A Time for Thanksgiving

Autumn is my favorite time of the year. I love to wear sweaters, boots, and jackets. But, I also love Thanksgiving. I've always wanted a neat tradition for this holiday, but have always struckout. Most retailers skip this holiday, so not much out there for it.

A couple months ago my sister-in-law, Wendy, called me and asked if I wanted to make a "Blessings Jar." I had never heard of this. She expalined it to me. This is a Blessings Jar:



During the whole month of November you place this jar anywhere you want. At a specific time, or whenever, each day you write something you are thankful for. You do this until Thanksgiving. On Thanksgiving Day, you open it up and read the blessings. Simple.

I was excited to try this. With Wendy's help, I made my jar. I chose to place it at our kitchen table. And every night at dinner, we each took a turn to write something we are grateful for. My kids looked forward to it and did it without being reminded. On Thanksgiving we popped it open. Here are some of the things our family was grateful for:

- family: brothers, sisters, parents, cousins, grandmas, and grandpas, aunts and uncles
- our children
Ryan's good example, Aaron's willingness to help, Grace's sweetness, Ktes's happy smile, and Becca's energy
- our dog, Ace
- firends
- teachers
- an education
- church
- school
- the scriptures
- the temple
- Jesus
- a prophet
- faith
- shoes
- food
- the Earth
- cars
- bugs
- our house
- our bedrooms
- toys
- TV (it had to be said)

I'm thankful for the opportunity to have done this. It was a nice addition to our Thanksgiving.

This year we were able to have dinner at our house. We were lucky to celebrate with Dustin's parents and his brother, Spencer, and his wife, Ally. Grandma Nelson, Dustin's grandma, also joined the fun. We tried something new to the turkey, we fried it! Oh my goodness. It was YUMMY!! We were all stuffed to the core!! Good food. Good company. What more could you ask for?