Thankful Thursday

Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!

Psalm 118:1

Every week lately I have the intentions of doing this Thankful Thursday post, yet life has been busy, and computer "stuff" gets pushed to the bottom of my to do list. When I do have time to do computer "stuff" I am too tired to even look at the computer! However, for today I really did want to share what we are doing with the boys as we approach Thanksgiving.

We have started our Thankful Box! We did this a couple of years ago... we all really liked it, and it gave more meaning to our Thanksgiving holiday. Every evening after dinner we all share one thing from our day that we are thankful for, I write them on a notecard and stick them in our Thankful Box. Then on Thanksgiving Day we will get them all out and read them. It is a great way to cultivate an attitude of thankfulness in our family.

We just use an empty kleenex box that we have decorated and have put the verse above on, "Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good." Psalm 118:1

So today I thought I would share what we have all been thankful for so far this week:

James

grocery stores
that my Chick-Fil-A cup did not get thrown away
sunshine

Tricia
rest time in the afternoon
the opportunity to go to Bible study today
that through Jesus Christ I am an overcomer

Paul
that God gave me my cat and for grandfather and grandmother
thankful to have a Mommy & a Daddy
thankful that Jesus died on the cross to save us from our sins

David
I am thankful for Jesus and God
for my brother and all the things God gave me, and my mommy & daddy
I am thankful for Tommy Moon

Do you have any neat ways of cultivating an attitude of thankfulness in your family? What are you thankful for today? For more TT posts go here.

Another Holiday Tradition...

Gingerbread houses!! I guess you could say this is a tradition for our family, we made our 1st ones last year and have made them again this year, and the boys have had so much fun doing these that they will have to become a holiday tradition.


Last year we bought 2 kits, one for each child. James spent A LOT of time assembling the houses and getting them ready for the boys to decorate. The assembly was not the easiest thing in the world to do, but the boys were so excited when they could finally get their hands on them and start decorating.

Well, this year our I noticed that our local library was having a workshop for making gingerbread houses. You paid only $5 per house and just showed up to decorate, they did all the hard work and preparation! I mainly did this as a way to save a little money, as the kits I have seen are $10 each, so this way I could save $10. Well, let me tell you, it was the best spent $10 ever this year!

When we arrived all the houses were already assembled, the boys got to pick where they wanted the house on their little platform, and they hot glued it on for them. They even gave them an ice cream cone to decorate as a Christmas tree! There were probably 3 long tables filled with all different kinds of candies and such to decorate their houses with, my boys were in heaven!! I put the icing on for them, which was already mixed for us in big ziploc bags with a hole in the bottom for squirting the icing out, and they worked on their houses for probably a good hour. We were some of the last ones to leave and I had to make them stop working then!

Their gingerbread houses are now proudly displayed on our dining room table, although David's is missing a few pieces of candy... which explains this rash that keeps re-occurring on him this week (which I previously thought was the result of bug bites, but now I know it wasn't). It seems he has been eating the candy, which we were told was very old, which had had many people's hands on it (we all put back what we did not use so it could be used by others), and which has the icing on it that we were told not to eat because it had raw eggs in it! What ever is my child thinking!

So if you make gingerbread houses, make sure your child does not eat it!!

More Christmas Traditions...

Here is a rather simple Christmas tradition that we do, but one of my favorites! Every year we send picture Christmas cards and a Christmas letter to all our friends and family. James and I have lots of fun trying to write our letter together. This is something we have done since our first year of marriage, and I am so glad. It is so fun to be able to go back and read the letters that we have sent in the years past, they just make the memories come flooding back.

A couple of years ago we changed the approach we took in composing our letter, and now we have a little "blurb" from each member of our family about the highlights of our year. In the past it has been fun to try to write the boys "blurb" from their perspective... hopefully this year they will really be able to give us some good input! We have not written our letter yet this year, but it will be done soon hopefully.

And I just love going to the mailbox in December! It is so fun when those Christmas cards start filling up your mailbox! My favorite cards are the ones with pictures or the ones with a personal note or letter letting you know a tiny bit of what is happening in their lives.

Have you ever wondered what to do with all of those cute and adorable picture cards you get every year? Well, last year a scrapbooking friend gave me a wonderful idea that I just had to implement. We saved all of the cards with pictures and put them into a scrapbook. Now this was done very simply, much more simply than I do my normal scrapbooks. Since the cards are so nicely decorated you do not need to add lots more stuff to the pages.

We keep this scrapbook on our table in the den and use it during devotions. I have the boys look through the pictures and pick one person to pray for that day. It has been a great way to teach them about the privilege of praying for others, and I just love hearing their sweet and precious prayers (they often pray for their friends to obey and not get any spankings, to not say potty words, typically what they are having a hard time with that day). Now, they do not always pick a person to pray for, often they will pray for the pets included in the pictures, but that is fine with me, they are learning to pray.

And I think it will also be neat to look back over these through the years to see how families change and grow.


So, do any of you have any simple yet meaningful traditions that you do each year? I would love for you to share them!

Christmas Traditions...

I thought I would start off December by sharing some of our Christmas traditions... I plan to share a different one each Monday until Christmas.

At our house we celebrate Jesus' birthday rather than focusing on Santa Claus. We do not "do" Santa Claus... instead we focus on the fact that Jesus' birthday is coming soon and we make preparations for His birthday celebration. You should hear some of the responses we get when we tell others that we do not do Santa. Some people think it is a wonderful idea and others think we are absolutely crazy and our kids are really missing out... well, my kids absolutely love Christmas, and they know what it is about and whose birth we are celebrating, that of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Yes, they still get presents, we all get presents at Jesus' birthday party, and yes, we still have a Christmas tree. (These are things people have asked me about.) My boys do know about Santa, how could they not, he is everywhere this time of year. They know that he is make believe and not real; and, I am thankful to say that he does not consume their thoughts. They know that the real meaning of Christmas is Jesus Christ our Savior being born here on earth.

We have never had our pictures taken with Santa (think of all the time and the tears we have saved by not having to stand in that long line to see the man in the red suit!) We do take family pictures in front of our Christmas tree and in front of our cross and manager that my husband so lovingly made me to display in our front yard. And we have a birthday cake for Jesus on Christmas day, complete with candles! We all gather around the cake, read the Christmas story, sometimes acting it out with our nativity scene, and sing Happy Birthday to Jesus. It is a precious time and I just love seeing my boys get all excited about singing Happy Birthday to Jesus, it is priceless!


I would love to hear your Christmas traditions! Leave a comment and let me know your favorite!

And on a totally unrelated side note, my kids have never eaten at McDonald's either and people think we are crazy for that... I do not think they are missing a thing...

Christmas Cards!!

I started getting Christmas cards today!!!!! One of my favorite things about Christmas is getting Christmas cards in the mail and hearing from people I haven't heard from in a long time. What other time of year can you look forward to getting your mail? I just love it when we have more cards than bills, aren't those just the greatest days! I usually get the mail while the boys are sleeping; so I love it when I get a handful of cards and can just relax in the chair and take them all in.

My favorite cards are the ones with pictures and letters or little notes. We do a Christmas letter every year, a little something we started doing our first Christmas together. It is fun to get together with James and reminisce about our year, picking our favorite and most memorable memories to relay to all who take the time to read our letter.

I think this year we are going to start a new tradition, this is one that I have "stolen" from my creative memories consultant! I am going to take all the cards that we get with pictures and make a simple little scrapbook to sit out on our coffee table year round. Every day or week (haven't decided yet which one) our family will pick another family to pray specifically for. Having the pictures will be nice reminders to us and especially to our boys of who we are praying for. I thought this was a wonderful idea and that it would be a great way to teach our boys the importance of praying for others and not just for our family and ourselves. So if you want us to be praying for you, send us your picture!!

So, what about you? What are some of your favorite things about Christmas, and do you have any traditions you can share with us?