Giving Thanks Is More Than A Holiday

I am ashamed to say that Thanksgiving has always been more about the food than being grateful. Sure my parents would ask us what we are thankful for and everyone would go around the table with their reply. But now as a parent I find myself so caught up trying to make the perfect meal I forget that what I really want is for my children to remember that this holiday isn't so about how much food they can fit in their bellies but more about how blessed they are. This Thanksgiving seems to have just blew past me without me even trying to make an effort to involve the "thanks" in the Thanksgiving. I don't want it to be over, I do want to show that I am grateful, but how??

How do we do it all?  I feel like one day a year isn't enough time to teach the message of Thanksgiving to our children, while cooking a million different dishes, and trying to make it to grandmas house on time with all the said dishes, while juggling a screaming baby, then setting up a pinterest worthy center piece while your children and their cousins are running in and out and under the tables! It feels like Thanksgiving should last longer than just one day. In fact, I think I would need everyday of the year to show how thankful I am for all that God has blessed me with.

 What if we lived every day showing thanks in our actions and our words? How would our lives be different than they are right now if we lived with "an attitude of gratitude" every single day?

I know mine would be different. I would be a little kinder. I would notice the little things. Talk softer to my children. Hug people more often. Smile more at strangers. Look my husband in the eyes and tell him thank you on a daily basis. And then maybe, as the time passes, I will realize that I won't know how to be anything else but grateful.





And just for giggles Go here ... (seriously, click the link, you won't be sorry!)

The Meme of the Mommies

Meme is such a weird word, isn't it? I have to admit I pronounced it incorrectly until recently, very recently, actually. In fact, it was just last week that my 12 year old daughter laughed in my face when I said "mems". I really had no idea that it meant anything except pictures of animals with funny captions that get posted on pinterest. So I googled it, of course, and an idea for a blog started forming...


A meme (/ˈmiːm/; meem)^[1] is "an idea, behavior, or style that spreads from person to person within a culture."^[2] A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols, or practices that can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals, or other imitable phenomena. -wikipedia

A blog is a unit that carries ideas from person to person!  This blog is truly a meme for mothers. My intent is to pass along my ideas through writing about my life as a wife and mother to 5 children. There is no right or wrong way to experience it, so if your way is different than mine, then that's ok. It doesn't make your way wrong or mine right, just different, and that's great! I want to learn about your style and I hope you like reading about mine. 

I want to start something here on this blog, something positive. A place for good ideas,a place to be uplifted, to read about a new trend in the latest and the greatest new products, and hopefully I can pass on a few laughs... There will always be something to add. And I plan on making it being worth reading and sharing!

So, it looks like I better get started.