remembering 2012

Yes, I meant to say 2012.  I need to look forward, not back.  Not because 2011 was a bad year, but quite frankly I can’t remember what happened!!!  It was a busy year I can tell you that.  I feel like I blinked and it was over.  If I took the time to read through my blog posts (although I  did not blog as much as I had hoped to in 2011), or maybe if I perused our three calendars (2012 is the year of the iCalendar!!) this might give me more clues to what happened this past year.  I could go through my pictures….that might give me a few reminders.  Or perhaps I will sit with a cup-O-joe, and a red leather journal and put the past year down on paper…..erHMM or not.  Frankly there is no time for any of that now.

So this year is going to be different!! Our family will be remembering the year as we go, by writing out memorable moments on notes and dropping them in the Memory Jar.  Now don’t go thinking I’m a genius or anything.  I got the idea here.  Then I went to Pinterest, my new favorite way of remembering stuff!  Pinterest you are my Hero…swoon.  I pinned it on my Great Ideas board and VOILA, let the mammories begin!

If you look around on Pinterest there are quite a few “memory jars”, some are awful creative. I however, did not want to stress about making my jar purdy or fancy….I just needed to get a jar and start remembering. So I ran my keester on over to World Market yesterday and grabbed the first jar I saw.  Well not really the first jar, that was a mini trash can/composter thing, it was cute but I thought maybe not appropriate for our memories. It might convey the wrong message to the fam-bah-lee. “Here darlings throw your memories in the trash, so we can dig through them next New Years Eve.”  Instead I grabbed the one above for $6.99 and then I saw a cute note pad with butterflies…I love butterflies, so I grabbed that too.  Then I took some cooking twine and tied a pen on to the memory jar, because the good Lord only knows if a pen aint tied down in this house it’s gonna get sucked into the abyss….where all socks, scissor, library books, and pens go.

Then at the dinner table last night I took a deep breath, and made my announcement:

“This year children we will be writing down our memorable moments and placing them in the Memory Jar, so that next year we may sit down around this very same table with tea and crumpets and savour the year and all it’s gloriously rich moments.”

Screeeeeeech…..actually it went more like this.

Noise lots of noise….pestering, whining, fighting over the chicken leg, more whining about who likes corn anyways…pass the rolls, I wanted spaghetti for dinner…whine, tease, a piece of roll goes flying across table from oldest to youngest…hits youngest in head, youngest abruptly pushes back chair into hound that yips and barks and skitters around the corner.  Then I say….er…ummm…”HEY KNOCK IT OFF!!!  I’ve got something to say you to Ninnies!!!”  Then I get a bit quieter, because I’m pretty sure that my idea is going to go over like a fart in church.  “Um, well, uh….I was thinking….well, see that jar over there?”  The Ninnies pause and look.  “Well, I was hoping that we could all write down our memories, important things that happened or funny things that were said, you know memorable moments, and put them in the jar…”.

At this point there is a snicker from the peanut gallery.

“(rule #1)And I don’t mean silly, meaningless stuff, I mean memories, things we really don’t want to forget, important stuff.”

And because I can read my children’s minds….

I say, “and that does not mean you can right down that you took a big dump, or you high grundied your sister!!!! or that you went to the mall.”  “AW come on Mawm! why not?  That stuff is memorable.” See I know my family……I could even tell Kenny was having some mischievous ideas about what to put in the memory jar.  “Also one more rule, NO READING the memories until December 31, 2012, and which time we will all read them together!  Understood?”

Peanut gallery….”seriously?”

So there you have it!  Now God willing one year from now I will be able to bore you silly with all that went on around here in 2012.  Memory #1, and 2 have been placed in the jar.  I pray that my family will honor my wishes and make this a new fun tradition in our home.  One I wish I would have thought of or heard of years ago.  But oh well, I can’t do the shoulda, coulda, woulda game.  It’s a new year!  And I can’t wait to remember it.

What about you?  How are you going to be remembering 2012?