Christmas Eve gratitude

On Christmas Eve, the car was running on fumes and we needed to find a gas station fast. The only one nearby was a full service station. It was different to have someone else fill up my car and it made me smile. We were grateful for the cheery young man who filled up the Cube with a smile and wished us a Merry Christmas.

While running errands that same afternoon, the fluffy snow had turned to rain. Despite the nasty weather, a scout troupe was singing Christmas carols with as much enthusiasm as if they'd been on a Caribbean beach. I was grateful for their willingness to brave the elements to entertain the passerbys.

 We did something a bit different this year since our original plans went off track. We ended up going out to dinner. It was quite busy and the wait staff had their hands full, on top of being excited about working Christmas Eve. (Not) My family and I were grateful for the very pleasant and friendly service from our waitress. She was sweet, funny and could carry a tune to boot.

If there is anything I've continued to learn this year it's that there are opportunities for gratitude around every corner.

Gratefulness Quotes

When in doubt, be grateful.


1. "As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words but to live by them." --John F. Kennedy

2. "When you are grateful, fear disappears and abundance appears." --Anthony Robbins

3. "The way to develop the best that is in a person is by appreciation and encouragement." --Charles Schwab

4. "To the generous mind the heaviest debt is that of gratitude, when it is not in our power to repay it." --Benjamin Franklin

5. "Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough." --Oprah Winfrey

6. "What separates privilege from entitlement is gratitude." --Brené Brown

7. "We should certainly count our blessings, but we should also make our blessings count." --Neal A. Maxwell

8. "Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity." --Melody Beattie

9. "You cannot do a kindness too soon because you never know how soon it will be too late." --Ralph Waldo Emerson

10. "He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has." --Epictetus

11. "Gratitude and attitude are not challenges; they are choices." --Robert Braathe

12. "Silent gratitude isn't very much to anyone." --Gertrude Stein

13. "Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance." --Eckhart Tolle

14. "If a fellow isn't thankful for what he's got, he isn't likely to be thankful for what he's going to get." --Frank A. Clark

15. "In ordinary life we hardly realize that we receive a great deal more than we give, and that it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich." --Dietrich Bonhoeffer

16. "Take full account of what excellences you possess, and in gratitude remember how you would hanker after them, if you had them not." --Marcus Aurelius

17. "Silent gratitude isn't much use to anyone." --G.B. Stern

18. "Praise the bridge that carried you over." --George Colman

19. "No one who achieves success does so without the help of others. The wise and confident acknowledge this help with gratitude." --Alfred North Whitehead

20. "No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of another." --Charles Dickens

21. "Blessed are those that can give without remembering and receive without forgetting." --author unknown

22. "Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things." --Robert Brault

23. "The deepest craving of human nature is the need to be appreciated." --William James


Source: http://www.inc.com/matt-ehrlichman/be-thankful-23-essential-quotes-on-gratefulness.html?cid=sf01001