It's been a couple years since I made our advent calendar, and I still love it. In the past, along with the scripture and song that are in each little matchbox, I included a fun Christmas activity--make cards, have some hot cocoa, watch a Christmas movie, go to a Christmas pageant. There were big and small ideas (to go with our super busy, and normal busy, days.)
Well, this year, I pulled those little slips out and we decided to do something a little different for the activity part. It has felt like our family has gotten too comfortable with the idea of fun and play and those things are no longer special, or appreciated many times. We've been trying to find ways to appreciate what we have and how blessed we are and help the kids change their expectations. So this year, we are counting down to Christmas with service.
We once again have big and small activities planned, but each morning, we read what our service challenge for the day is, and then talk about how it went that evening. So far, we have given a compliment to someone, smiled and said hi to as many people as we could, and held a door open for someone. I thought we'd ease into this idea and make it things that should be easy for the kids to do while at school this week. We have some future trips planned to buy gifts for the church angel tree, make goodies to deliver to our neighbors, and do a secret service act for a family member.
I'm excited that we're incorporating service into our plans this year. We end up busy and over scheduled every year, but it feels important to me to make time each day for someone else, even if it's only for a minute. Just one more way I'm trying to take back Christmas this year.
No comments:
Post a Comment