Thankful leaves

(To all the Hearts at Home readers. Please enjoy this post from a couple of years ago about one of our Thanksgiving traditions.)

Traditions are important for families.  They provide ways to mark the year and help to provide security for children.  (There was something so comforting to both of our adopted children when they experienced family traditions for the second time.  It reassured them that they belonged.)  One of our traditions for Thanksgiving is to decorate our table with leaves which we can write on.  Each person has two or three leaves  with their names on them.  (Which is why I turned them upside down.)  As Thanksgiving approaches, we take turns at dinner telling each other what we're thankful for and I write it on their leaf.  It is a wonderful record of what is happening in our family and the stages our children go through.

A record, that is, if you use the same leaves each year.  You'll notice that the leaves we are currently using are made out of construction paper.  This is a tribute to just how out of it I was for the years 2008 and 2009 (year of twin pregnancy and year of twin infancy).  Our original leaves are made out of fabric in fall colors, sewn by me, and we used fabric markers to write on them.  But when I went to find them this year, they were no where to be found.  I searched and searched, but they are still lost.  I did find a small stack of construction paper leaves, with our names on them and the year '2009' written on them.  I have absolutely no recollection of these leaves.  We must have used them because they are written on and A. says I asked her to cut them out last year... because I couldn't find the fabric ones.  This means that the year I was pregnant, I put the fabric leaves away somewhere.  Obviously, it was not in the normal place.  I have no idea where my pregnancy muddled mind would have thought was a good storage place.  But just as disturbing is that I have no memory of the others.  None.  It just shows how sleep deprived I really was.  I knew I was tired, but it is probably just as well, I didn't fully realize how tired I was.  I'm sure I shouldn't have been operating heavy machinery (my van).  But I'm thankful for my girls... memory loss and all.

Now I need to decide whether to make more fabric leaves (having done it once, I now know what works best), or do I wait another year and hope the others turn up, or do I just continue with the construction paper version (which I do not find nearly as appealing).  And I'm also thankful that I can spend my time worrying about  pondering such trivialities.

Rolls, extra gravy, bread for lunches, and granola for breakfasts are made.  Mashed potatoes, pies, and cubing bread for stuffing on the docket for today.  And the arrival of our visiting family.