"The daily practice of gratitude is one of the conduits by which
your wealth will come to you."
Wallace Wattles
When Pip started to talk, we began a daily prayer at dinnertime. My husband and I don't subscribe to any organized religion, so we just made up our own little gratitude prayer and Pip repeated it after us. "O Great Spirit, thank you for this beautiful day and thank you for this lovely food. Peace and Love." Short and sweet. Big Daddy-O and I were big fans of our little prayer, but Pip quickly tired of saying the same thing every day.
We decided to adopt a lovely ritual that friends of ours introduced to us: they simply call it, "thankful." Now we just go around the table and talk about what we are thankful for. I LOVE IT! We usually start with Pip so that she isn't influenced by the things that Big Daddy-O and I say. She is often thankful for us, or her frog, or the nice time she had playing at the park. When my husband and I take our turns, I feel really connected to him. The hour before dinner is often hectic, but when we give thanks we're sitting at the table, looking into each other's eyes, acknowledging how blessed we truly are.
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We spoke of this ritual months back and I loved it soooo much, that we too have adopted the principle. Because our family is working on eating 3 meals a week together, we tend to talk about what we are thankful for around bedtime. It really sets the tone for the next day.
ReplyDeleteYesterday, when I asked Carly what she was thankful for, she answered, "No Timeouts today Mom". I said, I was thankful for that too!
I like the theme idea Karen - I'm thankful that you've taken the plunge and started this blog and thankful for our friendship.
I love hearing about precious Carly & her fabulous mama! Thanks Wendy; I'm glad the ritual is working for you!
ReplyDeleteWe have been doing the same at meals ever since bella was very little...some nights the thank you's are longer than others but i'm glad that we have started this as a family ritual.
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