Thanksgiving Journals & Christmas Shelves

Well we made it through our first week post-Thanksgiving break. We really enjoyed our break. With Quinn in school full-time (kindergarten), having him for a whole week made it feel like the good old days! To top it off, Ross was off of work Tuesday-Sunday. The kiddos fit in two sleepovers and we had two days of Thanksgiving. We also took a trip to Chicago.

We were able to spend the day at the Museum of Science and Industry and then grab dinner and dessert in the city before shooting up 94 floors to top of the John Hancock building. The view was gorgeous! Over break, we saw Big Hero 6, which after this Facebook conversation, I was pretty excited about. We all really enjoyed the movie. The Villain definitely made Eleanor nervous, the first couple times he appeared.

We have a tradition of giving thanks here during the month of November. It is a fun family tradition, that I thoroughly enjoy. In the past we have set up various Giving Thanks stations. This year I decided to do journals. I copied over years past (mostly grabbed from my blog) and then added this years.

These yoobi journals from Target seemed like an obvious choice for gratitude journals. I purchased 5 journals (even though Hudson isn’t participating yet) and that means 5 yoobi supplies went to a classroom in need.

We each have our own. Listening to Eleanor do her “thankfuls” just warmed my heart!

The thankful journals are stored on the shelf in this fun DIY decoupage box.

The shelf has gotten the Christmas touch. By Christmas touch, I mean pine cones and ornaments.

That deer is a Cricut project.

Our tree is up. We went fake this year. I feel like a sell-out, but with the dog and cat and an 18 month old and two other kids I just couldn’t rearrange and deal with the hassle.

That gold box with the jeweled closure was another little craft project I whipped up.

We busted out the paper rings from last year’s kindergarten chic Christmas.

That wood bowl full of ornaments was $.49 from Goodwill. It is resting on top of our family’s Mancala game. Creating a home that speaks to you doesn’t have to be expensive.

That darling wood caddy was handmade by my BIL’s Dad and he gifted it to Quinn. The basket is from our Honeymoon. The cross-stitched family was a gift from my SIL. The ivory box was part of this World Market Campaign and the AMAZING smelling diffuser is from this Thymes campaign. The rest is books and a few TJ Maxx finds.

Our thankful journals will live on the shelf, in the box until next year. I love having all of the “thankfuls”, as Eleanor would call them, in one spot.