httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_3BEwpv0dM

The holiday season is here. The stress of getting every detail completed before the big day is at a peak and many of us wonder if it will actually come together. The “to do” list is as long as your arm and Christmas seems more like work than joy, love, peace and happiness.

I hit a peak last night while wrapping Christmas gifts at 10:00 pm as the “to do” list in my head was replaying itself over and over. How was I possibly going to get everything done with a 4 year old bouncing off the walls and a new baby in my arms. My list seemed never ending: preparing the house, cooking Christmas dinner, last minute gift shopping…… I was driving myself into a holiday stress frenzy.

There is no one that should be more grateful than me this Christmas. I have been blessed with a beautiful baby boy that we just adopted weeks ago and I was forgetting to take the time every day just to be grateful. I needed perspective and I found it through this video of one person that is so selfless and giving I wanted to share it with you.

It reminded me what Christmas is really about – giving with your heart, being grateful for all you have and counting each blessing as it comes into your day.  Narayana Krishnan the gentleman featured for his remarkable work in the video reminded me of just that – he reminded me to stop trying to make Christmas “Martha Stewart” perfect and reflect on my life for all it’s blessings.

I was inspired by Tina Sue this morning from Think Simple Now by a post entitled 20 Ways to Be Grateful.  The article in worth a read and will inspire you to find the things in your life you are grateful for and how to share those thoughts with those around you. The greatest gift you could give this holiday season is not the perfectly wrapped present under the tree. Instead try looking your best friend, your brother, your mother. your neighbour, your children – even your pet right in the eye and telling them how grateful you are for them in your life. Here are some of my favourite quotes on being grateful this holiday season.

Gratitude Quotes

• The single greatest thing you can do to change your life today would be to start being grateful for what you have right now. The more grateful you are the more you will get. Oprah
• God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today.  Have you used one to say “thank you?”  ~William A. Ward
• Silent gratitude isn’t much use to anyone.  ~G.B. Stern
• If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, “thank you,” that would suffice.  ~Meister Eckhart
• You say grace before meals.  All right.  But I say grace before the concert and the opera, and grace before the play and pantomime, and grace before I open a book, and grace before sketching, painting, swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing and grace before I dip the pen in the ink.  ~G.K. Chesterton
• If you want to turn your life around, try thankfulness.  It will change your life mightily.  ~Gerald Good
• Gratitude is the music of the heart, when its chords are swept by the breeze of kindness.  ~Author Unknown
• Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.  ~William Arthur Ward

I am so grateful for everyone that has supported 365give this past year. You have inspired me, made me laugh, supported me when I needed it the most and encouraged me to keep giving even on the days I didn’t think I had it in me. I feel honoured to know you – my Twitter friends, my readers, my Facebook friends and those who have just stumbled upon my site.  Giving is my passion and being grateful is something I will remember to do every day of the year.