The Thanksgiving Tree

Yes, you read that right. Thanksgiving tree. If you’re anything like us, you’re currently picturing something like a plain old Christmas tree, just with Thanksgiving ornaments on it. You know, a glass turkey here, a ceramic pilgrim hat there. And sure, there are plenty of those out there, as fun decorations for the season.

​But the real Thanksgiving tree tradition has much more behind it than just a pretty decoration.

As far as anyone can tell, the concept of the Thanksgiving tree started circulating the internet sometime in 2018. The idea is pretty simple: make some kind of tree with leaves you can write on, so you can write what you’re thankful for on them. Basically, you’re making a physical representation of your blessings.

​There’s a couple schools of thought on how best to achieve this. Typically, you start by having every guest (friends and family alike) write what they are thankful for on a leaf, and attach those leaves to the tree. At the end of the activity, you have a tree whose branches are laden with the blessings in your life and the lives of those you love. Some families disperse these leaves to their owners at the end of the day, so they can take them home as a reminder of what they are thankful for, but some families recommend writing down the date on each leaf and then leaving them attached to the tree. That way, every year, you can see your tree grow and grow with all the things your family is thankful for, and you can watch how blessings only continue to multiply.

Every family’s Thanksgiving tree will look a little different—they aren’t something you can just go buy in a store, and there are lots of different ways to make one. Some people just use paper, drawing the branches of their tree and using Post-It notes for the leaves. Craftier families have made an actual miniature tree with dried willow bunches you can get from the craft store, and then decorated it with silk leaves written on in fabric marker.

The level of effort you put into creating the tree is up to you, but no matter what form your Thanksgiving tree takes, it will always be a beautiful and tangible representation of the things we have to be grateful for, the blessings we may otherwise take for granted, and the joys that make life worth living.

Sources:
Thanksgiving Trees to Make You Grateful
How to Make A Thankful Tree
Autumn Thanksgiving Tree