Counting Gifts, Being Thankful, Giving Thanks... in a Blessing Box!

Counting Gifts... Being Thankful... 
Giving Thanks...

It's nothing new and even a few years ago, when I first read Ann Voskamps' lovely words written out in one thousand gifts, writing down the ways God blesses us on a daily basis was not a new practice.  

Still, it was a somewhat forgotten one.  I kept a list running in my mind, but there is just something different - something deeper, maybe - about writing them down! 

And then I remembered this:

A little poem I wrote years ago to go along with Boxes we would deliver around Thanksgiving.

As a family, Counting Gifts is part of our Thankgiving Tradition, yes... but it is so much more than that! We've been marking them down and reading them back for years! 

Long ago, when our Only was a Little... maybe 3 or 4, we stumbled upon this little gem of a book, by Debby Boone:

It is Counting Blessings by Debby Boone and we read through that thing, as is what one does, 2,438 times or so... in a row... because, of course! Right? 




















But here's the thing...
It was doing a work in each of us
as we grabbed on to the truth written out.

With every reading, we were counting,
and it was changing us
from the inside out.

We considered ourselves a pretty thankful family anyway, but we soon put this book to action and would think of all kinds of ways to count our blessings!  This book is so much more than a Thanksgiving book... it is a Blessing Book that works all year round. It will help you to teach your children (and remind yourself) to look for blessings, for when we look for them - oh how we find them!

I know, right? Can you even?

In fact, it inspired us to make a Blessing Box (as mentioned in the book) and we have, for years, used random pieces of paper or fancy placecards from around the table, and we'd write down what we counted as blessings.  Often, we would then pull them out and try to guess who wrote what over Christmas dinner.

There was also a time (or two) that we would pull out the book and the box and put it to use during a difficult season at school or with friends.

To be honest as our Little grew up, the book became more Decoration than devoured, but as I was pulling out all of our Autumn boxes this book once again caught my attention.  I have been having so much fun paging through this book and reminiscing... and re-reading through our Blessing Box, with gifts counted and scratched out from years gone by!

So, I wanted to share it with you here, just days before Thanksgiving. It's a simple project that may be fun to do with the Littles or the Grands and it will help to bring a bit of Counting Gifts into your Thanksgiving holiday! Any Box will do... let the kids decorate it and then cut a 'slot' in the top... use namecards or notepaper to write down what ya'll are thankful for. 

Make it as fancy or basic as you like...
Then gather in, & count your blessings together!

So, who's in? Who is up for a little Hugging on God?

I pray you all have a blessed Thanksgiving holiday, filled with family and friends... old times reminisced and new memories made... and may you take a moment or two, and know that God loves you. No matter what... He loves you. Can I encourage you to love Him back?

P.S.  I'm linking up with these lovely writers:

Jennifer Dukes Lee for #TellHisStory

Holley Gerth for #CoffeeforYourHeart

*SOME AFFILIATE LINKS INCLUDED.  ABIDING LOVE, ABOUNDING GRACE IS A PARTICIPANT IN THE AMAZON SERVICES LLC ASSOCIATES PROGRAM, AN AFFILIATE ADVERTISING PROGRAM DESIGNED TO PROVIDE A MEANS FOR SITES TO EARN ADVERTISING FEES BY ADVERTISING AND LINKING TO AMAZON.COM.

What about you? What Tradition does your family participate in over Thanksgiving that blesses you and draws you closer? 

I'd love to hear!