Welcome November!!

Happy November 1st!   There are now less than 4 weeks until Thanksgiving, and 7 weeks and 5 days until Christmas (just an FYI!!)  I like this time of year a lot - celebrating with family, making memories, and starting new traditions with the hubby.  (I also like it because I get a few long weekends where I don't have to work - something I don't get the rest of the year!!) 

I think the Thanksgiving season is a great time of year to focus on your blessings - we should practice thankfulness all year long, but Thanksgiving time is an especially good time to work on being thankful for everything, even the little things in life.  This is as much a reminder to myself to be more thankful as it is encouragement to everyone else to do the same!

Some ideas for becoming more thankful:  

- Keep a list of your blessings and say thank you for each one of them at least a couple times a week, if not every day

- If you like to read Bible verses, write or type out some verses about thankfulness and put them around your house or work cubicle, or in your car.  Some good verses are Psalm 30:11-12, 1 Thessalonians 5:18, and Psalm 100:4

- Say thank you whenever it is called for!  Say it when someone hands you something or does something nice for you - whenever the occasion calls for it, get in the habit of saying a simple thank you

- Be thankful for every situation that you find yourself in, whether it be good or bad.  It's often hard to see how a situation that seemingly ruins your whole day could be a good thing, but do your best to keep a cheerful attitude even if you aren't feeling particularly thankful!

To kick off November, I've created a "thankful list" printable.  You don't have to fill out the whole page at one time, you could start with a couple things and add to the list later if you like.  Please feel free to print as many copies as you like and use them all year round, not just at Thanksgiving time!  This would also be a good family activity for Thanksgiving dinner - have everyone write down a few things and then go around the table, with each person sharing what they wrote down.  To print, click on the image below to make it larger, then right click and save it to your computer.  Once it's saved to your computer, just open it and print!

Enjoy!

Be thankful & have a great weekend!

Please go check out Andrea's blog over at The Cottage Market for some free downloadable images.  Thanks to her for the awesome ribbon that I used for my November banner!