When Thanksgiving rolls around each year, it invariably fills me with nostalgia. Remembering back to my own childhood and our family traditions creates a desire to make our own holiday traditions as meaningful as those.  I believe that Thanksgiving, by its very nature, is one of the most powerful and unifying traditions that we celebrate.

Thanksgiving is that once-in-a-year opportunity to sit together and remember all that we have to be grateful for.  I am a bit of a traditionalist, so I enjoy celebrating with rituals from the past, but I also take pleasure in creating new ones.  For decades now, my husband and I have been hosting our family and friend Thanksgiving celebrations, but this year we decided to change it up.  Instead, we decided to take our Thanksgiving out of town to my father, brother and his family.  We rented a lovely villa on the sunshine coast; so along with all the normal holiday touches and the traditional turkey dinner and trimmings, we’ll add new touches to the celebration.  For us, any family gathering is the ideal time to let the laughter and competitions begin. The sunshine coast is the perfect setting to making Thanksgiving uniquely special and extraordinarily active and fun.  My hope is that this time together builds stronger connections that continues to bind us together over the years, creating appreciation for each other and for what we all have.