Our North American friends have just celebrated (or survived!) another Thanksgiving holiday. This is one tradition from that part of the world that we could all take to heart.

Why is this idea so important? Why talk about it here on the Golden Goose? (Aside from making the Goose nervous in case this is the year someone decides to switch from turkey!)

This is what I think. When you live your life with this so called “Attitude of Gratitude” it means that you take a moment, from time to time, to really appreciate what you already have.

That can be hard to do, especially at this time of year with a tidal wave of retail catalogues pouring in the door. It is all too easy to get lost in a mindset of “I’ll be happy when I get a new [gadget, pair of shoes, car, TV or whatever else.] Very quickly that path leads to being envious of people around you who have those things themselves. That is a dangerous path indeed, doomed to end in resentment at the world for not giving you ‘what you deserve’. That is not the sort of person anyone wants to be around!

Developing that habit of feeling thankful for what is around you, be it family, friends, a roof over your head or a flower in full bloom, is a wonderful antidote to the ‘by more stuff’ pressure of the Christmas season.

A couple of years ago my brother in-law started a tradition at the Christmas table. He asks each person to take a moment and share what they have been thankful for in the past year. At first it was a little awkward and most definitely strange, but we settled in to the idea fairly quickly. I’m looking forward to it this year, though I haven’t a good idea of what I’ll say just yet.

Almost certainly kids around you are working hard putting the pressure on for what they want for Christmas. Our certainly are. Twilight. Barbie. Transformers. PS3. Wii. The list never seems to end. How do you combat the hundreds and thousands of advertising messages that children will be exposed to in the next few weeks?

That is where the gratitude attitude comes in. It is never too late to take some time with your kids to find a few things to be really thankful for. In the process you may even find a few things that could be passed on to goodwill and make someone else’s Christmas more happy.

One way to help put kids in a good frame of mind to realise how well-off they are is to look around the world at how little most people have. A great book that explains this (and plenty more) is If the World Were a Village – which presents the whole world as a village of just 100 people.

When you feel thankful for being alive, having people around you to love and be loved by, your mood takes an immediate lift. Share this with those around you!