Simple White Envelopes: A Tradition of Giving More

The White Stocking

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Some families hang a white stocking that stands out from the other Christmas stockings. It is hung early in December and is a special reminder to do kind acts of service for the Savior. When an act is performed, it is recorded on a slip of paper and placed in the stocking. These can be read out loud on Christmas morning.

Change in your Pocket

One smart mom thought of a way to help her young children feel the spirit of service in the midst of the season. She enlisted their help doing small jobs around the house, paying them for the jobs completed with the understanding that the money they earned was to be used for a special purpose.

 When she ran errands with her children, they were to place their earned change in their pockets. Then when they came upon a bell ringer for the Salvation Army they got to place the change they had earned in the metal bucket.

 What fun! What a great tradition to carry out through the whole season!

 Maybe we should all keep some change in our pocket!

Door-bell Ditch at Christmas

One of our favorite traditions through the years has been sharing a nativity with another family. Early in the season (now is a good time to look) I purchase a nativity set and wrap each piece individually and tie with a pretty ribbon. Then, beginning either at the first of December or 12 days before Christmas, we leave a piece of the nativity at the doorstep of someone who is new in the neighborhood or someone who may need a little lift. Each night we deliver, ring the doorbell and run! The last piece that is delivered is the baby Jesus. Ruddy cheeked conspirators head home to mugs of hot cocoa and laughter over nearly being caught!

The Gift of Service

We were so impressed with the young man in this video and his example of being a true disciple of Christ. He found a way of giving meaningful service.





Serving is a great way to center our Christmas on the Savior. Coming up with ideas can be a challenge. Have you had an experience you would be willing to share? Any ideas you have seen or been the recipient of? Please share by leaving a comment. Thanks!

Traditions

It is never too late to introduce new traditions into your family. Through the years we have tried many things to bring us closer to Christ and the true meaning of Christmas. Some of the traditions have "stuck" and we love doing them year after year. Some things we have tried and have not done a second time. But, there is fun just in trying new things. I figure even the things that flop, create memories for our family.

A site called Tip Junkie is talking about different ways to keep Christ the focus of your Christmas and I really appreciate all of the ideas being shared. (New ideas to try!)

As I think about the short number of days until Christmas I feel the need to keep my own thoughts focused more on the Savior. I want to slow down and truly feel and see the beauty of this time of year. I want to be part of bringing a little more peace into this world and teach my children to focus more on others.

One specific idea someone shared was to pay for the fast food order of the car behind you, or the car behind you if you were driving through a Christmas light display.

Do any of you have an idea of anonymous service, little things that can be done day to day to bring a little more kindness into the world?

We would love to hear your ideas!

I think doing kind deeds for others on a daily basis may be the best tradition of all!

Christmas Service

Segullah is an LDS literary magazine. They have an online blog and one of the articles for this month is Christmas service: Bitter? Sweet? Or Some of Both? The author talks of personal bitterness from being the recipient of service and then discusses how her view has changed through the years to one of gratitude. There uses some good quotes from general authorities about the motives of service.

Another article in the Segullah archive is I Believe in Santa. But I Didn't Used To about a young mother who decided it was a good thing for her small children to believe in Santa. She sees it as a first step of faith that could be transferred into faith in our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

Gift Giving

Part of a family home evening can be spent deciding what gift each member of your family is going to give to Jesus. Each person writes on a paper their gift--something that they will do to help others, or an attribute they need to work on, etc. Then the paper is rolled into a scroll and tied with ribbon. This can either be placed on the tree or in an empty creche or basket, and may be shared on Christmas.

I have read of families that have decided on a service that takes the effort of every family member to carry out and that is their gift to the Savior. I have known of empty nesters where the husband and wife choose a charity to do a sevice for or contribute to and write their intention in a card that is then placed on the tree and opened on Christmas morning, each spouse receiving from the other the surprise of charitable giving.

The Christams Jars is a beautiful story about saving spare change throughout the year in a jar and using that money to very carefully choose a specific way to help fill the needs of someone. The amount does not have to be large to touch someone's life.

To simplify and turn away from materialism some families give each child 3 gifts (like the wise men). If a gift is for the entire family, such as a game or a larger gift it is said to be brought on the back of a camel traveling with the wise men.

I also assign each child in our family a reindeer name to write on the gift tags so they cannot 'tally' up number of gifts under the tree or guess what their gifts are and become overly focused on what they are 'getting'. These reindeer names are recorded in the notebook.

Family Service

Do a small kindness for Jesus. Do a service for someone in your family such as secretly making a bed for someone and leave a small figure of the Christ child at the site of your service. That person then has to do a kind thing in secret for someone else in the family. We try to keep a couple of these baby Jesus figures (you can sometimes find these at the Dollar store and Walmart) circulating throughout the Christmas season. It helps if a parent or an enthusiastic child is in charge of reminding people to keep this going. It is wonderful to have a spirit of service in the home!

Hang Christmas stockings early in the season and encourage family members to place notes of appreciation, love and noticing the good deeds of another and read them on Christmas.

Place a basket of straw near your nativity and encourage family members to take a piece of straw and place it into the manger each time they do a kind deed for someone else. This idea was used for an Family Home Evening idea posted on Sugardoodle