I have a slightly unusual tradition that I stumbled into for my kids. Before my first child was born, my work friends threw me a little “happy pregnancy” party when I announced I was preggo. At the party, they had apple cider and donuts—because I’m from Michigan, and this is a fall tradition there that I really miss now that I’m a Tennessee girl. Anyway, the apple cider was served in this awesome glass jar that I knew would somehow be a focal point in my kiddo’s nursery.
For a while I couldn’t figure out what to do with the jar. I thought it might make a neat decorative piece on the dresser, and it did. Then, I came up with a way to make the jar be decorative and serve a purpose. I bought a pack of construction paper and some twine. Whenever my baby did something awesome, or I wanted to record an event, I wrote it down on a sheet of colored construction paper, rolled it up like a scroll, and tied it with twine. Then, I stuck the little memory scroll into the apple cider jar.
As the jar filled with colorful memories about my sweet baby, I realized that I not only created a really unique accessory for the nursery, I also began a tradition filled with fantastic memories. Someday, when I give this memory-filled jar to my child, he’ll receive the gift of all the fun and wonderful things he did growing up.
Since then, I gave birth to two more kiddos. I’ve carried on this memory jar tradition with them as well. It’s been a bit more challenging to write as many memories for my third child (simply because less time exists to concentrate on things). But it’s still a really important tradition that I want to do for all of my kids. My hope is that when they go through the scroll memories someday, they will feel extremely loved.
How do you record memories for your children?
