Happy New Year and Happy New Jar!

Antunes family  - December 29 2013

Happy New Year friends and followers of my blog!  I hope that you have all enjoyed a wonderful Christmas and that 2014 finds you well and in good spirits!  Life here is returning to normal after all the fun and festivities of the holiday season.  Christmas vacation, spent at home with my girls and my husband, has to be my favorite time of the year.  The snow can fall...and fall...and fall, and it's okay because we have nowhere to go and nowhere to be.  "Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!"  We enjoyed sleeping in, sharing late breakfasts together, lazying around the house, watching movies, snuggling by the fire, afternoon naps, holiday baking, spending time with family and friends, the list goes on and on.  I was even fortunate enough to celebrate my birthday at Niagara-on-the-Lake again this year (one of my favorite places on earth). Suffice to say, the holidays were lovely and magical, and I am so grateful!  

For those of you who are regular followers of my blog, you may remember my post from last February, My Happy Jar and Gratitude Journal.  I spoke of starting a Happy Jar for 2013 and filling it with things (handwritten notes, receipts, stubs, small tokens) that made me happy during the year.

 Well, here it is!  It became something like a memory jar, filled with happy recollections. I encouraged my hubby and girls to add to the jar as well.  We added many things during the course of the year.  The fun thing about the happy jar is that you can't read the notes and additions until the end of the year. Only then do you crack open the jar  together to read/share/remember all the happy things that happened that year.  Isn't it a wonderful idea?  I just love it! 

Here are some of the contents of our happy jar!  It's a great way to remember all the blessings of this past year. It has been a challenging year for our family. With the joys, came too, sadness, fears, struggles, and difficulties to overcome.  This jar of happy memories serves as a reminder that even in the midst of tough times, joy can be found always, everywhere, and in the simplest of things, if we only allow ourselves to feel it.

The happy days, the good times, and the fond memories of 2013 are what I choose to take with me into this new year.  My jar is once again empty and waiting to be filled with fabulous, happy things to come in 2014!

I encourage you to create your own happy jar so you can fill it to the brim with your own happy memories!

Thank you for stopping to visit!  I really appreciate your time here and all of your comments.  May this new year fill your homes and hearts with love and laughter!  Let's make this the best year ever!!