Our New Year's Box is a battered old brown box covered with crossed out years from our past. It certainly isn't that attractive. If someone tried to help me move, they would probably be tempted to throw the New Year's Box in the trash. But if we had a fire, it would be one of the first things I would save. Let me explain.
I am not sure how the tradition of the New Year's Box got started but every year for the past 11 years, our family has selected items to put in the box that represent that past year. Tomorrow each member of our family will gather one or two small items that represent 2012. Then we will get out the items that represented 2011 and write down these items on the card that is included in the box.
It is a simple tradition that only takes us about 30 minutes but it has provided a fun time capsule for our growing family. It has helped us recorded significant milestones and it has helped us see the progress that we have made in the past.
Here are a few of my favorite entries on our card:
2011- Natalie broke her foot playing lacrosse (she put her cast in the box)
2010- Dad got braces (he put some elastics in the box)
2009- Shannon ran at Foot Locker Regionals for her cross country team (she put her race number in)
2008- Joseph grew almost a foot (he put his old high-water-pajamas in the box)
2007- Katie started kindergarten (she put her desk name plate in the box)
2006- We went to Disneyland (Melissa put a Disneyland souvenir in the box)
2005- We painted the yellow house (I put in a paint brush)
This year I am going to put in a small plastic frog into the box that represents "Puddle Wonderful Learning" because 2012 is the year that we started this blog. The blog has been a fun adventure with my sister and it made up a big part of my year. So that will be my contribution. It will be fun to see what everyone else will include. I can hardly wait!
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