Thankfulness in a Jar

Let's be honest- I LOVE mason jars, especially the uncommon shapes and the blue ones. I really fell in love with the dark teal jars that are even more rare and more expensive when I do find them in antique stores. But guess what I found at the Goodwill yesterday!

I literally gasped out loud when I saw it and snatched it (carefully) from the top shelf to find...a $2.99 price tag!!!! Thank you to whomever put that in their donate pile!!! I'm not exactly sure what I am going to do with it yet , maybe just display it or fill it with Christmas candy- I do have 3 of the same model but in clear so they'd look cute next to each other. Any Ideas?

So now that I've shared my excitement- thanks for listening :),  I want to tell you about another jar, one with much more meaning.

This jar was displayed on my lemonade table at my wedding to collect "tips," honeymoon money and marital advice. It was so sweet opening it up and reading well wishes and having a bit of coffee money in our pockets.

This is my lovely Aunt, Uncle and cousins who kept the lemonade full and my uncle built that GORGEOUS stand! (you can sort of see the jar sitting in the center of the table, it's an extra large mason with a tin cap.)

This jar was far to special and sentimental to just get thrown in a closet, it needed a purpose, a meaningful life. My husband came up with the idea to use it as a thankful jar, sort of like the thankful box our Premarital counselors/friends had. I knew I married a good guy!

Here's how it works, throughout the year we write down things we are thankful for on slips of paper and put them in the jar and we don't tell each other what we wrote down. On Thanksgiving, usually in the car while we drive to see family, we open the jar and read them aloud and record our blessings in our scrapbook (which is more like a journal we write big things in-like Thanksgiving, new jobs, big events in life). It's really neat to see what the other was thankful for over the year and which things we both wrote down. Last year was our first year doing this so this year I think I'm going to add to the tradition reading last years thankful notes as well. This is such a fun way to remember God's goodness throughout the entire year and remember what He has done in the last year on Thanksgiving.