Thanks and Giving

GIVING THANKS
It's November.. which means your Facebook feed is probably packed with the annual "I'm Thankful" posts. Mine is. I don't participate in it but a lot of people I know do. Being thankful is something that we practice all year around in our house but in November, I sit down with my kids and we discuss things that we are grateful for.

TRADITIONS
As my kids grow, I'm always trying to come up with activities we can all do together. In passed years, we made paper hand turkeys and wrote what we were grateful for and I hung them on the wall with a sign in the middle that said, We Are Thankful for...  I used construction paper and each child was given their favorite color to use for their turkeys.
Last year I came up with something a little more interactive. I typed up and printed out little papers that said this:

In the Thompson house, Being Thankful is very important to us. Throughout the month of November we are celebrating the people who make a difference in our lives by saying THANKS and GIVING a small gift that we have made.
You were chosen by _________
Because __________________
Thank you for being awesome!

I had each child chose (at least) 3 people, fill out the paper, and make a Christmas ornament to give to them. (I bought a kit at a craft store. Ornaments are what they chose) The kids had fun doing it and the recipients were very touched to have been chosen. It gave my kids a sense of pride and honored people who maybe didn't think they were making an impact on my children's lives. We will be doing this again in the coming weeks. This is definitely something I want to continue and hope that they will pass on the tradition when they have children.

I hope that you found some inspiration from this post. In a world full of hate and anger, I am trying to raise my children to choose love and compassion. It all starts with little things like this tradition.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone.