Christmas Service

 

 Christmas 2014 is over, but I still have the memories and there are some really good ones.  Some of my favorites are from service we did as a family.  I wish we did things like this every year, and we certainly have tried things here and there.  But this year my older two finally felt old enough to really understand the spirit of service and enjoy it.  Here are few of the family service activities we did...

Our first project was mailing Christmas cards to Addie, a girl in UT who asked for Christmas cards to help make her last holiday extra special.  She is only 6 but is terminally ill and very limited in her abilities.  But she is able to open cards and she loves to!  Last I had heard she had received over 400,000 cards from all over the world.  We decided to add to her Christmas cheer.  The kids were on board right away!  I couldn't believe Sophia's reaction when I showed her pictures of the sweet little girl and what we were going to do.  She said "OK" and grabbed a card and started drawing!  LOL  Then she did another and another and another...

It felt really good.  I was proud of them.

Another tradition I'm starting is in memory of my Dad.  My Dad passed last year.  He LOVED flannel shirts and wore them every day.  Since I didn't get to buy him his customary plaid shirt this year I decided I should buy one for someone else who would enjoy one. 

 The kids helped me make the special delivery.

 Our friend was very happy to have young visitors, gave them hugs, and recruited their help for carrying everything to his door.

This is us smiling in the hallway, since we've been friends for over a year and I've never snapped a picture of us.

 He liked making funny faces and kept cracking us both up!

 We also took advantage of the chance to donate change.  My kids have been asking for a lot of unearned candy, bouncy balls, and other random, wasteful little things.  I explained when we spend our "extra" money on things like that then we don't have any extra to help others.  They were happy we didn't splurge at each store so we could drop change in here.  We did get one little treat to share at the end though too.

Another service we all did was perform at the ward Christmas party.  This is a simple act, that takes faith and touches hearts and I was so grateful we all could participate.

Ready for the show!
 

 Playing "Silent Night"

Singing "Mary's Lullaby"

Singing "The First Noel"

The Angels backstage

 The primary acting out the story of the Nativity.

 The Shepherds!

  

Best Friends!

Doing service is wonderful no matter what the reason, but our reason was always brought home with the reciting of this scripture each night before bed:
"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." Luke 2:14

We get the greatest peace when we have good will for others, when we are serving.
I truly felt that peace this holiday season.
I hope you did too.  Love, Eva