The Thankful Tree

An assignment from my Writing 2 class. We were told to write about thankfullness.

Every year, the day after Halloween, my family hangs up our thankful tree. It is a simple tree, made from cut up grocery bags, but it is a family tradition.
The idea is to write down something you are thankful for on a colorful fall leaf made of cardstock, and tape it to the tree. The tree is taped to the door leading into our garage, in easy view of the whole family. After the tree is full of fall foliage, we tape the leaves to the door to look like they are falling from the tree, and make “piles” around the trunk.
When I was a little girl, my leaves were ornamented with names of my friends, pokemon cards, pens and pencils, a roof, snow, fun, mom, dad, and (of course) God. As I grew older, I would write “I am thankful for…” on the top part of the leaf and draw little pictures alongside the words. Soon I began to sign the leaf in the stems as well. At age 8 or 9, I would be the first one to tape my leaves to the tree, perhaps ten or twelve at a time.
As I was growing up, I was always afraid of growing up like my siblings. They, around age 11 or 12, declared they were “too old” for the thankful tree, and would only tape up two or three leaves all November long. I was horrified at the idea of being “too old” for the thankful tree. I made a promise to myself that I would never be “too old” for the thankful tree. At age 15, I have still kept that promise.
I recently looked back through the bags full of leaves my mom has kept from years past, and laughed at the memories. I was thankful for friends, Pokémon cards, pens and pencils, a roof, snow, fun, mom, dad, and (of course) God at age 6 in 2000. Four years later in 2004 at age 10, I was thankful for candy, candles, pizza, hot chocolate, sleep-overs, dance, trees and leaves, church, colors (especially yellow and baby blue), roller coaster tycoon, milk, parties, and (of course) God and Jesus. And now, at age 15 in the year 2009, I am thankful for dictionary.com, Owl City, Microsoft office word, music, homework (yes, homework), poodle skirts, nail polish, hair dye, my kitty, facebook, and (of course) the Father’s great and mighty love for us.
For things great and small, we are thankful. Having a tree to express these feelings every fall has helped me to remember just what they are.