your very best. Appreciate each step, forget the rest, and just be thankful, right? Blessings to each of you as you appreciate and remember all we have to be grateful for, like simply a new day to rise and love on our little ones. It’s never the load that breaks us down, it’s how we carry it. Here’s to a carrying Thanksgiving like the light weight of the fall leaves. If everything falls to the ground, make a big pile from it and enjoy it anyway!
Alyssa
For Hannah Kate
