I started a new tradition for myself last year. It's a very simple idea. Get a jar, I recommend a large one, and when something really nice happens, or you do something really fun, write yourself a little note about it and add it to the jar. I put the date, it's nice to know when the cool things happened. Using different colored pieces of paper make it an even nicer visual.
On new years day, empty the jar and read all the notes. This was even more fun than I thought it would be. Some of the things I remember really well, like cool things I did with my kids (and extra kids) when we went to Texas. But some of the things I didn't think about often, so I didn't necessarily remember them. This was such a fun idea.
Elecktra came over and the kids got their gifts (we do gifts on New Year's day) and she loved everything I got for her. Travis seemed to be pretty into his gifts, and he's even wearing his new pajamas, which is amazing. Travis usually doesn't like to switch out pajamas but he wore the ones I got him last year (all year, every day) and now he's wearing the new ones. I wash pajamas a lot, lol.
The other thing I did was make chicken and dumplings. Which I have never made and I haven't eaten in years. It was so good! For anyone curious, this was the recipe I used. It did have a few alterations because I didn't have everything I needed (oops) and I thought it was way too thin so I made some roux to put in it. Much improved. So far 2026 has been really excellent. My good things jar was definitely part of it. I added a little note about the day to start off my jar. I am going to try to remember to add even more of the good things that happen. Because bad days happen, but not all days are bad. And it's a really nice way to count your blessings.
