The Inevitable Thanksgiving Eye Roll From My Husband

I don't often bring my facilitator work into our house, but Thanksgiving time is the one exception.

Despite the fact that I don't live in the US anymore.
Despite the fact that the first Thanksgiving was reciprocated by the slaughter and displacement of millions of people.

I still like to celebrate it for its original intent -- to feast in community and to give thanks for our bounty.

This year, we gathered 26 people at our house for our annual tradition.

Thanksgiving cannot be a Thanksgiving at my house without the inevitable eye-roll from my husband, as I put on my facilitator hat, and create space for gratitude.

This year, I opted for 3 gratitude giving options:

1) The GRATITUDE GO-AROUND, where the adults go around the table and share what they're grateful for. Like most years, I ended up in tears, not from my own share, but from those damn mirror neurons that fire up whenever someone else cries.

2) The GRATITUDE MAIL-BOX, where people could write notes of gratitude to those in attendance, or to someone not there, which I would then mail. My daughter wrote a beautiful note to my mother, which almost made me cry as well.

3) The GRATITUDE MURAL, where we could express ourselves with color. I started them with some prompts, like "A song that makes me happy..." and "A kindness someone did for me..." There was also space down below for the really little ones to draw something that makes them happy. It was mostly the work of the children, as it was next to the "kids table" but some of the adults added to it as well.

Here are a few pictures ⬆️

👉 How did you, or how will you, celebrate and give thanks this year?

Originally posted on LinkedIn with comments.
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