For over a dozen years our family has had the tradition of doing Thanks and Giving Trees counting down to Thanksgiving.
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| Sunlight filtering through the blinds |
Every day in November we write something we are thankful for and also some service we have performed for others. This focus on blessings received and giving has helped us realize how wonderful life really is.
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| Drips of ganache on a birthday cake |
It has caused our hearts to fill with gratitude for all God’s tender mercies towards us. Our eyes have been opened to the service we can do, simple as it may be, to spread kindness and goodness to others around us.
This year instead of trees for the adults and teen-aged children {they kind of out grow the trees} I created Thanks & Giving Lists. The lists are in a similar style as the Thankful Scripture Perpetual Calendar.
The Thanks list has 1 Chronicles 16:8 “Give thanks unto the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people.”
The Giving list has Deuteronomy 16:17 “Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which he hath given thee.”
These can be separated or left on the same page. It’s up to you. There are three colorways – red-brown, green, and purple {think fall colors} and black and white for printing on colored paper. All are contained in one pdf file. Simply select which pages you want to print. Click the link below to download the pdf file.
Thanks & Giving Lists pdf file
UPDATED: My aunt requested the lists with the scriptures in Spanish.
Make a point each day to count your gifts and find ways to serve. You’ll find your life is richly blessed!
I love this! Thanks! And using dropbox was so convenient. I’m really looking forward to this Thanksgiving season.
This was an awesome post. I love what you are doing as a family. I am going to send your link to my children, too. Thanks for great ideas for this month of Thanksgiving.
Blessings!
Love this! Is there any way you would be willing to share that cake recipe? It looks AMAZING! I would be very grateful if you did 🙂
I’ll post the recipe on Saturday.
Great post. I love the list. I read the book One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. It is about her self discovery of gratitude by documenting one thousand gifts from the Father. It isn’t written by a member of the Church, but so poetic and beautiful. I think I will re read it for Thanksgiving.
I love that book! I read it last year and have read it a couple of times since. I keep a stockpile to give away as gifts.
So very cool. Thanks!
Love this idea! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Thank you, this will be a great addition to our Thanksgiving traditions!
Thank you, thank you, thank you! What a timely post this is. I have been drifting…prayed last night to Our Father for help in finding my way back to Him. This morning, I read your blog and it is exactly what I needed to read. The first thing on my list of thanks is you…that God lead me to this post. Thank you and Amen!