We are full swing into my favorite part of the season. I love fall and my favorite holiday has always been Thanksgiving. The food is my favorite, the coziness, the plaid skirts and wool blankets, a crackling fire. There’s definitely a nostalgic feel I have for thanksgiving, even though Thanksgiving at my great-grandmothers has been long gone for many years. Christmas comes with fun and excitement, but lots of stress, to-dos, and expectations from others that Thanksgiving always seems to avoid. Every year we always take a month of Thanksgiving in our little home, that way we can enjoy the time as a quiet reflection on the many blessings we’ve been given. Think, what would it be like if everyone spent just as much time on their Thanksgiving list of blessings, as they do their Christmas list of wants? How many of us have our coveted Christmas list written down, ready to go at the first of November? What if we all just stopped? What if we put ourselves on hold, and actually looked at all we have? Maybe our Christmas lists would end up a bit smaller. Maybe we’d be more focused on others than ourselves. Maybe the stressful to-do and have to expectations wouldn’t be so many, because we’d be more interested in serving others, than making sure December hits all of our expected wishes. As a culture we see it as valuable to be a planner. You are weeks ahead, ready for anything, ready in time for the sales. What if we were that ahead in our thanksgiving for the blessing God gave us? Don’t think I’m saying this because I’m exempt. I’ve already made my gift list of ideas for everyone one my list, but at home we’ve not made them for OURSELVES. Eventually, I’ll ask the boys what they’d like. They’ve been staring at the same toy magazines for 2 months already. We have found that taking time to be thankful for what we have, gets us all in a better mindset. We are more joy filled and want to serve others, because when we acknowledge all of our blessings and quit complaining of the negatives and wants, we naturally open our eyes more to others. There’s no set rule of no Christmas music allowed, or no toy magazines, or shaming the kids for taking about what they want. Come the first of October, the boys love heading out to Rural King and watching them slowly bring in the Christmas toys over the next several weeks. Gratitude is more a mindset I keep myself and I focus our conversation on thanksgiving. This year we’ve pulled out our verse cards, which I save every year in our thanksgiving box. Over the years we’ve recorded a card for each person (and dog), listing the things that make them a special blessing in our lives. I have glittery leaves we write other things we’re thankful for and hang them throughout the house. All these things get saved, so we can remember and look back at all the ways God has blessed us over the years. Since the kids are young we accept any simple thankful answer, but Danny and I also try to spend time in deeper thought over things we’re thankful for that happened over the year. Usually for me, this is a lot of seeing the silver linings in the challenges God allowed. This was something my mom always challenged us as we got older, removing the easy things of being thankful for and making us really think what specifically about God, family, friends, home, etc., that was special to this year. I’ve shared some of these things over the years on the blog, including my thanksgiving for how God used my anxiety, and the lessons God taught me when I became a mom. I think it’s important to have things documented so we don’t forget, and I think it’s important to share with others the ways God has blessed and encouraged us. Along with our verses, I’ve included hymns this year. Hymns have a real uplifting power to them, getting our focus so quickly off ourselves and on to God. This year I’ve been playing the following list for the boys at breakfast. I have been letting them watch the videos of creation with it, which makes it a real fun treat. Here is this years list: To God Be the Glory How Great Thou Art This is my Fathers World Praise to the Lord the Almighty Count Your Blessings Here are our Verses: James 1:17 Psalm 7:17 2 Corinthians 9:11 Psalm 28:7 Psalm 30:12 Psalm 9:1 Psalm 95:2 I’m always looking for good Thanksgiving books, which are so hard to find. Most are too boring, too in-depth for my kids ages, or just twaddle. I’ll share all our fall books in another post but for Thanksgiving specifically, there are a few things that I do enjoy using every year. Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder Thanksgiving in the Woods by Phyllis Alsdurf The Crossing by Donna Jo Napoli Pilgrim Thanksgiving by Wilma Pitchford Hays Seaman’s Journal: On Trail with Lewis and Clark by Patricia Reeder Eubank Poetry and Short Story Collections: The Blue Sky Book Who Tells the Crocuses’ it’s Spring Through Golden Window Series: American Backgrounds Stories of Early America
0 Comments
|
About The KelleysThe Choosing Home PodcastCategories
All
Archives
September 2022
|