/to the bottom...................I guess it wasn't such a good idea after all

It sounds like a good idea to me ... but we don't have any children. :-) Take care, Penny

Patti, I think it's a great idea. I am a "keeper" too. Each year when I make Christmas ornaments I make one for each of our daughters too. I sign, date, wrap, and store them in boxes. When they are grown and on their own they will have some of the same ornaments for their tree that were on our family tree as they grew up.

I have also saved any and all types of memoribilia since they were born. Pictures they have drawn and school papers, awards, ribbons, etc. go into school memory scrapbooks I have made.

Their baby jewelry and jewelry from my hubby and I and 4 generations of grandparents adorn a tabletop tree in our dining room each Christmas.

Happy Holidays,
Jennifer

patty, it was a neat idea. i have one for my daughter and i also have one a little different. i included some appropriate jewelry and figurines for her to open on her 13th, 16th and 18th birthday. also her wedding day and the day her first child is born. i have also kept a couple of journals which i write in periodically, not only about today but advice for the future. being an "older" mom, i worry about not being here for my baby so thats how i came up with a box for the future. catalina

It is a great idea!!! I do the ornaments with child's name and year for my son and nieces. We got a dog last Saturday and now he has one too. I have so many ornaments that we have a kids tree that we let them help decorate and all of their ornaments go up there. I am still debating whether or not they will get the ornaments when they have their own place. I think I will need something to hold onto when they go their separate ways. LOL :~D

I also keep a trunk of what nots for my son, just in case I am not here when he is older. I am only 20 yrs older than he is but you never know. I have personal journals and baby books for him. But, I also have a journal that everyone is free to write in (family and friends). I ask them to put the date, write as if they are talking to him and sign it. I love to read this journal best because sometimes they see things that I don't. He is 7 now and the journal was started when he was about 1. Lots to read - makes me teary-eyed. LOL

This year he played football for the first time and I took pictures with a digital camera every game. I would make a slideshow in powerpoint and send it to all the players parents via email. They loved them. I am thinking about doing a slideshow for him as an overview of the year.

One year I did a monthly newsletter for the kids. Each would have a section that I would let them write. It would also include a calendar for their upcoming events, update on their sizes, favorite foods, movies and colors, etc. I would send it to all family members just to keep them updated. I really need to find the time to do that again.

I have so many ideas in my head just so little time. My dream is to set up an area where I can do family type memorabilia. I have been gathering pictures and stuff for years and would like to organize and make gifts for next year. Maybe that will be my new years resolution!!!!!!

Happy Holidays and Enjoy your families

I just wish I'd thought to start something like this when my kids were little, at 12 and 14 it's a bit late but I have started buying them each a special Christmas ornament for the tree and when they move out they will take them to start their own Christmas decoration collection. Sue :)

To Patti, I think this is a neat idea. To Penny, I think this would be a neat idea for all those warm fuzzies if you don't have children or for a gift for a mother or grandmother, friend etc., somewhere someone suggested memory books where people wrote down things for mothers, fathers or others, coworkers for that matter and put them in a book, the box would be similar idea. And for Sue, you can always get or make first Christmas ornaments to add to your children's boxes and others for special things over the years. I saw somewhere, here? where someone got an ornament with a book for the year they learned to read, something from vacations, scroll type things, maybe. I have some notes from my mom, an old boss and some other things, lucky penny, found on a bad day (from my angel?) tucked in my drawer that I would like a special place for. Just a thought. Janie