Am We Reallly Thankful?

I love Thanksgiving because I am thankful for just about everything in my life and if you read my previous post, I am even thankful for my problems!  I complain about having to get up and go to work, but really that job is a blessing in so many ways.  I get frustrated with the laundry that never seems to be caught up, but I wouldn't have the laundry if I didn't have my sweet little priority blessings!  Amidst my frustration with the fact that we rarely savor this important time of the year to remember our blessing and be thankful, I tried a holiday craft that I found on the internet with my kids.  It is a simple "thanksgiving tree" made from twiggs and cut out leaves.  Each of my children got 3 leaves and they were to write one thing that they are thankful for on each leaf.  Little did I know that this project would come with a huge eye popping realization.  They had a hard time thinking of things that they were thankful for beyond things like toys and TV.  Nobody said friends, nobody said family, nobody said school or an education and when I said "What about church and God?"  their response was an overwhelming...YUCK!   I get it they are kids, and that is what kids do, that is how they think right????  I am not okay with this though!  Their little lives are so comfortable that they don't know what a blessing it is to have a nice house, warm clothes, good friends, a loving family, to be able to go to church and Worship God and to go to school and get a good education! 

I am certainly not thinking that we can go without dinner so that they will know what a blessing it is to have food, but maybe I have failed to model this for them successfully!  Although in my heart, I feel blessed, but my family see's me being overwhelmed and frustrated more.  I didn't make too big of a deal about it, because after all, they are kids BUT I will make sure my joy far exceeds my stress.  I will talk to them more about how blessed they are in an attempt to  instill in them a spirit of thanksgiving all through the year, not just at Thanksgiving!

This is similar to the tree that we made.  I was not able to upload a picture of the one that we did, so I posted a picture from the sight that we found the idea.    They did include things like toys and TV but they also added some of the good stuff to their list too.  We had a super good time doing it!