Giving Thanks

I have a bit of a personal post today…no gardening or homesteading here, just love and appreciation.

“Love lasts when the relationship comes first.”
~Unknown

Last November, I decided that it might be nice to show a little thanks for the love of my life and all the support, kindness and beauty she brings me each day by intentionally giving thanks for her and putting together a Thanks-giving jar for Tool Lady.  The intention behind this project was to not only show my love and appreciation for her and our relationship, but to also allow us the opportunity to spend some very intentional time together on a regular basis (because, you know, relationships take work).

I started by thinking about the things she likes to do and things we enjoy doing together.  I then wrote down 52  things for us to do together over the coming year on little strips of paper, color coded to the 12 months (as you can see in the picture above, the colors repeat).  Within any given month, the directions guide her to pick out four slips of a certain colored paper.  Each months slips contain two free things we can do together or I can do for her (like make her French Toast for dinner, which she loves…these are simply folded strips of paper), one thing we can do together that costs a little money (like go to a movie together…these are rolled up and held with a rubber band) and one thing that costs a bit more than that (like treating her to a massage or taking her on a day trip to a nearby town…these are rolled strips of paper tied up with a piece of twine).  For example, in December, she pulled out four orange slips of paper…two folded, one rolled up with a rubber band and one rolled up with twine.

I used a two-quart jar and decorated it on the outside with strips of paper and twine.  I also typed up and printed out her instructions.  Then, I broke up all the slips by color and when they should be pulled, folded and rolled them all up and strategically filled the jar so the slips she should pull in the first few months were on top…taking weather into account, of course, since it’s pretty cold here in the winter for a hike 😉  I gave it to her first thing in the morning on Thanksgiving.

The deal is, when she pulls a slip of paper, she can either “redeem” it right away or save it for another time…basically whenever she’s ready…and when she’s ready, it’s my job to be fully present and to fulfill my promise of…well, whatever the slip of paper says I should do 🙂

As a bonus, I also included 12 cards…one to be opened each month…some contain letters, some contain poems or song lyrics.  It doesn’t matter which card is opened when and are simply intended as continued reminders of my appreciation for her and our lives together.

There you have it…a little peek into a little project (and a little bit of our non-gardening/chicken keeping/urban farming lives).  I do hope that you will find some time to focus your attention on someone you hold dearly today and every day, and I hope they will do the same for you.

xoxo,
M

Linking up to Seasonal Celebration Wednesday