Our Little Tree

Many weeks ago we made this gratitude tree on an afternoon that our dear friend (and girls' godmother C) came over to spend a leisurely Sunday with us. It's easy in our family for other fall traditions to get momentarily eclipsed by Halloween festivities, since we love planning out our costumes and our annual party so much that we spend weeks and weeks doing it. Okay, I confess that this year several of my friends and I got WAY into the costume planning and may have started kicking around some ideas back in August. But since there's really no better season to reflect upon what we're thankful for, this little tree caught my eye one day while shopping at Target.

So among the acorns and the leaves, we have our family on the tree. We also included grandparents, aunts (especially the three that just came from Ohio to spend a long weekend with the kids), godparents, and school friends. The kids enjoyed picking out the pictures with us, especially the picture of my parents from my dad's graduation back in the 60's ("Who's THAT?" they asked.) It was relaxing to assemble the tree. Ry helped with the acorn assembly. And because the tree is a bit flimsy, we're reminded of its presence almost every day when the girls knock it over and then have to put all the people back on it!

I guess I've taken it for granted that along with saying grace before meals and occasional bedtime prayers, the kids will often say what they are thankful for as well. Ry's list last year included "biking", "school", "family", "God" and "yoga"....talk about a non sequitur!