Sometimes these posts can come easy to me and other times I struggle with the words I want to convey. I know thankfulness is front and center during this time of year, as it should be, but then it often feels like we kick it into overdrive with the nonstop hustle and bustle of the next holiday.
Sometime I feel like I can be doing more to focus on instilling being thankful throughout the year. I have my personal moments where I take the time to stop and thank God for showing me a beautiful sunset, enjoying a peaceful day, or even random things as they come up. It’s usually in those moments where I try to be mindful of incorporating them more into everyday living.
I had hopes of having the boys start a thankful journal leading up to thanksgiving. While it all sounded great in theory, life took over with homework, sports, and everything else in between. I got down on myself for a hot minute (do people still say that? haha probably dating myself here-oh well!) about not making more time to implement this.
Then I had to have a talk with myself (girl, get it together). Just because we didn’t start it during the month of November doesn’t mean we can’t start one after. I started looking more into gratitude journals and the difference between being thankful and grateful and how they intertwine.
There are a lot of similarities and often the words are used interchangeably. According to some googling, the best way to put it is, being grateful is about appreciating what one has, and being thankful, or thanking someone, often implies you are acknowledging your thanks for something that someone has given or done for you.
It got me thinking, we usually take time to be thankful for things when celebrating thanksgiving and giving thanks, but what if we are really being grateful? Food for thought.
Hmmmm, speaking of food, who’s ready for all of the delicious things we are about to consume? We’ll be having a traditional dinner but also having a combined birthday celebration for my youngest son with some sweet treats.
Our yard was really showing off this year and I’m thankful some of the leaves have hung around for awhile. I don’t like looking out at bare trees. We had a chance to snap some pics and share in some family fun.
The boys love throwing leaves and jumping in them. C had me do it one more time with him, and then one more time a bunch of times after that. While I could have been doing other things, it was a good reminder to slow down and be thankful for these moments. Wishing you and your family a very happy Thanksgiving!
