Just as fun as making New Year's resolutions is seeing how close you came to keeping them the year before.

The Edgerley family of Granville, Illinois--mom Mary, dad Philip and kids Emily, 12, Rachel, 10, and Philip, nine--has a simple trick for keeping track of those all-important plans. They pen them on holiday stationery on New Year's Eve, then tuck them into their Christmas stockings before they're packed away. When the stockings come out of storage the next year, the kids pluck out the lists and put them aside until New Year's Eve, when they are shared out loud and replaced with new ones. "I like doing it because it gives you something to look forward to," says Emily, whose resolutions have included things like "I'll try to eat more fruits and vegetables."