12 Days of Service and Tradition: Day 1

The two things I love most about Christmas time is giving service and enjoying traditions. Starting today, I will be posting 12 days of service and tradition ideas that are kid-friendly. Hopefully these ideas will help you enjoy this special time of year a little bit more by putting the focus on your family and on the Savior. I may even call on a few guests to share their ideas as well!

Service
Donate food to a local food bank. This past week, with our "Mommies Making a Difference" play group, Afton and I loaded up a few bags of food from our pantry and donated the items. While we were selecting food to give away, I explained to Afton that some people don't have their own food so we were going to share some of ours. Afton was so excited to do this but became disappointed that we didn't actually get to break open the food and share it with others when we dropped it off.

Tradition
Each night of December, Afton gets to unwrap a Christmas book to read. As multiple books are unwrapped, the time we spend reading increases. We turn the lights low and read to the glow of Christmas lights. I search for a few books to add to our collection each year, so when we break out the holiday totes, old and new favorites come out to be read. I also choose a few books from the library and wrap those up (watching the due dates of course!). I particularly like books that are holiday songs in book form. Some of our family favorites are:


Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town, illustrated by Steven Kellogg. I've loved his illustrations since reading, The Mysterios Tadpole, as a child.


Dream Snow by Eric Carle. This is a must have holiday book! The beautiful chimes that sound at the end of the book are magical.



A Night Without Darkness, A Nephite Christmas Story, by Timothy Robinson, illustrated by Jim Madsen. Told from a child's perspective, the story of Christ's birth to the Nephite family, is wonderful for children and parents.