I’m doing a “Thanksgiving Tree tutorial” over on Seasons of Renewal on Instagram (HERE). If you haven’t heard of that platform, go check it out, it is so good! They have all kinds of tips, motherhood ideas and tutorials, and I have been buoyed in my mothering over there many times!

Traditions are like glue holding a family together even after they aren’t really “together” any more. And I love things like that more than ever these days since so many of my kids aren’t snuggled up with me “together” here right now.

I love that not only does out Thanksgiving Tree fill our kitchen with gratitude each day in November (I truly believe that gratitude is the complete key for happiness):

…but it is “spreading roots” to wherever our other kids are, and I love that.

I promised over there on Seasons of Renewal that I would post some pictures from down memory lane over here (showed a few there too). So here we go.

We started out small:

And kept adding kids and leaves each year.

These kids kept growing and that tree kept getting more laden down with gratitude:

Yeah, kids sit on the counter for this business, so excuse that…

We leave a bowl of “empty” leaves on the counter and try to add leaves each new day in November.

Whoa, big kids!

As kids started leaving we started sending them a Thankful Tree each Thanksgiving with the things we love about them:

Here’s Max in Taiwan with his:

…And Elle and her roommate’s version over in Hawaii:

Here’s a video of switching up our tree a little when we moved:

Love that CHINA was biggest that year:

Over the years we have become much more specific in our gratitude:

This picture is from last year, because our tape isn’t sticking for some reason this year and I have loose branches on the counter right now, but this is how it starts:

…and this is how it ends up:

It’s one of my favorite traditions. I love that we are in the month of THANKS-GIVING!

They are offering a free printable thankful tree over at seasonsofrenewal.com. Click HERE for more info. on that. And be sure to watch the tutorial over HERE!

Happy November!

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5 Comments

  1. I have loved learning from you and being inspired by your family traditions over the years, Shawni! Thanks so much for sharing on Seasons of Renewal!

  2. I think one of the boys snuck over to attach the “boobies” leaf to Elle’s thankful tree. It was unexpected and definitely made me laugh.

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