a birthday present

Recently one of my children had a birthday.  We had been practicing using our gratitude jars (see previous post), with varying degrees of success but this inspired me to try something different.  Whilst the birthday child was out I asked all members of our family to write down three things they liked about him.  It could be something they liked about him now, or something he had done for them in the past.  

Now my family and sharing nice thoughts about each other is a work in progress and the above exercise was something outside the box.  Everyone did it.  When the birthday boy arrived home I was able to give him his jar and listen as he opened and read each comment.  I asked him what he thought and my big teenage boy, with a smile,  said he thought this could become a good tradition.