Gratitude

With the holidays coming up we've been talking a lot about gratitude. Sometimes I don't think the kids understand that we are so very lucky to be able to go for cereal, milk, and a friend's birthday present a few days before payday. All they see is what others have and they don't. We talked about a family who had every penny invested in a mobile home that they were moving to a new site. The wheels fell off during transit and after nine hours of blocking the highway, the local sheriff simply had the trailer tipped over off of the road. It smashed to pieces...it was the only home for 4 adults and 6 or so kids. Now they have nowhere to live, have lost everything they couldn't get out before it was tipped, and they are responsible for removing the debris. It's hard to argue that we need new legos, ice cream, or magazines when there are people out there who have so much less...are so in need. I want to find a way to make them look beyond their Christmas lists and Thanksgiving gratitude for new video games to ways that we can help others this season. They're kids, I know...but I feel strongly that the way they are raised will change the way they look at the world when they are grown. While I don't want them to suffer, I want the "gimmes" of Christmas to become the "giveyous". That's my goal. Maybe it won't happen miraculously this year, but increments are good.