"Doing" Thanksgiving

I've never really been much of a Thanksgiving person. Unconsciously I think I'm with most other Americans in just considering it a pre-Christmas kick-off. It's a holiday so family gets together and since there's no presents or anything required at this one there is all the more focus on eating lots of food. And there, now we've "done" Thanksgiving, check it off and let's move on to Christmas!
But this year, I'm not settling for that. Instead I volunteered to "have" Thanksgiving and really celebrate and focus on this holiday originally set aside to contemplate how much God has blessed us, no matter what our circumstances. My reasons for this are threefold: 1. I have my own family now and I want to create traditions for them to look forward to and make Thanksgiving a real celebration for them, not just something we "do." 2. With having parents on both sides die right around this time of year, this holiday has taken a particularly rough hit for us and I can't really blame people for not having the enthusiasm to make something of it, but I want to change that. Rather than try to make things how they've always been and highlight what's been lost, I'm just going to change it all up and make it new and improved. 3. God's really been working on creating a grateful heart in me lately, but I still have a long way to go. I want to prepare for this holiday not only with food and decorations, but also a renewed sense of gratefulness and find ways to share it with the others. That's kinda where I'm stuck right now; everyone's invited and the food is being planned but how do I bring out the spirit? I dislike the "go around the table and share what you're thankful for" routine. I want it to be authentic and enjoyable; not cheesy. But how to do that? What can I do to promote that atmosphere and make the day about more than food and football? The only idea I've come up with so far is to kind of re-write a Psalm, have everyone write a few lines and then read them all together. Although I have one vote for and one against, it still borders on cheese. Hmmmm...Only 20 days to figure it out. That and where to seat everyone.