Our Gratitude Jar: Celebrate Thanksgiving with 25 Days of Gratitude
Last year, we started a new tradition that our kids are already asking about: Our Gratitude Jar.
How to Create a Gratitude Jar
Here are the simple steps to create a Gratitude jar with your kids:
- We found a jar lying around our house and tied twine around the handle for a simple decoration, and you can do the same.
- We cut pretty paper into strips. Leftover scraps of paper or torn brown bags will work.
- Each day starting November 1, we each write one thing we are thankful for.
- By Thanksgiving, our jar is full and so are our hearts.
Gratitude
From our family to yours, we challenge you to do this every day in November and feel the fullness of your heart by Thanksgiving. Don’t worry if you miss a day- you can catch up! You will be amazed at all you can come up with to be thankful for! We ALL have been given much, and when we celebrate what God has graciously given us, the discontent and insatiable appetite for more fades, and we focus more on what we can do for others.
“I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.
I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation.”
– Philippians 4:12
This prepares our children, and ourselves, for the coming season of Christmas. As we have opportunities to give, we do so more freely, out of our gratitude and thankfulness.
Preparing for Christmas
By the time Thanksgiving comes, our gratitude jar is full and so are our hearts as we celebrate Thanksgiving and begin the season of celebrating the birth of our Savior! When we focus on all we have, we feel free to share that with others. Gratitude shows up in a smile, a helpful hand to a stranger, or possibly even a small gift. This love towards others is what Christmas is all about. It’s what our kids need to see in us, and through these expressions of gratitude, people see God’s love.
