Leading up to Thanksgiving, each day I will blog about what I’m doing to be more grateful. I invite you to join me in a Month of Thanksgiving, and to share your thoughts, observations, suggestions and ideas.
Day 25: Some of the early contest entries from people sharing why they are grateful
I assumed when I embarked on a Month of Thanksgiving that a day would come when I didn’t feel so grateful. I’m actually sort of surprised it took this long, but here I am. I’m tired and blue and probably feeling like Julie Powell must have when she really wanted to just order some Chinese delivery instead of cooking another Julia Child recipe.
Here’s the beautiful thing. Since I just launched three contests with prizes for people who share the reasons they’re grateful, I can share some of the great submissions I’ve already gotten.
You might remember there are three ways to win so I’ll break up the highlights that way:
1. Post something you’re grateful for as your Facebook status.
To make sure I see it, so you can be entered in the judging, either include “@Colleen Newvine” in your status, or if we aren’t Facebook friends, copy and paste your status into the comments of this blog post.
Margaret Yang is grateful for books that fit into my purse, and purses big enough to hold my books. ( Colleen Newvine Tebeau )
MaryJean Babic Colleen Newvine Tebeau — I’m grateful for public transit. It’s good for the environment, good for our health (40,000 car-crash deaths a year), good for foreign policy (less oil dependency), and lets me read a book or nap while getting somewhere. No one gets rich from it. Public transit!

Lisa Gauchey says I’m thankful for girlfriends like Colleen Newvine Tebeau, Catherine Mulligan, Andreea Stefanescu, and Diane Schroeder (by no means a complete list), who help make my NY life so meaningful…that’s right, a status update w/no Guinness, though I AM eating nachos as I type this.
2. Tweet something you’re grateful for on Twitter
To make sure I see it, so you can be entered in the judging, please use the hashtag #monthofthanksgiving.
mikesorgatz: I’m grateful for friends & loved ones to share big occasions – share your gratitude at http://bit.ly/3LUbRK #monthofthanksgiving   (Mike and Eleanor are getting married Saturday and we’re honored to be among the small group who’ll be attending.)
TheFlamingoRoom: Everyday I give a #monthofthanksgiving 4 the gift of home both heart & shelter http://bit.ly/ShYFA
3. Write about something you’re grateful for on your blog.
To make sure I see it, so you can be entered in the judging, please link back to this blog post.
WordPress should automatically notify me, but if you want to make sure, you can also mention your blog in the comments of this post.
So far, I’ve seen two blog posts on gratitude, totally different from each other and both great in their own ways.
Catherine Mulligan on the Flamingo Room writes about how we say thank you.

We have a dear family friend whose first language is not English. She has lived in the States for decades and is quite fluent, but some of those lovely little phrases that ESL speakers develop do sneak through. My favorite is this: “thanks Goodness!”
Example: “There was not much traffic on the road, thanks Goodness!”
Example: “The picnic was a success. It did not rain. Thanks Goodness!”
Isn’t that sweet and charming?

Lara Zielin pays homage to her awesome literary agent on Lara Writes.

even though I have about a bazillion, jillion things to be thankful for, there’s one in particular that I want to blog about.
My agent.
I know there are a lot of awesome agents out there. I’m sorry but mine is the absolute best.

Today I’m grateful because on a day when I wasn’t really feeling it, all these great folks were — and that’s another reason to be grateful.
If you want a chance to win cool prizes, share the reasons you’re grateful like these most excellent people did.