Family Home Evening Ideas

This issue contains articles and activities that could be used for family home evening. The following are some examples.

“Helping Children Recognize the Holy Ghost,” page 10: After reviewing this article, consider planning aural, visual, and kinesthetic activities that will help your children learn how the Holy Ghost speaks to them. You might read and role-play the Christmas story. You could learn hymns and Primary songs about the Savior’s birth and perform them for friends and neighbors. You might look at pictures of the Savior together or place a nativity in a prominent place in your home. You could plan a family service activity. Whatever you choose to do, help your children recognize when they are feeling the Spirit.

“The Promise of Christmas,” page 16: Consider displaying a nativity set or a picture of one (see page 17) and asking a family member to tell the story of the birth of Jesus as found in Luke 2. You could then turn to the article and read aloud the section called “The Meaning of Christmas.” Discuss what your family can do (such as giving anonymous gifts) to honor the Savior’s birth and to make Christmastime meaningful.

Focusing on the Savior

For family home evenings during the Christmas season, we make a special effort to focus on the Savior and bear testimony of Him. One evening we identify the symbols of Christmas and discuss how they relate to the story of Jesus’s birth. During another evening we dress as shepherds, eat a simple meal, and discuss the angel’s appearance to the shepherds in Luke 2. Another time we dress as the Wise Men and follow paper stars. On each star we write things we have done during the year that brought our family closer to Christ. For our family home evening just before Christmas, each person writes down a gift to give to the Savior during the coming year (such as service to others).

Julie DuVall Awerkamp, Utah, USA

Photo illustration by David Stoker