Our Thankful Tree

My friend Traci mentioned the idea of a Thankful Tree to me. I figured that would be a great way to start celebrating Thanksgiving in advance. We made our paper tree two weeks before Thanksgiving, and cut out a variety of leaves. Every day, both Dayton and Daphne picked a leaf and something to be thankful for. I drew a small picture on each leaf so the kids could recognize their leaves better.

Dayton's first Thankful Leaf was SchoolDaphne's first Thankful Leaf was Snow White

Dayton created a game with the Thankful Tree: story-telling. Everyday after putting up two more leaves, Dayton told me a story relating all the leaves together. Dayton's memory amazed me because as the tree became more and more full of leaves, he consistently told his story in the same order that we had added the leaves.

Thankful Tree Story- Early Edition

Thankful Tree Story- Later Edition

Daphne Singing

Our completed Thankful Tree;
We put up our final two leaves on Thanksgiving

Daphne wanted to be in the Thankful Tree picture

Things Dayton was thankful for: School, Chocolate Milk, Shopping, Toys at the Mall, Pizza, Cereal, My Batman Party, Eyes, Dinosaurs, Monsters, Lights, Hot Dogs, TV, Hands, and Cars.

Things Daphne was thankful for: Snow White, Hearts, Sharly, Yogurt, Bunny Rabbits, Chicken Nuggets and Ranch, Daddy, Corn, Cats, Dora and Backpack and Map, Yo Gabba Gabba Toys, Water in Big Cups, Shrek, Nana, and Lemonade.

The kids' gratitude was very in-the-moment. They were thankful for whatever foods they were eating, or toys they were using, or activities we were doing, or whoever was visiting. It was fun seeing what they added each day. I would love to do this every year.