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My childhood nickname was Eeyore. Obviously, I was a bit of a pessimist. My dad would try to mimic my mood by glumly greeting me with, “Top of the morning to you…if you can find the top, which you probably can’t.” We can joke about it now, but with three kids of my own, I know how one child’s negativity can affect the entire family.
Half-Full Girl to Mostly Sunny Mama
I can’t pinpoint exactly when I became a glass-half-full girl, but I definitely view the world through a much sunnier filter these days. From looking for the good in a situation to reminding myself that whatever I’m experiencing is “just a stage,” I am much more focused on appreciating the positive as an adult than I was earlier in life.
Many studies have shown that the simple act of giving thanks can have a dramatic effect on both our physical and mental health. Research about gratitude indicates that a habitually focusing on and appreciating the positive aspects of life is strongly related to well-being.
Last year I read Ann Voskamp’s book “One Thousand Gifts,” in which she details her journey of daily recording her gratitude. About the time I was reading this book, my daughter had her 100th day of school. She was instructed to bring a project to school using 100 items…anything she chose. We decided to make a thankful list. How sweet is this! (I especially love the “thankflu” part :))
Gratitude Requires Reminders
My girls have their happy, gratitude-breathing moments, but they are normal kids. I utter some form of the phrase, “I wish you could just be thankful for what you have,” multiple times each week. I give them a cookie and they want another. One sister gets invited to a party and the others are grumpy. They whine that their friends get to watch TV before school.
Frequently, I remind my kids to focus on what they are thankful for instead of the inclination to want more, more, more. And even while I speak the words, I hear my conscience whispering to me that I am equally guilty of this. So often I wish I had the perfect hair or makeup I see on someone else. I let my kids’ messy rooms send my mood spiraling. Every single day, I need the same reminder to banish those thoughts and intentionally focus on being grateful for the good in my life.
Write it Down
Writing down words of thanksgiving is so powerful. By writing it down, my mind focuses on things that celebrate beauty, kindness, and the little things that bring joy. The benefits last much longer than the few moments it takes to write the words.
I want to be intentional in modeling a spirit of gratitude. That includes helping my girls take the time to reflect on and acknowledge the blessings we enjoy every day. So in preparation for Thanksgiving, we made a thanksgiving tree to display for the month of November. I had each of us make a list of things we are thankful for, and chose 15 of them to display on our homemade thanksgiving tree.
Simple Thanksgiving Tree
If you don’t want to go full DIY and make a tree, grab a few branches or twigs from Joann’s or Target. Even better—send your kids out to gather some from your backyard! Or draw a tree on a white poster board and let the kids color in the trunk and branches. Then cut out some colorful leaves from construction paper, give your kids a Sharpie and keep it simple.
Materials Used for My Thanksgiving Tree
- 15 small dowel pieces (mine were precut 3.5″ long, 1/4″ diameter)
- large dowel (17.5″ long, 1″ diameter)
- two metal pieces for stand (7″ long, 1″ wide)
- cabinet knob
- Rustoleum metallic brown spray paint
- cream colored paper 8.5″x11″
- cardstock weight scrapbook paper in olive green
- embroidery thread in olive green (cut to 5″-6″ length)
- single hole punch
- hot glue gun + glue stick
- scissors
- pencil + eraser
- Canva (www.canva.com)
Making the Tree
To make my thanksgiving tree, I grabbed 15 small dowel pieces out of my craft stash. My husband also cut a large dowel about 18″ long. He screwed two pieces of metal into the bottom of the dowel to create a stand, and drilled out 15 holes. I asked for the holes to be in a spiral pattern around the large dowel to allow space for my leaves to hang. Then I spray painted everything a metallic brown, along with a cabinet knob that I already had.
Making the Leaves
I found a leaf template at thebestideasforkids.com and uploaded the .jpeg to Canva, where I copied and pasted the image to get 15 leaves. Microsoft Publisher is another simple option to create your page of leaves. You can download a leaf template in pdf format if you don’t want to create your own. I made three slightly different leaf sizes for variety. Using the Canva software, I added text to my leaves.
After printing the page on a cream colored paper, I cut out all the leaves, leaving the black outline for contrast. The next step was to lay all the leaves on the piece of cardstock and trace around each one. I left extra space between each leaf, so that the cardstock pieces I cut would be larger than the paper leaves.
When cutting out the cardstock leaves, I followed the outline of the traced leaf, but cut about a 1/4″ outside the penciled line. Then I erased the pencil marks from the cardstock. After all the leaves were cut out, I used a glue stick to adhere the paper leaf with the “thankful” words to the slightly larger cardstock leaves. I punched a hole in the stem end of each finished leaf, and tied a 5-inch piece of embroidery thread into a loop to hang off the dowels.
Our Thankful List
- nature’s beauty
- good health
- creative minds
- sisters
- Bailey (our dog)
- gymnastics
- dance classes
- water
- friends
- pictures to remember memories
- shoes
- books
- home
- music
- clocks to get places on time
Finished Thanksgiving Tree
And here is our finished thanksgiving tree. I’m so happy with the way it turned out, and I love the visual reminder of how much we have to be thankful for this year.
Bonus: Christmas Tree
The simple tree design without any distinguishing “fall” decorations, makes it perfect to reuse as a tabletop Christmas tree. I can’t wait to try out some fun ideas with this! Scrabble tile ornaments, homemade yarn ornaments, maybe an advent project.
For another way to get your kids in the habit of writing down their thoughts and cultivating a focus on gratitude, read “365 Daily Journal Prompts for Kids.” You can download a list of journaling prompts for an entire year, including a monthly gratitude prompt.
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