For This I am Grateful...

We had a tradition every Thanksgiving where we would go around the table and confess to everyone what we were most thankful for that year. Even though I didn't quite appreciate this tradition as a teenager who felt like my feelings were just too personal to share with others... I've grown to appreciate it now as a mom. I think we all sometimes forget to thank those who mean the most in our lives and this is a great excuse to remind our loved ones just how important they are to us.

In the true spirit of the holiday, I decided to do a small craft project with Adelyn to find out what she was thankful for. On each finger, I wanted her to tell me 10 things/people she is grateful for.... and here is the outcome:

Admittedly, some of her choices were prompted by me. She came up with a few all by herself, though, including green (her favorite color), cottage cheese (which she calls cheesy), Cinderella (princess obsessed), candy (thanks to Halloween), and corn dogs (favorite lunch). My hope is that her answers will become more meaningful as the years go by. In the meantime, I'm looking forward to the entertaining responses she will have for me in the next few years.

Rather than include a super long list of the things/people I am grateful for (it's not Thanksgiving YET), I wanted to share just one. I am thankful for: TRADITION. I touched on this a bit at the beginning of this post. I find that it is important for parents to encourage and preserve traditions to give the family a feeling of connection. Fortunately, my family growing up was rich in tradition. It's something that made my quality of life so much better and I plan to pass on some of the same traditions to my own family. Sure, there will be a day when they will roll their eyes when asked to share what they are thankful for at the Thanksgiving dinner table... but they'll appreciate it one day!

We hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving!