Create New Thanksgiving Traditions for Your Family

Thanksgiving is all about getting together with family to make memories. Traditions expert Meg Cox joins Away We Grow host Diane Mizota to talk about the importance of honoring old traditions and offers some ideas to create new ones.

Cox, who recently published The Book of New Family Traditions, says that while traditions are an opportunity to celebrate with your family, they also give children a sense of identity and security. "...There's so much love and sharing and gratefulness at Thanksgiving. It's great to carry on traditions that your grandmother did, but it's also great to have new ones that are focused on the way your family really is." Cox knows one family who has a turkey parade before dinner. They place the turkey on a platter and march around the house banging pots and pans. "Everybody's involved and everybody's celebrating, and it's like a little party. It's really a great moment before you sit down and have the meal."

Traditions can also be used to help alleviate the stress the comes with preparing for the holiday. Cox encourages families to get everyone involved in the process, like having everyone help set the table and add Thanksgiving decorations. "You can have a contest, you know, who does the best job or the prettiest job or who gets it done first. And that person gets the first piece of pumpkin pie," says Cox.

Another tradition that is familiar to many families is a "Thankfulness Tree." Cox cuts out leaf shapes ahead of time and put ribbon on each leaf. At dinnertime, everyone writes things they are thankful for over the year. Says Cox, "It's a beautiful thing to have in the middle of the table as a reminder that gratitude is the centerpiece."

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