Tell 'em You Love 'em

I recently heard about a couple who sit down every New Year's Eve and write down the top 50 things about the past year.Within days of reading about that idea I was reminded of the very sweet idea of writing letters to your children for the big events in life so that your kiddos would know you were thinking about these events long before they happened {also often done when a parent doesn't think they'll be around when these events (wedding, first child, turning 30) happen}. I loved both ideas but neither seemed just right to me. One, I'm way too forgetful to conjure of 50 ideas to cover an entire year and two, writing letters for specific events seemed awfully formal for me. I wanted something more fluid, more spontaneous, more candid.

I bought one notebook for each member of our little family for the purpose of writing notes specifically meant for that person. When something happens in the day that I think I'd like to share with CJ, Miss Mak or Sweet Hubs, I write it down. For the kids, this could be anything from "you have the most beautiful smile" to "the year you were born, President Barack Obama was elected as the first African-American president". For Sweet Hubs, I could write something like "thank you for working hard outside the home so I can work hard inside our home" or "you were the sexiest man I know!". As of now, Hubby and I are the only ones who have written in the books but when the kiddos are old enough, we'll show them how to share their thoughts too.

I highly recommend this or anything like it. It is exciting to share things that are on ours minds with the kids with the intention of them reading them one day and knowing that all along, mommy and daddy are thinking of them.