In The Presence Of Presents

My mom likes to do this thing where, if I'm with her while she buys a present for me, she will keep that present hidden until she thinks I've forgotten all about it and then can surprise me at the next present-giving occasion.

The thing is, I don't usually forget. I'm just waiting for it to happen. But sometimes, my mother will keep it hidden past like 3 to 4 gift-giving occasions. And I'm stuck with the dilemma of wanting to remind her and not wanting to because she'll keep it tucked away for even longer.

Right now there is a DVD of Fantastic Mr. Fox (which I've never seen but it is one of my favourite Roald Dahl books so I really want to see it.) somewhere in my house and it has been there for at least a year and I'm dying.

Memory Jar

Perhaps you've seen this while scrolling through Tumblr. Or perhaps your not hipster enough for Tumblr since that is where most of them reside. Either way, that's where I saw it first and I COMPLETELY fell in love with the idea.

The premise is that you get a jar/box/holding receptacle (it really doesn't matter, mine's a Kleenex box so you really can't get any lower than that.) and put little pieces of paper with all the things you want to remember. Any little moments that made you smile, giggle or cry in a good way. Any conversations you don't want to be forgetting any time soon. Any events that really made your day.

I like putting funny quotes I heard during the day, any achievements I've managed to complete and anything that brought a smile to my face.

So as you do that, the papers build up and you've got yourself a boxful of memories to remind you why life, yours in particular, is awesome! You can reread them at the end of the month, year or whenever you're feeling down or just need a laugh. It totally helps keep your memory fresh on all those things that you never want to forget.

Heck yes grainy phone camera pictures.