Welcome to a place where we can share ideas about grandparenting, especially ways to pass spiritual values and family stories to the next generation.

Mary is the co-author of The Grandparent Connection: 365 Ways to Connect With Your Grandchild's Heart.
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Co-author of The Grandparent Connection: 365 Ways to Connect With Your Grandchild's Heart
Showing posts with label Thanksgiving place mats. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thanksgiving place mats. Show all posts

Friday, November 18, 2011

Thanksgiving Memories and Place Mats


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Friday's Grand Connection Fun
by Mary May Larmoyeux

I'd like to share something with you from Heloise's Helpful Hints newspaper column. A reader named Laraine R. wrote that she makes place mats to remember various trips. After using double-stick tape to put trip memorabilia in place on poster board, she covers it with plastic.

My imagination came up with a few more ways that we can use Laraine's fun idea with our grandkids. What about making special Thanksgiving place mats for the family that are filled with memories of people and events that we are grateful for? For example, if a new grandbaby was born this year, we could have a copy of the birth announcement, photographs of Mom and the baby coming home, etc.

Or, maybe a grandchild recently graduated from high school or college. That place mat could have graduation pictures, copies of the invitation, etc. And if there's a little slugger in the family, how about focusing on baseball games and sports celebrations?

Of course, we wouldn't need to use actual pictures in today's world. We could print digital copies of photographs on plain paper. And we might want to focus on lots of people or events that we are thankful for, rather than just one specific person.

Here's another idea: We could help the grands make their own gratitude place mats. They could select pictures, write words, copy Bible verses, etc. onto a piece of poster board. It could be covered with plastic or laminated at a local teacher supply store (Mardel Bookstores often do laminating, too). We could ask grandchildren to make a place mat honoring one of their siblings, parents, or teachers.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, you may want to read the article 10 Ways to Keep Thanks in Thanksgiving . It's in the new issue of Encouraging Women  With Hearts for Their Homes.

Have a great weekend,
Mary
http://www.marymaywrites.com/

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Photo and post © by Mary May Larmoyeux. All right reserved.

Friday, November 19, 2010

Thanksgiving ideas


Friday's Grand Connection Fun

Can you believe that Thanksgiving is next week! Will you be with your grandkids?

For the past couple of years Pops' and my grandkids have made placemats and name cards for our Thanksgiving table. It's been fun to see their artwork, and quite frankly, it gave them a project to do while I worked in the kitchen. But this year we are doing something a little different going to a restaurant.

It just dawned on me that the kids can make name cards ahead of time and bring them to the restaurant. But ... they can color the placemats while we are at the restaurant.FamilyFun has the cutest placemats on its website:  Thanksgiving Placemat Checklist and Activity Placemat

If you are not able to be with your grandkids during the Thanksgiving holidays, you could always mail/e-mail them patterns for holiday placemats and name cards for their family table. Or, you could ask them to make some for your own table.

Do you have other ideas for making Thanksgiving festive at a restaurant or in a home? I'd love to hear them!

Wherever we are for Thanksgiving, our family goes around the table and thanks God for His blessings during the past year. It is always amazing how He has answered our prayers ... in His time and in His way. As Psalm 119:90 reminds us, God's "faithfulness continues through all generations." 

Happy Thanksgiving,
Mary
http://www.marymaywrites.com/

©  2010 Mary May Larmoyeux. All rights reserved.
Photo © 2009 Mary Larmoyeux. All rights reserved.