Question of the Day:
What do YOU do to kick off the holiday season?(leave me a comment...I may want to begin YOUR tradition...)
All of you Facebookers out there have probably seen everyone do the
All of you Facebookers out there have probably seen everyone do the
"30 Days of Gratitude"
throughout the month of November.
I love it.
It's the perfect way to get into the true "holidays" frame of mind.
While I, too, join in on the whole "Facebook" thing
we as a family actually have a very similar tradition.
We make a
"Count Your Blessings" chain
from random, left-over strips of scrapbook paper.
(of course OUR papers don't actually match...that would be WAY too predictable!)
Every day EACH MEMBER of the family
writes down ONE thing they are grateful for on a strip of paper then
staples it into the chain.
Rules: 1. We cannot ever REPEAT something we've already written.
2. See rule number one.
As the chain grows, we hang it around our kitchen, where we can see it regularly.
Then, by the time Thanksgiving comes around
(which is when we sit and read them together as a family),
we have a chain of nearly
150 everyday blessings
that oftentimes we overlook while running from our day to day madness.
Some of the blessings are beautiful and well thought of...
other times they humorously read
"underwear" or "monkeys"
(yes...both of those have appeared on our chains...)
Needless to say, even monkeys can be blessings
...somehow,
and, yes, I'm certain our family is ALL very grateful for underwear...
BUT THE POINT IS
someone somewhere saw these as blessings
and pointed them out for us all to recognize.
And they become ingrained in our minds and in our hearts.
And,
when things get a little hard throughout the following year,
we then can look back on our
SIMPLE ABUNDANCE
and be grateful for the little things in life.
(Now's the time to leave me that comment I was telling you before...)
throughout the month of November.
I love it.
It's the perfect way to get into the true "holidays" frame of mind.
While I, too, join in on the whole "Facebook" thing
we as a family actually have a very similar tradition.
We make a
"Count Your Blessings" chain
from random, left-over strips of scrapbook paper.
(of course OUR papers don't actually match...that would be WAY too predictable!)Every day EACH MEMBER of the family
writes down ONE thing they are grateful for on a strip of paper then
staples it into the chain.
Rules: 1. We cannot ever REPEAT something we've already written.
2. See rule number one.
As the chain grows, we hang it around our kitchen, where we can see it regularly.
Then, by the time Thanksgiving comes around
(which is when we sit and read them together as a family),
we have a chain of nearly
150 everyday blessings
that oftentimes we overlook while running from our day to day madness.
Some of the blessings are beautiful and well thought of...other times they humorously read
"underwear" or "monkeys"
(yes...both of those have appeared on our chains...)
Needless to say, even monkeys can be blessings
...somehow,
and, yes, I'm certain our family is ALL very grateful for underwear...
BUT THE POINT IS
someone somewhere saw these as blessings
and pointed them out for us all to recognize.
And they become ingrained in our minds and in our hearts.
And,
when things get a little hard throughout the following year,
we then can look back on our
SIMPLE ABUNDANCE
and be grateful for the little things in life.
(Now's the time to leave me that comment I was telling you before...)
2 comments:
LOVE THIS AGAIN ! AND I THINK UNDERWEAR AND MONKEYS ARE NEEDED
FUNNY BOYS,.
I AM GRATEFUL FOR YOU AND THE STRENGHT YOU SHOW IN TIMES WHEN I NEED IT IN MY LIFE.
ME
What a great, simple way to remember to be thankful! Thanks for sharing.
Post a Comment