I love birthdays. I love planning for and celebrating birthdays. I love almost all birthdays — including my dog Penny who has gotten her own peanut butter cake in the shape of a dog bone every single year for seven years. Add party hats and balloons, and it’s a thrill for the whole family. I really do love celebrating everyone’s birthday, everyone’s except for my own.
When the day comes around each year, I appreciate the celebrations but I just don’t want people having to fuss over me — I prefer to do the fussing.
And it has nothing to do with gaining another year of knowledge or “aging.” I love the idea of an entire year ahead filled with new adventures with my husband and our kids and all of our traditions we look forward to as the seasons change. My motto around my birthday seems to be to seize the year, rather than to “seize the day.” I like to look at the big picture of 365 days ahead rather than this one day.
But a few years ago as Thanksgiving was approaching and my Pinterest feed was full of turkey crafts for kids, I came across the idea for Thankful Turkeys made out of pinecones. I was reminded that a lot of crafts I liked to do growing up involved pinecones — bird feeders, Christmas trees, and pinecone turkeys — and my backyard now was full of them. So I decided to spend the afternoon of my birthday that year with my kids making Thankful Turkeys. Taking their tiny hands, we traced them on construction paper. We then cut out the paper tracings and using each finger outline as a feather, we wrote down what we were thankful for on each one. I can’t recall exactly where I saw this craft but it was certainly not my idea — but it’s a pretty popular craft around this time of year. However, deciding to make it a birthday tradition was my idea.
For the past two years since, I have gathered our supplies the evening before — construction paper, glue, and some plastic Wiggle eyes. The next day, after my oldest gets home from school, we spend the afternoon working on our Thankful Turkeys. It gives me the opportunity to reflect on what I’m thankful for from the year prior and what I’m look ahead to for the next year. And an opportunity for me to let them know how important they are to me, how grateful I am to be their mom.
As I begin thinking about my own feathers of gratitude, my kids will start rattling off theirs. And that has been the most special part of my day for two years running. Listening to what my kids are thankful for deepens my connections with them. I not only hear what they are thankful for, but I also get to hear what is, therefore, really important to them.
They talk about their family, their friends, the food on their plates, and the toys they play with. The sports they play, the trees and leaves outside, and the quiet nights they feel safer without the loud booms of thunder or flashes of lightning from a storm. I hear who is important to them, what some of their favorites toys are, what they like to play, what interests them outdoors, and what makes them feel safe.
And somewhere in the midst of all of their gratitude, they remind me they are thankful for me. Now, I may have set it up such that I would very likely be given a strong compliment from my children on my birthday, however, in my defense, they come up with it all on their own after the small prompt. And that is truly, the greatest birthday gift.
With three boys, we don’t craft as much as we used to in my house but this is a special craft that I look forward to every, single, year. It is a tradition that I hope we will continue for many years. And who knows, perhaps many years from now when my boys are older and searching for the perfect gift for their mom, they will find themselves out on a hike, staring at a pinecone, and they will be reminded of these afternoons we spent together in their childhood. They might even pick it up and send it home to me, filled with their feathers of gratitude. A way for me to understand even then, what’s truly important to them.
It is a peaceful tradition in our home that is quietly crafted every year on the same day and around the same time.
And on Thanksgiving day, we display those Thankful Turkeys on our table. Those colorful feathers bursting from the dark tone of the pinecones, really illuminate, that there is so much good around us and so much to be grateful for.
While I hope you enjoy reading my posts, kindly be advised that the words in this article are not medical advice and I cannot guarantee that they will work for you or your family. They are my reflections on parenting my three boys, based on my own personal background and experiences. Always reach out to your own health professionals for any questions or concerns. Please read my full disclosure at the bottom of this site for more information. Very sincerely, Mamma P.
