One day at a time.....: Christmas Jar Memories

I am so excited to be sharing a family tradition we started last year!! I shared it last Thursday over at MaMe Musings, but in case you missed it, I wanted to be sure and share it here too!

For our family we try to keep things very simple during the Christmas season to avoid missing the real meaning of this time of year. Last year I wanted to make memories.....something the boys would always think about when it came time for Christmas. So I started what we call "Christmas Jar Memories".

This is so easy you will likely have everything you need to start a family tradition this year!!!!

First off gather your family together. Have a pen and paper on hand. Talk about, discuss and write down ideas/things you want to do during the month of December. As a family. Make this time during the week, only on the weekends or both. We do both, but keep them very simple......key word here is simple!
Next, type or write each idea on a piece of paper. I print them out on the computer(in a cute font of course!)and cut them apart. Find a jar or some sort of container and put all the ideas into the jar. A pretty bow is optional, but I insist you add something to it to make it special.

Now decide how often you will pull from the jar. The children take turns pulling out an idea. As well as Mom and Dad. I like to pull an idea the night before "in case" I need to make a trip to the store for supplies and such.
Here are some of our ideas for this year.

The one thing I want to do is make it FUN! And not spend lots of money. Memories are of the heart and you do not have to spend a lot of money to make them. My goal as a mom is to leave the boys a legacy of FUN memories at Christmas.........not a legacy of "stuff" under the tree.
I hope I have inspired you to make a "Christmas Jar" this year and fill it with FUN memories for you and your family.

Last week we started our Christmas Jar Memories. Both boys begged to pull something out so I said yes. It helped me out to plan for the week. And allowed me time to get everything ready.

Here are our first two FUN ideas from our Christmas Jar.

-Have Christmas candy for breakfast
-Make Granny Snacks

Granny snacks, cracker candy, CRACK whatever you call it...it is GOOOOOD!

What's in your Christmas jar?

3 comments:

championm2000 said...: We made our list while we were driving to VA this past weekend. We are going to do one thing per weekend (starting small this year but hope to grow it as the kids grow).

Thanks again for sharing!; December 5, 2011 at 9:06 PM
WhyCuzICan said...: This is a sweet project and I'm sure it will be super well loved.

I did something sorta (kinda) like this for my 72 y/o Mom a couple of years ago for Mother's Day.

I made a pretty box and hand wrote 100 memories on slips of paper for her, for whenever she's feeling lonely, she can pull out one and look at it.

I wrote things I remembered nice about my childhood, that she might (or might not) remember. She read several when she got it (and then replaced to reread at will), and said, "Suzi, I didn't think you remembered that picnic on the living room floor when you had your tonsils out when you couldn't go to your class picnic...you were just like 6-7 and it was such a little thing!!"

...trust me Mom, we remember things.

Thanks for sharing :D

Visiting via Feature Friday at Blissful & Domestic linky party,
~Smiles, Suzanne in NW Illinois; December 9, 2011 at 2:32 PM
Blissful & Domestic said...: What an awesome tradition Tasha! I love it!; December 11, 2011 at 12:13 AM