The Thanksgiving Tree

We're coming up on the holiday season, and it'll be here before you know it! I'm not a very good planner with many of those kinds of things, so too often holidays sneak up on me. I don't know about you, but there have been too many Thanksgivings where I have been so focused on getting the turkey finished at the same time as the mashed potatoes and the green bean casserole, and then throwing the stuffing back in to warm and making a quick gravy without spattering it all over my shirt, and then sitting down at the table about 200 degrees hotter than everyone else to enjoy the meal. Don't get me wrong--it's great! I like to cook, but even more, I love to have family and friends around and spend a day chatting, watching football or Home Alone (which is ALWAYS on on Thanksgiving, isn't it?:). It's a holiday that reminds me most of Mom's family....the sisters sitting around chatting about their latest health foods and fetishes, raucous games of Mexican train around the kitchen table, and turkey sandwiches with a movie to top off the night.

However, while there is thanksgiving in my heart, I often feel like there are so many other things that I could and should be thanking God for...but are crowded out by the hustle and bustle. We've done the "everyone take a turn around the table and say something you're grateful for" thing, and that can be great. But it still feels like an afterthought to me. So this year, we're introducing our very own Thanksgiving Tree.

The idea is super simple: put a few leaves up every day with a few things you're grateful for, all through the month of November. It's been fun so far, and definitely helped me to remember to be grateful, not just for family on one day of the year, but the thousands of other things God has done for us.