Our Anniversary Tradition- A Treasure Chest

Having just recently celebrated 5 years of marriage, I thought it appropriate to share a fun anniversary tradition that we have.   Sometime around getting married, a friend of ours, who also happens to be a wedding photographer shared with me a cool idea one couple incorporated into their wedding ceremony.  They made a time capsule and each picked out things to place in the time capsule- all of which they shared during their wedding ceremony.  They will open it at 10 or 20 years of being married- not sure which.  I loved the idea, but changed it a little to be an anniversary tradition.  I found a cute little treasure chest box at JoAnn Fabrics.  Then I stained and polyurethaned it.  I presented the idea to the Laird and he was on board.

I tend towards not wanting to accumulate material possessions- and the thought of each of us spending money on a gift for each other for our anniversary seemed a little funny, considering all things & money are shared at this point.  Though not into gifts, I think spending money on a shared experience is totally worth it.  So to simplify and remove the pressure of our anniversary we took gifts out of the equation.  Instead the goal is to think of and find a small token/ treasure that represents something from that previous year of marriage.  We give those little treasures to one another on our anniversary.  The beauty of getting to remember special parts of that particular year is awesome.  So 2 treasures go into the box each year.  In addition to sharing our little token for that year, we have fun looking through the other treasures and remembering the years past.

Here's what is in our box so far:

YEAR 1- "N" key chain w/ gratitude cards (Laird)- representing the year that I became a Nestlen.  A Monopoly house- representing our purchase of another rental property.

YEAR 2- Indiana Jones Lego figure (Laird) & "Oh the Places You Will Go" tiny book cover (me)- both were for our trip to Peru & Hike to Machu Picchu.

YEAR 3- Little baby girl monkey figure (Laird) & "Little Miss Chatterbox" book (me)- both to represent lady genevieve entering our lives.

YEAR 4-  Print of a Dawn Redwood Tree (Laird)- the purchase and beginning of Redwoodshire & a bottle of various seeds that we used to plant our first garden at Redwoodshire (me).

YEAR 5-  A small Lego arrow (Laird)- representing the birth of our son.  "Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.  They will not be put to shame when they contend with their opponents in court." Psalm 127:5.  A mini "Tale of Two Berries"book (me).  (Little Lego arrow is still at the nephew's house;))







The longer we are married, the more the years tend to blend together.  It's difficult to remember when things actually happen in your life.  I absolutely love this tradition, and look forward to sharing the treasure box memories with lady genevieve and lord alastair as they are old enough to understand.