The turkey is in the oven. The guests have arrived. And the table is set. Now, what activities can you plan to make sure your little ones enjoy the family that has traveled to spend time with them and everyone experiences some of the reverence of the day?
Keep it simple. Football aside, there are lots of options to busy them inside if the weather is less-than-inviting outside (or if it’s just too cozy to leave the inside). Board games like Earthopoly (ages 8 and up) and familiar choices such as Pictionary or Trivial Pursuit can busy a crowd for hours. Or, have family members help play Family Trivia, or tell group stories about how Grandpa snuck a horse-drawn wagon into the town church. Then, there are family movies. Bring on the popcorn.
The great outdoors offers a change of scenery and a natural place to let off some steam. A leisurely hike, family flag football or a generous bonfire will warm you from the inside, out. (Before alighting anything, be sure to check with your local fire department, first.) Many towns have Thanksgiving Day fun runs/walks to get you moving, too. And for the much-more-ambitious-than-me, this could be a great way to start your day. Whatever you do, do what feels like it keeps you centered and focused on what matters most. Keep in mind what Thanksgiving means to you and what you want to convey to your children. Teaching them to give thanks for all we have, no matter how little, is a gift they will share with their families. Remembering that is your gift to yourself.
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Victoria Scanlan Stefanakos is a wife and mother, a homesteader, a writer. When she’s not gardening or cooking or picking up wooden toys, she writes stories for national magazines and Web sites about living simply, naturally and well. You can read several of late in Martha Stewart Living and Real Simple.
So Victoria and her family to live lightly and pitch in: growing, making, putting by, selling and sustaining themselves with whatever they can on seven rugged acres. You can follow her chronicle of their adventure at Project Homestead
Lauren Mangion is a writer, engaged citizen, and an eco-coach from Calgary, Canada. Lauren’s personal life and work are intimately intertwined, both being experiments in more sustainable, lower-footprint urban living.
Through Conscious Home, an eco-coaching service, Lauren educates and inspires her fellow Calgarians with tools and resources toward reducing the individual ecological footprint.
Denise founded, designed and manages a national childbirth education program and movement called BornClear — empowering scores of women and couples. Preparing them for the ‘new addition.’ Her work has been reviewed in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Vogue and NBC's Today Show to name a few. Her clients include: Google, Ogilvy&Mather, Conde Nast, Credit Suisse, Citibank, BBC, Tishman Speyers.
Her first book will be out in early 2009 with Wiley Publishing.
Specializing in maternal and child wellness, Latham served as Program coordinator for the Healthy Moms-Healthy Babies project for the B-Healthy organization. She has been featured on Fox 5 news as an expert on organic foods and kid’s health. She is the co-founder of Panela Productions, a company that educates parents and children about food, through cooking classes, and events.
Latham teaches plant-based culinary classes at Whole Foods Market and Natural Kitchen Cooking School, where she is a part of the guest faculty, and for a host of private clients. She gives lectures on plant based nutrition at Laughing Lotus Yoga Center, North American Vegetarian Society's Summer Fest, and Excellence Charter School, to name a few.
She currently teaches prenatal yoga classes at Realbirth Childbearing Education Center in midtown Manhattan and Om Factory.
Latham contributes to Working Mother Magazine, Naturally Savvy, and Yoga Mom Magazine.
A freelance writer specializing in environmental and health topics, Linda recently was part of a core team of writers who developed content for GreenYour, a website devoted to greener living.
She wrote an environmental column for five years for Good Housekeeping magazine called Green Watch. You can find her articles in Plenty Magazine’s online newsletter, Fit Pregnancy, Good Housekeeping, Arthritis Today, Profiles (Continental Airline’s in-flight magazine), and Microsoft’s Encarta.
She served on her town’s environmental commission for 15 years and remains an active volunteer. Her personal essay column for the local newspaper offers her take on the natural world and on environmental topics in her neck of the woods.
Lynn Fantom’s commitment to eco-travel is in direct proportion to her passion for Acadia National Park in Maine, where she hikes, climbs, bikes, and kayaks with her daughter Luisa. Lynn is publisher of OUR ACADIA. a Web site devoted to exploring, eating, and relaxing on Mount Desert Island.
Lynn posts on www.mdislander.com range from where to find great lobster rolls to what to do with kids on rainy days.
When not in Maine, Lynn lives in New York City, where she is an executive in the media industry. In 2008 her company was named one of the Best Places to Work in New York City in Crain’s New York Business.
Loretta White is a writer, educator and scholar who gained huge diversity of experience within varied industries; energy, government, high tech and more. The last fifteen years she brokered deals with the top multinational companies globally, her Rainmaker skills are unsurpassed and she remains an authority on BD, BI, sustainability and the Global Marketplace.
Frugality was the voice of her elders who endured wars, rationing and Depression, raised to respect, love and to co-exist with nature through sustainability, self reliance, need and RRR practices. Loretta’s juxtaposition of ideas, deep love for the planet and her Yankee sensibilities are the foundation of a lifestyle that is in partnership with nature. Loretta indulges her passions for renewable energy, organics and being green on her 17.5 acre farm in central Massachusetts.
Recently Ms. White has lead an Assoc. of Caregivers providing support to those caring for parents, disabled, and others.
Loretta is invested in the community of our species and our planet and her diverse background in technology and green living gives her a unique perspective on how to live with nature and with our own gifts of technology.
Ms. White’s work has been published by Corporations, magazines, readers digest and many others.
Heather O'Neill is the founder of Eco to the People, a green living blog.
Before founding Eco to the People, Heather O’Neill wore so many hats in the field of journalism that even the Queen Mother would envy her collection. She has worked as the managing editor of a beauty trade magazine; as a copy editor for an online tech magazine; as the associate editor of a city magazine and as a newspaper reporter and columnist, and as the senior editor at the popular online newsletter ecofabulous.
Her work has appeared in many publications, including Parenting, Alternative Medicine, Natural Solutions, Marin Magazine, Greenwich Magazine and HOME.
Heather earned a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from California College of the Arts. She lives and works in San Francisco.
