Thanksgiving is one of the two times each year that my dad, sister and her two boys travel south to visit us….and I am counting the days (hours & minutes) until they arrive!
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, because the expectation is simply to BE with family. It’s 4-6 days filled with cooking together, playing board games, sleeping in, overdosing on football, taking walks, eating large quantities of once a year yummies, and watching late night movies.
Each year, the Sunday after Thanksgiving arrives and I’m filled with sadness that the time passed so quickly and my family is leaving. In an effort to combat this already expected outcome, I’m going to set the intention to be totally present to my family, to honor the relationships and to share my gratitude with them. This is going to require an awesome action to help me fulfill my intention…..
In anticipation of next week’s holiday – this awesome action is…..
To GROW a THANKFUL TREE!
When the kids were little we used to create a thankful tree each Thanksgiving. Sadly, it was one of those family traditions that disappeared as the boys hit double digits. This is the perfect year to bring back this awesome action and reestablish it as a family tradition.
I love growing a thankful tree because it’s an outlet for each of us to express and share what we are grateful for, plus it’s a visual representation of our family’s expanding gratitude.
How to grow a thankful tree…..
1. Collect fallen sticks or small tree twigs and place them in a vase to create the foundation for the thankful tree.
2. Cut leaf shapes out of red, orange and yellow construction paper, mimicking the richness of the autumn leaves.
3. Set the paper leaves around the base of the vase with a few pens, and family members can write down what they are grateful for.
4. Punch a hole in each leaf and use a thin ribbon to attach it to the twig tree.
5. By Thanksgiving dinner, your thankful tree will be in full bloom. Throughout the meal, take turns reading what everyone is thankful for.
You can grow your thankful tree, exactly as I described. Or feel free to take the concept and mold it into something better suited for your family.
* Thankful journal – purchase a journal and invite your family members to write (and date) their gratitude directly into the journal. This would be an awesome way to keep the gratitude lists together year after year.
* Thankful box – use a shoe box or photo keepsake box to collect each person’s gratitude list during the holiday.
* Thankful whiteboard (blackboard) – leave a whiteboard and dry erase markers easily accessible, allowing the family to create a colorful graffiti board filled with gratitude. Before erasing it, be sure to add the date and take a photograph to capture it forever. Better yet – take a family picture around the thankful whiteboard.
* Thankful scrapbook – build a holiday thankful scrapbook with photos, handwritten gratitude and other memorabilia and keepsakes.
* Thankful chain – cut construction paper into 5 inch by 1 inch strips. As each person writes down something they are grateful for, curve the strip into a circle (held by staple, tape or glue), creating links that connect, building a chain. Each year could be an individual paper chain, or add on year after year, creating a growing chain of gratitude.
Get creative or keep it simple. The point is to give your family a way to express, share and record what they are grateful for.
with Joy & Gratitude,
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