Our Thanksgiving Tree
A friend’s 9-year-old came home from school some years back, wearing a paper “Indian hat.” He excitedly told his historian father, “We learned all about the Thanksgiving party the pioneers threw for their Indian friends!”
“Well, actually,” his historian father explained, “they weren’t just ‘pioneers,’ they were pilgrims, people who came here to live the way they believed God wanted them to live.
“And, although they were very grateful to the Wampanoag, they considered everything, even the Native Americans’ help, to be from God. Their previous year had been horrible, but things were finally getting better. In fact, there was so much food (the Wampanoag brought five deer!) that the celebration went on for days! And all of it, the pilgrim Edward Winslow wrote in his diary, was ‘because of the goodness of God.’”
Many Americans think of Thanksgiving as the start of an ongoing season of gratitude. My wife liked the idea so much that this year she pre-decorated our Christmas tree with a Thanksgiving theme. And then it struck us that we should begin gathering brief “What I’m Thankful For”s from family members. She plans to neatly calligraph these “thankful fors” onto year-dated leaf cut-outs. After which we’ll place them on Our Thanksgiving Tree each year, along with new ones, creating a sort of History of Gratitude.
Of course, 2020 has been more like the pilgrims’ “terrible, horrible, no good, very bad” pre-Thanksgiving year than their “Indian hat” year. But this year’s “thankful fors” belong on Our Thanksgiving Tree, as well. Because they’re seeds of hope, seeds that, fed by “the goodness of God,” will produce next year’s bumper crop!
“For this light, temporary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory that is far beyond comparison. And so we fix our eyes not on what we can see, but on what we cannot see. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” ~2 Corinthians 4:17-18
Mitch Teemley 
I like the idea of a Thanksgiving Tree, Mitch. Even in 2020 there is still plenty to be thankful for. The scripture you shared is a good reminder to look 👀 for what is unseen—the treasures of eternity with God.
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I love this! Maybe it hit me a just the right time. But I’m thinking of getting out my old Christmas tree that I haven’t put up in five years and finding a permanent spot for it. I think I’ll maybe start a new one every month. Strip it and start thinking of new (and some ongoing) blessings for that month. Is it because I just drank a cup of caffeine and am now on a caffeine high? (I never drink caffeine, so it really affects me when I do.) Hmmm. I wonder if I can have a different “tree top” for each month. Now, you’ve really got my juices going. I really needed this. I’ve been an old fogey for the past five years. Now, who knows?
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I’ve heard a number of people mention that they do that, Katheryn, even without the influence of caffeine. ;>)
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There’s a restaurant in a small town near us where they keep the tree up all year and decorate it each month with a different theme.
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I love this idea!
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Addendum. Well, I got out my tree and I think I’ve found a permanent place for it. Annnnd, I’ve decided to put one blessing a day, one special prayer a day, and one family from my congregation a day on it. Wow! I’ll end the month with 90 “ornaments” on my tree. Then the next month I’ll start over. This is really snow-balling! I’m getting out of control!
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Time to switch to decaf? ;>)
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That is so awesome!! Is that gonna be your Christmas Tree to? Christmas is around the corner!
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Yep, we just finished redecorating it for Christmas.
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What a wonderful idea! Of course, carrying it out would require having a tree up and ready to festoon, which we do not. Thanks for sharing your boundless creativity with us. Season’s blessings to you and yours.
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You too, my friend.
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Happy thankxgiving👍
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Thank you!
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I think this is a wonderful idea. Thank you for sharing it with your readers.
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This is an insanely brilliant idea! My creative mind went wild! Oh, I am all about this now and already looking forward to Thanksgiving next year! Lol
Instead of waiting to put up the tree Thanksgiving evening, we’re putting ours up early and decorating it throughout November with the same thankful for notes that we’ll collect throughout the year. Before the meal, we’ll gather around it and read them…a retelling and reminding of our many blessings. After dinner, we will replace them with Christmas ornaments but I’ll keep all our blessings and print them together for each family member as a keepsake.
Love this so much! Many thanks to your brilliant wife!
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I’ll tell her immediately, Laura! ;>)
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Love the Thanksgiving Tree idea. Seems this year more people put their Christmas trees up early as a bright spot in a trying time — us included. Decorating the tree with what we’re grateful for is a great exercise in finding blessings in trials. Blessings to you and your family.
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Thank you, CG, likewise.
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Check up nimrod and who you worship and it is not God
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Beg to differ, Saberina. I know the One I worship, and it’s not a dead Mesopotamian king. God thought of evergreen trees long before any ancient cult decided to make them symbols of false gods.
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I used to be all about waiting for the Christmas decorations to go up. My deeply entrenched German traditions (of waiting until Christmas Eve with lighting the tree) always seemed to squash any early light bearer in my family. This year … I changed my mind (as with many things). Conclusion: There just can’t be enough light … who cares about when and how much and for how long!!! It seems to be a good time to evaluate why we do what. Thanks for always inspiring us to seek and put out the Light, Mitch!
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My pleasure, Heidi!
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Yes indeed, “seeds of hope”…… ;>)
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That is such a beautiful idea. I didn’t know the history of Thanksgiving, thanks for sharing 👍
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This is a lovely idea. My daughter is very sick right now, probably with covid-19. The person she lives with tested positive yesterday and she is waiting for her own test result. But she is so sick, we feel certain that she has it. Right now, my mom heart is breaking. And yet, I am grateful. So grateful for my daughter, and grateful that we have a loving merciful Father God who hears our prayers.
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Oh, Linda. He does indeed. Praying.
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Our tree is still at the tree farm. But I LOVE this idea! Happy Thanksgiving, Mitch. God bless!
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You too, Nancy!
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What an awesome idea. Thanksgiving season, not just a day. I wish people thought of Thanksgiving as a year long thing.
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Great idea! Thanks for sharing it. Blessings!
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You too, Sherrey!
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