A Jar full of Stories

Through out the year my boys bring me things they find outside that are interesting to them.  They remind me of how cats bring the entrails of their prey or the bodies of dead snakes and lay them on their owner's porches.  It's so endearing.  My boys bring these offerings of love because they are compelled to have their interests justified by the person who means the most to them.  That person is lucky enough to be me!  

I put all of these special little things on the ledge of my kitchen window.  I see them everyday.  Each month the sill fills with more and more fascinating objects.  I LOVE this ledge!  It makes me so happy to look at it.  These are the best gifts my boys could ever give me.  Unfortunately, my window ledge is only so big and pretty much every year in order to make more room for the treasures to come I have to clean off the sill and start with a fresh canvas.  This has always made me so sad.  I remember the year my boys found a bird nest that was like a little sack hanging off of a stick.  It had all kinds of different string woven into it from horse hair to plastic tinsel.  I didn't know what to do with it so I snapped a picture and mournfully threw it away. 

Never again!  This year I figured out the perfect way to keep these beautiful gifts.  I saved a Yankee Candle jar from Christmas thinking it was too good to just throw out.  Surely, there was something I could put in it!  Yes, yes there was.  I cleaned the wax out and then I put the contents of my window ledge in it.  I added a simple tag with the year on it and attached it with twine.  I will keep this jar and all the jars to come in my bed room on a shelf.  It is decorated kind of like a vintage nature book.  Perfect!

The result?  A story in a jar!  A true lifetime treasure that will make me cry when I am 80 years old.  Here is my results.

Can you see what I see?  A heart rock, part of a robin's egg, acorn tops, agates, a beetle, and a dove feather. 

 

What's your story in a jar?

 

Kristen