Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Gratitude Tree


I am one of those that believes that Thanksgiving is an important holiday. It's not just about eating turkey and pie (although that part can be very enjoyable!). I have recently come to feel that there is great power in gratitude so we are working with our kids for the whole month of November on cultivating an "attitude of gratitude." Here is our gratitude tree. I just cut our the branches from a roll of masking paper we had from painting project and stuck them on the wall. It isn't perfectly beautiful, but I love how prominent it is in our home. EVERY night at dinner time, each member of the family comes up with one specific thing they are thankful for each day and we write it on a leaf and post it on the wall. By Thanksgiving, our tree should be overflowing with thankful leaves.

Chris @ Just a Girl did a post on a bunch of ideas for displaying gratitude. Check it out!

And since we are on the topic, I am grateful for kind readers who like my crazy ideas and leave me nice comments (even if I don't get the chance to respond to them personally), and even sometimes awards....

Jessica @ Complete and Utter Chaos left this for me...


and Brenda @ Queen of Good Intentions and Party Planning Mom, gave me this...
Thanks so much ladies! I know I am supposed to pass the awards along, but with so many great blogs out there, that will take more brainpower/time than I have at the moment. If I ever (I mean, "when I"), get caught-up on all the blogging I want to do, I will do a post on all of my favorite blogs. Fair enough? Thanks for the honor!

16 comments:

  1. Lucky you with all of the awards!! How fun is that? Super fun!

    Kendra, if you get nice comments, you should know it's because you are so brilliantly amazing!

    I love the tree. I'm so stealing this post surgery. Or maybe tonight if I get pre-surgery insomnia! :) This will be a great way to kick off the holiday, especially for me, since I am the Thanksgiving host house EVERY YEAR. and I LOVE IT!

    You're awesome!

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  2. I LOVE the tree! How cute is that going up the doorway. Brilliant. I just saw your comment about making some kind of blinkie thingy or words on my picture for my party. I'm such a moron. You CAN make that??? You bet I'd love one! My e-mail is ccarey1@hotmail.com. Don't do it if it's a big deal. It would take me 6 months, but hopefully you're smarter than me! :) Thank you!!!

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  3. Hi, I love your tree! We don't celebrate Thanksgiving Day here in NZ. But I am so going to make one of these anyway!

    Kylie

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  4. For the past 3 years we've been creating a gratitude garland (similar to the one on Chris's site, but not nearly so cute). It was a last minute Monday night activity so it's just yarn with construction paper leaves attached, where we write what we're thankful for and the year. I do need to come up with a sturdier option and one that has more room to add on to, but we love each year reading what we've mentioned in years past (Sheridan "Human internal intelligence--2005", Marcus "Lizards--2004" etc.)

    I like the daily nature of your project. Do you have a plan of what you're going to do with the leaves at then end of the month?

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  5. I love the tree!! I have been reading since you were featured on today's creative blog. You have great ideas!

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  6. This is such a great idea. I think it is so needed to stop and take a second to think of things we are thankful for!

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  7. Ohh, the tree is awesome! I love it! Such a great idea to make Thanksgiving what it is really about! And extending it to the whole month! :o)

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  8. I think the tree is a great idea. Thanks for sharing, it should do that for my family to.
    I love your site, you have such a creative side I am sooo jealous

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  9. I am so GRATEFUL for this idea! My husband will think I'm nuts, but I am going to do this! THANKS again!

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  10. I love the tree....so cute! And I just saw your comment on Just a girl where you said you can do buttons for blogs...what would you charge to do a linky button thingy (like my technical talk?) for my blog that I can share with others?

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  11. I love the tree idea! My kids would love that. Congratulations on your awards!

    P.S. I love your new background!

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  12. I love how prominent your gratitude tree is. Where do you find paper that big?

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  13. Trina-- That's a great idea to keep track of what they are grateful for from year to year. I hadn't gotten past this year, except to write them all on the blog. Another option would be to take each child's leave and make a scrapbook layout out of them.

    High-heels--I didn't find big paper. At first I was going to look for big rolls of butcher paper, but I started looking around to see what I had and found the paper used for masking wall during painting (available at any home improvement store). It is only about 15" wide, so I made the main trunk out of that, and then cut smaller pieces to be the branches. It was easy, and best of all, I didn't have to try and go somewhere to find the paper!

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  14. A gratitude tree is a great idea! I love it!

    Thanks for sharing this idea!!!

    Melissa

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  15. I love this project and your whole blog! I actually linked to this post from my blog today.

    Kimba

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