If you are someone who put their Christmas tree up before Thanksgiving - more power to you. If you are a bit of a Grinch whose heart hasn’t yet grown - this is for you.

Have you seen the good things jar? The concept for the jar is that every time something great happens to you during the year you write it down on a piece of paper and put it in a jar. At the end of the year you look through all the little notes and reflect and give thanks for all of those wonderful things that happened. Maybe this is something you can do in 2015 to break free from your dampened spirit.

I have not yet created a years worth of good things held in a jar, but I completed my own version of it by looking back at my appointment calendar for the past year. By looking at my calendar I realized how much actually happened this year, and the cool thing about calendars is that you don’t tend to keep track of anything bad!
My calendar was filled with all the fun things my family and I did together and it also included the great things I did in the community.

Take a quick look back at your 2014 calendar, and as you begin to hear the resolution buzz for 2015 make a conscience effort to put Fun and Gratitude on your to-do list. Please don’t forget that there is a story behind your Grinchy friends fake smile this holiday season, you can give a gift that doesn’t cost a thing: a hug, a note, a smile or a happy word!   

“My great hope is to laugh as much as I cry; to get my work done and try to love somebody and have the courage to accept the love in return.”    -  Maya Angelou