Single parenting and Thanksgiving traditions have made me perplexed over the last couple of years that I’ve been divorced. I’ve struggled with ways to create my own traditions at my house, while bringing along some of the older traditions that were part of the family while my ex-husband and I were still married. Along the way, I’ve stumbled upon some new ways to celebrate Thanksgiving which will be helpful for creating traditions at my single parent household, while hanging on to some traditions during our married days which the kids hold dear. Here’s how I’ll integrate the two.
Vegetarian Thanksgiving Dishes
I’ve always been a health/wellness minded person, both married and single. My kids have watched this over the years and the older ones have taken on some of it. In fact, 4 of the girls are now vegetarian. So guess what? That gives us some great ways to tie in a few new vegetarian dishes into our Thanksgiving meal. I’ll have some great help from these girls as we plan the meal together, and will be able to keep these dishes alive at our Thanksgiving celebrations for years to come.
Turkey Hats
I found a nice craft online for turkey hats. My new tradition for my single parent Thanksgiving is going to be making the turkey hat…which isn’t too difficult, then wearing it during the meal. I’m not sure how this will go over with some of the kids, but I’m going to give it a try this year nonetheless. If it doesn’t work, I thought I’d look for a different craft for next year.
I’m Thankful For…
To bring in an old married tradition, I thought I’d include our “I’m Thankful For” routine that we’ve done for years as a married family. The group will go around the table making known the things which they are thankful for this Thanksgiving. It gives everyone a chance to discuss the things which they hold dearest.
Old Dishes
Even though I have so many vegetarian kids this year, most of them will still partake in some sugar consumption, so we will still participate in some traditional pie baking together. We will bake up some pumpkin and apple pies which are typically part of our married Thanksgiving the night before the holiday. In fact, I thought I’d invite their dad over for this because it was mostly his baking extravaganza that made this a tradition. Since we are amicable, this is possible, however, we couldn’t have done this as newly divorced parents.
Source: Personal experience
