Thank you. Thank you very much. Thanks, you’re so kind. We say it out loud and we write it in letters, on cards and in emails. There are so many means now through which we express gratitude. At this time of year, as a child, it was time to get out the Basildon Bond paper, blue with envelopes to match, and write the obligatory thank you letters. To be honest writing those letters was a chore. I got through the job under my mother’s watchful eye. Thank you Granny for the lovely present you sent me, I will make good use of it. And Dear Auntie Paddy, Thank you for the puzzle. I liked the horses. Not so long ago I was going through my grandmothers papers and came across all of my thank you notes to her. Preserved along with other letters from her family in a chocolate box with roses on top. Even my childish scrawled letters had enough meaning to be kept. Thank you Granny.

Adopting a default attitude of thankfulness might seem at first to be rather errr…old fashioned or false. After all gift receiving times like Christmas can be rife with disappointments for both children and adults alike. It can be hard to be grateful for something you didn’t want, can’t use, will never wear etc. However we used to say, It is the thought that counts and yes indeed it is if we are able to say that and actually mean it! The knitted rabbit and bear were Christmas presents for a small child. He might take to them, he might not. My monastic work colleague and I produced them, she knitted and I made them up. I’m thankful for the opportunity to help make and give gift. To help make these toys which have already given a lot of pleasure before ever they reached their target.

Expressing gratitude can become a habit. There is always, no matter what ones circumstances are, something to be grateful for. Perhaps life itself. Or as in this article gratitude for ones thumbs and fingers!