Gratitude Tree
Don't you love the fall? The colors changing, the weather turning a bit chilly so you can wear a cozy sweater, and the hint of Thanksgiving and family begins to spark your soul. It’s a time of year that hearts naturally turn toward reflection on the many gifts and blessings we’ve been given. Gratitude becomes a whisper in the wind and a song in the air as the holidays grow closer.
When my children were young, I wanted to teach them about gratitude because I felt they were filling their hearts with the gimmies given the excitement of Christmas around the corner. I wanted them to enter the Christmas season with a grateful heart since it is a time to really celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
As most parents do, Derek and I felt that gratitude was a good thing for our kids. Science sure says it’s a good thing. More importantly though, the scriptures also teach us that we should express gratitude to God.
“I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds…I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.”
Most the time, it seems gratitude is the last thing from our kids’ minds. However, there are those moments that pop-up unannounced and unexpected when one of my kids turns to me with their innocent little faces and say, “Thanks Mom.” It’s those little moments that have taught me about how gratitude sweetens our tree of life.
I stumbled around for a long time trying to find a family tradition focused on gratitude that everyone in my family liked (and that I could realistically do year after year). Then one year, I came across an idea of a gratitude tree. It resonated with me as it seemed to be the perfect preamble to helping my family be filled with gratitude heading into the season of putting up the Christmas tree and ornaments. Plus, I knew I could make a gratitude tree be a simple, easy, and not complicated activity for the family to do either all at once or spread out over several days. We could choose.
So I started it out just making a bare tree out of paper and putting it on our wall. I cut out some paper leaves and explained to the family how they could write-down any one thing they were grateful for on the leaf before placing it on the tree. I admit it wasn’t the prettiest thing ever that first year, but it was so fun to see the bare tree fill up with leaves just as the real trees outside were losing theirs. Our tree filled with leaves showing some of the cute things that our kids really valued: family, fruit snacks, hugs, books, teachers, and so on.
The gratitude tree has been a wonderful fall tradition in our home that everyone in the family has been able to do. It has helped us to apply the advice President Russell M. Nelson gave the entire world just three years ago.
“Counting our blessings is far better than recounting our problems. No matter our situation, showing gratitude for our privileges is a unique, fast-acting, and long-lasting spiritual prescription. Simply stated, “In every thing give thanks” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).”
As we approach the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, consider ways for your family to fill your hearts and your home with gratitude.
My son gathering sticks for that year’s gratitude tree.
You can make your own paper gratitude tree for your wall, or perhaps take some branches from your backyard and put them in a vase to make your tree.
If you want something more modern and stylish, check out the tree we’ve made for families just like yours.
Our hope is that as you fill your home with gratitude that you’ll find your life and your family happier, healthier, and more prosperous. Not just for this Thanksgiving Day, but everyday thereafter.
Other ways to become more Grateful:
