"Sincerely giving thanks not only helps us recognize our blessings, but it also unlocks the doors of heaven and helps us feel God's love."
Thomas S. Monson
Though it's the middle of November and we're well into our Be Smart month (more on that later), we spent part of this month finishing up our October theme with a Be Grateful Celebration. We celebrated in stages so everyone could be a part of it, except out two oldies that are rarely around. (sad)
We started out with a movie night, surprise, surprise. There is nothing better than a great movie and popcorn after a long day. November Christmas is a beautiful movie about a town coming together to bring an early Halloween and Christmas to a young girl suffering from cancer. It made me cry. We watched it on Spirit Clips - video on demand. Learn More! What a perfect movie for this time of year! It reminded us to have gratitude for family, friends, faith, health, home, food, goodness, and love.
A few days ago, we finished off our Gratitude Posters, a page for each member of the family where we expressed our gratitude for them. To get everybody going, we turned on the Newsies soundtrack. What a great way to get people hyped to participate in a task. We passed around the posters to finish filling them up. Gratitude for each member of the family overflowed on the pages. After finishing, we turned off the music and took turns reading the lists. It was a beautiful moment hearing the sentiments of gratitude.
Touching Moment: Our little boy was reading his college brother's poster with the help of his older sister. His voice started getting shaky. Sister asked if he was sad. "Yeeeesssss", followed by a crying outburst. He missed his brother! Reading all the gratitude notes about his brother touched his heart so.
I love the big red letters. That's our cutie pie that loves to write but can't quite make sense of it. Note to self - time to scrub the couch again.
Next, we played gratitude bingo. Who doesn't love a game of bingo? We didn't have any cool treats for our markers, so we used pennies, which is probably better anyway. We followed up with peanut butter cookies and milk.
Last night I passed out my gift to the family - a framed, family photo with the words "Be Grateful". I want the children coming away from this monthly focus with a greater feeling of gratitude for their family. When you are grateful for something, you tend to treat it with more care. We need more care and love in our home.
And that wraps up our Be Grateful month!
Other "Be Grateful" Posts:
"Every day bring something beautiful if we are just willing to look up and see it." - Marjorie Pay Hinckley
More to Come...but until then, Stick-to-it!
Wow. You inspire and amaze me. Keep up the good work Julie. I am grateful for your examples! love and shimmies... :)
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