Our Top Keep and Deletes of 2023

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times (literally).

Every night, after we clean off the dining room table and sit down to eat, we each go around and play Keep & Delete. It’s become a tradition for our family this year and it’s one of our favorite parts of the day.

What is Keep & Delete, you ask?

It’s where you list the best part of your day (your keep) and the worst part of your day (your delete). The kids love it and are actually the ones who request to start it every night. It’s been a great exercise for them in learning that life is all about ups and downs, that every day will present challenges, but if you look close enough, you’ll be able to find the good in every day, too.

When we first started playing earlier this year, our daughter, who is 5, would always say she wants to “keep” her toys and her Nintendo Switch. She didn’t understand the point of the game, which always made us all laugh, but now that she gets it, she always elects to go first. It’s so fascinating to see them each come up with different things every night, but what really gets me is that usually our daughter starts the game off with something like, “I am thankful for my family and my keep is my family and my teacher.”

How sweet is that?

SO! Since we’re nearing the end of the year, we thought it would be fun to play a big game of Keep & Delete that encompasses the whole year. Sounds interesting, right? Just like the smaller version we play at the dinner table every night, we think this will be a great way to look back on a year filled with ups and downs, good times and hard times, and reflect on what made each one so important.

Our year was filled with many ups, which were so much fun and big highlights for our family. But on the flip side, our lows were very, very low. This year challenged my view of morality and made me realize life is fragile and it could change at any moment. I am hoping for a quieter, safer year in 2024.

Okay! Here we go. Below are our top Keeps and our top Deletes of 2023, complete with never before seen photos!