On the evening of our "late" Christmas, after the gift giving we once again celebrated our new tradition of giving to all the kids my money in the money jug from the year. It's a large water bottle that throughout the year I put all of my change into. I have started a habit a few years ago of always using a bill to pay for anything. So at the end of every day I have a pocket full of change. Sometimes a few dollars. And now it takes me about a year to almost fill it up. Now and then I might even throw in a dollars, or five, or ten or twenty. Sometimes I even put in rolls of coins that have come out of my vending machines here at the hotel. The jug was so full this year, that it took Kenneth and me both to carry it from the car. This years total was about $2,250.00. We all sat on the floor with Jami having the honor of carving the money . . . which means sticking a knife up in the jar to loosen the coins to fall out. And then after we got it all out on a blanket, we sat and had the task of dividing it into pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, and even a few dollar coins. The fact that it was over 90% quarters brought a lot of smiles. And then after we had all the coins out, Kenneth was given the task of using chop sticks to get the bills out of the jug.
Two hours later the money was all out and separated and counted and divided up among the kids. Each had brought pillow cases to carry away the "loot". And just as it was last year . . .we all smiled and talked about the vacations that each would use their gift for.
Tomorrow the jug will be back in Tulsa and the process will begin again.
Click here for a short video of the celebration.
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