Happy November! Happy November! Now that my family is growing I find the holidays even more enjoyable. I want to celebrate and cherish each moment. I want to make sure that we don’t focus on ourselves during this season. It’s important that we remember how much we have to be grateful for as the season approaches.
We have a brand new blogger on our blog today. Holly from The Adventure in the Everyday will be joining us for a 30-Days of Gratitude challenge that we’ll do this month. I hope you’ll come along! Check out Holly’s Blog. You won’t regret reading it. It is filled with adventure and inspiration.
Are you ready to jump in?
Meet Holly
Hi, I’m Holly! I am a mother of three children, one of which is a set of twins. We love to travel, but we also like to have adventures in our backyard. Through sickness, infertility and adoption we’ve traveled around the world. By God’s grace, we’re still learning as we go. I am passionate about helping women and moms find joy and adventure wherever they are. You can follow my journey at Instagram or The Adventure In The Everyday.
30 Days of Gratitude
All holidays are my favorite. I love all holidays. Whatever you want to celebrate, I’ll do it. It’s not because I like a party. Although I do. Each day is a reminder of an event, day or person who changed the world. Thanksgiving is no different.
The idea that people should come together and share what they have is important. They should also be thankful for the progress they’ve made. For my children, Thanksgiving should be about more than just turkey and stuffing. I want to cultivate a spirit of gratitude in my children, not only for the holiday but for all aspects of life.
Cultivating an attitude of gratitude
Before they could speak, I taught the twins sign language. Right away, I taught them how to say “thank you”. It didn’t take long for it to become a habit. My seven-year-old son is proof of that. He says “thanks” immediately whenever anything is given to him. It’s a good habit, but I want it more than a mere habit. I want to see it come from a place of gratitude. It is my responsibility to help them cultivate this gratitude through teaching them to express it in words and actions.
Fairness dictates that one month of the year will not yield the desired results. All year round, you need to be intentional and diligent. It is important to start the new year off strong. November is the ideal month to do so.
The 30 Day Challenge: Put it into Practice
To get you started, I made a calendar that’s printable. You don’t have to be distracted by the many activities. The activities have been designed to be enjoyable so that your children get the concept. They will start to look forward to being grateful and thankful. Conversations are better than activities.
Use this link to print a calendar: 30 days of gratitude
The topic for day 3 is your body. Play Simon-says. Don’t stop here. Discuss how God created your body, how amazing they are, and what they can do. Discuss how they function. Discuss the differences in each person’s body and their beauty. Discuss how certain people’s bodies are limited and how this affects their lives. Discuss what they enjoy about their body. You can use the activity to stimulate their mind, get them thinking and move their hearts toward gratitude for both big and small things.
Tell Us Your Stories!
Share your photos with the hashtag #30daysofthankful17 to help us all on our journey.
How can you cultivate a culture of gratitude at home?
Print this calendar and post it to your refrigerator. Invite your friends to come along on this adventure! We are excited to see how this challenge will inspire and motivate you in this season, and we can’t wait for you to share your story!