Fill Your Mason Jar Full of Memories

Mason Jars. Trendy. Useful. Nostalgic. My father in law uses them for canning (go figure), my husband prefers to drink from them, I love to look at them.  I love them for their many creative and decorative uses, but also for the down home nostalgia it congers up. 

My mother’s family came to California from Kansas in the 1950’s.  At 94 years young she just recently had to difficult decision to sell her home of 50 years and relocate to Alabama where her oldest daughter lives.  A collector at heart and a pack rat by nature, preparing her home for the move was a picker’s delight.  If she had a garage sale she would have made thousands, but instead she made a fortune for Goodwill.  I was lucky enough to be given a number of items that to me were priceless because they belonged to my grandmother. Every piece tells a story. 

Among the items that almost made it to the dump was a box of eight dusty old mason jars that had been on her patio for decades.  I had no idea what to do with them, but I knew I wanted them.  This annoyed my husband, the anti-pack rat, because they sat in our garage collecting just a little bit more dust.  Thanks to Pinterest I found a number of cute and clever ideas, but most required altering the jars or filling them with wax to make candles.  All good ideas, but these were special and I didn’t want to change anything about them.  In fact, I kinda liked the dust too – call me crazy. 

I put them here and I put them there, but nothing was “it”.  Then I decided to line them up along my mantle with a pretty string of white lights glowing behind them. Perfect! Absolutely perfect! The simplicity if exactly what I wanted.  Paired with a timer I also scored from her garage it could not have been better.  Each night when I see the glow of the jars as I walk down the hallway I think of my grandmother’s home and all the memories that were made there.

Ball Mason Jars Pat'd July 14, 1908

Ball Ideal 1908 - 1923

As I was taking pictures I noticed that the jars were imprinted with “Pat’d July 14, 1908”.  I did a little internet research to learn more. The patent on these jars was for the wire fastener on top.  I know based on the typeface of the Ball logo that these jars were made between 1908 – 1923. They probably belonged to my great grandparents who lived in Hanover, Kansas. My great grandfather, Max Seaberger, owned the creamery in town, a business he started when he was just 17.