Gratitude {freebie included}

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  I was thinking recently of how to help my almost 5 year old to understand the meaning of presents and why we give/get them.  Children seem to have a natural way of wanting it all.  I myself cannot stand when I give a gift to a child and it is thrown to the side because it is clothes, something they already own, or simply it is just not as cool as the X-box they wanted.  Our children now seem to think that if they want it, it will come.  While I totally agree with telling our children to be all they can be, I don’t believe they should get everything they want. 
  I myself feel it is extremely important to acknowledge each gift that is given to my children.  While young kiddos (infants to 2) cannot express this kind of gratitude, I choose to express the gratitude for them.  But, as in the case of my 4 year old, it is important she express her thanks.  Recently we have been talking about the gifts that Jesus gave us.  Also, the gifts the Wise Kings brought to the Baby Jesus.  Simply- we give gifts to people we love to tell them: YOU are special and I LOVE you.  We don’t give gifts to get gifts.  We simply give because we love the person we are gifting.  So, when someone gives you a gift it is because they were thinking of you and spent their money to buy you this gift.  It is special even if it isn’t something you thought you wanted.  You can look back at that gift and think- wow, my Nana must love me, she picked this out just for me!
We do A LOT of reminding the days that we are scheduled to celebrate Christmas with all of our family.    I also require that my kids tell the person, who thinks they are special and took the time to buy them something, thank you in person (with a hug!).  Also, this year since my oldest is really getting into writing, we are going to write our own thank you notes to family, as another way of showing gratitude.  To make this a little bit easier of a task, I have created some postcard style letters ready to be filled in by younger children.  They are in black and white so that they may color as well!  Please note, I will not ask my almost 5 year old to sit and write everything on the card.  Nor, will I ask her to complete all the cards in one night.  It is just too much and I don’t want this to seem like a burden.  ** I also included Birthday Thank You Notes!**

     

  In other news… this is the one week anniversary of the tragedy at Sandy Hook.  I am wearing my green and white and thinking of all those babies, their parents and their school family.




I recently found a wonderful idea at Little Miss Glamour Goes to Kindergarten.  She is organizing a way for all of us to give to Sandy Hook Elementary- check out her site!  I will be participating!