Memory Jar Christmas Gift

As my family grew it became more difficult to buy gifts for everyone. Finding the right gift at the right price took a little creativity. By the time my parents celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary, to be honest; it was hard to get them anything. You don't need a whole lot when you're married that long.

I had made special gifts in the past, but frankly, I wasn't too interested in making any more that would take up so much of my time. It wasn't that I didn't want to make anything for my family, but that my schedule was pretty full then, so I needed to come up with something easy, but unique.

No, I didn't find unique, but I did find fairly easy. Making a memory jar apparently has been around awhile, but I had not heard of it at this level. We found the idea fascinating and challenging as my husband and I pulled out the photo albums. For several days we poured over pictures in the evening and wrote down ideas of what we might like to share. Before we knew it, we had hundreds of memories and had to begin scratching away at our list.

In the end, I'm glad that I made this gift for all my family (one per each household; I made 8 jars). Over the years my sisters and mother have told me how they still use their memory jars when they need a little cheering up on a somewhat lonesome day. It really helps since we all live in different states, and now that my mom has moved to Heaven, the memory jar is even more special and valued.

The number of memories you wish to use in the memory jar will determine the size of the jar you will need. If you want to create one for the year using 365 pieces of paper, then select a jar that is about 30 ounces. For a 30 day memory jar a container such as the size of a 15oz peanut butter jar works great. You can use a glass or plastic jar for these projects.

A good selection of jars with twist top lips can be purchased at a craft/hobby shop or dollar store. The wonderful thing about purchasing a plastic jar at a dollar store is they often come decorated, saving valuable time. The option is clearly up to you and how much time you have to spend on each memory jar. However, specialty jars are also beautiful and quite often people choose to display their gift. For this reason you may want to purchase a more elaborate type of container.

It's your jar and memories. Do whatever you want in the way of making it fit your personality. You may want to put decals or holiday stickers on it, paint a great scene or leave it plain so the colors of the paper show through the container. Just be sure in whatever decision you make, that you have the memory jar finished in design and completely dry before you place any slips of paper in them. (Bye-the-bye: Don't put any candy, none at all, in your jars. All your hard work will quickly become a sticky mess.) See below for ideas on decorating your lids.

Writing down what you remember from the past may seem like a hard thing to do, but it really isn't. With a quick glance through old photo albums and a few conversations with relatives or treasured friends, you will be surprised at the amount of things you will recall. You can write on anything that made an impact on your memories. It could be happy, funny, comforting, or simply just reflection on things you did as a child or with your family. Anything that brings a sense of joy and love to the one whom will receive the gift is what you are aiming to achieve.

How will the Memory Jar will be used?

First decide on the number of days you want the gift to last. For each day you will need at least one memory slip for the individual to read. Depending on the size memory jar you want to make will determine the amount of memory notes (sentences or topics) you will need. If you are doing a small one for your co-workers or friends, you may only want to create a 30 day memory jar (which means you only need 30-40 memories of things that happened at work or with your friend(s). I like to add a few extra slips for those slow days when you need a little something to cheer you up.)

Since I wanted my gift to last all year, I wrote about 370 memory slips that took in to account each member of the family over the past 30+ years. This way they could read one each day if they wanted. Every jar was identical which made it a lot easier to complete. *Look for some of my memories on this site.

Try not to make the saying too long. Let only a few words bring back the memory to the person the way they saw it happening. In other words, let them fill in the blanks and then share your memories of the event and see who is right. I've got to share this with you...our entire family sat and went through the whole memory jar after Christmas dinner. We all remembered things a little differently through our own "lenses", but it was still funny. It's been over 10 years, and we still enjoy looking at the memory jars! Just for fun I've shared some of my own memory slips after the last step, so you'll have to wait a bit.

Photos by google images.

TYPING

I used Microsoft Word, but you can use whatever works best for you.

1. Go to settings and set the margins for .05" on all sides.

2. Use Times New Roman Font (It's easier to read.)

3. Select Fort size 12 or 14

4. Go to format and click on columns and preset for 3 equal columns.

5. It is easier to cut the slips when you have selected to have the line between the columns.

6. Begin typing in the first column and continue from there.

COPYING

Copy your pages BEFORE you begin to cut them into individual slips of paper. Copy one page for each person who will receive a memory jar.  I used a different color page for each page of memory notes I wrote. If you end up with 3 pages, use a different color paper for each page to avoid confusion.

Example: Five people will receive the gift. So I will need 5 copies of each page.
Page 1, color light blue, 5 copies
Page 2, color pink, 5 copies
Page 3, color yellow, 5 copies

Note: Only use light pastel colors. Dark colored paper makes it too difficult to read, so people won't enjoy the gift as much, and therefore it will get put on some shelf and never used.

Photos are courtsey of favored1.

You're half way finished. Line up your jars next to one another filling each with the SAME memory slip making sure you don't put more than one in each jar. Take your time...you're almost done! Remember to do one color page at a time. It takes "forever" to get them all sorted again if you mess up. I know, I had a small "Ooops" of my own.

No, well not the way we know stables. Bethlehem was a small city that was mainly rock like. Stables were made out of stone or part of a cave. Stone "stables" provided warmth in the winter and coolness in the summer because the stone kept the inside temperature rather even.

The night Jesus was born, the sheep (and animals) were not in the "stable", because it was a clear, warm night. Therefore, when the baby was born, the cave stable was not occupied by shepherds or sheep.

Photo by google images.

Since I don't really have anything else to say in this step, why not get a little snack.

I used a gold stretch cord and tied a bow around the neck of the jar. The jar was quite decorated so I wanted to keep the ribbon simple so it didn't take away from the container. However, you may want to select several ribbons and do a layered look with a fancy bow. Whatever you choose, I'm sure it will turn out great.

Choose bright or festive colors and ribbons; packaging does make a difference. Keep in mind also, that in most cases, your gift is going to be on display all year long, so make something that will hold up in all the handling.

Photos are courtsey of favored1.

To give you some examples of how I put my Memory Jar(s) together for my large family, I have listed the ones I thought anyone could invision looking back in time. Even though you may not be able to relate to many of them, some of my family memories are quite funny, and we can all picture someone in our own family doing them. I hope that these events in my life with trigger some interesting memories of your own. The main thing is to have fun remembering family and loved ones who have shared all the up's and down's, and are still there making new memories.

1.Dee working on the Cape May Ferry in NJ.
2.Christmas caroling at the Mater Dei Nursing Home.
3.Mom & Darleen marching in a protest in Washington, DC in 1968.
4.Ann's mastery at make-up on Evan when she gave him a fake black eye and lip, then watching Mom freak out because she thought it was real.
5.When our pony Black Beauty lost her first colt.
6.Watching Mom and Dad open their gifts and pretend that "It's just what they wanted."
7.JT's karate lessons.
8.Brian and the Michael Jackson's thriller phase.
9.Mom calling the police on her own family after we set off fireworks on July 4th (it was illegal where we lived).
10.Dee's flying lessons.
11.Olin's rocking chair he made in wood shop in high school.
12.Watching Dad ski with one ski.
13.Mr. Hall the town's rich man throwing $5.00 bills out of the car window to anyone who would go to the store for him. (Boy I miss those days!)
14.Piano recitals.
15.Lynn M.'s little white piano.
16.Henry wearing his "baseball spikes" while he mowed the lawn.
17.Dee getting caught throwing a snowball down the school hallway in Elementary school.
18.Doing ceramics with the family.
19.Really bad dates.
20.The non-existent store hours at LaMarae' Gift Shop.
21.Every time the school called Mom to come get the ponies from the school yard because they followed our trail.
22.Sharing foot long hot dogs on the trip to Niagara Falls.
23.Making snow angels. (When was the last time you made them?)
24.Waking up Christmas morning to the smells of Dad making breakfast.
25.The silver (metal) Christmas tree with blue balls.

Photos are courtsey of favored1.

26.Mom making Dad drink cabbage and carrot juice.
27.William forgetting the marriage license and having to go home minutes before the wedding.
28.Singing God Bless America in front of the Chinese Restaurant in Glassboro as part of the scavenger hunt rules.
29.The great block party dances at the ballpark when the town crowned Miss Elmer.
30.Sitting in the V.I.P. box at Veteran's Stadium to see the Phillies game. (....miss that place).
31.William's great bedtime stories.
32.Scott wearing the football uniform he got for Christmas for an entire week when he was 7.
33.Seeing the words "Help Me" on the bottom of William's shoes when he knelt to pray during the wedding ceremony.
34.Dee riding her bike uptown to return bottles, then falling and the glass split open her knee.
35.Transformers, Star Wars and Masters of the Universe toys.
36.Hymn sings at Mrs. Harrison's.
37.Scott at age 7 striking out the first batter he ever faced.
38.Mom getting arrested for using her own credit cards when she didn't know Dad reported his wallet being lost. (She was a real "trooper.")
39.Darleen falling asleep in church and waking up yelling, then pretending to be crying and going downstairs to cover up the embarrassment.
40.The 76'ers games.
41.Hiding Alan (age 8) in Henry's car when he and Ann left for their honeymoon. (We got in trouble for that one.)
42.Brian's competition at the NJ Vocational Championship.
43.Olin cracking his ribs in football
44.Mom playing piano. (I miss that so much.)
45.The old pocketbooks we played with that Grandma filled with paper and pens.
46.The "sit-in" against violence in the high school that resulted in suspension.
47.Dad's great-tasting blue fish.
48.How Grandpa would pinch our cheeks! (Boy that hurt!)
49.How one year there were over 20 pies for Thanksgiving and hardly any veggies.
50.Climbing out on the roof at Aunt Jean's from the attic window. (Not a good idea!)

Photos are courtsey of favored1.

Well, there you have it...a great Memory Jar! Hope you found this to be an easy and fun gift to give for any holiday. If you found this information to be helpful or just interesting, please share it with a friend. Merry Christmas and God Bless you  with a great year!

P.S. Don't forget to take the Christmas Poll.

Photo by google images.

There are times when we all need a little encouragement along the way, and that's what Squid Angels do. If you have been blessed by any of these people, please take the time to thank them.