{"id":725,"date":"2011-11-06T19:00:36","date_gmt":"2011-11-07T00:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/smalltownamerica\/?p=725"},"modified":"2011-11-06T18:57:43","modified_gmt":"2011-11-06T23:57:43","slug":"7-ways-to-a-happy-thanksgiving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/smalltownamerica\/2011\/11\/7-ways-to-a-happy-thanksgiving.html","title":{"rendered":"7 Ways to a Happy Thanksgiving"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 With Thanksgiving only a few days away, many of us are getting ready for out-of -town guests.\u00a0 We have 3 grown children and 9 grandchildren.\u00a0 They all live several hours aways from us.\u00a0 Matt is in St. Louis, MO, Martha is in Columbus, OH, and Jonathan is in Ashburn, VA.\u00a0 We don’t get to see them very often so it’s a big deal when they come home.\u00a0 It has been 5 years since the whole family has gathered in the same place at the same time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Many of us have long distsnce relationship with our children and grandchldren.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Here are some thoughts that might make your visit more pleasant.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. When they arrive don’t bombard them with “It took you long enough to get here”, “‘Can’t\u00a0 to try harder to come to see us?”\u00a0 “Our grand kids hardly even know us.” and other things like this that will put them on the defensive.<\/li>\n
  2. Speak in kind words and make them feel special, not guilty.\u00a0 Ask about their lives, without judging their choices.\u00a0 They each have their own family now and they are free to pursue their own dreams and goals.\u00a0 We don’t have to agree with them, but we shouldn’t critcize them either.<\/li>\n
  3. Don’t stress over the small stuff.\u00a0 They probably won’t notice the dust on the window frame or the shoes kicked under the couch.\u00a0 They are coming to see you, not do the “white glove” test.<\/li>\n
  4. If little Tommy spills milk on the new carpet, don’t freak out. Just quietly clean it up and move on.\u00a0 If Stacy insists that lima beans are “Yucky”, serve corn also.<\/li>\n
  5. Make the in-laws feel especially welcome and include them in the meal preparations and clean up.\u00a0 You don’t want to send the message, “You’re not good enough to be in my kitchen.”<\/li>\n
  6. When the room gets too crowded, instead of whining and complaining, enjoy the closeness.\u00a0 It does’t happen that often, grin and bare it.\u00a0 Let the adults watch their football game and take the little ones another room to color or play games.<\/li>\n
  7. Ask God to bless your time together and then trust Him to do so.\u00a0 Make some unforgettable memories and give lots of hugs and “I love you’s”.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 With Thanksgiving only a few days away, many of us are getting ready for out-of -town guests.\u00a0 We have 3 grown children and 9 grandchildren.\u00a0 They all live several hours aways from us.\u00a0 Matt is in St. Louis, MO, Martha is in Columbus, OH, and Jonathan is in Ashburn, VA.\u00a0 We don’t get to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":420,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,30],"tags":[25,29,94],"class_list":["post-725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-encouragement","category-memories","tag-children","tag-family","tag-memories"],"yoast_head":"\n7 Ways to a Happy Thanksgiving - Small Town America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/smalltownamerica\/2011\/11\/7-ways-to-a-happy-thanksgiving.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"7 Ways to a Happy Thanksgiving - Small Town America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 With Thanksgiving only a few days away, many of us are getting ready for out-of -town guests.\u00a0 We have 3 grown children and 9 grandchildren.\u00a0 They all live several hours aways from us.\u00a0 Matt is in St. Louis, MO, Martha is in Columbus, OH, and Jonathan is in Ashburn, VA.\u00a0 We don’t get to…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/smalltownamerica\/2011\/11\/7-ways-to-a-happy-thanksgiving.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Small Town America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-11-07T00:00:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-11-06T23:57:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"dhanny\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"7 Ways to a Happy Thanksgiving - Small Town America","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/smalltownamerica\/2011\/11\/7-ways-to-a-happy-thanksgiving.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"7 Ways to a Happy Thanksgiving - Small Town America","og_description":"\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 With Thanksgiving only a few days away, many of us are getting ready for out-of -town guests.\u00a0 We have 3 grown children and 9 grandchildren.\u00a0 They all live several hours aways from us.\u00a0 Matt is in St. Louis, MO, Martha is in Columbus, OH, and Jonathan is in Ashburn, VA.\u00a0 We don’t get to…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/smalltownamerica\/2011\/11\/7-ways-to-a-happy-thanksgiving.html","og_site_name":"Small Town America","article_published_time":"2011-11-07T00:00:36+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-11-06T23:57:43+00:00","author":"dhanny","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/smalltownamerica\/2011\/11\/7-ways-to-a-happy-thanksgiving.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/smalltownamerica\/2011\/11\/7-ways-to-a-happy-thanksgiving.html","name":"7 Ways to a Happy Thanksgiving - Small Town America","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/smalltownamerica\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-11-07T00:00:36+00:00","dateModified":"2011-11-06T23:57:43+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/smalltownamerica\/#\/schema\/person\/8903397417d1ce94982f0403797aedbe"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/smalltownamerica\/2011\/11\/7-ways-to-a-happy-thanksgiving.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/smalltownamerica\/2011\/11\/7-ways-to-a-happy-thanksgiving.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/smalltownamerica\/2011\/11\/7-ways-to-a-happy-thanksgiving.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/smalltownamerica"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"7 Ways to a Happy Thanksgiving"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/smalltownamerica\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/smalltownamerica\/","name":"Small Town America","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Diane Hanny","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/smalltownamerica\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/smalltownamerica\/#\/schema\/person\/8903397417d1ce94982f0403797aedbe","name":"dhanny","description":"john3:16","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/smalltownamerica\/author\/dhanny"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/smalltownamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/smalltownamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/smalltownamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/smalltownamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/420"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/smalltownamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=725"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/smalltownamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":727,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/smalltownamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725\/revisions\/727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/smalltownamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/smalltownamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/smalltownamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}