New Year's Blessings

There is a switch in our minds that gets turned on by the sounds of fireworks on the New Year's Eve. Have you noticed that? I start thinking about all the things that I didn't get to do last year and I am starting to set all different kinds of resolutions for myself for the next year. I take out my notebook and start writing down plans and pointers to get me on the right track. But then as most of the previous years, life happens and I forget about the plans (I did however stick with couple resolutions in the past... just to keep it real) I fall into the same old routine and the same old habbits. Why should this year be different?

Most likely it will not be different and therefor I decided to focus on different part of it all. I decided to count my blessings. Every year we experience ups and downs and we tend to remember the major events that happen to us. But I decided that I don't want to forget even the smallest things... the cutest things my kids say to me... dates with my husband... accomplishments big or small... traveling memories...

To keep a track of it all, I made this blessing jar. I will write my blessings on pieces of paper and I will place them into the jar. At the end of the year... or when life gets tough, I will read them. Because God is good and I don't want to forget!

Thanksgiving Table Centerpiece

I have been busy with my Etsy shop orders and neglected my blog for a while and I am sorry about that ;-) Since I love this little place of ideas sharing, food growing, and meals cooking, I am back and hopefully my new plan for this blog will bring everyone more inspiration than ever before.

We are all in our Thanksgiving week preparations just about now and if you need last minute decoration idea, you came to the right place! You can have kids help you with this one or you don't have to, but I had them work on most of it ;-) Put them to work for you, if you can - my advice anyway...

First cut out leaf patterns from construction paper. You can add some fabric, burlap, or felt leaves if you wish. Write on them things that everyone in your family is thankful for - some of my kids words make me laugh but they are truly thankful for those things (like my daughter's love for Hello Kitty was true). Punch a hole on one side to be able to hang them up.

Fill a vase or large jar (how lucky that I found this large Mason Jar on garage sale - my all time favorite) with rocks. Even candy corn, dry corn, or sand will work.

Bring sticks from the outside. Best are those with bunch of small branches coming out of them for fun display of leaves. Place them in the vase, pushing them down into the rocks for stability.

Now tie a burlap fabric or a large ribbon around the mouth of the jar and hang up the leaves. I save the leaves from year to year and kids add new leaves with new things they are thankful for. They love looking back at what they loved and thanked for in the previous years. And so do I!