Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Pilgrim's Feast for School Lunch: A More Authentic Menu


(This is my very favorite Thanksgiving decoration that we have.  It was entitled "Harvest Angel")

As my husband and I have contemplated how we can better celebrate, appreciate our history and bring a greater spirit of thanksgiving into our home, we have found so many wonderful new traditions.

Our Thankful Tree has been a total hit.  Our kids so enjoy writing something down each night.  It has not been uncommon to hear, "I'm thankful for ____" from our children throughout the day.  What a blessing to have started it.  We'd been struggling to work on gratitude in our home and a fun, family-bonding activity has helped.  It is definitely on the tradition list!

We also borrowed a stack of Thanksgiving books from the library.  They have been wonderful to read to and the kiddos love them!

We watched A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving for a bit of fun! (Not an affiliate link)

In school, we have been working on coloring this Pilgrim, Pilgrim coloring book.  It's a free printable, and my children have enjoyed coloring it and talking about it over several days.  This could be a fun activity to keep kiddos busy while you're cooking!  We'll be gluing the pages onto construction paper for school tomorrow, as well as one other special thing.  Our Pilgrim's Feast.

About a week ago, I got to wondering what the Pilgrims REALLY ate, and decided that we needed to have a lunch at school where we try eating, as best we can, what the Pilgrims really ate.  After googling around a bit, this is what we'll be having for our Pilgrim's Feast tomorrow:

Corn (we'll be eating heated up frozen corn)
Bread (they ate sour dough bread, according to one source, we'll just go ahead and make French Bread)
Craisins (they are believed to have had cranberries available at the time in the area)
Walnuts (we'll be eating a mix of nuts that contains walnuts)
Radishes and Onions (I'll be sauteing these (seasoned) from our winter garden, which I'll let them pick)
Carrots (from the grocery)
Pumpkin Muffins (We'll talk about the way that they served pumpkin, and that the Indians taught them to grow it)

They also had a LOT of meat and fish, from what it sounds like, and the celebration lasted 3 days, not just one.  We'll be talking about this, not doing it.  I don't think I can cook that much!  Ha!  Also, I'll just be cooking a whole chicken for Thanksgiving day, so I'm not going to prepare any meat for the kids today.

I know this will be a school tradition as well.  They are VERY excited about it!  While we home school, this could be done on a weekend, or some other time, if you're interested in making it part of your traditions.

It's been fun to make sure we don't fly through Thanksgiving without much thought or gratitude.  I'm hoping that it will transfer us into a more giving than getting Christmas.

What are your Thanksgiving traditions?  Did you try anything new this year?

6 comments:

  1. I hope your back is doing much better. I thought of you yesterday, when I bent wrong and felt a twinge. This would not be a good week to be laid up!

    We don't have family nearby, so one of our traditions is to invite another family from church to share our Thanksgiving.

    My kids (my son especially), loved Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. This was back in the VHS days, and we taped it from a TV special. He watched it over and over, all through the year.

    Have a lovely Thanksgiving!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! It seems to be on the mend. Oh, I hope you didn't hurt yourself! Take care.

      That's nice that you get to visit with others. I'm certain they will enjoy it. Your menus always sound so delicious!

      You can't beat some of those Charlie Brown cartoons!

      Thanks, and have a wonderful Thanksgiving too!

      Delete
  2. I love your little Angel. I have a wall plaque with Angel similar but with sunflowers. I use for fall decor. Will be putting her away soon with the pumpkins and silk leaves and various little cornucopia filled with fake fruit (those apples I told you about previously).

    I only have the Charlie Brown Christmas and Thanksgiving . They can be watched 100 times and never fail to entertain, and do they it sweetly.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Athanasia!

      Thank you! Your angel sounds beautiful. I'm sure you have some beautiful Christmas decor that will be coming to replace them!

      We pulled out our Charlie Brown Christmas yesterday and the kids loved it too.

      Delete
    2. It takes me awhile to get the Christmas things out. I have holiday kitchen towels and handtowels I have added to over the years, some soap dispensers, a Christmas village that goes on top of the fireplace. But we moved to a smaller house in Fall so no longer have a fireplace. I think we will put in the 4 season room...my husband will have to set up of board along the window ledge. I think it will be pretty there. I bought it 20 some years ago from Target...it was based on the IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE movie , so has all the characters, and scenes from the movie. I have added other houses, farms, animals to over the years.
      Won't put the tree up for a couple weeks yet.

      Delete
    3. Wow, your village sounds lovely! I'm sure it will look very nice in its new spot. I love the tradition of Christmas decorations!

      Delete