A thanksgiving tree. Such a great and simple idea. I love how it makes you slow down and think over your day and life and focus on your blessings. This time of year tends to get crazy and hectic so it’s nice to sit down as a family and take a minute to give thanks. Trees of all sorts come across Pinterest but it a post by Kari at Growing in His Glory on the tree they’ve made in years past back in the middle of October that convinced me to do our own this year with my (will be 3 in 3 months) daughter. MamaGab also talked about her Thankful Tree and gives more ideas here.
I wanted to keep it simple and spend very little money so I found a glass vase from the top of the refrigerator in the garage, a couple of handfuls of rocks from our (non) landscaping, a friend gave me sticks from her yard, and I found a couple pieces of scrapbook paper in the closet. If I find fall ribbon on clearance I might add it to the vase.
We cut leaves into a couple of different shapes (here’s another option where Kari shows circles being used – makes it even easier) and store them on the top of the vase and use thread and a needle to make a loop to hang on the branch.
Every night we try to take a few moments to write on a leaf. Our daughter picks out the leaf and we all write on the same one. It’s entertaining to see what an almost 3 year old comes up with. I try not to prompt her except to say, “you already said that one, what’s something else you are thankful for?”
I’m one of the most un-creative and un-crafty people out there, but I decided to go for it and am so glad I did. If I can pull it off, so can you! Even better is that this tree will get used again during Advent.
Have you done a Thanksgiving Tree?
Looks great, Deanna! Don’t you love what funny and sweet things kids come up with?! We pulled out last year’s leaves and read them recently and the girls were thrilled we still had them.
Thanks for the shout out, too!
Thanks, Keri! Oh I know. They are so cute and funny! And I think every night she starts her list over again from day one and I say “you already said that, what else are you thankful for”. This happens 2 -3 times before she gets to something new, maybe before the end she will catch on. Great idea – I should keep the leaves too!
And it looks so nice!!! I’m so glad you shared yours too. Great job!
Thanks! A lot of my crafts end up not looking super great, so this one was pretty fun!
I love this! I love that you do it every night & that you’ll reuse it for an advent… so creative! Just stopping by from the Faith Filled Fridays! (glad I found you!)
It is fun and pretty cute to see what our daughter come up with. Some times we have to work hard not to laugh. Thanks for stopping by!
This is a really sweet idea!
Thanks! It is pretty fun and neat seeing what my daughter comes up with.
I love this! I am going to try it out with my kids today when I get home from running errands! Thanks for sharing this with us for MMM link up party! I am sharing this today on the FB page too!
It is so fun! It’s neat to see my daughter’s brain work and what she comes up with to be thankful for. Hope you guys enjoy it as well. Your welcome – thanks for the link up party and all the sharing you do.
Great idea! 🙂
Thanks! It really has been fun hearing my daughter brainstorm her thanks each day.
This is the cutest and such a great idea! I could see it working out great to have in an entryway area for Thanksgiving for people to come in and jot down what they are thankful for.
Oooo, I love your idea! Having it set out for actual Thanksgiving for guests would be so much fun.
Un-creative and uncrafty? Whatever! Your tree is so cute! I had never seen trees like this before this year, but I think they are awesome! We have a little jar that we put slips of paper in each day with things we are grateful for written on them. It has made this month so much better and I’m looking forward to reading them in Thanksgiving!
Ha ha, well thank you. 🙂 This is about as creative as I get. Oh, I love the jar idea and then reading them on Thanksgiving – I’m going to remember that!
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Thank you for linking up at Tending the Home Tuesday last week. I featured your post! I love your Thanksgiving Tree. You can check it out here: http://theroadto31.com/2013/11/tending-home-tuesday-33.html
Thank you!
Thank you for hosting a fun link up! Love Tending the Home Tuesday. Thank you so much for featuring my post and for your kind words!
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