We Are Thankful For You!

Our Thankfulness Tree

The beautiful Miss Kelly posted some ideas yesterday on how to be creative while being thankful this month.  I thought I'd share with you what our family does for the month of November!

We started this tradition last year when my oldest was 3.  All it takes is a big roll of brown paper and some colorful leaves!  Last year I found a beautiful dark gold/brown roll of wrapping paper at the .99 cent store and I traced and cut out my own leaves from construction paper (super time consuming to make 30 leaves that way!).  This year I found a roll of brown bulletin board paper for a classroom for just a few dollars at a toy store and bought a package of foam craft leaves from Target for about $5 - not so cheap but waaaay easier!

(You'll have to excuse my funky looking tree - I'm not an artist!)  Every day my little guy finds something that he is thankful for and I write in on a leaf.  He gets to stick it on the tree!  It brings me so much joy to hear what he is thankful for.  Towards the end of the month he really has to think and be creative to find new things to put on his leaves - we don't repeat anything for the whole month!

Here is our finished tree at the end of last November...

We get to practice thankfulness and add some colorful decor to our home!

Thanksgiving Projects

Thanksgiving is just around the corner which for most means family, food, and football. But how do you continue to remember to truly be thankful everyday for the blessings God has given us? How do we teach our children that being thankful means? Here's a few easy projects that have teaching moments in them. Try them in the next few weeks!

Give Thanks Leaves

String. Close pins. Leaf cut outs. Easy! Write what you, your spouse, and your kids are thankful for on the leaf!

Free Printable

For your home.

Thankful Turkey

Each day of November, ask each child to write what they're thankful for on a paper feather, and stick it into this cute turkey centerpiece. 

Thankful to be Blessed

Today marks one week since my husband, our son, and I moved into our new house in Indiana. I have been unpacking boxes non-stop it feels like and searching for things all the time saying, "I know it's somewhere around here... probably in a box." My body is sore and tired from lifting and moving and placing. I've been fighting a cold and sinus infection along with a one year old's teething and cold. My mind just wants to tune out from the unpacking and whining. Yes, I've complained. But I continuously am hearing God remind me through it all to just be thankful for my blessings.

The Bible talks about being thankful, giving thanks, and thanksgiving numerous times throughout Old and New Testament. David writes in Psalms, "I will give thanks to the Lord", "we will give thanks, for your Name is near", "give thanks to Him and praise His name." 1 Thessalonians says, "give thanks in all circumstances."

Philippians 4:6 spells out exactly when and how to be thankful, "Don't be anxious about anything, but in EVERYTHING, by prayer and petition, with THANKSGIVING, present your requests to God." God knows us - He created us! He knows we will complain, whine, be tired, not be content, worry, etc. And so He says through The Word to come to Him with those anxieties and complaints, but to also do it with thanksgiving in our hearts. Thanksgiving is the "cure" or antidote to worry.

Being thankful reminds us of all the blessings we have. It's like flipping a switch in our heart. When we are complaining or worried, turing on that "thankfulness switch" is like God saying, "Remember when I took care of you in this time... see how wonderful your life is... look at all the blessings you've been given... do you know how much I love you and care for you?" It's hard to complain when we remember how much we've been given.

In the next few days, I'm challenging you: Every time you want to complain, even for the littlest reason, stop, flip that thankfulness switch, and remember the blessings you have given. Be thankful to be blessed.