For the fourth consecutive year we filled our little thrift-store jar etched with the word “Thanks” back in 2010. Before everyone dives into the gravy (figuratively speaking), we wanted to keep our tradition of sharing a few highlights from this year’s notes of gratitude.
Spoiler alert: one of the things we’re grateful for is you. Seriously — thank you for stopping by our blog. Your comments, visits, and support mean so much.
This past year has been a whirlwind: moving into a new house, expecting a new baby, a busy book tour, working on a Habitat for Humanity showhouse, and even hearing our names mentioned on television. We still can’t fully put into words how unexpected and amazing this journey has been since that first post in 2007. I’m grateful that my tech-savvy husband suggested starting a blog “for fun,” and that we stuck with it.
Back to the “thanks jar” tradition: every November since 2010 we each write one thing we’re grateful for on a slip of paper and add it to the jar. You can see earlier years for reference. This year was especially sweet because Clara is more talkative and colorful than ever — she dictated every one of her notes and colored each card herself. Last year we were prompting her with suggestions like “are you thankful for… books?” — this year she came up with every entry on her own. There’s even a card where she drew me and my head looks delightfully like a football. Priceless.
This year we switched to a color system so it’s easy to tell who wrote which card when we look back: Clara’s are yellow, mine are orange, and John’s are red. That way, even when the handwriting starts to blur together, the colors help us remember the speaker.
Some of our favorite entries from Clara:
- Making smoothies with daddy
- Santa! (a holiday crossover)
- Legos and building really biiiig castles with mommy
- Going to the beach
- Grammy & TomTom and their toys
- Playing in my box crib (we have a giant refrigerator-sized box in the living room that she fills with animals and toys and pretends to live in)
John and I had some overlapping favorites this year — notably The Walking Dead, iPhones, and the mighty miter saw made both of our lists.
Each year we open the jar together around Thanksgiving and read all the notes, including ones we’ve saved from earlier years. They act like tiny time capsules — reminding us of TV shows we watched, trips we took, songs we loved for a moment, and silly inside jokes we might otherwise forget. I love that we have them to look back on.
My original plan for this post was simply to type “Happy Thanksgiving” under a cute chalkboard photo and let you go enjoy your meal. But apparently I got wordy — maybe it’s the hormones, or perhaps the smell of cookies baking. Either way, here we are.
We hope everyone has safe travels, wonderful food, and warm company — and maybe a cozy post-dinner nap. We’ll spend the holiday with family and also dive into some kitchen projects and a few Children’s Hospital efforts that we’re excited to share when we return (and yes, probably three pounds heavier).
More Thanksgiving Crafts & Traditions
We love celebrating Thanksgiving at home. Here are a few other traditions and projects we’ve shared:
- A free Thanksgiving printable for sending messages of gratitude to friends and family
- Our Thanksgiving gratitude chalkboard display
- Clara’s first year writing Thanks Jar messages
