A season of thanks

As a little girl I think my favorite holidays were Halloween and Christmas. In college I fell in love with Valentine's Day, and Halloween took a back seat. In recent years Thanksgiving has steadily moved up in the ranks.

I love that this holiday seems to be almost completely unsullied by the typical commercialism of the holidays. In fact, except for the turkey vouchers and advertisements for cranberry sauce, most stores have moved right on to Christmas trees and reindeer.

But I refuse to let my fall move too fast. No Christmas lights in early November around here. I love focusing November on the quite calm of gratitude. It is the perfect prelude to the busy season ahead.

For the past two years I put a piece of fall-colored cardstock on our fridge right around the beginning of the month with the heading "I am Thankful For..." and we spent the month filling it up with our large and small tidbits of thanks. This year I wanted something a bit more central, more visual. So I created a "gratitude tree" out of brown paper and cardstock, to become our table "centerpiece" for the coming weeks.

I love the way it is becoming a constant reminder for me to mentally note and verbally say the things I am grateful for all day long (even if it's just Raymond listening!).

I started with just a few leaves with quotes or scriptures about gratitude...

And we have been adding leaves each night at dinner of the things we are grateful for. 

I feel an "attitude of gratitude" already sparked in just the past few days. There is so much to be grateful for!