We had our family Thanksgiving celebration yesterday. Right before people were due to show up, in between the final cleaning and the last minute cooking, I got the idea to paint a page of squares and ask everyone to decorate a section. I hurried upstairs and painted a quick background and grabbed some gel pens and some Zig pens. Then I came back down and finished the meal. After dinner, my 7-year-old niece spotted my new journal and said she didn't think she had seen this one before. I told her to look at it and mentioned my idea for the project. She immediately sat down to do her square. Then she asked, "Do you think everyone will do a square?" I told her that I bet if she asked them to they would. Well she did a wonderful job taking the journal from person to person and watching and discussing as they filled their section. I was busy being hostess, but overheard tidbits of the conversations. I heard everything from, "I'm not very creative." to "What does a goat look like anyway?" My favorite line came from my 4-year-old niece. She was busy playing and ran into the kitchen and did a few quick lines and came back to the toys. Her sister and mom were trying to get her to do some more to her square, and I said, "I really want you to do a square." She jumped up and headed back to the kitchen. I heard, "Why are you drawing a square?" Her answer, "Because Aunt Dawn really wants me to." My 15-month-old granddaughter is just learning that pens make marks. I helped her hold the pen and she made her marks. I love all the drawings from My granddaughter's marks to my niece's square, to my youngest son's stinky cheese and flies buzzing to my eldest's fisherman self-portrait and everything in between. I cheated and drew my contribution in the quiet relaxation after everyone had headed home. After putting everyone else on the spot, I couldn't think of a thing to add and wound up copying the Van Gogh Sunflower print that hangs on our wall. This will be a treasured part of my journal and I'm already wondering if I can get everyone to do it again for Christmas.