In many parts of the world, the Thanksgiving holiday is quickly approaching and anticipation is mounting for this perfect opportunity to make fun memories with our families. To add to the festivities, consider planning a  Pie Night to accommodate those family members who can’t make it to Thanksgiving day celebrations (but can join the family another day or time) or plan it for everyone anytime! They all just might show up since you may be hard-pressed to find loved ones who are opposed to eating pie two (or many more) days in a row!

                Family members can bake on the spot, or bring a favorite ready-to-eat pie (or pies) to share – even pizza pie counts! After all, as Harriet Beecher Stowe stated: “The pie is an English institution which, planted on American soil, forthwith ran rampant and burst forth into an untold variety of genera and species.” Among other delicious home-baked pies, the last family pie night we planned included chili meat pie, Butterfinger mud pie, chicken pot pie, chocolate ice-cream pie, fresh apple pie, and my personal favorite – pumpkin pie with a mountain of whipped cream on top! It is part of the holiday tradition in the Anderson household to pile the whipped cream so high you can barely see a sliver of pumpkin pie below it! YUM! We play crazy, fun games (old standbys and new favorites), share sweet memories and create new traditions (including indoor synchronized swimming and swing dancing, for example – my family will absolutely not let me post photos of these), and our celebration just might include the tradition of ringing in the holiday season by watching “White Christmas” together! In my best estimation, the “White Christmas” movie watching tradition was started by my parents around the time they became grandparents!

Instructions for uploading those famous pie recipes to FamilySearch are found here in The Family History Guide (FamilySearch “Memories” section). See what I wrote in my last blog post “Serving a dish of family stories for Thanksgiving Dinner” for more family history recipe fun.  See FamilySearch blog posts with recipes and videos  See fun ideas for sharing recipes on FamilySearch: Savor Your Family’s Story.

In addition to the games and activities also featured in my last blog post, add a slice of family history fun to your slice of pie with these family history activities from the Family History Guide:

Y1-01: Not Just for Kids!—
Everyone can have fun finding out more about their ancestors and family trees. You can be a big help to younger children to teach them how to play games. You can also participate with them in exploring family trees, timelines, and more. Find some cool games and activities in the FamilySearch App Gallery.

F2-01 F2-01: Ancestor Guessing Game (this is also fun with live people at the party!)
*Steps
1. Decide on the ancestors whose stories you want to include in the game. You can find stories from your personal collections, or sometimes online. As a shorter option, you can study just the vital facts for the ancestor.
2. Study the stories or vital facts about the ancestors.
3. Draw an ancestor’s name out of a hat.
4. When it is your turn, act out something (using words is OK) that person would do or say.
5. The person who guesses who it is gets to portray his or her ancestor next, but only after the actor tells more of the story about the ancestor portrayed.
6. Optional: Capture the portrayals on video for more fun!

F3-01 F3-01: Time Capsule—Try this approach to making a family time capsule. To add a Thanksgiving focus, include a  current gratitude list for each family member.

Y7-01: Indexing as a family. See The Family History Guide how-to page. 

F1-03: Google Maps/Google Earth—  (see this blog post also) 
View and share memories of family history sites, travels, missions, houses (countries, counties, etc.) where family members have lived (or now live), etc. Try Google Earth here.  Also, check out this creative approach: Street View Stories. Our family can do this for hours!

C4-02: Family Education: Genealogy Activities for Thanksgiving—

Make your next Thanksgiving come alive with fun genealogy activities.

C4-04: FamilySearch: Family History Activities for Children 3-11—
Help children experience history, genealogy, memories, and fun and games.

C4-05: Genwriters: Genealogy for Children—See the “Activities to Share with Children” section.

C4-08: Don’t Eat Grandpa Pete—It’s like “Don’t Eat Pete” but with a family history twist. See instructions here.