November's family focus ~ gratitude and remembrance. Today I will show you one of the projects we have underway ...
Like many families, we do an annual gratitude project in the month of November. It has taken many forms over the years, but I generally come back to colorful construction paper and autumnal shapes and themes. This year I decided a blessings branch would be a wonderful thing, and I'm also thinking it might be something we end up using all year long ... but I will get into that at a later date ... for now, here's what we're doing this month.
I began with, as you can see above and below, an array of oak leaves, cut from multi-colored construction paper.
In addition to (hopefully) fostering an "attitude of gratitude" in my family, this activity will also (hopefully) help my special needs son pace his excitement (and anxiety) and understand just how long it will be before the holiday is here ...
So after cutting out 26 leaf shapes, I placed them in a small basket.
I told Earlybird that when the basket is empty, Thanksgiving will be here. And I set the basket on the living room windowsill where I have all kinds of seasonal books and decor on display. It is just out of the toddler boy's reach. ;)
Here's a look at our Thanksgiving window ...
You might notice there is a space there in the book display - that would be so Oliver (the cat) can get up in the window and look outside at the birds. This is one of his favorite lounging spots and he'd only be knocking over books if I didn't leave him a little space. ;)
Ok, so what about this branch then, you must be wondering?
Well, a couple of weekends ago I chose a good-sized branch from our log pile - one with no apparent bugs and only a small amount of lichen - and asked Bill to drill four evenly spaced holes ...
A few minutes later (truly, it took him less then 10), I had this:
Four tea-light holes!
I filled those holes with some lovely beeswax tea lights, purchased at a farmer's market this summer. When lit, or warm from the sun, they smell heavenly ...
The branch is now sitting on our living room mantle which has been decorated for the month of November ...
Now, here's where the blessings part comes in ...
Each day we'll take one leaf out of the basket and write down what each of us is grateful for on that day. Then we'll hang the leaf on a length of twine that is strung along the front of the mantel.
(I keep the hole-punch handy for this purpose.)
On Sundays - there are four between November 1st and Thanksgiving Day - we will light one of our candles and look over the leaves from the week. We'll say a little prayer, remembering it is God we have to thank for all these good things! And before we know it will be Thanksgiving Day, and we'll have a whole row of pretty leaves to admire!
🍂🍁🍂🍁🍂🍁🍂
Our other November project is one that fosters remembrance, and I will have a post up about that sometime soon. I can give you a sneak peek, though ...
More to come soon!
Well my friends, thanks so much for stopping by ... I hope you are all having a good week! Tomorrow I will be back with another guest planner post ... hope to see you here then!
