Celebrating the Season—Together

Each December we feel a spirit of renewal and hope as we prepare for the holiday season. To help keep stress down and increase our enjoyment of the holiday, we have found the following ideas helpful.

• During a November family home evening, sit down together and share expectations with each other. Discuss approximate budget guidelines and the coming month’s plans and activities.

• Spend an evening together preparing Christmas cards to send to family and friends. This spreads out the workload and allows children to learn more about loved ones. Perhaps they can also decorate envelopes.

• Compile a family Christmas book of favorite Christmas memories and inspirational stories. This can easily become a family tradition, with new remembrances and stories added yearly.

• Have each family member write out good deeds received from others on colorful paper decorations. Then decorate a tree or Nativity set with these daily good-deed decorations.

• Select a family and leave anonymous gifts or treats at their door.

• Go caroling, especially to new families in your neighborhood.

• Stuff stockings with “Santa’s report card” of nice things that person did during the past year.

• At some point, either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, make a special time to share testimonies about Jesus Christ, read from the New Testament, and sing carols.

Giving of ourselves in some of these special ways has helped to make our holidays more enjoyable and our memories richer.—Timothy B. Smith, Vermillion, South Dakota