By MELISSA NANN BURKE (Daily Record/Sunday News)

Thanksgiving can be a time to meditate on all that you are grateful for.

Instead of reciting the same, rote family prayer at the dinner table this year, we asked clergy to share some advice on writing your own:

Some people can pray aloud in front of a group easily and spontaneously. Some will use the standard blessing, such as the “Bless us, o Lord . . .” Other families will have a memorized thing or will have an opportunity for everyone to say what they’re thankful for.

I certainly encourage people to pray spontaneously just to slow them down a bit — sometimes things that we memorize we tend to say it so quickly. And sometimes to do something spontaneously allows for a little more reflection, a little more thought. More

Then for more Thanksgiving ideas, click here.