Husband likes to tease me about my obsession with home-making blogs, most particularly this one. I do check it daily and have stolen some ideas, but much of the time, I find the writing corny and feel they make big deals about tiny projects. (The blog is their livelihood, so they need to post a LOT.) Anyway, one of the ideas I've stolen is their "thanks jar," which IS corny, but when Thanksgiving is involved, corny is okay, I think.

Every day, everyone in the house is supposed to write something they're thankful for on a slip of paper and put in in the jar, which I decorated with cardstock and ribbon. (probably an idea stolen from Martha Stewart) It's supposed to run from November 1st to Thanksgiving, but since the kids are here 1/2 the time, we started early and since they'll be with firstwife on Thanksgiving Thursday, we'll end on Friday. That day, at our dinner, we'll take turns reading the "thanks" and hopefully laugh a bit, but most importantly, feel a palpable sense of gratefulness at the abundance of goodness in our lives.

It took some explaining for the kids to get the idea, that they don't have to thank a specific person, that they can be thankful for gum if they choose. But I had hoped they'd mix in some more lofty thanks. One of the rules is that no one can read the thanks until that dinner, but because they are less than thorough folders, I've caught glimpses and I was pleased with what I peeped.

For me, the thanks has been harder to come up with some days. "Electricity" was obvious when we went without it for 3 days after a storm. "Tivo" was a no-brainer. "My husband" and "my home" were also easy, but my secret wish all along was that I would have a little slip of paper up my sleeve, ready to be the last thanks of the day, which would serve as an announcement of sorts. Thanks (har) to the arrival of my now very regular cycle, that clever notion can be scrapped. Which makes me even more anxious to hear all of the thanks and see the jar emptying and the mound of paper pile up on the table. And keep my fingers crossed that next year I'll be able to throw in "our healthy baby."