Thanksgiving Tree

Am I the only one, or is anyone else in shock that next week Thursday is Thanksgiving??  I don't know if it has been the warm weather here lately or just the busyness of the days, but I do a double take when looking at the calendar and seeing that today is November 17!!  Wow!  It seems to me as though Thanksgiving has become one of those "back seat" holidays (like Labor Day, Memorial Day, St. Patrick's Day) that are celebrated and exciting on the actual day, but there isn't much "build up" to them.  I personally blame the stores.  The Halloween costumes and candy are not even out of the stores sometimes when the Christmas tress and holly are being displayed.  And while I love Christmas and the decorations and music, I have moments when I am disappointed Thanksgiving - a holiday in which we give thanks to God for all the amazing things we are blessed with - is overlooked.  I suppose one way to look at it is that we are to be thankful every day, thus the one day that is set apart for being thankful is not as emphasized.  However, I don't think that most people view it that way.  And as we attempt to raise our kids to be thankful and grateful for all things, I was wanting to find a way to encourage a more "hands on" approach to thinking about all of the blessings in our lives.

At MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) today, we did a craft that I loved.  For me to say that, it must have been good!  I thought it was useful, relevant, and easy to do!  We made Thanksgiving Tress.  Our creative leader brought in tree branches, and we punched out leaf shapes from construction paper to put on our trees.  And the idea behind it is to have your family write something they are thankful for on a leaf and attach it to the tree.  The answer to me wanting something tangible for Thanksgiving!  The past few days I had been talking to the kids about being thankful and of course asking them what they are thankful for.  And I would get the same answer every time from Faith - "food".  Maybe she was hungry??  Anyway, when I showed her the tree, explained the idea, and asked her if she wanted to put a thankful leaf on the tree she was very excited!  And the thing she said she was thankful for was love!  For Shane's turn, he wanted me to write he was thankful for animals!  Here is a picture of our tree so far...

As the days continue, I look forward to hearing the things for which my children are grateful.  I know I have so much that I can offer up in thanksgiving.  And who knows, maybe our Thanksgiving Tree will stay up all year!