Thankful Leaves

Update: I now have a Silhouette file for this. If you'd like it, just use the "Contact Us" tab at the top of the blog to email me. :)

I have been having a bit of fun with Google Stats on the blog lately. It's so interesting to me to see where visitors come from. We try to be careful and not post too personal of information, so our blog is not currently private. I hope to keep it that way.

Interestingly, we get a lot of hits on 3 posts: Global Warming, McMurdo, and Walt's Blessing. The first two make sense, they are common enough search terms. But the third seemed weird. I did a little digging and found that people were getting to it by searching for images of blessing parties. Apparently they liked my setup. :)

This is NOT becoming some kind of craft blog, nor am I attempting to compete with those kind of forums (I only wish I had that kind of talent). But for those coming to my blog based on a photo of Walt's blessing day - hoping for some crafty inspiration or an easy tutorial and finding instead a simple family journal (I am really not that crafty), I wanted to share something we're doing this month. This isn't a new idea by any means, but I couldn't find exactly what I wanted anywhere else online.

Beginning with our first November Family Home Evening, we set up our own "Thankful Tree." Each night at dinner, we all write down one thing we're thankful for that day on a leaf and add it to the string of twine I strung up in a cheery corner of my kitchen (obviously we have to help Walt out a little). This is made extra fun with bright, fall leaves to write on. Here is what ours looks like so far:

We did this activity along with the scripture Psalms 100 1-5.

Feel free to click on the photo to make it larger and then print it and cut out the leaves for the same idea. There are lots of different spins on how to do this floating around online, including taping the leaves to a paper tree, or hanging them from actual found branches. They all get the message across.  You could also laminate them to use over and over with dry erase markers, or use them for a matching game or fun bookmarks.

I quickly made up a page so that those of you with older children can color them in:

So there you go. Simple, brightly colored and varied leaves with no cheesy text on them. A little something from me to the world. Enjoy!

PS: If anyone is interested in Walt's blessing party details, or would like a template of the signs and invitation I used, leave a comment or email me. We can definitely talk.