The Thanksgiving Trees

I wanted to do a craft with the boys to help decorate for Thanksgiving.  I wanted it to incorporate thankfulness, be fall-colored, be cheap, and preferably create very little mess.

I often see snippets of Pinterest Moms' work on Facebook.  It's adorable.  Everything looks perfectly crafty, thoughtful, well-done,  and....frankly,  like it took hours of work.

So, as I was trying to think of something cute and crafty, I briefly considered perusing Pinterest, but, who are we kidding - I do not have the time.  So, instead, I went to my favorite place - the Target dollar spot (though it is getting pricey there too! Stuff as high as $3!).  I found Thanksgiving trees for $1 each, and we made a couple of them.

Decorative? Check.

Incorporate thankfulness? Check.

Cheap? Crafty? Little mess?
Check, Check, Check.

The tree was pretty simple to put together, and we all took turns filling up the leaves with things we are thankful for.  We had 12 leaves, and I wondered at first if the boys would be able to fill them easily, or if Dave and I would need to help fill in a lot.  I was so wrong!  They not only filled in the 12 leaves, but also filled the backsides.

The list ranges from lighthearted and fun to ones that required depth of thought and caring, and the boys came up with almost every one.  Among the ideas they thought of:

Family
Football
Water
Yarbo
God's Grace
Jesus

We don't often sit around together thinking of things we're thankful for, but perhaps we should do so more often.  It was a blessing to get a peek into their hearts and see what they were thankful for, and we had fun decorating our Thanksgiving Trees with our Thankful Leaves.

Maybe someday I'll get everything pulled together for Pinterest-level craftiness, but thankfully, the boys don't know what they're missing on Pinterest, and I've already purchased my $1 crafts for Christmas.  I think they'll enjoy them just as much as the trees!