This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Community Corner

An Attitude of Gratitude

Family traditions can create a thankful home, I hope

My home buzzed with activity when I shouted for my family to join me at the dining room table, pulling each of them away from a fun weekend task of some sort to work on a little project with me.

I had dreamed up a gratitude banner that I wanted to hang on our fireplace hearth in celebration of Thanksgiving. I heard loud sighs and quiet grumblings of protest as one by one, they each pulled out a chair and joined me at the table.

I had spent part of the morning cutting out colored construction paper in the shape of leaves. Each person was to write something that they were thankful for on a few leaves that I would later string together on ribbon to make our banner. I felt strongly that it was important for our family to meditate on gratitude. We really have so much to be thankful for, and I wanted the children to be aware of our blessings.

My husband started right away because he loves me and knew that if he wanted to receive smooches from me later, it was best just do what I had asked of him. I am thankful I married such a smart man.

Our six-year-old son scribbled a few words here and there in barely legible handwriting and wrote as fast as his little fingers could move. He had a video game to get back to and did not want to be bothered with gratitude at that moment. As soon as he had completed his part of the project, he was back on the couch with a Wii controller in his hand.

Our two-year-old son wiggled in his seat and colored dots on his chin with a green magic marker. Trying to explain gratitude to a toddler is a humbling experience. "What do you thank God for when we pray?" I prompted him. He sat with his finger perched on his green dotted chin and thought for a moment. "Um, cookies?" he said before running off to knock down a tower he had just built with blocks.

My husband looked at me with sympathetic eyes as he could see that I felt a bit defeated. "I wanted us all to go around the table and share what we are thankful for," I said in a sad voice.

"They're kids, you got what you could out of them," he said and kissed the top of my head. He slid away to return to a project that he had been previously working on.

Just like that, I was left alone at the table with a stack of scribbled on leaves. I gathered up each one and strung them on a ribbon before heading over to our fireplace mantel to hang up our banner.

My mantel has become my little holiday project that I decorate for the season. I know that being the only female in the house also means that I am probably the only person who really cares about the holiday decoration explosion that takes over my home each year.

Yet, year after year, I do it because I know that when the boys are older, they will remember our holidays fondly. I line my mantel with tacky trinkets and plastic pumpkins shoved into wicker baskets in hopes that it will instill a sense of home in our children. I do all kinds of crazy decorating to create traditions that the children can count on each year, whether they stop to notice them or not.

After I had strung up our gratitude banner, I took a moment to really read what my family had been thankful for. I saw the word "mom" scribbled on a leaf that my older son had decorated. My husband had written "my job" on one of his leaves. I grinned to see that my littlest one had also been thankful for "guggles", whatever that may be.

I was pulled out of my reverie by a little tug on my skirt. I looked down to see my two-year-old smile up at me and say "Pretty leaves mama, thank ew!" before he scooted off to play. Maybe he knows more about gratitude than I thought. Suddenly I knew that all my hard work was appreciated after all.

Do you have any holiday traditions in your family? How do teach your children the importance if gratitude? Please share your thoughts and experiences in the comments.

Find out what's happening in Athenswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?