Thanksgiving 365 Days a Year

The fall season seems to be a mashup of Halloween and Christmas with Thanksgiving only a transition between the two. I want to get t-shirts made that say, “Happy Hallothankmas!” Thanksgiving is the least commercialized holiday. That’s why I think it’s an important holiday for families to put emphasis on. Its simplicity, introspection and grateful focus seem to strip it of opportunities to be hijacked by consumerism. In my own life, I’ve never had an attitude or heart issue that wasn’t remedied by choosing gratitude. I struggle to be disciplined enough to choose it, but when I do I find that gratitude is a no-fail, dependable inoculation against greed, entitlement and selfishness. Thanksgiving can be a day that we set aside to focus on all we have to be grateful for. But if we want gratitude to become part of our kids’ DNA, they need to see us, their parents, modeling an attitude of gratitude the other 364 days of the year. It’s not easy! Choosing gratitude can be a struggle when circumstances in our life are going well let alone when they’re not. But it’s the steady stream of thanks that we choose to give to the Lord, even when life is throwing us a bunch of stuff we don’t like, that will most impact our kids.