November is the month that we remind ourselves to be thankful for our blessings. This year is no different, and you may even argue that it’s more important than ever to be grateful for the things we love the most.

No matter what your holiday celebration plans look like, there are ways to make this Thanksgiving one for the memory books.

Take lots of pictures of your friends and family at Thanksgiving this year.

Take lots of pictures

I don’t know about you, but I often forget to take pictures at family events. One thing I try to remind myself to do during Thanksgiving is to get a portrait of everyone at the holiday gathering.

Thanksgiving is the perfect time to capture the best moments on camera. Everyone is all dressed up and just getting enthused with the spirit of the holidays. Plus, today’s cell phones are designed to enhance the most beautiful features of faces with the portrait mode.

Even if you can’t all get together in the same place, each family can take their own photos and share them with each other. Your pictures are then perfect for sharing on Christmas cards and personalized photo gifts.

Stay Off Social Media

The only downside to taking pictures with your phone is the temptation to get on social media apps and see what all your friends are doing. But with all the distance we’ve had to put between us and our loved ones this year, Thanksgiving is a good time to put away the social media for a few hours.

Make the most of the time you have together by turning off your notifications and focusing on the people right in front of you. You can always compare turkeys after the festivities settle down.

Play interactive games like charades after Thanksgiving dinner.

Play games

In the vein of being present, use this time to play games with your family. You don’t even need to purchase a board game if you don’t have one. Charades is always a fun choice in a gathering of people, and in our family, we like to play the dictionary game.

Open a dictionary and find a word no one knows the meaning of. Everyone writes down their own unique definition and then turns it in to the player who chose the word. Read them all aloud and try to guess who wrote what. This game is hilarious in a group!

Make your own recipe book

Do you have a particular dish you’re known for bringing to holiday dinners? Do you always look forward to Aunt Sally’s chocolate chess pie or your sister Gail’s cream corn casserole?

Wouldn’t it be fun to take all the recipes each member of your family is known for and make your very own book of recipes?!

It used to be a tradition to pass recipes down within families, but nowadays a lot of us don’t think to preserve our holiday meals in the form of a recipe book. Using any word processing software, you can quickly and easily add your family’s own Thanksgiving meal recipe book. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy. Save the digital file to your Google Drive or simply print it out onto regular paper and staple it together. Of course, you could fancy it up as a gift idea to pass on to the next generation this Christmas.

Wear masks when appropriate to keep the family safe this Thanksgiving.

Stay Safe

The one thing that can ruin any family gathering this year would be to have anyone get sick after spending time with their loved ones. Don’t forget to make accommodations to keep your Thanksgiving day celebration safe for everyone.

1. Have your get together outside if possible

2. Use disposable plates and utensils – and don’t reuse them when you go back for seconds

3. Hand sanitizer everywhere

4. Wear masks if appropriate

5. Spread out while eating

6. Use markers to identify each person’s beverage

What will you do to make Thanksgiving special this year?

Share your thoughts in the comments!