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Happy November! Now that November’s here, I officially feel like we are in the holiday season. I’ve always loved the holidays, but now that our family is growing, there is just something that much sweeter about them to me. I want to cherish every little moment and celebrate well. I also want to be intentional to guide him during the season to be sure not to turn the focus totally on ourselves. We have so much to be thankful for and it’s important to keep that in mind as we begin to celebrate.
With that, we have a new voice on the blog today. Holly from The Adventure in the Everyday is joining us with a 30 Days of Gratitude Challenge that we’ll be doing this month and I hope you’ll join us! Also, be sure to check out Holly’s blog. It is full of adventure and encouragement; you won’t be disappointed.
Are you ready to dive in?
Meet Holly
Hi, I’m Holly! I’m a wife and a mama of three wild ones, including one set of twins. While we love to travel and explore new places, we’re big on making adventures wherever we are, even in our own backyard. We’ve journeyed around the world, the US, through sickness, infertility, adoption, and by God’s grace we continue to learn as we go. I’m passionate about inspiring women and mamas like me find adventure and joy wherever they may be. You can find me at The Adventure In The Everyday or follow our journey on Instagram.
30 Days of Gratitude
I love holidays. All holidays. You name it, I want to celebrate it. And it’s not just because I love a good party, although I absolutely do. It’s because each day represents an event, a day, or a person that changed the world. Thanksgiving is no exception.
Beyond the obvious history of the day, there’s this idea of people coming together, sharing what they have, and being thankful for how far they’ve come. I want Thanksgiving to be more than turkey and stuffing for my kids. I want to spend time fostering a heart of gratefulness in preparations for this holiday, but also for life.
Cultivating an Attitude of Gratitude
Even before the twins could talk, I taught them sign language to communicate. I taught them to say, “thank you” right out of the gate. It wasn’t long before it was a habit. My 7-year-old is a testament to that. He quickly says “thank you” anytime anything is handed to him. While it’s an important habit to have, I want it to become more than just a habit. I want it to stem from a heart of gratefulness. It’s my responsibility to cultivate that gratitude by teaching them how to express it through actions and through words.
To be fair, one month out of the year won’t yield the results you are aiming for. It requires intentionality and diligence all year long. That being said, November is the perfect month to come out of the gate swinging; to prepare their hearts for a day of thanks and the year that follows it.
30 Day Challenge: Putting it to Practice
I created a printable calendar to get you started. But I don’t want you to get distracted by all the activities on it. The activities are designed to be fun so your kids get into the concept and start looking forward to being thankful and grateful. The activities are good but a conversation is better.
For a printable calendar, use this link: 30 Days of Gratitude
Here’s an example: On day 3, the topic is your body. The activity is simple: play Simon-says. But don’t stop there. Talk about how God created our bodies, talk about how incredible they are and all that they can do. Talk about how they work. Talk about how everybody’s body is different and the beauty in that. Talk about how some people have limitations on their bodies and how their lives look different. Talk about what they like about their bodies. Use the activity to get their minds turning, challenge their thinking and start moving their hearts towards thankfulness in big things and in small.
Share Your Stories with Us!
If you all do participate, share your photos and use the hashtag #30daysofthankful17 so we can all journey together.
What are some ways that you work to cultivate an attitude of gratitude in your home?
Be sure to print off this calendar, post it on your fridge, and invite your friends to join us on this journey! We look forward to seeing how this challenge inspires and encourages you this season and can’t wait to hear from you!
*If you enjoyed this post, we would be so grateful if you shared it with others so that they might also get to enjoy it!
I definitely need to do that this year. Thank you for the cutest idea. I can’t wait to use it! You have such a cute blog.
I definitely need to do that this year. Thank you for the cutest idea. I can’t wait to use it!
I love this idea, and implementing it during the holidays is a great idea. Thanks for sharing on Sunday’s Best.
Thank you! I enjoy the link party a lot – lots of great things to check out each week!
This is a great challenge and a really good way to practice being thankful the entire month. I will definitely give it a try 🙂
Thanks! I hope you’ll stop back by and let us know how you liked it!
I love the printable! So important to be grateful for the things in our lives 🙂
Thanks; Holly did an excellent job with it! You are right – we have so many things to be thankful for!
What a wonderful challenge and perfect to do with the kids to show them about Gratitude with hands-on learning. Thank you so much for linking up with Domestic Dayz!
It is really fun! We’ve been trying to follow along here!
This is such a GREAT idea! I love them. I am going to use this for my little girl.
Thank you! Be sure to use the #30daysofthankful17 so we can follow along!
I love challenges like this! Thank you for sharing!
Thank you for linking up with the #domesticdayz link party this week.
Thank you!
What a wonderful challenge! And I love that you’re incorporating it with November. I can’t wait to start up 🙂
Thank you for stopping by! I hope you’ll enjoy the challenge! Lots of simple, but helpful reminders that we always have something to be grateful for!
This is such a sweet idea, to involve your kids and teach them gratitude. The planner is a good idea.
Thanks so much! <3
I feel like with November being here it’s all about the holidays too and with a baby it’s so much fun! Being grateful and showing gratitude is very important and it’s also something I want my daughter growing up seeing and learning. Thanks for sharing these great ideas!
Kids really do add something special to the season! It is important that we demonstrate gratitude as models for our children. I love how this project gives ideas we can do together as a family!
This is such a great idea for a challenge. I love it!
Thanks!
I must did out my gratitude journal, it was so nice looking back on a day and finding things that i’m grateful for. Great post and thanks for linking up #BloggersBests
Keeping a journal is a great idea! It’s awesome that you can look back on the things and remember what you were specifically thankful for when!
This is such a great idea! I love that you put together a list of topics, too. Reflecting on what we’re grateful for is sososo important!
Thank you! Holly did a really excellent job with this calendar! We’ve got it on our fridge, too!
I love this!! Such a great idea, an although my girls are a little too young for some of the activities like “Simon says”… it certainly can be replaced with something that fits our family 💜
I’m glad that you like it! It is really adaptable to kids of all ages – even if you just use it as a conversation guide and skip the activities all together depending on what works for your family!
I love this idea!!
It is really fun!
I love everything about this idea! Great conversation starters. Thanks for linking up with Fabulous Friday!
Jennie – A Pocketful of Polka Dots
Thanks so much!!
Love this, what an excellent idea. Love the daily topics too.
Thanks so much!
What a beautiful idea! I love this idea and thank you for the calendar.
Thank you! We are enjoying it!
This is an awesome idea! The calendar causes us to be intentional. Being grateful and thankful is so important, and so is teaching it to our kids.
I agree!! We are trying to begin instilling it in our son as early as possible. One of the best ways, I think is to demonstrate Thanksgiving in our own lives in front of them.
Love this!!! What a great idea to incorporate other relationships into your intentional gratitude! And I like the design of the calendar!
Thank you so much! Holly did a great job with the calendar!
I am also blogging about 30 Days of Gratitude. I love your ideas for activities to inspire an attitude of thankfulness in our children.
Love it! I wish I could take all the credit for these ideas! Holly really knocked it out of the park!
I love this idea so much and the calendar really gives a excellent visual
Thank you!
I love this gratitude calendar! What a clever idea. We will enjoy doing this together along with our gratitude pumpkin.
Oh fun! This is the first year I’ve seen the gratitude pumpkin. That looks really fun, also!
Thank you 😉
Seriously, I like the calendar idea. I’ll customize just a little to my tastes of course (no kids at home, etc)but nice post!
Thank you!! The activities are definitely geared little ones, but I am enjoying the themes each day for myself!
This is such a wonderful thing to start with your children while they are young! I love the simple calendar!
I completely agree!
This is a great idea! I loved it! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you!
I love this idea! I can’t wait until my daughter is old enough so I can teach her to be grateful everyday.
Thank you!
This is a wonderful challenge especially around the holiday season! Thanks for sharing!
I agree. I think it’s always good to be thankful, but especially good to spend some time focusing on it before the hustle and bustle of the holidays!
Such a great idea! I’ve done 100 days of happiness challenge before where you post what made you happy per day on Instagram. It was such a great way to remind yourself that even the little things matter and that you have to be grateful for them too!
Belle | http://www.OneAwesomeMomma.com
Oh, that sounds fun! Being intentional about even the small things is a great practice!
This calendar is so beautiful. I believe this is definitely the way we need to spend this wonderful month by remembering everything we are grateful for. Even the smallest things. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you so much; I wish I could take the credit for it! Holly did a really great job! I completely agree. If we look around, we can always find something to be thankful for.
I’m visiting from the “No Rules Weekend Blog Party” and immediately noticed your post because I just developed a 20-Day Life Planning Challenge. The gratitude challenge is an awesome idea. Saved your pin to one of my boards. Thanks!
Thank you so much!
What a wonderful idea! I love putting it to practice instead of just stating what you are thankful for. So much fun. Pinned.
Practice is so important. Thank you for stopping by and sharing! Hopefully it will be a fun and helpful challenge to others!
What an awesome idea! Gratitude often falls to the bottom of my to do list during busy times but it’s so important!
Thanks! It is easy to forget, but really important. There is always something to be thankful for!
I love this post so much and I love the printable too!!
Thank you! Holly really did an excellent job!
Great idea! I just printed it out. I’m excited for this gratitude challenge with my family!
Thanks! Be sure to tag the #30daysofthankful17 so we can follow along together!
Cultivating Thanksgiving is a good idea always! But not always so easy when we’re absorbing with selfishness. Love these ideas! Thanks.
I completely agree. That’s one of the things I like about this challenge – it reminds us of small, everyday things that we have to be thankful for!
This is great and helps us all remember to be thankful. Great little worksheet for kids!
Thank you! Hopefully it will be a a helpful resource!
this is so creative and amazing! perfect for this month 🙂
Thank you!
What a great idea! Thanks for the cute printable too. I think it’s important to teach thankfulness and gratitude to kids at a young age.
-Lauren
#bloggersbest
I completely agree with you! Thank you for stopping by!
PS I like how many people made a point of saying “thank you” in their comments – your audience is catching on already! 😉
You’re right; it must be working! 😉
A thirty day gratitude challenge sounds like a great way to celebrate November! I agree with the quote that “one month out of the year won’t yield the results you are aiming for” but it just takes 21 days to form a habit, so 30 days is a good crash course into making gratitude a year-long habit! Thanks for sharing 💛
I’m hoping it will be helpful, especially leading into the holiday season which can be so busy!!
I am one who is always ready for a challenge and I feel this one has a great purpose. thank you!
Thanks!
I love this idea so much! Thank you for sharing. We could all use a little more gratitude in our lives I think! I’m going to try to follow along <3 Jamie
http://Www.mommyinflats.com
Please do! I’m going with the try to follow along and give myself grace idea here! Even if you don’t do all the “activities”, I still think it’s great to have for specific things to reflect on each day!
I love this! I definitely want to use this to help with reminding my kids to be thankful. And myself. Thank you for sharing!
I think we could all use a little more practice being thankful! I hope this will be a fun resource and family activity this month!
LOVE it! We all need more gratitude in our lives :)…
Would love if you’d share at the party I host ever week. It’s open & growing all week long…xo
http://www.jodiefitz.com/2017/10/31/reader-tip-tuesday-weeks-craft-recipe-party-10/
Thank you so much! Glad to link up!
That printable is great, especially for anyone who feels like they don’t have time for yet another challenge. It’s all there for you already. Brilliant! November really is the perfect month to start cultivating an attitude of gratitude. I really like doing a Thankful Thursday just to remind myself of the importance of being grateful for all the little blessings. This challenge is a great way to do that and get the family involved at the same time!
Thankful Thursdays are a great idea year round! I like that so much. I am much more a “see it on paper” kind of girl, so I really like the calendar printed out. We have our copy right on the desk!
Great idea for a challenge! I love that you have a printable calendar for a quick reminder.
Thanks so much! I hope you’ll join us for the challenge! Be sure to share your updates using #30daysofthankful17!
I love this. I just printed it out. Am excited to show it to my daughter when she gets home.
Oh, fun! I hope you’ll enjoy it. Please use the #30daysofthanksgiving17 if you post any photos or updates; I can’t wait to see how others use the challenge in their own homes!
I LOVE this! We have been trying to really teach our 5-year-old lately about being grateful and not just expecting a, b and c. I love the idea of a calendar with daily activities!
The activities are a great way to help little ones remember the concepts each day!
we always try to instill gratitude in our children, but this calendar is such a great way to put it into practice all month long
It really is! I hope you’ll join us this month!
This is so timely for me! I was just reflecting this morning on the role gratitude plays in my life. Thanks for sharing this wonderful calendar – I just printed it out. 🙂
Oh, good! I’m excited to do the challenge with our family and am looking forward to what others come up with too!
Such a great idea! Going to print it out for my kids. These are easy ideas for young kids. Visiting from Link It Up Wednesday.
Thank you! Holly really did a great job with the calendar! Be sure to let us know how you like it!