How To Make A Thankful Tree

On November 1st, the Halloween decorations come down and in their place pop up fall and Thanksgiving decor.  One of my family's favorite decorations is a thankful tree that takes up a good portion of the wall in our family room.  It's giant.  I have to use a stool to reach the highest branches.  It takes a little bit of time to put together.  But we are going on our third year doing it and every year I love it even more.  My kids get excited when I tell them the thankful tree is going up and it warms my heart to see them so happy to share the things they are thankful for each day.  It's become one of our favorite Thanksgiving traditions and today I want to share with you how to make your own.

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Deeds of Gratitude: A New Thanksgiving Tradition

When I was growing up, the dictionary was one of my best friends.  It wasn't because I loved looking up words and their meanings.  No, it was because whenever my mom used a word I didn't know and I said, "What does that mean?" that she would say, "Go look it up."  I had kind of a ridiculous vocabulary for an elementary student as a result and even got questioned by my teachers a few times because they thought my mom had written a paper or done my homework for me.  A desire to understand the meaning of different words has stuck with me throughout the years and as we approach Thanksgiving, I've been considering the difference between two words: thankful and grateful.

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Why You Should Start A Joy Journal

Lately, I've been feeling like I'm caught in a rut.  The day to day routine of life has been getting to me.  My kids have been driving me up the wall and I find myself annoyed by my own voice some days.  By the time my husband comes home, all I want to do is push the kids towards him and lock myself in a room.  Little things the kids do that might have been funny if I were in a better mood just come across as irritating.  I haven't liked the grumpy person that's been taking over my life and I came to the realization the other day that I needed to do something to stop the cycle.  No one else was going to be able to change my attitude.

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What I'm Thankful For

In the last few weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, one of my most popular posts has been What I'm Thankful For which I posted last year just before Thanksgiving.  I've been surprised to see it move up my charts and is currently the 5th most popular post on my blog!  People must really want to know what I'm thankful for! *wink*

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Thankful, Grateful, Blessed

I have a stack of quote cards that I keep in my bathroom.  Each week or so, I move the one on top to the back of the stack and read the next one, trying to keep it in my thoughts throughout the day and coming week.  Right now, the one on top says, "How quick we are to find the rainbow before being thankful for the rain." (Dieter F. Uchtdorf)

So often, we are looking for the rainbow or the light at the end of the tunnel because we just want to get through whatever we are facing and just be done with it so we can move on to other, happier things.  And don't get me wrong.  It's not like I think we should enjoy going through hard things or that we shouldn't feel relieved when they are over.  I like feeling happy and strive for it.

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What I'm Thankful For

Today, I am thankful.

I am so incredibly grateful for all that I have and I have been given so much that I want to share with you the things that I am most thankful for...

--I am thankful for my Heavenly Father and Savior, Jesus Christ.

--I am thankful for my family, both immediate and extended.  They are a great support system in good and bad times. Due to my parent's divorce, I don't have just two sides, but three, which gives me more people to love and who love me.

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