My Christmas Jar

I am still working on my post about our December but I figured that, at the rate I'm going, if I wait on it to be through, I may not post again until next December. So, I'll keep working on that but in the meantime-I'm moving on!

One of the best parts of December, 2008 was the fact that our family was able to work more on remembering the real meaning of the season. So next year, I plan to do even more to make Christmas special for others and to have my family share in this. Last summer, I read the book Christmas Jars by Jason Wright. I thought it was a really inspiring story that can remind us to focus on helping others throughout the year. Well, as inspiring as it might have been, my own Christmas jar didn't add up to much by December since I wasn't very faithful about adding to it, so I ended up just mixing the change in with the other jar on my counter. This is a jar we use for ice cream money, change for the coke machine, etc.-in other words, nothing that helps anybody but us.

This year I have vowed to stick with it and do a better job. You'll notice below my beautiful Christmas Jar (in it's previous life it held applesauce-you know how fancy we are around here!) but I figured that it's not the appearance of the jar that matters but what goes into it. I'm hoping to fill this jar up pretty quickly, cash in the change, put the bills on the bottom, and fill it up all over again. Even though it's not a big jar I want it to add up to a nice surprise for someone needy in December.

If you haven't read the book you can order it online or check it out at the library. It's a sweet story and a nice way to celebrate Christmas throughout the year. If you have read the book then it's time to start your jar. Hopefully you can share your jar and the story of what you do with it this December and we can inspire others to make a difference one penny at a time!