New Traditions

This is the second year we've made a Thanksgiving tree. Little Abe and I took a walk around the neighborhood to collect pretty fallen leaves. Then I pressed them in a book. I had him paint several sheets of newspaper with some old white paint we had on hand. I taped the painted papers together and then traced a tree onto them. Last year I used some old poster board I had in the house to hang up the tree but this year I cut up a box to use as the back ground. It wasn't really big enough so I ended up taping a few pieces of box together. I like the way this completely FREE craft turned out despite the random scavenged materials. I love having it on our dining room wall.

Each day until Thanksgiving I ask little Abe what he's thankful for, what he wants to put on the Thanksgiving tree and then I write that on one of our leaves and stick it to the tree. This is such a fun activity and even though we do talk about what we're thankful for every night before bed (often it's the same things) it's fun watching him come up with 31 different things throughout the end of October and most of November. 

I loved our tree last year and making it together. I'm excited for our tree this year. This is a new tradition that I'm very much looking forward to partaking of for years to come.

(It's really much bigger then it looks in the photo)

We collected leaves about a week before Halloween. I quickly realized that we looked like deranged trick-or-treators.
He was wearing his dino sweatshirt and I was carrying a plastic bag as we walked through the neighborhood together on the cold evening. We got a few strange looks before I realized we totally looked like we were trying to trick-or-treat a week early. Haha!

My day five thankful: There is this book. I’ve read it cover to cover several times. It’s filled with darkness and light, beauty and filth. Some of the strangest things you’ll ever read are within it. No matter what I’m going through or where I am, no matter how hurt or scared or confused I might be, no matter what spot I open it to I read a new message, a new story (you can read the same story 20 times and find a new story with each read), a nugget of truth and revelation that picks me up, sets me back on my feet and tells me exactly what I need to hear. I find myself within its pages, whether that be a good thing or bad. Call me crazy but I am thankful for the Holy Bible in ways I could never express. It is my guide book for life and it is alive. I believe the Bible is God’s Word because I hear Him speak to me every single time I open it and I’m eternally thankful for that!