Attitude of Gratitude

My favorite holiday used to be Christmas.  I used to be the one that would start listening to Christmas music in September, want to put up the decorations before Thanksgiving and I was annoying with my Christmas cheer.  Now, it takes everything I have to want to put up the tree, get shopping done and gifts made and people bug the crap out of me.  Don't get me wrong, I still love the twinkle of Christmas lights, the smells of Christmas, family time and of course, the true reason for celebrating.  I just don't like Christmas anymore...it's depressing.  I try hard for my kids though.

Now Thanksgiving is well on the way.  That is my new favorite holiday.  I think I started loving it before Tom died.  His family always had the big family dinners.  I grew up in a very small family and I always wanted the big family dinners with lots of people and lots of laughter.  Even though I didn't always get along with Tom's family, Thanksgiving dinner was always a good time.  After Tom died was when I really started hating Christmas and loving Thanksgiving even more.

I love the feeling of gratitude surrounding the holiday.  There is no commercial hype and no one being grumpy.  A lot of people on facebook have started on November 1st posting everyday something they are grateful for.  Even though admittedly it is cheesy, I also like the idea.  It forces us to see all that is good in our lives and not dwell on the things that aren't so good.  Dwelling on the bad is human nature so it can be hard, especially in difficult times, to find the things to be grateful for. 

So, here is my challenge.  Find something everyday for the month of November to be grateful for.  It doesn't even matter what it is.  It can even be something as simple as grateful for chocolate! (I mean really, who isn't grateful for chocolate?)  Write it down.  You don't have to post it on facebook if you don't want to.  You can write it in a journal.  A few years ago for my birthday, some friends made me this thing called the gratitude book.  Everyday I was challenged to write down 3 things I was grateful for that day.  I loved it!!  It was just a notebook that they made a cover for out of cardstock and scrapbook paper.  The purpose of writing it down is to get it out of your head and onto either paper or virtual paper.  It also gives you the opportunity in those times when you need it, to go back and look at what you wrote to remind you of all the wonderful things in your life.  Let's do it together!  You can even share here if you want.  Let's have an attitude of gratitude together!