Completed Thankful Tree

     November seemed to fly by and we are gearing up for a busy Christmas season. The Apedaile6 had a wonderful Thanksgiving break and had some much needed time together as a family. Nothing like some time off from work and school to allow for some family bonding time.

   As you may remember, I blogged earlier in November about our Thankful Tree. As the month ended this weekend, we took the time to gather as a family to reflect on our tree and the items we had written down.

I loved how beautiful and full the tree ended up being at the end of the month. We even managed to have a few falling and floating leaves near the tree.

 JT, Lindsay, and myself helped to organize all of the leaves into individual piles.

 Courtney and Sarah dismantled the tree. That wall now looks so bare!

     After we had each persons leaf pile, we gathered in the living room around the fire (insert cheesy family moment music), and we each took  a turn reading our day of thanks out loud. It really was a sweet time and many of us hadn't read any of the leaves, so it was nice to hear some of our perspectives.

 

A sample of John's leaves.

 My leaves.

 Sarah's bunch.

 Lindsay's pile.

 Courtney's leaves.

JT's  mound.

     A reflection I noticed in relation to this activity a week or so into it is how it helped to shape my perspective on life. I felt that I was overall feeling more positive and happy rather than letting the little things get to me or allow myself to be pulled down when things didn't go as planned. I had fun throughout the day thinking or searching for what might make it to my thankful leaf for that day. Of course, one leaf or statement can even begin to start the many things we could be thankful for each and every day. The list could seriously go on if you start to think of the many things we as American's take for granted. This will be a repeat activity each November we all decided. I'm hoping that the effects of our Thankful Tree will carry over all year long.