About two weeks ago for family home evening we started a fun project.
I used my fancy dancy Cricut to cut a bunch of leaf and acorn shapes in fall colors and put them in a bag. Then we had a lesson on the importance of gratitude (which involved the story of the 10 lepers from the New Testament and the learning of Hymn #242, "Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow" (which, incidentally, was my favorite hymn as a teenager because it ties as the shortest in the hymn book).
Anyway, so the point is, we challenged the kids to pay attention for the next little while to things they are thankful for. We didn't ask everyone to do a certain number a day or anything like that, we wanted them to only jot things down when they honestly, seriously felt grateful for them.
It has been wonderful.
I love reading the things the kids are glad they have in their lives. From books and grass to backpacks and chocolate it is all up there (the picture is from a while ago so this poor door is nearly covered now with leaves and acorns).
The part that pleases me most is that more than anything else up there I find leaves with the names of people that live in this house or just the word "family" scrawled across them. I am thrilled and my little ones are thankful for each other (even if they sometimes torment the dickens out of one another). This has been a wonderful activity. I'm glad we did it and I think we just may make it a tradition.
What a fun idea! And great to get them thinking of things they are thankful for at this time of year.
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