The Historic Smithton Inn - I Loved This Place!!!
The night before Thanksgiving is one of my favorite nights of the year. About a decade ago, my wife got the idea of what she calls the Thanksgiving Chain. All you need to make one is construction paper, scissors, a stapler, and something to write with.
We take basic construction paper you buy at Wal-Mart and cut it into about 100 strips using about five different colors. Along with my daughter, my wife and I then write things we are thankful for since the beginning of the year on each strip. It is a great time for laughter, memories, and learning about things that meant the most to those closest to you. Many things I had forgotten.
We then take those 100 strips and staple them into a chain alternating colors. The chain is then hung over the doorposts heading into our dining room.
As mentioned earlier, we have about 10 years worth of these chains in our garage.  My daughter had the wonderful idea last week of us linking them all together one year. I love the Thanksgiving Chain!!!
To provide some examples, here are some of the memories I will putting on my strips:
- Taking my daughter on a special date for her birthday. The 5th best experience of my life.Â
- Our 10-year wedding anniversary trip to Amish country in February. To read more about that trip and our stay at the wonderful Historic Smithton Inn, click here.
- Joseph Sangl purchasing our company in August. Click here for the press release.
- The Good Friday concert at Verizon Amphitheatre led by Chris Tomlin. To read about the leadership lessons I’ve learned from Chris this year, click here.
- Our family fall vacation to Gatlinburg, TN.
- Sitting under the teaching of Senior Pastor Crawford Loritts at Fellowship Bible Church on a weekly basis. Click his name to follow him on Twitter. You’ll be glad you did!
- We put our daughter in a new school this fall. Switching to The Kings Academy is one of the best parenting decisions we have ever made.
- I had the privilege of teaching the The Top 10 Characteristics Of A Generous Church to 200 church leaders in the May Take Out Conference. To see a video of that session, click here.
- Be able to help create a completely unique type of capital campaign designed to help the unemployed, poor, and under-resourced.
- Enjoying the movie Courageous with my daughter – twice!
 It is going to be a great night. If you are looking for something unique and inexpensive to do to make lasting memories this holiday season, try the Thanksgiving Chain. I think you will like it.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
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