Some of you may remember a post I put on my Social Media sites recently about Thanksgiving conversation starters. It was originally a post from the Close to my Heart blog with a great idea for kick-starting the conversation with your family around the Thanksgiving table. There were suggested questions for adults or children, with fun questions like: Tell your worst date story or What would you do if you were invisible for the day? Now, for those of you that know me, you’d be aware that I don’t usually struggle with keeping a conversation going but, the thing I really liked about these questions was that they brought up topics I would never think to ask my family about. You know those type of things that you kind of already know or feel like you should, so you don’t ask? I also don’t know about you and your families but sometimes it can feel like you talk so much about what is happening day to day that you don’t take time to talk about the fun stuff! So when this post popped into my inbox I thought, why not?!

With my Mom in town and lots of workshop and travel prep to do, we decided to sit down and have a craft day, which  included making our conversation starter jar. Now, you can make this as fancy or simple as you’d like to. We decided to keep it pretty simple with just a cute jar and a ribbon tied around it but feel free to let your creative mind go crazy and put some of those Close to my Heart products and ideas to use! With a range of different ages at our table, we wanted a mix of questions so we printed each of the options in a different colour. That way, when someone was picking out a question to ask me, they would pick out a red/adult question versus a green/children question for my son, Ryan. From there, the questions just needed to be cut up, folded and thrown in the jar, ready for a our Thanksgiving meal the next day.

Stomachs sufficiently full and feeling very relaxed and content from our delicious meal but not even close to being ready to think about the delicious pumpkin pie waiting for us, it seemed to be the perfect time to pull out the jar. I have to admit there were a couple of obligatory groans from the family as it came out but everyone was more than willing to give it a go and as everyone around the table gradually had their turn responding to a question, we could all see what a great idea this was! My husband, Bob had tears running down his face at one point and I’m sure I saw a few wide-eyed, slightly surprised looks from the kids at some of the responses from their parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles.

I can’t overstate what a fantastic addition this was to our Thanksgiving celebration. We had such a wonderful time making our way around the table and either learning something new about each other or being reminded of that thing that had happened so long ago, it had slipped from our memories. We will definitely be trying this again at our Christmas table this year and might even add to the fun by encouraging each participant come up with their own question. If this seems like something you’d like to try, please take this free download and print it out for yourself. 

Download the adult conversation starters here.

Download the children conversation starters here.

I would love to hear from you once you’ve tried them yourself to see if you and your loved ones enjoyed the conversation starters as much as we did or perhaps you found a really fun and creative way to present your jar of questions.

As my three beautiful children continue to grow and develop into wonderful young adults, I have moment after moment where I am thankful that I have preserved our family’s memories.

Just last week our youngest, Annie started her HSC, the final exams she will sit in High School. Now, as we all know, reaching your final weeks of High School is a time of reflection. As the school days draw to an end, we can’t help but look back on all the moments that have guided us to this point. The first day of High School, the many school camps, sports days, excursions, dances and all the other fun times that have combined to make up our time at school.

Over the last few weeks as this conclusion has drawn closer for our daughter, I have felt so privileged to watch her make her way through all these carefully preserved memories. I found her looking back through her school days scrapbooks, reading the stories, pulling out her awards and giggling at the photos of her and her friends.  It warms my heart that her albums are a source of encouragement, confidence and strength for her and something that I was able to provide.

When it comes to these exams, our focus is not the marks that come out of it but on the adventures which will follow and my hope is that she continues to be this young woman who is making me so proud and that we are able to stay with her on that adventure.