Last December my wife, Lisa, thought we should have a “joy jar.” This is a jar filled throughout the year with slips of paper, and on each slip is written something that gives the writer joy on a particular day.

Ours was a Mason jar that sat in the kitchen next to a large notepad. Our plan was derailed a bit during a mid-year home remodel when the jar was jettisoned to the garage, only to come back into the house recently. It was stuffed full before the remodel, so we might have needed two jars had it stayed inside all year. We’ll put that theory to a test in 2017!

On New Year’s Eve Lisa and I joined together to read each of the notes out loud. In what was a trying year, it turns out there were plenty of wonderful moments. This was such an interesting way to practice gratitude, and it painted a picture of what was great over the last 12 months. It was also a fantastic way of noting milestones in our daughter Aria’s life. Some of our highlights:

• Aria’s face when she saw her birthday trike!
• Aria learning how to play the kazoo!
• “Bye bye, Daddy” every morning.
• Tenth anniversary weekend at Seaside.
• Indoor skydiving together!
• Watching Aria interact with snow for the first time on Mount Hood.
• Spending time with my family. Love it!
• Aria eating her first ice cream cone with Grandma and Papa.
• Summer coastal trip with Clarke’s parents.
• Eating oranges with my little girl while sitting together in the easy chair.
• Aria’s first time through the park’s waterworks. Delight and panic!
• Watching Aria copy what Daddy’s doing. He is so sweet with her.

The theme was family! family! family! The experiences we shared together brought a lot of joy. We saved our favorite notes and put them in a time capsule for reading again someday. The new year will bring its own set of challenges and uncertainties, so we’ll make a new joy jar for 2017 as a reminder of all that’s good during the next 365 days. Happy New Year!

Psst! One more glance back at 2016. A few joyful pictures: