The Note I Make After Every Chag

Before you put Pesach or any Yom Tov away, take note.

A few months ago, I shared my Family Health Log here on Between Carpools— the simple note I keep on my phone tracking medical episodes, treatments, and patterns. So many women told me it brought them unexpected calm. Instead of trying to remember everything, they were able to rely on experience they had already lived through and recorded.

Recently, I realized I had quietly started keeping another kind of log.

I thought I’d share it and see what you think.

A Yom Tov log.

Every chag has its own rhythm. There’s anticipation, preparation, family energy, moments that feel especially beautiful, and moments that feel a little more complicated than expected. Then Yom Tov ends, the house slowly settles back into routine, and somehow the details begin slipping away.

So sometime after Yom Tov, I open a note on my phone. Nothing formal. Just a title:

Rosh Hashana 2024

Purim 2025

Sukkos 2025

Pesach 2026

I jot down wins and small adjustments for next time.

Menus that worked.

Quantities that felt right.

Ideas that made the day calmer.

Tiny details that somehow matter enormously a year later.

Things like:

• what time to leave for Chol Hamoed trips based on the teens’ davening schedule

• which route helped us avoid Purim traffic

• how early Sukkah decorating helped everyone feel relaxed

• which foods disappeared first

• when birkas kohanim took place in shul

• which meal flowed best at extended family homes

Nothing dramatic. Just real life.

Then I add one more small step.

I place a reminder in my calendar about a month before the next chag:

“Open Purim Note.”

When it pops up the following year, I’m no longer starting from zero. I’m meeting a version of myself who already lived through it and quietly left helpful guidance behind.

There’s something deeply comforting about realizing our homes grow wiser over time. Traditions settle. Systems soften. Each year carries a little less guessing and a little more familiarity. It feels like continuing a family story already in progress.

Over time, these notes become more than logistics. They hold memories. Little snapshots of what mattered to our families in that season of life.

The note quietly grows along with the family.

Somewhere between the menus and traffic tips, you realize you’re not only preparing better Yomim Tovim — you’re preserving the story of your home.

What’s one thing your family learned from this past Yom Tov that you’d want to remember next year?

Also available is Between Carpools’s Free Download! You’ll Be Thrilled You Filled Out These Pesach Notes.