With Christmas approaching you may want to plan your family home evenings so that your children focus on the true meaning of Christmas. One easy way to do this is to pick someone from your family to do the Twelve Days of Christmas for. Planning for this can take an entire evening. It is important that you take the time to plan the activities carefully. This can really bring the focus to giving instead of receiving.
Growing up my family did this every year. It was a wonderful experience. We were able to reach out to other families in need of Christmas cheer. As kids we loved leaving the gift on the doorstep and running to hide after we rang the doorbell. The gifts do not need to be elaborate to make a difference to the family. When I was four years old, the gifts we gave were pictures that my sister and I had drawn and ornaments we have made. My parents told me that when we revealed ourselves on Christmas day, the pictures were hung on the walls of the home. The widow we had picked had no family nearby. The simple gifts brought Christmas cheer to her holiday.
You can have each family member be in charge of a night. This means that they can choose what type of gift to give. It can be a homemade plate of cookies, a small ornament, a Christmas card, a gift card, a drawing or a CD. It is important to only do things that your family can afford. You should plan out the gifts that night. You may want to have crafts ready to complete on that night that you can give as well.
After you have decide on the gifts and the family or ward member you have chosen, you may want to draw names in your family to complete a twelve days of service as well. This is simple to complete. You simply perform an act of service for you family each of the twelve days before Christmas. You can make little cards to put down when you have completed the service. It will help your children to focus on helping each other out as well.
You should open the lesson with a spiritual thought. You can share “Twelve Days of Christmas” from “The Friend.” If you have older children you may want to share “My Family: Christmas without Santa?” If you are teaching primarily adults you may want to share “In Search of the Christmas Spirit” by President Thomas S Monson. You can open and close the meeting by singing your favorite Christmas carols.
Related Articles:
Five Ways to Focus on the True Meaning of Christmas
Family Traditions and Christmas Eve
Family Home Evening: “Service to Others”