I stayed up tonight trying to explain to my daughter the difference between being unhappy and being happy. The difference, I told her, is gratitude. If you're always thinking about things that you don't have or can't do, you'll be unhappy. If you count your blessings and have gratitude, you'll be happy. She and I took turns (for an hour past her bedtime) listing things we were grateful for. Here's our list so far:

Elbows (otherwise we wouldn't be able to feed ourselves), toothbrushes, eyelashes, horses, purses (can you imagine trying to carry all that stuff around with just your hands?), God, our parents, good teachers, answering machines, family, books, toenail clippers, remote controls, computers, colors, imagination, brothers and sisters, pajamas, grape scented conditioner, music, Ember's laugh, rice-a-roni, and our dog Lady.

This is a work in progress, it may become a nightly tradition to list five things we're grateful for before we can go to sleep. Perhaps it will eventually change her way of thinking, and my daughter will start to realize how many blessings she has, and maybe not feel so bad about not getting a new Tinkerbelle backpack at the END of the school year.