How to Have a Thanksgiving Story Hour

Each year a Thanksgiving story hour will add to the repertoire of shared family moments and memories.

A Thanksgiving story hour is a wonderful tradition that can bring families together to create memories. It also can help with keeping in mind their blessings and what the season is really all about. No matter how young or old your family members are, you will all be able to enjoy this tradition. This can take as much or as little time as you like. It is a great way to bring the family together during that "lazy" time after the meal before everyone heads off to sales and football.

Instructions

1. Cut the straws into different lengths. There should be a straw for each member of the family.

2. Gather the family together. You can do this while you are all seated around the table or in a family area such as a living room or a game room after the meal. This makes a good "break" game to give people some time between dinner and dessert if people are too stuffed to move on to pie right away.

3. Draw straws. The shortest straw goes first, and the longest goes last. Everyone else should go in between according to the length of their straw. If someone is shy or does not quite understand what the game is--as may be the case for younger family members--they can trade straws with someone else, but they must take a turn.

4. Explain the rules. Make sure that everyone understands that a chosen story should not single out a family member in a mean or embarrassing way. Stories about cute things older children did as youngsters are acceptable, but unkind stories that may still mortify, hurt or anger family members are not. Use the rule, "When in doubt, leave it out."

5. Tell a family story. It can be a funny, silly or heartwarming story. It can be about someone who is at the celebration or someone that everybody misses. For younger children, it can simply be a list of things that they are thankful for or that they enjoyed about the day. The stories do not have to relate to Thanksgiving unless you want them to.

6. Make sure everyone takes their turn. If your family has a few born storytellers, you might want to preset time limits on storytelling so that nobody's feelings are hurt when they are hushed. You can keep track of time using a kitchen timer or stopwatch. Enforce the rules for all so that everybody feels equally cared about.

Tips & Warnings

• Bring out the video camera. Recording these story hours can be a great way to relive good times later and can also provide an excellent resource for family history studies in years to come.

• Don't tell stories that reveal secrets or recall terrible times. The mood should be jovial. An effort should be made so that all can enjoy themselves.