5 Conversation Starters for Your Thanksgiving Table

We’ve made it this far, 2024!  You’ve presented us with plenty to consider.  You’ve also invited us into a deeper level of consciousness and insight—insight about what’s really important to us.  The thing is, you’ve also put a high powered magnifying glass up to our differences.  So much so that the bonds of friendship, family, and beliefs are being challenged.  History has always presented us with this predicament.  

I’ve heard it in my own life and in the lives of clients alike: there has been great division and hurt around dinner table discussions everywhere due to our differences these last few years.  

And yet next Thursday extends the invitation for togetherness, gratitude, and feasting.  I believe we need to be intentional about our conversations,   honoring each other’s differences and sacrificing the need to be right for  the privilege of being in relationship.  

So I thought it might be helpful to share with you a few conversation starters to keep this most unusual holiday season a gracious and enjoyable time.  We may not share ideological beliefs, but what we do share is the human condition—flaws and all—and the need for connection and compassion.  

Here are a few conversation starters to keep us on track as we gather around the turkey:

1. What’s the most surprising thing you’ve learned about yourself in 2024? Go around the table and answer this question, keeping it in first person —make it about you and your experience—not about the actions or beliefs of others.

2. How will you finish strong in 2024?  What are you taking with you?  What are you leaving behind?

3. What have you said “yes” to that was scary, yet life-giving in 2024?  Doing things that scare us actually have a way of keeping us young,  counteracting the patterns that keep us in autopilot.  

4. Who or what has inspired you the most in 2024? What did you learn from these people/experiences?

5. And finally, the piece de resistance, what are you most grateful for so far  this year? Try and think of something personal and/or unique to this year.   

Intention creates meaning.  I believe when we have meaningful gatherings, we invite more connection, more  joy, and ultimately more purpose in our lives and spaces.  Whether it’s Friendsgiving or the family kind, let’s make this Thanksgiving and holiday season one to remember (in a good way ;).