Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Thankful Tree

For the past several years, we've had a family tradition of making a Thankful Tree. Back when we lived in Arizona, Derek went on a business trip one fall to the East Coast. He came back with a beautiful fall leaf for me because he knew how much I missed the fall colors. The leaves are beautiful in Utah in the fall.....in Arizona...not so much. I pressed the leaf and later when we began the Thankful Tree tradition, I decided to use that leaf as a pattern for our leaves. I traced around the real leaf, photocopied it, and Voila! Our Thankful Tree came into being.

Here's the way it works. I make a bunch of copies of the leaves and draw a tree trunk with the words "We Are Thankful For..."on a poster board. At a Family Home Evening in November, we sit down and take turns naming things we're grateful for. We write one thing on each leaf. When we're done, we tape all the leaves on the tree and put it on display until after Thanksgiving. It's a visual reminder of some of our blessings...big and small.

Our kids were very young when we started this tradition. That first Thankful Tree had things like "Legos" (Nate), "My White Blankie" (Parker) and "Disposable Diapers" (Me).

Here are a few shots of the 2008 edition of the the making of the Evans Family Thankful Tree.





11 comments:

Mandy said...

That is such a great idea...I might have to steal it! I think it makes such a profound statement to actually WRITE what you are thankful for.

Suzy said...

What a wonderful tradition! I am wondering if you mind if we try it out this year? I think my kids would love this and what a keepsake for us moms!

Vanessa said...

That is SUCH a great idea!! I am totally going to do that when my kids are older!

Reds said...

What a great idea!!! Love it!! And such a great thing to do with your family!!

Cindi Koceich said...

OMGoodness...what an awesome idea!! I love it!!!

Becky said...

What a great idea. I love that your template was a real leaf.
You got so many beautiful photos on your Sunday walk!

Sharon said...

Very cool!

Angela2932 said...

What a great idea! And it certainly makes a wonderful tree with great colors!

Lori said...

What a cool tradition!!!

pat said...

What a WONDERFUL idea!!! I love this...even more than the saying what you are thankful for before the Tgiving meal. I agree with Mandy--writing it down gives gratitude more focus and strength. I am sending this idea to my DD.

Bobbi said...

This is such a great tradition. I love all the things I could see that they wrote. I will really have to do this with my children.