A Lesson in Gratitude

Since the Great Turkey Day is upon us, I thought that I would share a fun idea that we did with our kids for Family Home Evening the beginning of this month.

Often when we think of Thanksgiving thoughts go right to the fabulous feast that we often partake of and its delicious components - turkey, mashed potatoes, rolls, pie...Mmmmm! But more importantly we should be thinking of those things that we have been blessed with that we are thankful for. There are so many around us and far away that are not blessed with the great prosperity and abundance of things that we are in this great country, so I figured it would be a good idea to remind ourselves of what we have and how grateful we should be. Thus, the Gratitude Chain was born.

I took sheets of construction paper - red, orange, yellow and brown - and cut it into fairly thin strips.

We then sat down at the kitchen table and had a small discussion about Thanksgiving and what it means and why we celebrate it. I explained that we were going to write things that we are thankful for on each strip of paper and then make a chain and hang it up where we could see it, and daily be reminded of all of the things that we are thankful for.

I have to say that I was quite surprised with some of the things that our kids mentioned. As a disclaimer, we have two boys and a girl, ages 7 1/2, almost 5 and 19 months. As I expected we had a large number of silly things such as:

underpants, diapers - I am definitely grateful for those, no matter how silly it seems!, milk, and Christmas lights. But they also mentioned some very "grown up" answers such as:

the Gospel, the Holy Ghost and callings among other things that we are eternally grateful for.

Once we filled out all of the slips of paper we took each one and stapled the ends together, looping them through each other, creating a chain. We then hung it in the kitchen along the wall so we can see it throughout the day. All of our kids have often mentioned something about it while we're sitting and eating, or our little one  - who refuses to speak, whom I affectionately refer to as "Grunt"! - will stop and stare at it and point to it; I am convinced that she knows what it signifies.

What a wonderful lesson this turned out to be for me. Not only is it always a good thing to stop and reflect on all of the things that we have, but, I think, that I am even more grateful for the fact that my children recognize the things that are truly important.