Making a Thankful Tree and 21 days of Contagious Gratitude

I think it’s so important to remember, make time, and a genuine, focused effort on being thankful…. every day. Today is my day to share thoughts of being thankful as part of the 21 days of Contagious Gratitude, a movement hosted by InspiredByFamilyMag.com. A group of kid friendly bloggers are each sharing their thoughts on being thankful on a different day to share thoughts of gratitude and encourage others to get involved.

What are YOU thankful for?

I decided I would share by talking with my family. Ever night at the dinner table we share what we are thankful for, for that day specifically. However, I haven’t stopped to ask them what “being thankful” means to them. So I took a moment to ask them to share with you today. I asked my kids to tell me what it means to be thankful, and this is what they said…

“Knowing what you like to do and things that make you happy. Being happy and happy you have a house.” – age 5

“To be be glad for the things that I have, and that I have a warm house and food on the table. To be happy for what I have, even though I have things I don’t need, I’m happy that I have them.” – aged 10

“It means, to be grateful for the things you have… like the little things. The things that you don’t notice all the time, but they’re always there.” – age 17

“To appreciate the people in your life – it’s recognizing the richness of your life.” – Age over 40… hubby.

Finding our thankful words. Last week we were having a crazy busy week. My husband and I both has a ton of things to do, deadlines were overwhelming and the kids were starting to get grumpy. So I came up with an idea – I made a Thankful tree right at our front entrance. I took newspaper and “built” a tree on the wall.  I then cut out leaves from colored cardstock, put them in a basket and included some markers and tape (painter’s tape so it doesn’t remove paint from the wall). As family members came home I asked each one to stop by the new Thankful tree and add a leaf. The tree can be seen as soon as we walk in our front door and there’s a basket on a little side table with an array of blank leaves to choose from and now I’m noticing family coming in the house at various times and stopping to write another thankful item and posting it on the tree.

I am so grateful for this life-sized wall craft.. mere paper and pens have opened up new opportunities to share what we’re thankful for and I absolutely love it and so does the rest of the family! I just wish I had thought of it sooner… we’ll be keeping it up until after the 1st of the new year.

Follow Along – you can check out more great ideas and inspirations for being thankful and talking about giving thanks with other participating sites by checking out 21 Days of Contagious Gratitude at Inspired by Family Magazine.

Let’s Share – What does it mean to be thankful to you? What do YOUR kids say about being grateful?