The Little Pickle Press Insider

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An attitude of gratitude is our theme for November at Little Pickle Press. We celebrate Thanksgiving Day in America on November 25th and that gives us most of the month to contemplate our many blessings. Thanksgiving is perhaps the one holiday in American tradition that is focused most on family and friends as well as food and fun.

Teachers plan their lessons around the historic aspects of Thanksgiving Day and children throughout the land bring home arts and crafts featuring Pilgrims in the early days of American settlement. We focus on traditional foods such as stuffed turkey, pumpkin pie, corn, and other autumn favorites. Many environmentally-minded people try to connect with local farmers and their harvests of heirloom crops, making this heritage celebration even more special.

Prayer was an important act of gratitude practiced by early Americans, and churches today continue promoting the saying of “grace” before meals, especially on holidays. The practice easily transfers to modern and more secular events, where many share a spoken “thank you” for the gifts in their own lives including each other.

The Wikipedia article on gratitude states that it is an emotion that occurs after people receive help, depending on how they interpret the situation. Specifically, gratitude is experienced if people perceive the help they receive as (a) valuable to them, (b) costly to their benefactor, and (c) given by the benefactor with benevolent intentions (rather than ulterior motives). Other factors come into play as well.

There are various methods with which to gauge gratitude, and the Appreciation Scale was developed to measure 8 different aspects of gratitude: appreciation of people, possessions, the present moment, rituals, feelings of awe, social comparisons, existential concerns, and behavior which expresses gratitude.

Extensive research about gratitude suggests that people who are more grateful have higher levels of well-being. Grateful people are happier, less depressed, less stressed, and more satisfied with their lives. So instilling the lesson of gratefulness in children has many benefits beyond good manners and appropriate social behaviors, though these are clearly important.

Little Pickle Press is grateful for many things, including its latest milestone—on November 26th, we publish our newest title, Sofia’s Dream, written by Land Wilson and illustrated by Sue Cornelison. The book celebrates Planet Earth and encourages the care-taking of our fragile, precious world in a sweet lullaby sure to inspire adults and children both. Follow our blog book tour to learn all about the making of this book as we visit kindred spirits online from November 22nd – December 3rd. Be sure to click here for pre-orders.

We also thank you, our dear readers, for your patronage and continued support and hope you’ll share this newsletter and blog with your friends and family members who have children and grandchildren and who might benefit from our stories and news. Wishing you a holiday filled with blessings from our family to yours.

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“Gratitude is not only the greatest of the virtues but the parent of all others.” ~ Cicero