Thankful Acorn 2012

Happy November!!!! I am so excited about the upcoming holiday season this year.  Living in the same town with family will be so much FUN!!!  We have lots to be thankful for.

 

Oh wait it is not November yet!!  Close enough right? 

I wanted to make sure to get this up before November anyway so you would have time to make plans to make your own Thankful Acorn.  Or basket.  Or tin.  Or tree.

 

November marks a time for the holiday season to begin for most folks. For me for sure! 

I am already thinking about the feast of course, spending time with family, preparing for Christmas in a new house, lots of baking, but most of all being thankful.

Although we should be thankful every single day, I like to take this month and really spend time on being aware of what we have to be thankful for.

The most important thing I am thankful for is my faith and trust in God. Without His amazing Gift, His son Jesus Christ, I would be lost, but by grace I have been found(saved!). Thank God!

If you have been following my blog for some time you already know what I am going to share.  If you are new to my blog I am happy to share it again.

Today let me tell you about a fairly new family tradition. It is called, The Thankful Acorn(that is just a name I came up with....you can pick your own or use it too).  This is our fourth year to set aside a time to tell what we are thankful for.    

Many families like to take the time on Thanksgiving day to stop and be thankful. And where I think that is a good practice to get into, I wanted it to be more than just one day. Although we Praise God daily for the many blessings He gives us, I wanted a whole month for my boys to really think about all they have to be thankful for.
We started with just a few nights a week two years ago. But now we do it almost every night of the week. I prefer to spend the time right after supper while we are still at the table and write out our thankful notes.

Now here is where you can make it super simple, like me, or go all out on this. The first two years I simply cut construction paper into little squares and placed stickers for extra fun. Last year I bought cute scrapbook paper.  This year I am doing a combination of the two.  And actually found some scrapbook paper in my stash so I am using that and some leftovers from last year.  As we run out I'll cut up construction paper.

Next, find something you will put them in each day as you and your family write out the thankful notes. I had the cute little acorn basket for years. I would always put it out for fall, but now it serves a true purpose. You could use a regular basket or a pretty fall tin. The container really does not matter. It is the actual sitting down and writing what you are thankful for that is important.

Don't covet the basket!

The tag I made last year...."We are thankful for....."

If you have small children that can not write yet, do the work for them. But encourage them to think of all the little things they are thankful for. If they can write let them do it......you may have to help with spelling, but allow them to do it on their own.  And don't discourage what they are thankful for. 

This last part is optional, but worth the little bit of extra work. After Thanksgiving I take all the notes and put them in a "scrapbook".

Thankful Acorn 2011

Thankful Acorn 2010

Thankful Acorn 2009

NOTE: I confess I have not done that yet!!!! Actually the thankful notes were still in the acorn from last year. I just might use my idea below about the baggie!  Unless I find another Target $1 scrapbook like the ones above and below. 

Again it does not matter what I put the notes in, just as long as I keep them as a memory to go back and look at later. To save space you could simply put them in a baggie and pack away with all your fall decorations. I like to take out the scrapbooks during the fall season. And then put them away with all my fall stuff at the end of November.  The fun part of this for us is going back each year and looking through our little notes. We love seeing what each other was thankful for the year before.

So that is The Thankful Acorn.

I hope I have inspired you to make this part of your November/Thanksgiving tradition.

I am thankful for my sister-in-law that shared it with us a few years ago! It is a fun part of November for our family.

And today I am thankful for a new home with windows that let the sunshine pour in creating a natural glow.