Thankful Tree

This is year two for a November Thankful Tree in our house.  Last year we put paper leaves on a stick tree.  This year we just made a tree out of paper on our window and added paper leaves throughout the month.  Here is the finished product:

It was fun to notice Aria's growth from last year in her thankful statements.  They were a lot less random and a lot more thoughtful.  Usually she was thankful for something we did that particular day.  My favorite was when she was thankful for reading the Bible.  It was also fun that she wanted to write on the leaves herself.  Sometimes she wrote one word.  Sometimes it was just scribbles, but it is fun to see her excited about writing on her own.

I have to admit it wasn't always easy to come up with something I was thankful for.  There were days I didn't feel well or days I was stressed out, but writing a thankful leaf every day was a good reminder that I have plenty to be thankful for even if I am not in a thankful mood.  It is good to be thankful for things like a warm house and a pantry full of food.  There are people in this world who don't have those things. 

Finding something to be thankful for on my down days also helped pull me out of the low point.  Instead of focusing on what was wrong, when I turned my attention to things God has blessed me with, it made the day not seem so bad after all. 

We took our thankful tree down today and put up our Advent calendar and Jesus craft chart.  But even though the reminder is gone, I hope we continue to praise God for the blessings in our life.  We truly have so much to be thankful for!

Here are some leaf close ups