Hello everyone Hope you are all having an awesome weekend
Some of you guys know we live in the Philippines and we don't really do Thanksgiving here, but for the past three years or so, we totally have... Why? because of my brother who now lives in the US. While he is celebrating over there, he encourages all of us back home to cook, decorate, gather the close relatives, and just have fun. I get it maybe he wants to share the moment and joy with us. He even sends the money prizes for the Bingo games —seriously the best
my sister ordered these from a local restaurant: spring rolls, baked mac, tokwats baboy and those chicken slices forgot the name
This whole gathering thing has become our new, unexpected family tradition, and I love it. Since the ancestral house of our parents is always the venue, I took it upon myself to handle the decor this year. I didn't have time to cook, even though I'm the usual "Clan's Cook"—I just bought two whole roasted chickens as my contribution! My time was fully spent cleaning and decorating and thinking of what kind of decor for Thanksgiving to use.
I spent the night looking for reusable cardboard boxes and made this sign and wrote the words gratitude tree. My hands are shaking literally
Then, I had a lightbulb moment If Christmas has a Christmas tree, why not a Gratitude Tree? This idea actually came from one of the drawing prompts from our dear friend 
We don't do pumpkins or turkeys or anything about harvest here so I just grabbed whatever is available. Found some potted plants for the greenery, the old picture frame I put a lovely prayer written by mom, the photos to the left are childhood photos from the vault to bring some nostalgia for the guests to laugh about, there is not much shimmering and not much plastic decors as I intend not to buy and use whatever we have
I found some pretty branches and lights and turned a corner of the house into a little gratitude station . We didn't actually hang the notes on the tree, but we posted them all over the wall beside it . And let me tell you, it was such a success. Every single person who came wrote down their gratitude notes. It was truly a wonderful moment for me, and it made the whole day feel so meaningful.
Even though I didn't cook, the joy of seeing all the relatives together, laughing, playing bingo, and sharing what they are thankful for? That's what Thanksgiving is all about, even here in the PH. This tradition is definitely sticking. Of course we need not wait for any occasion to come we need to be thankful every time there is an opportunity.
What traditions have you accidentally started in your family? I'd love to hear about it
lovelotz
Ally