By Felicia Teiken

Special to the Forum

Around this time last year, I came across an idea that I’m really excited to share. The concept was simple but uplifting: take an empty jar you no longer use, paint it a color that makes you feel happy and start filling it with little notes about one good thing that happens each day. At the end of the year, you’ll have 365 little moments to look back on. As someone who doesn’t have a lot of traditions, I loved this idea so much, I decided to start my own jar on January 1st, 2024. I’ll open it in just a couple of short weeks.

The jar I used for this project is a glass juice bottle from Trader Joe’s, which turned out to be less than ideal because of its narrow opening. Because of its odd shape, I skipped painting the bottle and instead used sticky notes in some of my favorite colors—green, blue, orange, and pink. My bottle is now so full, the lid won’t stay on. At the start of the year, I was so consistent I bet January and February will have something written for each day. As the year went on, life got busier and I would forget a day or two and then suddenly a week went by without adding anything to my bottle. A moment that made me feel happy would happen and I would remember the bottle and how I’d get to read about that memory again if I took the five minutes at the end of my day to do a simple reflection.

The beauty of this arts-and-crafts project is how it continually reminded me to slow down and appreciate the little things that happened in my day which sounds super cliche but it really did. Even though I didn’t write a note every single day, I still have at least 100 meaningful moments to reflect on when I open the jar on January 1st—and that feels like a win.

As the holidays approach faster than ever (seriously, I feel like it was just June), I think this could be a wonderful gift idea. It’s personal, thoughtful, and frugal—three things I value in any gift. Plus, it encourages gratitude and reflection, something we could all use a little more of during the hustle and bustle of life.

My family will now know what they are getting from me as part of their gift, (I’m making them save their own jars) but I hope it inspires them—and maybe even you—to take a few moments to savor the small things. If a gift like this isn’t your thing, call it a personal project or a New Year’s resolution. Just start it at some point, you won’t regret it. I hope everyone has a safe and cheerful holiday season!