Our Thankful Tree

So, I've been reeeeally slack about my one thousand gifts project.  I can think of multiple things on a daily basis that I'm thankful for, but - one - to have the camera ready, and - two - for it to be something I can actually take a photo of, is proving to be difficult.  I think I'll make one last collage with four photos to make an even one-hundred, then simply write the rest.  We'll see.

The whole point of starting the project, though, was to pull myself into a deeper level of gratitude.  Saying "thank you" has always been important in our family, but I want to move past the obligatory "thanks for passing the popcorn" and into a constant state of thanksgiving.  I think I'm getting there, and I'm seeing genuine appreciation begin to emerge from Ethan as well.  It's pretty awesome, and I thank God for it!

So, between it being the month of thanks, and reading everyone's blog posts and Facebook updates about what they're thankful for, I had an idea.  Not an original idea, I'm sure, but an idea nonetheless.  For about an hour this afternoon, Ethan and I cut-out construction paper pieces for our family's thankful tree.  The idea is that every night at dinner, leading up to Thanksgiving, the three of us will say one thing we're thankful for.  I'll write each answer on a leaf, and we'll watch our tree of thanks grow!

It's incredibly simple, and it has made me smile multiple times today already.  I'll post a photo of the finished product and let y'all decide who said what, and who cut-out which pieces!