The Thankful Jar

Today, we celebrate Thanksgiving and in that spirit, we decided to start a new tradition in our family this year. We asked everyone who came to Thanksgiving to bring a small item that could fit in a jar to represent something they did or something that happened this year that they are thankful for. The item didn’t have to represent something big and meaningful, just anything that came to mind. Some items were light-hearted or funny and some represented more life-changing moments. In addition to the objects, we each wrote a sentence or two on a slip of paper, dated and signed it, and added it to the jar.

Some of the items we included were: a canceled forever stamp from a letter, an airline ticket from trip, an old family photograph, ticket stubs from a Broadway show, a favorite Bible verse, a flashcard for school progress, my son’s handprint, a toy car to represent a real one, music from a Church program, a silk flower, a sweet note from Aunt Patty, a silver spoon from Nana, a shell from the beach, a plastic sheriff’s badge for my brother's graduation from the police academy, an Apple sticker to represent our love of the iphone, and a receipt for the Thanksgiving turkey.

We are going to keep the jar on a shelf in the den and add to it throughout the coming year. Then next Thanksgiving, we’ll open the jar, examine the contents, count our blessings again and add new items.

To decorate the jar, I used a border strip from Bella Blvd's Finally Fall, stickers from Crate Paper's Farmhouse line and some twine from The Twinery.  For the top of the lid, I added a circle punched from Studio Calico's Countryside.

I also made a Thanksgiving card for my folks using some of the same supplies:

Happy Thanksgiving to each of you.