My wife Whitney is amazing at celebrating the various seasons of life. She wakes up early to set up a grand entrance for birthdays. Loves fawning over new babies and sending little gifts. With each new holiday approaching, she get's our family into the spirit by playing good music, making festive snacks, and decorating the house.
I love this about her, the kids do too.
One activity she planned for us the past few years is the Thankful Tree. And while we do it in November around Thanksgiving, it could work anytime.
It goes like this:
- Get a Mason jar
- Fill it with sticks
- Cut out little paper leaves and string pieces
- Every night, write down what everyone is thankful for.
- Attach leaves to the branches.
Slowly the tree fills up with all kinds of reminders of how much good there is in life.
And I have to tell you, with toddlers in the house, we have a lot of fun and laughs at what we hang on the tree. For example, Lukas gave thanks for his brother for a week straight, as well as dog slobber. Boden has been thankful for things that have put a tear in our eye.
If you want to celebrate what's good and true and noble, bring the Thankful Tree into your house!
“whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”