Tis the Season to Be Grateful
Thanksgiving is more than eating grotesque amounts of food. It’s about being grateful for the tiny things in life which give us the greatest of pleasures – such as arch supports for our shoes, and other minuscule, pitiful things that we all take for granted. What’s something tiny that you will commit to appreciating this week? 
Five Kernels of Corn
‘Twas the year of the famine in Plymouth of old,
The ice and the snow from the thatched roofs had rolled;
Through the warm purple skies steered the geese o’er the seas,
And the woodpeckers tapped in the clocks of the trees;
And the boughs on the slopes to the south winds lay bare,
and dreaming of summer, the buds swelled in the air.
The pale Pilgrims welcomed each reddening morn;
There were left but for rations Five Kernels of Corn.
Five Kernels of Corn!
Five Kernels of Corn!
But to Bradford a feast were Five Kernels of Corn!
“Five Kernels of Corn! Five Kernels of Corn!
Ye people, be glad for Five Kernels of Corn!”
So Bradford cried out on bleak Burial Hill,
And the thin women stood in their doors, white and still.
“Lo, the harbor of Plymouth rolls bright in the Spring,
The maples grow red, and the wood robins sing,
The west wind is blowing, and fading the snow,
And the pleasant pines sing, and arbutuses blow.
Five Kernels of Corn!
Five Kernels of Corn!
To each one be given Five Kernels of Corn!”
O Bradford of Austerfield hast on thy way,
The west winds are blowing o’er Provincetown Bay,
The white avens bloom, but the pine domes are chill,
And new graves have furrowed Precisioners’ Hill!
“Give thanks, all ye people, the warm skies have come,
The hilltops are sunny, and green grows the holm,
And the trumpets of winds, and the white March is gone,
Five Kernels of Corn!
Five Kernels of Corn!
Ye have for Thanksgiving Five Kernels of Corn!
“The raven’s gift eat and be humble and pray,
A new light is breaking and Truth leads your way;
One taper a thousand shall kindle; rejoice
That to you has been given the wilderness voice!”
O Bradford of Austerfield, daring the wave,
And safe through the sounding blasts leading the brave,
Of deeds such as thine was the free nation born,
And the festal world sings the “Five Kernels of Corn.”
Five Kernels of Corn!
Five Kernels of Corn!
The nation gives thanks for Five Kernels of Corn!
To the Thanksgiving Feast bring Five Kernels of Corn!
~ Hezekiah Butterworth
When the Family Comes Home to Play
Ahhh … the holidays, full of love, good cheer, and LOTS of family. You could just sit around the fire and chat, but if you have little ones — even teens — chances are someone will get bored. Not to mention losing out on a great opportunity for everyone from the youngest to the oldest to get in some fun time! So here are some family party games to play to spice things up a bit.
Hide the Pumpkin (or turkey, or Santa)
A fun twist on the old staple of “Hot and Cold” – assign a decorative pumpkin (or turkey/Santa) as “it”. Someone hides it in the house… then, as the group looks for it, the person who is “it” says “Whooooo” in a soft spooky voice if you’re far away, and a loud “Whooooo” if you’re nearby – getting louder and louder the closer someone get to it. Whoever finds it gets to hide the pumpkin next. For thanksgiving, “gobble” like a turkey, and for Christmas, “HOHOHO” like Santa!
Nuts in a Basket
Assorted nuts are a holiday tradition. In this game, everyone sits in a circle. They each choose a “nutty” name, such as “hazelnut”, “peanut” or “almond”… then someone stands in the middle of the circle and starts the game. Whoever is “it” calls out two nuts at the same time – the two nuts have to switch seats without letting the person in the middle steal their chair. If they have their chair stolen, they’re “it” – or if the person in the middle failed to steal a chair, then he/she is “it” again. To create mass mayhem, the person in the middle can yell out “Nuts in a Basket!” – which means EVERYONE must get up from their chair and find another chair to be in. Lots of fun! You can change this up for “Fruit in a Basket” or “Candies in a Bowl”… whatever you enjoy the most.
For Thanksgiving Dinner I had …
This is an oldie but goodie … and can be changed for Christmas. Quite a simple memory game, the family sits in a circle and someone starts out “For Thanksgiving dinner I had ________”, naming a food. The next person has to start out “For Thanksgiving dinner I had _____ and ______”, repeating the food they just heard, and naming a new one. As you can imagine, the bigger the group, the harder it gets… especially if you go around more than once! Sure to get lots of giggles, and the best part is, you got to get off your feet for a while!
Make a Family Capsule
Same thing as time capsules, only centered around your family! Have them write a Christmas card to themselves in the future. Take a family picture of everyone there – or include a Christmas portrait that you had made. Put in some things that have significance of that particular year… and then close it up, and write a chosen year on it to be opened in the future. You decide – are you going to open it in a year? Five years? Ten? Enjoy!
Gifts for Christ
Something a little more Christ centered is gifts for Christ. Make a little box out of cardboard and fancied it up with some colored glue and jeweled buttons. Every Christmas Day, open the box and read what “gifts” everyone gave to give Christ the past year, and then put in the box new gifts you want to give the Savior the following year. These gifts are things that you want to give the Savior – things like “Being kind to my sister” or “No yelling in the home” or “Read my scriptures everyday” – whatever it is that you want to better your life so that you can better the lives of others, thus “As I have loved you, love one another”.
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