Back in 2015, I decided for every day in November, I’d send the important people in my life a daily “thankful”. Sometimes it was something specific to them. “I’m thankful for your laugh” or “I’m thankful you’re feeling better”. Sometimes it was something going on in my life they were privy too, “Thankful you stopped to see Monkey last night and that you still call her that” (she’s 55). Sometimes it was just something I’d been reminded how grateful, thankful I should be, “Thankful for the heater running on a chilly morning, the cup of coffee and the rotten dog laying beside me…and you”. The goal was really to remind myself how these particular people highlighted my life and how grateful I was for each of them.

I think originally, it was my husband and two kids. Then my sister and sister-in-laws got added. Each year it’s changed in some way. One year I added co-workers. A fiancé (my daughter’s not mine!). One year, it was a friend of my daughter’s who just needed to be reminded there were things to be thankful for and then he started sharing thankfuls with his two young sons. That was SO much fun getting thanksfuls from 8 and 10 year olds: my Batman pajamas, the corn dog for dinner. Kids have such a fun way of looking at things.

Each thankful was just a text to that person, a couple of minutes to compose and send them and then on with my day. But the real fun came when people started replying back! And now its almost like we wait impatiently for November so we can start sharing Thankfuls.

But oh my gosh, these were priceless! A history of our lives, of loving each other, of events! I started writing them down. Then one year I saw a pumpkin someone used to record their thankfuls for the month! A white pumpkin and a black marker with the thankfuls written around the pumpkin like a design. One year I found a paper turkey at Paper Source and used the feathers to record each thankful.

Last year, my sister made a thankful bowl out of cardboard circles and ModPodge that I filled to overflowing with fabric leaves with the thanksfuls recorded on them.

 

 

 

This year I’m making a wreath. I bought colored paper leaves from Amazon and a wire wreath frame and I’m tying each thankful on. Here’s what it looks like on day three:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m not a big holiday girl. But this, this conscious effort to be grateful! This I love.

Here are some ideas from Pinterest if you want to start your own Thankfuls:

 A list just on paper or a paper leaf tree

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s a few from that first year:

From The Beau: Beautiful weather. A great victory. (His football team won) And a beautiful woman to share it all with.

From Fred: Thankful that you still reach for and hold my hand everywhere we go.

From Fred: Thankful for the best opening day ever! Thankful for a life filled with you as my wife. [The first opening day he was home and wasn’t hunting in over 30 years.]

After they had friends over for dinner, from Gig: Thankful for taste testers! They will eat anything! Good friends!

And to Gig: Thankful for all the talks we have & the humor we share since we’re hysterically funny. Had to put my glasses on cause I couldn’t tell if it said tumor or humor.

From Sis: I’m thankful for the interesting discussions with you that make me think and really look at my beliefs. [Me: I like your thankful. Sis: I like that you like my thankful about what I like about you. Me: Well there’s that part too. Sis: ROFL]

From Sis after a slow response: HEY! Aren’t you thankful for me today?!?

The evening had turned cool with the first hint of autumn. The 2A Tioga Bulldogs were up against the Eustus Bulldogs, a 3A opponent.

Eustus took the ball first and threw an interception. Then in a break away run, Chase Evans, the friend’s son we’d come to watch, on the first possession for Tioga, ran for an 80-yard touchdown! The crowd (and mom and dad) went crazy. The kicker put it straight through the uprights and the Tioga Bulldogs led 7-0. The air was crisp with anticipation.

It was the first football game I had been to in years – the first high school game in more than a decade. The small town community wrapped themselves in Tioga Bulldog gear. [The small town community of Tioga was wrapped in Bulldog gear. Entire families came to watch. Children ran and played on the bleachers. The local announcer made lame, yet humorous, dad-like jokes. Everyone stood and the kindest prayer was spoken over the game, the players and the families. The national anthem was played by the home team band.

I was reminded of a gentler, sweeter time when community meant family and technology didn’t run our lives. And yet, I was also grateful for an empty nest that allowed me to watch a game once in the season, at my discretion, on a beautiful fall night. Grateful to be done with that time of life focused on growing kids and supporting interests.

It was fun to watch, to be a part of the evening. To cheer the players’ successes, to watch growing up in the making, and to see families wrapped in tradition and Texas passion even if the Tioga Bulldogs lost in the last quarter, 35-42.

I caught a bag of candy from the cheerleaders, sat on the hard metal bleachers and yelled out encouragement. Before it was all over, I wanted my own sparkly Tioga Bulldog t-shirt and was thankful for a sweet Texas evening wrapped in the season of Friday Night Lights.

Best dinner: potato soup, grilled cheese on chipotle sourdough, on the patio under lights & 2 of my favorite boys…

State Fair of TEXAS

Last day…first time in about 25 years

We rode the DART train

we sampled the food…Chef Cassie’s fried collards was YUM & we ate alligator eggs…