Photo via Flickr: Nukeit1

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more.”

Melodie Beatty

Now I know I startled you all a couple of weeks ago by mentioning Christmas, but before Christmas here in the U.S. comes Thanksgiving (yes, the holidays are upon us!). Before we fully get into the Christmas spirit, I was thinking about that how easy it is to fly right by Thanksgiving and all we have to show for it is a couple extra pounds from over-dosing on mashed potatoes, gravy and pumpkin pie.

I like to get as much out of the seasons and holidays as I can, so I started thinking about ways I could incorporate the attitude of gratitude around my house in the few weeks prior to Thanksgiving.

And what better day to start out thinking positively than on a Monday! Grumble, grumble.

Are you a glass half full person or a glass half empty person? I tend to be a glass half full gal, but I’d have to say my son is the opposite. I sometimes call him Eeyore. I am forever trying to help him see the bright side of things. We work on lessons in positive thinking and gratitude quite often around our house. And Thanksgiving is the perfect time of year to put our efforts into overdrive.

So, how can we create a home that reflects an attitude of gratitude? We need to practice it daily, not just on Thanksgiving. You know I like to make lists of 20 happy thoughts, so here are my 20 Little Attitudes of Gratitude for our home. These are all real things we emphasize around our house to keep us focused on blessings, or things I am wanting to incorporate this year.

20 Little Attitudes
of Gratitude

1. Mind your manners. Say please, thank you and excuse me.
2. Smile when you see your family. Turn your frown upside down.
3. Pick up after yourself.
4. Notice when others do kind things for you, show gratitude by action or words.
5. Say I love you before going to bed.
6. Give hugs daily.
7. Don’t worry about tomorrow. Focus on what you are happy about today.
8. Create gratitude journals to keep track of daily blessings.
9. Show thankfulness for even the little things others do for you.
10. Leave love notes in unexpected places like lunch boxes and under pillows.
11. Encourage someone with a compliment.
12. Verbalize what you are grateful for when you feel like complaining about life.
13. Keep a basket of small slips of paper on the table. Write notes of thankfulness during the week and read them to each other during a family meal.
14. Remember to thank God for blessings each day.
15. Surprise your family (or friends) with little gifts or treats to show you thought of them.
16. No grumbling about minor annoyances around the house.
17. Do special things to cherish time with your family. You never know what tomorrow will bring.
18. Reflect on happy memories regularly. Make inspiration boards of special times.
19. Help someone out without them having to ask you. Watch for someone in need.
20. When you are doing household chores, be grateful you have a home to clean.

By making a list of 20 attitudes we can work on and putting them into practice, we can make our homes a much happier place to be by Thanksgiving. Even if you don’t have a family at home, you can make a list that applies to your life situation. I encourage you to make your own gratitude list. Let me know if you do!

Check out what is going on around The Inspired Room:

• For those of you that missed this announcement over the weekend, check this out: MOMS UNITE.
• BIG NEWS for me! In mid-November, I will be helping the awesome Homegoods store kick off the holiday season as their Featured Blogger! I’m super excited about the opportunity and look forward to putting together holiday ideas for one of my favorite places to shop!
• I have tons of fun stuff lined up on The Inspired Room for November including a growing list of great giveaways and an awesome guest blogger or two! Plus, we’ll be getting festive for the holidays!
  
• I finally have a new blogroll page blog guy Steve to the rescue again)! Click here to see how to add your bloggy buttons! All friends are welcome! And if you see yourself already there on my blogroll, send me a real button! I was just testing things out and made those up. Do you need a button? See my sidebar for a growing list of MOMS UNITE resources! I bet Amy at Living Locurto could make you one just perfect for the blogroll!
  
• I’m behind on creating the award (sorry!), but my BLOG OF THE WEEK award goes to this lovely lady, Keeper of the Chocolates. She wrote a touching post about her hubby that melted my heart. Click here to read it and weep. She understands living in gratitude. {heart her}