Take time to embrace gifts this Thanksgiving

By Mallory Sckerl

Like most folks, I take it upon myself to try to be extra thankful around the holidays. November is a time to sit back and reflect on all of the wonderful things you’ve been blessed with over the course of the last year. One thing that often gets forgotten, however, is the people who helped make the year great, or maybe just not so bad.

Parents, grandparents, siblings, teachers, cousins, directors, friends and many, many more who deserve our utmost thanks and gratitude are too often lost in the shuffle and never receive a proper thank you.

So, during the week of Thanksgiving each year, I write out seven thank you notes, one for each day of the week, and give them to people who have had a great positive impact on my life in the past year. I could spend hours writing and delivering notes to the hundreds of people I know who deserve them, but, quite honestly, I don’t have enough time to do that. Thus, each year I try to pick seven new people and let them know how much they mean to me.

I usually write about specific things each person has done for me that have helped me or made me a better person. I thank them for the impact they had on me. I then mail or hand out one note each day throughout the week. Sometimes I’ll include a cupcake or a flower with the card as well.

I’ve written these letters to a multitude of people over the years: parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, teachers, directors, mentors, pastors, counselors and many more.

I would encourage anyone who is interested in sharing their gratitude with others to try this during Thanksgiving week this year. It has taught me a lot about expressing my thanks to people who have gone above and beyond to do something for me. It makes them feel good to receive the note, but it also makes me feel good knowing I at least let them know how much they impacted me.