The New Year Reflection Jar

I love seeing everyone’s highlight reels this time of year. Facebook and IG are full of our “Top Nine” photos. 9 little squares that capture our highs and our lows from the past 365 days. And yet there have been years when I didn’t really feel like I had a whole lot to show. There have been some years, that were so hard and so trying I couldn’t wait for the New Year- just to wake up on January 1 and feel exactly the same way, defeated and overwhelmed. Some years however, have been so great even with the ups and the downs I wish I could freeze time right where it is. I am sure you have all felt this way before, same as me.

 

At the end of 2018 I was talking to a close friend of mine and explaining that I just felt “stuck”. That my highlight reel that year lacked the luster I wish it had. We hadn’t gone on any exotic trips, we lived in a tiny un-glamerous 3 bedroom apartment in a tiny rural town I never thought we’d end up in. And again an entire year had passed away.

When your highlight reel lacks luster…

She politely listened to my ramblings and then offered a sweet suggestion. In her closet, she keeps a mason jar with tiny strips of paper. And whenever something happy, or joyful, or sweet happens she writes it down on the little slip of paper and folds it up in the jar. Every year on the New Year they read those slips of paper and laugh and cry and reminisce over those tiny moments of celebrating. Those tiny mundane, or not so mundane moments that their family experienced.

Start a Reflection Jar

And so I started doing just that. I found an old vase that wasn’t being used, and I cut up a stack of papers. And on my dresser for the past year I wrote down tiny moments worth celebrating. I wrote down little things like my 6 year old passing all 20 sight word tests, and our baby brother learning to walk. I wrote down bigger things like buying our first house, and my husband defending his thesis. I wrote down funny things, and even a few hard things that I am just so dang proud of us for doing.

Today as we read them my heart swelled. I cried a little, and we all laughed a lot. We talked about how fun many of those moments had been, and we had even forgotten some of them. And I am so grateful for that sweet friend who suggested this idea! It was the perfect way to reflect and celebrate another year passing. A year worth celebrating. A Year worth remembering. So, the next time you see a “Top Nine” post that makes you feel inferior. Get out a jar, and a few slips of paper and be your families record keeper. Be your families memory keeper. Take a moment to rejoice in those small every day moments. The moments that shape our memories.

Happy New Year Mamas!