Thanksgiving Routine

THANKSGIVING is SUCH a JOY for our family. This year it will be a little more sad for our family as we are not making our usual cross-country trek to spend it with family; grandparents, siblings, and about a dozen cousins between 5 and 17. (Sad trombone!)

BUT, I am maintaining my position as Ringmaster of FUN for our family, and I’m laying out my plans for you right here, right now.

First, a workout! DUH! 

Rise and shine and put on those sneakers before you throw horseradish in that Bloody, sister!

Aim to get as many participants as possible, and YOU show Grandpa Joe that he can do a burpee, he just has to deconstruct it. (See my Reel on Instagram for Burpees 4 Ways)

Set the timer on your watch for at least 10 minutes, and do THIS:

10 Minute AMRAP 

(you can easily make this one longer if you want to go 15 or 20 minutes!)

• 10 burpees

• 10 clock lunges (5 right leg and 5 left leg) *lunge forward, lateral, and reverse = 1

• 10 plank position wrists to forearms (starting from wrists, go right forearm down, left forearm down, back up to right wrist, back up to left wrist, and repeat starting with left!) *if you have a partner, go head to head and high 5 each other each time you go back to your wrists!

• 20 squats or squat jumps *if you have a partner, go face to face and high five them each time you stand or jump, alternating hands!

• :30 run (optional- depending on your conditions)

REPEAT until the turkey’s done or until your timer dings.

Now, shower if you must, but keep your leggings handy as you’ll want to pop back in them once photos and dress up time ends. Here are a few fun games that we will enjoy over Thanksgiving, and I encourage you to do the same!

1. Dizzy Bat. Ideally you have 2 bats and enough people to make this a relay race. (It will work with one, just give everyone a turn.) Place the bat about 20 yards away from the starting point. Each person runs to the bat, places their forehead on the butt of the bat, and keeps the tip of the bat on the ground. You run around the bat 10 times, and then the fun starts as you run back to tag the next person. *Do this on soft grass, we don’t want grandma to break a hip!

2. Turkey Toss. Thanksgiving tradition. Buy an extra turkey (you will not want to eat this turkey, ever) and double or triple bag it. OR dress up a heavy medicine ball and pretend it’s a turkey. *You may need Cornish game hens if you have littles, or a smaller med ball. Have a designated starting line, and you use whatever technique you think is best (underhanded toss wins for me!) and throw that puppy as far as it will go. Have someone with chalk mark the spot with your name. Furthest throw wins. A $10 buy in makes for extra cash for stocking stuffers for the big winner! 

3. DANCE PARTY! Who doesn’t want to burn off some turkey with a dance party? Here are a few family friendly jams that the kiddies LOVE to dance to: 

   Cha Cha Slide

   Chicken Dance

   Baby Shark

   Macarena

   YMCA

   Hokey Pokey

   Beat It

   Freeze Dance

   Who Let the Dogs Out

   And then I like to wrap it up with a few Christmas tunes to get us in the SPIRIT!

   Underneath the Tree

   All I Want for Christmas is You
   *For those songs that are not choreographed (like Cha Cha and YMCA) you can play “copycat” and put one person in the middle of the circle and everyone copies their moves. SO FUN!!

4. We like to end the evening with a little KARAOKE! Nothing like listening to Grandma Betty belt out a little Lizzo to keep the laughs rolling and the party going. Laughter is THE BEST aid in digestion and it’s a great way to keep moving and life happening without dozing off watching football. 

I’d love to hear other ideas from YOU! What is a Thanksgiving tradition that you and your family enjoy that you’d love to share?