Beyond the Turkey:

Thanksgiving… a season of gratitude, family, memory-making and giving back. Here are some ideas for celebrating beyond the dinner.

Thanksgiving Month: Give Thanks by Giving Back

Thanksgiving is a time of giving thanks. It is also a time to reach out and give to others. For local families, here are a few ideas to show appreciation to others and help those in need.

• Our service men and women overseas are often unable to call their own families over the holidays due to the high cost of international phone calls. Cell Phones for Soldiers is a non-profit organization that provides free calling cards and cell phones to active duty military members and veterans.  The organization was founded in 2004, and since that time has provided 181 million minutes of free talk time and an average of 12,000 calling cards each week. Last year, the organization expanded its outreach by launching Helping Heroes Home, to provide emergency funds for returning veterans to alleviate communication challenges, as well as physical, emotional and assimilation hardships. You can say thanks to our military by giving back in a tangible way, bringing joy to families this holiday season.
• Share with your neighbors. In your own neighborhood, do you have friends who are unable to visit family over the holidays? Invite them to join your celebration. Perhaps you know of a shut-in in your neighborhood without family nearby. Delivering a hot meal and visiting with them can brighten their day.
• Help feed the hungry. It is estimated that 1 in 6 Americans is suffering hunger every day. You can donate or volunteer with organizations to help the cause. Harvesters, Kansas City’s local food network, accepts donations and volunteer assistance. Families can work together at local food banks, soup kitchens and mobile pantries (volunteers must be 6 years old or older), or you may donate at a local collection site.
• Sponsor a child through World Vision, helping meet basic needs, including clean water, nutritious food, health care, education and more. The organization pools resources to reach out to impoverished communities around the world and make a difference. Our family sponsors children through World Vision, and our girls look forward to receiving letters from the children in the mail and learning more about them and their culture. We send birthday cards and holiday cards to the children and keep their photographs on our family bulletin board.
• Brainstorm. Ask your children at your own dinner table if they can think of someone they would like to help. Do you have a friend or loved one you would like to bless this Thanksgiving season? This year, one of our girls’ friends needed a service dog to help with her special needs. The only dog that would meet our friends’ needs required significant fund-raising. Our girls brainstormed as a family and organized a program selling lunches at Daddy’s office. All of the funds we raised went to Paws for Alexis, helping our friend Lexi welcome Boss, a brand new service dog and helper into her home. Boss is able to alert Lexi’s mommy if she is experiencing seizures or if her medical equipment is not functioning properly and serves as a companion and assistant to her caregivers. Perhaps you know of someone you can show friendship to this holiday season with a little bit of extra time and love.

The Night Before Thanksgiving: Celebrate with Christmas in the Sky.

It’s a Light family tradition to kick off Thanksgiving weekend on Wednesday night with Christmas in the Sky at Longview Lake (www.JacksonGov.org). Our family invites friends over for a pre-Thanksgiving pizza party, then we all pile into our minivans for a trek out to see the fireworks! Bring glow sticks for the kiddos, hot cocoa in travel mugs, and play some holiday tunes. If you’d rather dine near the show, one favorite neighborhood restaurant, Next Door Pizza (3385 SW Fascination Dr., Lee’s Summit, MO, 816.763.1200) is known for the Chicago-style deep dish pizzas and kids-make-their-own pizza kits. This year’s Christmas in the Sky festivities will feature local celebrities, holiday stage productions and an amazing fireworks display, synchronized to your favorite holiday music. 

Thanksgiving Night Kansas City Style: The Plaza Lighting Ceremony.

Kansas City’s Thanksgiving tradition since 1925 includes live music, fireworks and the celebrity “switch flipping,” as the Country Club Plaza is decked out in Christmas style with 80 miles of colorful lights! If you’re nervous to bring kids to the ceremony with potentially cold weather and big crowds, you’ll be surprised at how quickly the crowd clears out. Within an hour of the ceremony, you can take your family on a drive through the Plaza to enjoy the lights on the first official night of the Kansas City holiday season. Tip: The best view is atop the Halls parking lot! Enter from the southeast corner (on Wyandotte) to drive to the top.

Thanksgiving Weekend: Light Tour

Load the kids, grab your favorite thermos of warm cider or cocoa and some cookies and take a tour of Kansas City’s best lights. You’ll find a complete guide with our “Best Christmas Lights in Kansas City,” but our favorite lesser-known light display is the Ultimate Tree. The Ultimate Tree is a giant flat panel Christmas tree lighting display with thousands of LED bulbs. Enjoy a light show synchronized to music with animation, lighting effects, patterns and messages. This must-see display was featured on HGTV's All Out American Christmas show. The Ultimate Tree turns on Thanksgiving night around 8:00. After that, it will turn on at 5:30 every night and stay on until 10:00—except on Fridays and Saturdays, when the hours are extended to 11:30. It runs through the first week of January.

The Day After Thanksgiving: Black Friday Alternative

Bring the family to the Toy & Miniature Museum (activities included with the cost of admission, Friday, Nov. 29, 10:00-4:00) to explore the magical world of Victorian optical illusion toys. Optical illusion toys will be hidden throughout the museum, educating visitors on the original technology that inspired modern-day animation and film. Guests will be given the opportunity to create their own spinning optical illusion toy and participate in the earliest form of cinema: a grand magic lantern show.  Tip: The Toy & Miniature Museum will be undergoing renovations in 2014, so take advantage of this opportunity to enjoy one of Kansas City’s most whimsical attractions before construction begins!

Kansas City mom Kristina Light has so much to be thankful for at Thanksgiving and throughout the year.