Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! While you’re taking a break from the holiday preparations today, here is a short video about noticing the little, ordinary things of beauty.
This weekend, while you are thinking about the things that you are thankful for, I challenge you to do one of these great Gratitude-Inspiring activities from Fishful Thinking. They have helped me live in thanksgiving daily, all year long.
Happiness Scavenger Hunt: Create a list of simple items or experiences that make you and your child laugh, smile, or that bring a sense of pleasure (petting a puppy, watching ants march in a line, swinging, etc.). Devote 30 to 60 minutes to a happiness scavenger hunt where you try to find/do several things on the list.
Inspire an Attitude of Gratitude: Leading by example is a great way to help make expressing gratitude a part of your family’s daily life. Whenever you find yourself feeling grateful—share it! It can be as simple as saying, “I feel so thankful for our wonderful family!” You can also ask simple questions that will help your kids to notice everyday blessings.
Creating Your “Enough List”: While striving towards self-improvement is an important aspect of growing as a person, it’s also necessary to take stock of what you already have. The “enough” list shouldn’t replace your “er” list of personal improvements (like getting better at the piano, eating healthier meals or keeping the bedroom neater). Instead, it will help you to stay grateful for what is already good, while you are working on improving other aspects of your life.
Make a “Grateful Sayings” Poster: Get a piece of poster board and write “For This I Am Grateful” in big letters across the top. Ask everyone in your family (and friends and neighbors, too!) to write or draw something on the poster for which they are grateful. It can be something “big” or something “small.”
What are your favorite ways to celebrate Thanksgiving daily?
© 2010, Food Fun Family. All rights reserved.
Such awesome ideas, aren’t they? We did a Grateful Sayings poster again this year, but this time we each made our own. I’ll be posting a picture for my Fishful Thinking Thursday tomorrow. :) And I love that video from the church website. We watched it with the kids on Thanksgiving day, and it’s a great lead in to these activities even though they are on completely different sites. Gratitude and Optimism are everywhere if we take time to notice it. Thanks for sharing, Lolli!
Great ideas! I wrote a post from one of them:
http://three-moms-in-one.blogspot.com/2010/11/keep-it-going.html
Thanks for the inspiration! Happy belated Thanksgiving.
-Julie