Spreading Christmas Cheer

It's so important for me to teach my children that Christmas isn't about how many gifts you can get or getting every toy on your wish-list.  Christmas is about giving.  We received the ultimate gift when Jesus came to this earth.  Christmas is about us sharing that news and giving to others, just like Jesus gave to us.

We visited the nursing home again and this time we had the biggest group we've had so far.  The residents were so excited to see us.  I think they've gotten used to us and have started expecting us.  I heard several people say, "Oh here's the group of kids that comes for every holiday!"  That just made my day.

Adeline, Jon, and I made these little foam nativity scenes to hand out to the residents.  Yes, it took an assembly line of all three of us to finish these things.  I had no idea they were going to be so involved.  Adeline was so proud of her work, though.  She was in charge of the yellow parts.

Adeline was a little shy, but felt more comfortable talking to the residents with Westin by her side.

Tonight we helped with our church's IMPACT site.  Every Wednesday night during the spring & summer, a group goes out to a low-income apartment complex and plays games, distributes snacks, and shares the gospel with whoever shows up.  Tonight was their Christmas party.  This is a ministry very near and dear to Jon's heart, so we wouldn't have missed it for anything.

We collected all these gifts and Bibles.  I was so excited to give them out.

Then we played games.  For this game the kids had to wrap up a friend as best they could.  Adeline thought this was hilarious.

We served pizza, sang songs, and told the Christmas story.  Then at the very end each child got to pick out a present and a Bible or Bible story book.

At first, it was pretty hard for Adeline to understand why she couldn't pick out a toy, but by the time it was over I think she was just enjoying being there and having fun with other kids.  I hope the message that giving is better than receiving is starting to at least sink in a little bit.

How do you spread Christmas cheer?