Once fall rolls around, I start getting the itch to celebrate Christmas. Some people are adamant about keeping the holidays in their proper lanes, but I’m not. In our family when it’s someone’s birthday, we celebrate for weeks, if not the whole month. If we get that, I think Our Savior deserves even more celebration. When Halloween is over, I dedicate November 1st to All Saints Day and November 2nd to All Souls Day. Then on November 3rd, I’m ready to indulge in Christmas music and the 24/7 Hallmark Christmas movies. However, I force myself to resist decorating for Christmas until the day after Thanksgiving. As a compromise, we tried something new this year – making a Thanksgiving Gratitude Tree.

Last year, I finally made the switch that I swore I never would do – we got an artificial tree. I have been a die hard fresh tree fan, but I hated that it eventually got so dried out that we had to keep the lights off. I started to toy with the idea of an artificial tree, especially after watching all those Balsam Hill Tree commercials on the Hallmark channel. We waited until after Christmas when the trees went on clearance and found the perfect one to fit in our living room. (I was surprised at just how life like it was!)  I have been eager to try it out, so I set it up with only white lights and turned it into our Gratitude Tree during November.

I searched Pinterest for a colored printable of pine cones and found some pretty ones from MorePrintableTreats.com. (They actually have a lot of great printables!) I printed them on white cardstock paper and cut them out. I used a silver Sharpie pen to write down things we were thankful for, punched a small hole at the top of the pine cone, and tied a bow with twine. I used a tree ornament hook to hang it on the tree. (You could also bend a paper clip if you don’t have hooks.)

Each day we add one more thing we are thankful for, which helps us to keep the focus on Thanksgiving and being grateful for our blessings, while still getting a preview of the Christmas spirit.

The one thing I do miss about an artificial tree, is the fresh smell of pine. To make up for it, I bought these Scentsicles Tree Ornament White Winter Fir Scented Stick that a friend recommended. I hung them in the tree and now our room smells lovely! (Although you may want to skip it if you have allergies.)

Plus, we buy a real evergreen wreath for our Advent wreath and pine greenery from Trader Joe’s to hang on the walls. This adds plenty of pine smell to our home. 🙂 Do you have special Thanksgiving or gratitude decorations?

Happy Thanksgiving!

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