Gag and spit a mouthful of whatever that concoction was your aunt brought back onto your plate.

Dig in your nose and e... never mind I'm not going there. It's beyond bad manners. It's disgusting.

Eating a meal without saying "Thank you" to the person that prepared it. Especially if that person happens to be your mom.

Barge into your someone's house without knocking or ringing the doorbell. Don't do it.

Enter God's house without giving thanks. Wait a minute! What? Where did that come from?

Actually it comes from Psalms. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and come into His courts with praise. Just like it is bad manners to barge into your neighbor's house without getting their permission to enter. It is bad manners to enter God's house without giving thanks.

God doesn't have to do good things for you. God doesn't owe you anything. Everything you have is given to you by God because He loves you and wants to do good things for you. Our response should be gratitude. If we are not very careful our response can be greed which often leaves us with the feeling "is that all there is?"

1Ch 16:34 -  Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.

What do you say?

Here's a short puppet skit that you can use at Thanksgiving or anytime to encourage children to say thank you to people and to God for gifts.

Girl: I got you a present.

Boy: Cool. I love presents.

Girl: I saved all my allowance for the past six months so I could buy this gift for you.

Boy: Great. Are you going to give it to me or not?

Girl: Before I give it to you. I want you to understand I did without a lot of things I wanted so I could buy you this gift.

Boy: So, are you gonna give it to me or not?

Girl: It's not a birthday or Christmas or anything. I'm just giving you this gift because we are friends and I know you really wanted it.

Boy: Enough talk already. Give it to me. (Grabs the gift. Pushes off the lid of the box and looks inside.) You know that have a newer version than this. (turns and walks away)

Girl: (Turns to the audience, shrugs her shoulders. Drops her head in sadness and walks off.)

Puppet of your choice enters the stage. This puppet should engage the audience in conversation with the following questions or similar questions.

Hold everything. What is going on here?

Have you ever had something like this happen to you?

How did it make you feel?

Have you ever done something like this to someone?

What should you do when someone gives you a gift?

Is there an appropriate way to express appreciation for a gift that you didn't want?

Does God ever give you a gift?

Should we should our appreciation to God?

How do we do that?

Are there other things because gifts that we should express thanks for?