Thankful

The merriest of holidays is one month away. ONE month! Somehow this year seemed to last forever while altogether flying by. Time is such a strange thing.

Things here are as they should be: normal, wild, crazy, busy, simple, busy... busy! Life is such a blessing, a crazy, wild, beautiful blessing.

Baby Abe, little Abe, has somehow been transformed into six and a half year old big kid Abe who is reading up a storm (honestly, he's reading at about a third grade level in the first grade), has more energy in one day then his father and myself combined over an entire week, adores his baby sister/ is a fantastic big brother, has a wild sense of humor (just like his dad), and without a doubt if we let him could talk for a week straight without stopping except to take quick breaths.

Our tiny Wren as I'll call her is the happiest baby I've ever had the privileged of knowing. At five months old she's almost certainly slept over half of her life thus far. Sleeping beauty for sure! When she's awake, she's strong, a little feisty, thinks that life is meant to be lived LOUD (thanks to big brother) and almost always has a smile on her tiny face.

The house is always a mess. My mind never rests. At times I'm not sure I've accomplished even the most basic of necessities required of a day but life goes on and we are thankful.

Feeling Thankful

I love this time of year; the beautiful fall colors, hot drinks, apple and pumpkin everywhere, the chill in the air, and thoughts of thankfulness. It's not so cold that we feel like hibernating yet, it's just cozy and kind of wonderful.

Our third annual Thanksgiving tree went up today (a few days late). It's now hanging on the dining room wall. We'll add one leaf to it each day this month displaying something we're thankful for.

I'm loving this tradition! I love that we walk through the neighborhood collecting beautiful and different leaves together. My husband was with us for the collecting this year. I love that each year so far our tree has looked very different. I love the way it looks on the wall. It's fun looking back at what went on our tree in years past. This year I made a potato stamp so that little Abe could stamp bark on our tree. I think it turned out great and he loved the potato stamp craft.

Granted, it looks better once it's filled with leaves but I'm extremely happy with this year's masterpiece. We are thankful!

Thanksgiving Tree, 2015

This year our tree included:

Nine leaves for family

Three leaves for friends

TV

Toys

Our garden

Stella and Sam (his favorite TV show)

Our house

Lights

Snuggles

Reading books

The bouncy place

Bay and Peppy (the horses that Abe rides)

Chocolate milk

Honey bees

Tubby time

Jesus

Cookies

My toy robin hood

Digging for worms

and

Bird songs

Once again we had fun making our Thanksgiving tree. I imagine I'll leave it up until after Christmas just like I did last year. I love having this on our wall and I love that me and little Abe made it together.

On Thanksgiving day we feasted with my husband's family. Today we enjoyed spending the afternoon with my family. The pecan pie cheesecake did not end up making itself as I had hoped but all the time spent in the kitchen yesterday and today ended up being worth it. This was probably my favorite cheesecake I've made yet! Super sweet but incredibly delicious. Thanksgiving turned out great. 

HERE is the recipe I used if anyone is interested.

Thankful

Yesterday while my son was off playing in another room, he had his toys set up the way he does so that little knights were fighting a dragon, a dinosaur, or riding their horses, he called to me to say, "mom, sometimes I hear Deedee meowing at heaven in God."

I replied, "I know honey. I do too."

My husband and I picked the little Siamese colored patchy runt of a kitten out from the humane society right after we got married. She was our first baby. For thirteen years I've fed her, cleaned her litter box, enjoyed her snuggles, listened to her tiny meows and for thirteen years, for our entire marriage she's been a part of our family. She's always been in little Abe's life. She's always been his beautiful, softest in the whole world kitty.

Cats are very easy to tend to. Our dogs require considerably more attention. I am far from being a morning person and I can tell you that I regularly find myself going through the morning routine with several deeps sighs, maybe a few grunts, and the occasional, "gosh I need a vacation from life."

In the morning everything needs to be done all at once: feed the dogs, let the dogs out, feed the cat, get them all fresh water, feed the kid, make sure he's got pants on (my son would be a nudist if we let him), make my coffee, get myself ready for work, and shortly after waking up my husband arrives home from work and generally wants some sort of dinner. I've never been able to prioritize my mornings. Everything needs to be addressed right off.

For the past week and a half I lament not having to feed the cat every morning. I should be happy that I've one less chore to clutter my morning right? The few times I've taken out the trash I've almost teared up at not needing to clean the litter box out before bringing the trash to the outside bin. It's not that I miss cleaning the litter box exactly. But I'd rather have to clean the litter box for 100 more years and still have her here.

This morning while deciding if I should feed the dogs first or start rolling out some pizza dough for the pizza my husband requested first thing I almost let out the normal morning sigh, "oh so much to do." Then I realized that I am so thank-ful I have to feed the dogs. That simple chore just means they are still here, that our lives have been blessed by them. I'll gladly feed the dogs every single morning for 100 more years and have them a part of our family. (for the record "feeding the dogs" is one of little Abe's chores that he does pretty often but even then a great deal of supervision is required on my part (or he'd starve one of them) and it's still work)

It's like this with so many things in life. I mean, how many horribly annoying things does your husband (or wife) do on a daily basis? I bet you'd miss every single one of those annoyances if he or she were gone. I would. What chores do the furry kids or the rambunctious two legged kids require that you wish you could just hire out for? I bet you'd be glad to do that chore just one more time if you suddenly had to say good-bye (for whatever reason).

On this Thanksgiving I'm choosing to be thankful for all the annoyances, truly. Because I'm VERY thankful for the blessings in my life and I think of great deal of our biggest blessings come with a handful of annoyances. Those people at the family gathering today that bug the crap out of you (I may be speaking for myself here) wouldn't you be sad if you weren't to ever see them again? I'm going to try and be a bit less bugged today. I'm going to try and realize even more all that I am truly thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Proclamation

An excerpt from President George Washington's 1789 Thanksgiving Day Proclamation.
Every year when I read this it just makes me smile so much:

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor… Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next (1789) to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be-- That we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks and also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions-- to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually--to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed--to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord--To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and us--and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.

All glory to God! Happy Thanksgiving!

Debt Quote Tuesday, It's Tuesday right? Is it Tuesday?

Between this being a holiday week, last week's emotional fog, and my husband being off work for eleven days straight just before that I have lost all sense of days of the week and time. The winter is just beginning right? I have moments as I watch the snow melting where I'm thinking spring is around the corner. Oy vey!

I'm in the middle of reading "Happier at Home" by Gretchen Rubin (as well as several other books). The book is interesting; she writes about goals and projects she goes about implementing in order to increase her happiness in life (and more specifically at home). I feel that it reads a bit like a very well organized blog. The book is very upbeat as she writes about this and that accomplishment and how it did or didn't affect her state of happiness.

To be honest I'd read about half way through and it was starting to feel a little too upbeat to me. I mean, I make new goals almost as a profession but am I able to complete half of them? No. Here she is marking this off and working on that project and I half started to think, "this woman is too good to be true."

A little over half way through she hits a wall so to speak and I'm like, "HA! I'm not so much a freak as I was starting to feel." Smack dab in the middle of the book she writes:

 "Around January, my emotional energy flagged. I felt trapped in a kind of Ground Hog Day of happiness. When I looked back at my Resolutions Charts from previous months, I saw rows of X's on certain pages; the same resolutions defeated me, over and over. I wasn't making much progress." 

She goes on and on like this for about five pages. This, in the middle of a pretty upbeat, go and get em book about happiness. And then the book returns to it's normal pace. This little "I'm feeling defeated" moment in the book stuck out like such a sore thumb and yet I am still feeling a sort of relief from her having put that in there.

When I was a kid I was so fascinated by Paul's rant of sorts in Romans chapter 7:

I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. (vs. 15-25)

I used to read this over and over as a kid. I was confused at how this man who wrote a good portion of the new testament which is all, "do good, be good, turn away from evil, love the Lord," how could he all of the sudden be struggling so much? What in the world was he failing at/ not doing that he wished he were doing that would cause him to write such a passage filled with that much turmoil? I was fascinated that life could really be that hard for adults too. I mean, it was SO difficult for me in middle school and high school and I wasn't even working full time, paying bills, raising kids, running a house hold... but adults were supposed to have it all together. I mean, they had grown up. I was just utterly fascinated by this passage.

I still am really. It's like a beacon of hope. "No mam, even people who write a good portion of the new testament don't have it all together." People who write books about happiness even have to put that downer moment in the middle. Being an adult doesn't mean having it altogether.

Okay, pep talk done.

Now that the holidays are upon us I am starting to feel very overwhelmed. I want the holidays to be spectacular. Christmas only comes once a year. But I have a hard enough time feeling that I accomplished taking care of my home, my family, my kid, paying the bills, keeping everyone fed, and making it to work and back on a daily basis. Throw the holidays in there and, well, this year I'm starting to panic a little. I write all this to say, "no panic necessary! Adults don't have it all together. I just need to keep putting one foot in front of the other and well, I seriously need to get more organized." But really, it's okay. I'm going to try my hardest and everything will be just fine.

Happy Holidays!

Another Day

Today I’m thankful for another day. Another day to spend loving my son and picking on my husband; another day to watch my beautiful nieces and nephews learn and grow and know that they’re being cherished by my siblings; another day to see the seasons change, wrap up the summer gardens and wait for the winter snow; another day to snuggle the pups and sit for a minute with the cat, to read or listen to music, or chat online with friends… Life ends so abruptly and don’t get me wrong I eagerly await Revelations chapter four but I’m thankful for every day here to live this one of a kind life that I’ve been given.

I cherish the wrinkles I see coming (I really do), the freckles that only increase with age, and every single stretch mark on my body. I don’t wear make-up (even though I always look tired as a result) because this is who I am, this is what I’ve been given, and every single part of me reflects the life I’ve lived. I’m thankful for every day, even the exhausting ones, and today I’m thankful for another day.

2015 Spending Goals

All year I've been tracking my totals and average daily spending broken down into eleven different categories. Today I've looked over those numbers and set spending end goals for this year for each category. The numbers on the left are what I've spent so far this year. The numbers on the right are my end goals. The numbers in the middle are how much I have left to spend in each category in order to meet the end goals.

My main goal for the year is to end with an average daily spending under $18 a day. The end goals I've just set would put my daily spending average at $17.65 a day. That goal leaves me with a nice cushion should I have a moment(s) of splurge.

Groceries $3522.86 - $12.02 a day                 $600.49                       $4123.35 $11.55 a day 
Food out $398.91 - $1.36 a day                      $11.64                        $410.55 $1.15 a day
Pets $331.35 - $1.13 a day                             $79.20                        $410.55 $1.15 a day 
Stuff $239.79 - 82 cents a day                        $27.96                        $267.75 - 75 cents a day
Toiletries $237.28 - 81 cents a day                 $30.47                        $267.75 - 75 cents a day
Clothing $231.44 - 79 cents a day                  DONE                        $231.44 - 65 cents a day
Gifts $184.62 - 63 cents a day                        $11.73                        $196.35 - 55 cents a day
Christmas $73.47 - 25 cents a day                 $122.88                      $196.35 - 55 cents a day               
Cleaning $104.34 - 36 cents a day                 $13.96                        $118.30 - 33 cents a day
Garden $43.25 - 15 cents a day                      DONE                        $43.25 - 12 cents a day
School/ kiddo crafts $19.47 - 8 cents a day    $16.23                        $35.70 - 10 cents a day

Total: $5393.15 avg. $18.41 a day (296 days)  $914.56          $6301.34 - $17.65 a day (357 days)

This leaves a $71.40 cushion for $17.85 a day
or $106.81 cushion for $17.95 a day

$914.56 for the rest of the year - 8 weeks left


Today's 31 days of Thanksgiving post: The first mission trip I signed up for evoked all these comments of “this is really going to change you,” from various people who I told I was going. “Yeah, sure… nah. I know what to expect.” Truth be told I was the one going on the mission trip but they were the ones who were right. I’ll be honest in saying that I have no idea how much of an impact I made on the world through my travels but I changed a lot after four different trips to Guatemala. I left a large part of my heart in a part of the world that previously I hadn’t known existed. I became somewhat of a minimalist no longer wanting or desiring stuff, really of any sort (still very much am to this day). My life was given a new perspective with which I use to look at the world and everyday situations all the time.

My heart grew and my eyes learned a new way to see. I hope that through my time there and through many prayers that have been prayed since that I have had an impact on a country I love dearly. I know the impact it’s had on me. Today my thanks not only go out to Guatemala and its really beautiful people but to the people who I traveled with and met while I was there, my Guatemalan family. When something so life changing happens the people you share the experience with become a very important part of one’s life. I'm thankful for them all!

Thankful for my Husband

Ever had a crush on someone for years? But it’s kind of a silly crush, the kind of crush where you don’t really expect to end up with the person; like they’re so different from you that it hardly makes sense. Then suddenly (four years later) at a music festival six hours from home this person says how they’ve liked you for ages/ had a sort of silly crush for years that they never expected to go anywhere. A little over a year passes and you’re driving to Georgia to get married. And after 13 years of marriage, you’re both fully aware that you wouldn’t want to do life with any other single soul on the planet; that likely there’s no chance any other person alive could deal with each other’s quirks and idiosyncrasies. We drive each other completely insane and I’m totally okay with that. There’s no one else in all of space or time… I’m very thankful for the man I married, my other half.

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!

Yesterday's Thanksgiving Post; oops

My friends. People I’ve driven around with for hours to nowhere; and sometimes to random faraway places just for the adventure of it. The friends who’ve screamed out song lyrics at the top of their lungs with me while the car speakers made the car shake. People I’ve laughed so hard and so uncontrollably with that it hurt but we still couldn’t stop. The ones who looked past my scowl and liked me anyway. Friends who practically let me live at their houses when I was a teenager. It’s strange how far behind me these memories are but they've all shaped my life and have left me with priceless memories of good times, great friendships, and we sure contributed to the oil/ gasoline industry! I think we should get some sort of reward or free stock. I’m so very thank-ful for all the ladies that traveled the world (really the US and little bits of Canada) and a large part of life with me.

31 Days of Thanksgiving

This one goes out to all the foster and adoptive parents out there. Thankful doesn’t even come close to how my heart feels about you all. To open your homes, to devote your lives, to extend your hearts to abandoned, abused, hurt, broken; for whatever reason, children who need a home… I believe that when you get to heaven there will be a very special jewel for your crowns. Maybe a jewel that radiates joy into the hearts of anyone who sees it. Maybe a Jewel more beautiful than anything you’ve ever seen. Maybe a jewel that fills hearts with a warmth so comforting it cannot be described. Right now your “jewel,” as each of you know are the children you’ve embraced as your own. I personally extend countless thanks to each of you! The impact you have made in a life or lives of little ones is unfathomable.

Thanksgiving, day two

For ten years I prayed for you. For ten years I longed to see your face, hold you in my arms and hear your little cries, coos, and giggles. For ten years I knew that I’d meet you someday but I had no idea when that day would be. I’ve known exactly who I was since I was a little kid. I’ve been strong and stubborn, blunt, not always kind but very loving all of my life. I’ve always been me. And yet, a little over three years ago when I met you for the first time I became someone new. I became your mom. My world was totally transformed. Who I am now has so much to do with you being here. You amaze me every day. You astonish me every day. It never seems possible to love you more then I already do and yet I love you more with each and every day. My little Abe, there will never ever be words to express how thankful I am for you.

31 Day of Thanksgiving

Today starts my 31 days of Thanksgiving countdown of sorts. I love, love, LOVE Thanksgiving which is ironic because the actual Thanksgiving day has been, hmm, kind of ruined for me over the past several years. Ahhh, family drama. Gotta love it! Still, the food, the feasts, the beauty of fall, the spirit of gratitude and thankfulness taking over, and a great deal of my ancestors came over here from England during the time of the Pilgrims. I just love Thanksgiving. Thinking on things in life that I am truly thankful for brings me more happiness then most other ventures in life.

Day one: Today I am so thankful for all the people I know who’ve picked up their lives and moved somewhere else on the globe to minister the gospel and to share the love of Christ, through feeding the hungry, providing housing to the homeless, rescuing children from slavery, educating the poorest children in the harshest of communities. I am beyond blessed to know so many individuals who've uprooted their lives for such a calling. These people have made the world such a more beautiful place and I am very thankful for them.

Our Tree

No we didn't put up the Christmas tree yet. But our Thanksgiving tree craft is finished. It saddens me to think of taking it down now. It was really a lot of fun and I love the way it looks too.

This year we (and that mostly means little Abe) decided that we are thankful for the following:

Along with nine leaves with names of family members,
two leaves with names of friends,
one bunch of leaves with our pet's names,
we're thankful for God,
pickles,
popsicles,
toy cars,
giants (I told him this was not relevant but he insisted),
Peppie and Bay (the real ponies that he rides),
our home,
our jobs (this was added by me),
Mike, his horse, and castle (his favorite toys right now),

pizza,
Caillou (his all time favorite television show),
our country (also added by me),
shoveling snow (he loves shoveling snow),
garbage trucks (he also loves watching the garbage trucks on garbage day),

candy,

and

drums and guitars.

This is really going to be a fun tradition and we are very thankful.

Thanksgiving 2014

I'd planned several different posts this year in my head leading up to Thanksgiving, one of my very favorite holidays. I wanted to do a few posts about things I have much to be thankful for, a post about the first Thanksgiving, one about President George Washington's Thanksgiving proclamation, and one about blogs I'm thankful for... Thanksgiving 2014 has come and gone and I ended up posting a "thank-you for my home" and a few "Thanksgiving tree" posts. Needless to say I did not live up to my expectations.

Normally my little family and I will attend a Thanksgiving feast at a relative's house but I always make a traditional feast for just us as well (a few days before or after). I think our little feast is one of the reasons I love the holiday so much. I don't enjoy entertaining. There's something about the drama of it all (there are some very colorful people in the family), the expectations, and never being able to meet those expectations that makes entertaining very, um, not enjoyable for me. (I do like to think I'm "practicing" each year for someday though) But I love to cook, and I LOVE to bake, and eating is one of my absolute favorite past times. Our little feast is heavenly each year. This year I didn't make one single thing. We just didn't have the funds in the budget to get a turkey, even a small one, and all the fun baking supplies for a decadent pie or a luscious cheese cake. I very wisely accepted fact and didn't try to scramble to make my Thanksgiving meal.

I'm a tiny bit saddened by these little let downs but mostly I'm just thankful. I'll most likely make our little feast next year. We had a nice meal at my in laws (although my mom in law cannot cook... she tried) and no one tackled anyone, no cuts or bruises arose, the kids had a ton of fun together, and I didn't have to leave early due to an excessive amount of profanity being exposed to my little one's ears. This evening we'll head over to my sister's house for a second feast. I couldn't ask for more. This Thanksgiving was a total success and I have more than could ever be mentioned to be thankful for. I hope everyone who celebrates had a more than worthy Thanksgiving this year as well.

I leave you with an excerpt from President George Washington's 1789 Thanksgiving Day Proclamation. For some reason every year when I read this it just makes me smile so much:

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor… Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next (1789) to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be-- That we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks and also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions-- to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually--to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed--to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord--To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and us--and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.

All glory to God! Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Tree

Our tree is really coming along. I think my favorite leaf up there so far is "pickles." My little guy really loves pickles (and popsicles, that's up there too).

There's so much to be thankful for!

Thank-you

November is here!

One of the wonderful effects of a sense of gratitude is the desire to spread the joy around.
-M.J. Ryan

For years I have considered this a month of thanks.  Thanksgiving has become my very favorite holiday because of it. I've a tradition of writing thanksgiving letters, notes, little messages on facebook to as many people as I'm able throughout the month of November. It may be selfish but I think it's just a natural by product of giving thanks, I receive more joy throughout this month in letting people know how much I'm thankful for them then I ever do at Christmas opening up gifts from under the tree.

One of my favorite parts of the tradition is myself finding out as the month progresses who I desire to thank this year. I will sometimes find the most random of people, not necessarily a best friend or my sister but a co-worker that I see once a week and speak to for maybe 5 minutes as our paths cross, some one at church who I maybe talk to once a month, or an in law that might not be at the very top of my "favorite persons" list. Truth is, there are hundreds of people in our lives and I bet if you stopped to think about each one of them there is something about them that you are thankful for.

I'd like to encourage everyone, each individual who reads this post, whether you're of the part of the planet that actually celebrates the Thanksgiving holiday or not to send at least one note of thanks to someone this month of November. Sending more than one would be fabulous!

I guarantee you that you'll receive as much from this act of kindness as the recipient of your note (although that certainly isn't the point). Joy is in the crisp autumn air. The holidays are upon us. Let us give thanks!

It is better to give than to receive.
Acts 20:35

Thanksgiving Tree Craft (Part 2)

The leaves are dried and pressed.
Today I taped a few pages of newspaper together and let my son paint them white.
After the paint dried I outlined a tree on the paper and cut it out.
Now the tree is hanging on the dining room wall.
We'll add one leaf every day until Thanksgiving with something written on it that we're thankful for.

This will probably be a Thanksgiving tradition for us for many years to come. Today we added two leaves. I asked little Abe what he was thankful for and he said, "mommy." Awe, melt my heart. I wrote his name on the second leaf because I didn't want to be up there without him.

Sparked by a fellow blogger's comment: Do you have any Thanksgiving holiday traditions?

Please comment if you do. It's a rather intriguing question since the Thanksgiving holiday can just be considered a big meal to those outside the US.

Thanksgiving Tree Craft (Part One)

Today we went for a walk and collected fallen leaves. It was fun noticing all the different colors and leaves that had fallen from all different types of trees.

Right now our leaves are drying in the basement. We'll press them on wax paper once they're dry. We're going to make a thanksgiving tree out of newpaper that I'll hang on the wall. Everyday leading up to thanksgiving we'll add a leaf to the tree with something we're thankful for written on it. We will read all of our leaves each day and think about the things we're thankful for. 

I'm pretty sure I have everything I need around the house to do this entire craft. Free is always the best!