The Golden Years of Family Home Evening

Now that our children have grown up and left home, my husband and I have found rich blessings in maintaining the spirit of holding family home evenings. Following are some ideas to do with or without a spouse.

• Organize a family home evening group. Take turns preparing a lesson from an Ensign article, a recent conference report, the scriptures, and Church manuals and courses of study.

• Invite a relative to join with you in researching a common pedigree line.

• Gather a bouquet of flowers from your garden and take them to a shut-in. Stay and visit for a while.

• Invite extended family members over for a pioneer evening with old-fashioned games, a taffy pull, and stories about their ancestors.

• Record on a cassette tape fond memories, fun stories, and messages for a grandchild who lives far away; then mail it.

• Write letters to missionaries.

• Check out a Church video from the meetinghouse library and invite someone to share a treat while you both enjoy watching the video.

• Invite friends, especially nonmembers, over for a potluck dinner. Ask a missionary couple to join you for the meal and to share their inspirational experiences.

• Update your personal history, or help someone else write theirs by listening to them and typing their experiences.

• Find out who may be celebrating a birthday at a nearby retirement center. Take a treat or a card and visit them.

• Organize a group of older single members to perform service projects for one another, such as helping with yard work, quilting, or home repairs.

• Buy or bake a treat and leave it on the doorstep of someone special in your ward. Include a note of appreciation for that person’s contributions to the ward or community.

• Read the lessons that will be presented in church the following Sunday.—Judith Hyde, Farmington, Utah