Thankful Thursday & Family Traditions

One of my friends, Autumn from Pretty & Mine, challenged bloggers to join her to celebrate Thankful Thursdays in November.  I'm more than happy to join in.

I used to regularly write down praises/thankful items in my prayer journal but there are more skipped weeks thank I'd like to admit.  So I'm trying to be more consistent this month.  Since last Thursday, here are some of things I've written down:  warm home on blustery days, a community of worship, fun in the leaves, a little boy is learning so much each day, safe travels for my husband on snowy roads, the joy of the first snowfall, and answered prayers.

Family Traditions
In addition, I wanted to write about some family traditions that encourage thankfulness, that I'm also quite thankful for.  My mom has always preached the importance of traditions, how they help "glue" families together.

One of my favorite traditions that my parents started when I was little is the Thanksgiving Tree.

Every year, each family member writes what they are thankful for on a few construction paper leaves.  Most years, we just did two leaves per person but other years I think my sister and I created quite a few leaves, expertly decorated of course (I have memories of gluing felt to the leaves).  All the leaves were saved from one year to the next... I think they date back to the late 80's.  A Legacy of Thankfulness to be sure

At our house, we've started a Thankful Paper Chain to encourage thankfulness all month long...  A simple paper chain we add to each day with items we are each thankful for.  

The best part is our kiddo is excited about it.  Each day he's written several different links to the chain.  He does a great job reminding us and even informed Dad extra entries should be done since he was out of town :)  I love hearing what he's come up with: cousins, his best buddy, our dog, chickens, toys, candy, SNOW, food, trains, checkers, playset, and Grandma's pool.

Hope you have a Thankful Thursday!