Ideas for the Holidays

by Jesse
from Virtuous Daughters, December 2016~Volume 16, Number 9

• ​Make butter cookies, and using a nativity cookie cutter scene, cut out all the figures. Place it in a festive bag; attach some cake decorating supplies and a card with Luke 2 printed on it. This is such a great way to share the Gospel, and gives the children something to do without any baking for Mom!

• Spread Christ’s love within your community. Go caroling with your church group to nursing homes, hospitals, and if you live in a neighborhood, that’s awesome as well. What a wonderful way to share the love of Jesus to some people who have never heard of it. 
• The thing our family loves to do around Christmas time is to make cookies or other baked goods (fudge, pretty candy, quick breads, pies) and package them up all pretty. You can attach a nice card with verses and Christmas blessings. Then we deliver them to the places we often go, like bank, post office, dentist, UPS guy, water bill, doctors, etc. Also, we love to leave a small bag of goodies in our mailbox, before the mailman comes! (He loves it so much! :))
• For young girls and boys, gift baskets filled with object lessons are a wonderful idea. For example: get a boy a small tool box or another interesting container. Fill it with items such as a flash light, tape measure, a compass, small saw, padlock, etc. Next attach a verse to each item together: “Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a LIGHT unto my path.” (Psalm 119:105) for the flashlight, and “May the Lord DIRECT your heart into God’s love and perseverance.” (2 Thessalonians 3:5) for the compass. For the girl you could fill a pretty basket with scented soap, candles, notepad, a tea cup, chocolate, etc., using verses such as “TASTE and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8) for the chocolate; and “Purify me from my sins, WASH me and I will be whiter than snow” (Psalm 51:7) for the soap. You can get so creative in this area. Make one for your mother, best friend, new baby, bride/groom, etc. The possibilities are endless.
• Here’s a fun gift for a child or family: a snowman kit. Find a small galvanized bucket and fill it with all you would need to decorate a snowman. For example: a carrot for nose, smooth stones for the eyes and buttons, a bright red scarf (maybe handmade!) to tie around his neck. All the recipient needs to do is wait for some snow.
• Use fresh greens in your wrapping. Wrap a hostess gift in brown paper, tie with red raffia, and tuck in a few sprigs of evergreen on top. Beautiful, fresh, and great smelling!
• Wrap an empty shoe box and cover with wrapping paper. Cut a slit in the top. This is Jesus’ gift. Whatever family members have spare change, tithe money, or are feeling generous, they can put money into the box. On Christmas day, open the box, count the money, and as a family choose a missionary family to donate it to.
• Our family also enjoys sending out a Christmas newsletter to all of our family and friends, complete with pictures, so everyone knows what we have been up to the last year. We print off our letters and envelopes at home, and then we round up all the kids and we make an assembly line: folding, tucking in letter/pictures/Gospel tract, return address, stamps, sealing, etc.
• One of my favorite parts of Christmas is spending time with my family. My mom, two sisters, and I love to go shopping, wrap gifts together, bake Christmas goodies, have tea, go caroling with the rest of the family, and play in the snow. Truly, it is the most wonderful time of year! :)