giving thanks

‘ello!

So, with Thankgsiving last week, we’ve been talking a lot about gratitude around here. My big girl’s preschool class focused on it for several days, and every day in the car ride home, or while she was coloring at the kitchen table, or at night while I tucked her in, she’d bust out with a random moment of gratitude: “I’m thankful for mommy and daddy.” (I died.) “I’m thankful for glitter.” (Naturally.) The World’s Greatest Babysitter also made a “thankfulness tree” with the girls and wrote little notes on construction paper leaves about things that they were thankful for–school, sparkles, milk, Dora.

And then there’s me.

Counting my blessings is not something that comes naturally to me. I’m ashamed to admit that I get hung up on the minutiae of my life and don’t often stop to realize how good I have it. The goddamn pile of laundry that needs to be folded, needing to stop unexpectedly to put gas in my car on the way to pick up the kids…these stupid, stupid eensy little things can momentarily derail me, spoil my mood, and make me take every other wonderful thing in my life for granted. It’s so silly. And really kind of selfish when you think about it.

I was talking about this with a friend of mine recently, and she mentioned that she once attended a mass where the priest advised the congregation to put five dried beans in one pants pocket at the start of each day, and each time something happened that they were grateful for, they were to transfer a bean to another pocket. I was thinking about it while I was getting dressed a few weeks ago, and having only canned beans on hand (er…wouldn’t work), I shoved five pennies in my pocket. I’ve done it nearly every day since. Some days, all five pennies are moved by lunchtime. Other days, it’s not until I’m getting ready for bed that I realize I’ve only moved one. But overall, I’m telling you, it’s made me notice things that I would have otherwise missed, and having established the habit, it’s almost like a sort of radar’s gone up. This is a very good thing. Try it.

In other news, the Big Girl has decided that “nap” time is the ideal time to try out new outfits. Some recent ensembles:

Have a good (and grateful!) day, friends!