What does it mean to be thankful? My favorite definition comes from a free online dictionary…thankful is to be aware and appreciative of a benefit, expressive of gratitude.

As Thanksgiving Day approaches I think on how I could teach our kids to be thankful. In years past, we made a thankful bucket. Last year we made a thankful chain. Each day we wrote down something we were thankful for. This year I want our kids to dig a little deeper…to go beyond just writing down what they are thankful for.

For each day in November we are going to express our thankfulness in a tangible way.

Below are some tangible examples of thanksgiving:
1. I’m thankful for food.
-give food to a food bank

2. I’m thankful for my house.
-go volunteer at a homeless shelter

3. I’m thankful for my sister.
-make a craft for your sister
-give her a card telling her why you are thankful for her

4. I’m thankful for our car.
-help vacuum or wash the car

5. I’m thankful for our neighbor.
-bake your neighbor some cookies or invite them over for dinner

I’ll be updating this list as we go through each day in November, so stop by again to see creative ways the kids came up with to show their thanks.

November 1st
Alayna: My Mom! She sat back and thought how she could show her thankfulness…then she leaned forward and gave me a big hug and a nice kiss on the cheek. (Yes, my heart melted! There was no greater way for her to show me that she was thankful for me like that hug and kiss!)
Victoria: Josiah…she also chose to give a kiss to show how thankful she is for him.
Kayla: My Sisters! Kayla has decided to let her sisters pick the games they want to play and she will do whatever they want to do for the day, to show how thankful she is for them.
November 2nd: Friends…we made homemade cookies for them.
November 3rd: Daddy…we made Chicken Marsala and special cards expressing how thankful we are for him.
November 4th: Made Christmas thank you cards for our military men and women.
November 5th: Donated to our local christian radio station.
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