Thanksgiving Journal

I know you’ve heard of this idea before. I remember watching something about it on Oprah years ago and I’ve even had a Gratitude Journal in the past. I’m not great at it, I start out all ambitious and write in it every night, then life happens and I put it aside for a few days then pick it up then put it down for a few months or years. Anyway you get the idea I’m not great at journaling. BUT I want to be! Or at least I want to want to be! I also feel like sometimes we aren’t living life with a spirit of Thanksgiving like we should be. I mean we have so much in a world where so many have so little. How can I not be Grateful or Thankful for all I have? And sometimes I worry that my Son isn’t growing up to be as grateful as he should be. Sometimes it seems like things are so easy for him I worry that he doesn’t appreciate what it’s like for other people who are less fortunate than we are. So with that idea in my head and it being Thanksgiving I thought I would give our Family a challenge. Make a Thankful Journal. I didn’t want it to be anything too hard or necessarily too deep, but I wanted it to be something we can look back on and say hey maybe our lives aren’t so bad after all. So I made this little Journal just using a composition notebook and some fabric and glue. Then I am going to have my Son call, email, facebook or text all his Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles, and some Cousins and ask them “what are you most thankful for?” Then we will recordeach of their answers along with ours in our Thanksgiving Journal. I think this would be a great tradition to start, and do every year.

Here’s what you’ll need:

Composition Notebook

Enough Fabric to cover Notebook (I used a placemat)

Glue (I used fabric glue)

Family or Friends

Here’s how you make it:

 

Lay fabric right side down, lay notebook open on fabric. I placed the fabric on the bottom where there was a sewn edge, and then lined one side up with another sewn edge Glue the fabric to the notebook. Fold over edges and glue. I had to use paper clips to hold the fabric on while the glue was drying. Then cut the top to fit and trim the other side to fit as well. You could also use a pretty paper and just cut to fit the notebook!

I saw this quote on Pinterest by Ralph Waldo Emerson and thought it's perfect for the inside of the Journal.

“For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food,

For love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.”