Establishing Thankfulness

I have been failing miserably at my goal of posting twice per week! Here it is, November 8th, and I am just starting this month. I was spurred on by my wonderful friends who posted comments, so here we go...
The topic today is an interesting one. I want to know what you all do to encourage thankfulness and generosity with your children. Paul was in church on Sunday and just decided he was going to go out and start passing out cheap sandwiches to homeless people randomly. He wants to take the whole family along. Well, immediately I had all kinds of sirens sounding in my mind. I think it would be good to maybe get involved with an organization rather than go out on our own. I am not against giving, and I think it is a great idea, I would just feel safer finding a system that is already in place and getting involved that way. Especially if our children are involved. Sometimes I think it would be impactful to just forgo the traditional altogether and go out and serve the community somehow. Isn't that what it is all about? Really, we are so thankful and so blessed, why not use the holidays as an opportunity to give back? Yet again, it is nice to remember to bless our family members as well. What kinds of activities/traditions do your families follow at Thanksgiving? Do you do anything with your kids in addition to the regular meal? We don't really have immediate family around, so we've tried to establish our own traditions, but I don't know how successful we've been at that. I want our children to grow up thinking of others, and being grateful for what they are blessed with, and NOT comparing themselves to others, which only leads to discontentment. We are supposed to be content in all things, giving thanks. It can get so stressful at times, going to the store at this time of year, and I am enveloped in reminders of all the preparations I am bound to make--the unspoken rules of the season. Yet, I am excited to spend the time, to establish those traditions, and to create those memories. How do we balance this out? I don't want the focus to be exclusively intrinsic, but also away from ourselves! If you do this, what is it you do? Do you stick to only one thing? How do you choose? Let's inspire each other!