I love this time of year it fills my heart with love.  When my sons were younger one Thanksgiving I purchased a plain white cotton table cloth and several different colors of permanent markers.  That Thanksgiving everyone in the family wrote what they were thankful for and for a couple of years after until there was no room left.  Today my sons are young men, my nephew is in the service, my sister re-married and my mother is no longer with us.  The first year after my mom left us I did not place that cloth on the table and I caught heck from my sons.  Now every year we remind each other what we were grateful for then and what we are grateful for today.  That cloth brings us tears and laughter.   A wonderful family tradition.
I like to spend this time of the year doing acts of kindness.  It warms my heart to see others smile.  This year will be especially important as many families are experiencing difficult times. 
“The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving.”  H. U. Westermayer:
I thought I would share a few ideas that might inspire you to offer a bit of kindness this season.

• Clean out your closet and take the extra clothes to a local nonprofit organization.
• Offer a couple of hours of free babysitting to someone who could use some time for themselves.
• Pay for a cup of coffee for the person behind you in the drive-thru.
• Tape the exact change for a soda to a vending machine.
• Pay the toll for the person behind you.
• Leave flowers in front of someone’s house.
• Bake cookies for your neighbors.
• Put quarters in the laundry machine for the next person.
• Send cards with beautiful messages to anonymous people.
• Leave chocolate on the desk of your co-workers.
• Give someone the gift of your smile.
• Pay a compliment.
• Lend an ear to someone going through a tough time.
• Next time you ask someone, ‘How are you?’ listen fully to the response.
• Visit a nursing home and listen to stories of a senior who doesn’t get any visitors.
• Spend some time in silence, listen to your heart and follow it.

I hope you can create a holiday season full of gratitude for yourself and your family.  I would love to hear how you are feeling and acting grateful this year.
Bless you and all you do.