Quirky, Loving Table Tradition

I started a quirky tradition when my kids were very little where we write what we are thankful for on the table cloth in sharpie each year. It didn't matter if you were a guest or not as these were memories. My kids are now 19 and 17 and we have finally moved to a new table cloth this year. The old one was pretty crowded as you can imagine but I only host Thanksgiving every other year so it took a while to fill up. When the kids are older and married they will each get a table cloth. They can either use them, make them into something, or just keep it for the memories.

The old cloth was ivory and I stenciled leaves all over it. It's in the attic so I don't have a pic to show you sorry. This year, my daughter and I decided that we would make a runner for the center of the cloth in stead of actually stenciling on it. We still plan to write on it and with 16 people tomorrow it'll have a good start! I may decide to sew it n permanently but we'll see.

Here's a pic of the table cloth (white this time) and the runner that Jen and I painted.

We used the same green burlap that I used to make the napkin rings from an earlier post. Jen drew the leaf on card stock and then I cut it out using an exacto knife. We chose the colors we wanted and stenciled the yellow leaves, I did the ones on the left and she did the ones on the right. When those were done I flash dried the paint on the paper with my heat gun so we could flip it to make the second set of leaves. Again, hers right mine left. We let it dry over night and then she hand drew the phrase in the center and painted over it. So today I will lay sharpies on the table, and before we eat, everyone will get a chance to memorialize what they were/are thankful for this year.

As I said it's kind of quirky, but it's a fun loving way to save the memories for the kids besides just pictures. I want to hear about your traditions, Do you have one that most people don't? Tell us about it in the comment section and/or link up a picture in the left hand column.

I hope you all have a fabulous feast, a peaceful day, and are as blessed as I feel on this Thanksgiving holiday.

Love ya,
~Deb~