thanks and giving

we are wrapping up a very long and very relaxing thanksgiving weekend here. it has been so nice to have so much wide-open time as a family. sometimes it may have seemed a bit boring, but having all this time to just do whatever has made me actually feel so accomplished. the house is clean, through no significant effort, the kids are having fun and we have been eating very well and enjoying fires in the fireplace. it is so good.

in the weeks that led up to thanksgiving we tried out a new family activity. i wanted to help bee to realize the meaning of thanksgiving and create a sort of family bonding. i printed out these thanksgiving trees and leaves. it is such a beautiful design and worked perfectly. 

each day, at dinner, we each had 2 leaves. one leaf was to write something we are thankful for and one for something that we gave. it was sometimes interesting to see what bee would say and most often very touching. sometimes we were thankful for a greater thing, like a healthy family. other times it was relatively small, like me being able to have some time to myself in a day. it was always fun to try to "help" henny come up with his. he was most often thankful for books and gave us great laughs. 

the most wonderful thing about this activity is that is has given me hope and inspiration to make a daily thanks part of our routine. i have to brainstorm more with D about it, but i think i'm ready to start something. maybe we will keep a family journal of our gratitude and gifts. i don't have it fleshed out yet, but i am ready and motivated. we have so much to be thankful for and i hope we can continue to acknowledge it all year.