Every year, as the Holidays approach ~ I love getting ideas of fun and simple ways to help keep all of our focuses on what we are really celebrating and on all that we have to be thankful for. As I have been recording in my "Joy Journal" for over a year now, it's just been really cool to see a perspective shift and a better realization of all that I have - even in spite of some junk that life likes to throw in every now and then.
It is beyond true - in my life at least - that "the joy of the small is truly what makes life large."
After all - isn't that what so much of life is, anyway? Small stuff? The typical, day to day, and often mundane bunch of "normals" that repeats itself over and over again - maybe with just a few extra messes thrown in for some extra flavor? But, if we can see all of the little gifts amidst the grand, overarching sweep of the mundane and the mess, the chaos and the pain...I think that's a gift in and of itself.
And as my boys get older - with every passing year - I can see afresh and anew the need for cultivating gratitude in their own little lives, as well. It is something that does not come naturally for most, and if I can help grow that attitude of gratitude just a bit in their little hearts while they are still young, so that it can maybe become a habit when they are older, well I think that's a pretty good success story, in my book. And their wives might just rise up and call me blessed, someday, as well...
So, as Thanksgiving approaches - which is my all time fave holiday, by the way, because the whole frenzied gift giving saga is not yet in the mix of all the craziness - what better time to start a "Family Joy Journal" of sorts?
For the past couple of years, we have done a "thankful tree" where every day up until Thanksgiving, we write things that we are thankful for onto leaves and place them on a tree - all the while watching it grow big and bushy with all of our lists of thanks. The boys love that, so we are doing it again.
But, another idea I saw in "Thriving Family" magazine (which is free, by the way) is to hide 500 pennies all around your house, and whenever anyone finds a coin - right then and there, they yell out something they are thankful for and they place it into a jar...ultimately culminating in 500 Thanks by the end of the "game." Kinda' cool. Simple, maybe somewhat redundant in addition to the tree - by in my humble opinion, one can never practice enough.
So, that's what we're doing. Only we are using any spare change that we all have - the boys' money included, and we are all taking turns hiding it everywhere. Whenever we find one, we record something that we're thankful for, and then in a few weeks we'll cash in all of our change to buy gifts for Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes for little boys their own ages somewhere in the world.
I love it. They love it. I'm learning. They're learning.
And even Ransom is learning that sometimes it's painful to give. When he finds a "pieth of money" he wants it. It's his. And it's hard for him to give it up. Man, I see myself reflected in those actions. So, we're growing together...
And we are recording our thanks together.
And if you're ever over for a visit and you find a piece of cash...feel free to play along, as well!
So, tell me - what fun traditions are you doing with your littles as the Holidays approach?
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