5 Ways to Pay it Forward at Christmas with Your Children - Ruth L. Snyder

Many of us parents struggle with how to pass our faith on to our children in meaningful ways. We understand that if our children do not personalize their faith and make it their own, they will discard biblical beliefs as they grow older. My husband and I have discussed ways of making Christmas real to our children. We continue to try different approaches.

Here are a few of our favourite ideas:

1. Have each child purchase items and pack a shoebox for Operation Christmas Child with Samaritan's Purse. We explain to our children that we are sending toys and other items to children who have no toys. This project has opened up discussions about helping less fortunate people and learning about other cultures.


2. Help out at a local shelter or soup kitchen. We have made trips to the Mustard Seed several times to cook and serve an evening meal. It is enlightening to talk with people who access services. Some people are there due to poor personal choices, but others are victims of unfortunate events.


3. Sponsor a child. Our family sponsors children through Compassion Canada and the Dalit Freedom Network. For a dollar a day, we can give hope and education to a child. Both organizations encourage correspondence between the sponsor and the child. This provides great opportunities for learning skills like letter writing and learning about other cultures. Compassion Canada also welcomes sponsors who want to travel overseas and meet the child they are sponsoring.


4. Go caroling in your neighborhood. We've discovered this is a dying tradition, but people appreciate hearing carols at their doors. We have also baked cookies as a family and then distributed them to our neighbors after we sing. (Make sure you have a list of ingredients in case people have food allergies.)


5. Write thank you notes to people who give gifts. This is almost a lost art today. Unfortunately, we have so much that often we are not thankful for what we receive. Writing thank you notes encourages us to stop and think about the person who took the time and spent money to buy us something. Hand written notes are few and far between and will mean a lot to the people you send them to. It is easier and faster to send an e-mail, but the extra time, attention, and cost you put into writing a note will demonstrate your gratitude.

This year we received an Adventures in Odyssey activity calendar from Focus on the Family. We didn't do all the activities, but we really enjoyed the ones we did. For example, before opening our gifts this year, we played the "ABC Advent game" where we came up with 25 things related to the Nativity. Our whole family (with children ranging in age from 5 to 16) participated and it was interesting to hear the different creative contributions each person came up with. For instance:

• A is for angry - King Herod was angry when he heard about Christ's birth
• E is for excited - the shepherds were excited to hear about the birth of Jesus
• V is for the shepherds who came to visit Jesus

It is encouraging to see our children not only learning, but also sharing what they are learning with others. A couple weeks ago I wrote about how my one son made me cry in church - happy tears.

What have you done with your children or grandchildren to teach them about Christ and Christmas? Please share :)

Ruth L. Snyder

Ruth L. Snyder lives in north-eastern Alberta with her husband and five young children. She enjoys writing about her journey of faith, special needs, and adoption. Her novella, Cecile's Christmas Miracle was released on December 4th and is available from Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

http://ruthlsnyder.com

Angels by Glynis M. Belec

Apparently when Miss. J was going with Mommy to Grandma's the other day she told her big brother that she saw Baby Jesus on the way! When Amanda told me that, I smiled and wondered what she meant and then I wondered about how Jesus communicates with His little ones. 

     As I think about children and their innocence I concentrate on their faith and how I can take a lesson. They believe without seeing. They pray with purpose and don't fluff up prayers. They show complete trust and they have an innate sense of mercy and grace, even though they don't know what it is.

     I consider the tremendous responsibility I have to teach my children and now my grandchildren about Jesus. Oh how I messed up at times with my own beautiful babies. How I wish I knew then what I know now. What an honour and a gift children are. I wasn't always consistent. I wasn't always right. I didn't always make the right decision. But thanks be to God, He saw fit to send us the best Gift - Jesus. And then He saw fit to forgive and make good things out of my mess-ups. I praise God every day for my beautiful children and then I thank God for giving me a second chance with my grandbabies.

My Miss J, transfixed by Mr. Mouse! Thanks, Amanda for taking such a beautiful picture and for blessing Grandma with such a beautiful granddaughter!

     I am really looking forward to Christmas. I am really looking forward to focussing on the true meaning of this special time of the year and the celebration of the anniversary of Christ's imminent arrival so many years ago. My heart is thankful. My spirit is calm and I look forward to sharing some special times with some special little people.  I may not know how children really communicate with His little ones (I just know He does,) but I am hoping that the next time Miss J visits, she will not only see Jesus on the way to Grandma's house, but she will see Jesus in Grandma. Lord make me a vessel.

May the true Spirit bring you Joy, Peace, Love & Happiness this Christmas.

Jesus glows in the dark - Nesdoly

It was the day the kids were to get their Christmas presents. Excitement electrified the air in Bill Wilson's bus as he drove around the Bronx, picking up kids for Sunday school.

At one stop, the little girl who clambered up the steps stopped beside him and handed him a ball of newspaper, covered with Scotch tape. "For you," she said.

He took it from her. "Thank you very much," he said, placing it aside and easing the bus back into traffic.

But the little girl kept standing beside him. "Open it," she said. "You have to open it."

"But we're driving," he said.

"You have to open it now."

"It's a woman thing," Bill said when he told us the story at my church on a Sunday in 2007. "I knew it wouldn't do to argue. So I pulled that big school bus as far over as I could on that narrow street, took that taped ball and started unwrapping it."

The kids from the bus crowded around as he peeled off the layers of newspaper. Finally he came to the center and a little plastic creche. It was broken and dirty. She'd obviously found it.

"Thank you," Bill said. "That's great." Cars were honking behind him and on the street a couple of traffic cops approached. He made the motion of putting the gift down, but the little girl wasn't done.

"We have to cover it," she said. She took the manger ornament from Bill, cupped it in both hands and reached it up to him. "You cover it."

Bill did.

"Now look at it," the girl said.

Bill peeked under his hand and saw that from the baby Jesus figure came a greenish glow.

Beaming, the little girl said, "See - Jesus glows in the dark!"

**********

I first posted this story on my blog in November 2007 after hearing Bill Wilson speak in our church. As the founder of Metro Ministries, Bill Wilson, has brought that Jesus-glow to the ghettoes of New York for almost 30 years.

He, himself was abandoned when he was 12. "You stay here," his mother said to him one day as she and Bill came to a street corner. "I'll come back for you."

Bill waited and waited, but she never returned.

Three days later, a man passing by in a truck noticed him. He and his wife gave Bill water and something to eat, then paid the $17.50 it took (in 1961) to send him to camp. Five hours later, Bill was at an Assemblies of God youth camp where his life was turned around.

This Christmas, let's remember that Jesus continues to glow in the dark. And most of the time it's through ordinary people like the man who rescued 12-year-old Bill, that same Bill who now drives urchin-loaded schoolhouses through the streets of New York, and through you and me — people who are willing to stop and listen to a lonely person who needs to talk, to drop a bill instead of change into the Salvation Army kettle, to stifle a sharp tongued response and instead smile at the lady who barges ahead of us in the checkout lineup, and to react with grace to the chatter and seat-kicking of the toddler who sits just behind us at the Christmas concert.

Bill Wilson quotes:

"If you want something you've never had before, you've got to do something you've never done before."


"Whatever makes you mad -- that's what God will use you to change."


"If you see a need and can fulfill that need, that's the call."

© 2010 by Violet Nesdoly

**************************

Website: www.violetnesdoly.com

• Personal blog promptings   
• Writerly blog Line upon line
• Daily devotions for children Bible Drive-Thru
• Daily devotions for adults: Other Food: daily devo
• A poem portfolio

God's Gift of Love

Christmas is the most wonderful time of year. Spending time with family, exchanging gifts, watching grandchildren perform in concerts and eating an abundance of goodies are great.

But Christmas is more than this. It is a time set aside to celebrate the birth of our Saviour and Lord, Jesus Christ; a time to remember his lowly birth; a King, born in a manger.

How often I get caught up in the busyness of preparations and forget why I am celebrating this Special Day.

It’s not about fruit cake, Christmas pudding or turkey. It’s not about Christmas lights, the prettiest tree or candy canes. I don’t have to have my house “spic and span” to enjoy this season.

It is about Love. His love for us; love so great he left His home in Glory to come to earth to redeem us and to give us a glimpse of His Father’s love.

This same Love can flow through His children. This same Love can feed the hungry, clothe the naked, wipe away a tear, visit a shut-in and give an encouraging word or cheerful smile.

This same love can hold the door open for someone, be patient while standing in line or babysit for a tired mom.

I hope this Christmas and everyday I will be an example of God’s Love.

More Christmas - Nesdoly

this is a poem 2

this is a poem about the last page
a poem about feeling panicked
a poem about lists
this is a poem about shopping and tired feet
about choosing the right card
then signing your name 47 times
a poem about wrapping paper, tape and ribbon
this is a poem about putting up lights and garland
bells and wreaths, while playing old records
a poem about finding mom’s recipe
and buying butter – for baking!
this is a poem about feasting
this is a poem about getting around
to reading the familiar story and wondering
how did something
that started out so simple
get to be so complicated?
this is a poem about Christmas

this is a poem about hearing the songs
of baby Jesus, at the mall
and having the urge to go
and sing them to all your neighbors
this is a poem about the magic
of blinking lights, toy trains
and sipping a cup of warm cocoa
while you visit the Holy Family
come to your cul-de-sac
this is a poem of when home
is the only place to be
even if the tree is small, the gifts few
and your house is crowded as a Bethlehem street
this is a poem about candlelight and sweet carols
in a place where simple gowns and sequin crowns
transform even urchins and scamps
into shepherds, angels and wise men
this is a poem about Christmas

© Copyright 2008 by Violet Nesdoly

Check out my website, my writerly blog Line upon line, or visit my personal blog promptings for a daily Advent Calendar surprise (till December 24th).

Links of history - Violet Nesdoly

I am the writer of our family’s annual Christmas letter. I have, in my "Christmas" file, a copy of each one I’ve written! One of these years (maybe this one) I’ll make a photocopy of each and compile scrapbooks for my now-adult kids. But before I indulge in that luxury, I’ve set myself the task of writing this year’s letter.

For me the hardest part of composing this yearly newsletter is getting started. To help me with that I usually reread past versions to see how I’ve done it before. And so on Friday, I hauled out the Christmas file and flipped through this family history-in-letters.

The first thing that hit me was how technology has changed things. The earliest letters were handwritten on lined notepaper. A couple of years after that I designed letters that folded into cards with calligraphy or pen-and-ink drawings on the front. I painstakingly printed the artwork and the letter itself on parchment paper those years to keep the ink from fuzzing, as it did if I used bond. Then I photocopied them.

In 1990 I must have hauled out my old manual Olympus to do the Christmas letter - because it definitely has the typewriter look (white-out and all). Then in 1991 I used a borrowed word processor. Finally in 1992 I got a computer which I’ve used till the present, printing the letters on a variety of Christmas stationary.

In addition to mirroring advances in technology, a bit of the history of the times comes through these letters too. For example the 1990 letter begins:

In only a few more weeks 1990 will be history. It has truly been an amazing year in our world, with the unexpected toppling of much of the Eastern Bloc, the sudden flare-up in the Middle East and looming uncertainties throughout our country as befuddled politicians tackle one brush fire after another...

(My goodness, that last bit could be a description of Canadian politics any year!)

In 1997 a mail strike was pending and that year’s letter started out:

To write or not to write that is the question,
Whether the mail will move we do not know
But when it comes to friends, e’en the suggestion
That we’d forget them’s answered with a ‘No!'

And a year later, as email became the favorite mode of communication for me, I jingled:

Email would be faster
a visit even better,
but as tradition would dictate,
from us a Christmas letter....

The most favorite part of rereading these letters, though, is reliving times with the kids. Here are a few favorite bits.

From the 1990 letter when B. had just turned five:

...This is a conversation we overheard between him and a little boy in the next seat on the ferry this summer. They were watching some object in the sky.

Little Boy: ...maybe it will go as high as Santa Claus.

B.: Santa Claus is a sham

Little Boy: (silence)

B: Do you know what a "sham" is? It’s a fake.

We nervously glanced at the little boy’s parents and were
relieved when the two boys started talking about something else.

(Though Santa was never part of our Christmas tradition, we did not coach our kids to dash other kids' illusions about Father Christmas - honestly.)

And from that same letter:

S’s comeback to B’s endless knock-knock jokes:

B.: Knock-knock

S.: This is a recording. There is nobody home.

Finally, from the 1993 letter, when S. was 10 and not the keenest pianist:

...I brought some dispute between the children re: piano practice times to Ernie, our resident mediator and after he suggested a solution to the problem, he declared, "I’m as good as Solomon," at which point I heard S. mutter, "Yeah, cut the piano in half!"

Alas, reading all these old letters brings me no closer to starting this year’s. But I’ll think of a way to begin it in due course. Because I wouldn’t want to break this letter chain– which already spans 20 years!

*****************


I first posted this on my blog in late November 2005. That year I did get around to putting together a collection of letters for the kids. I made color copies of each, slipped them into plastic protective sheets, printed a photo collage cover, put the works into D-ring binders and called the project "Our Story in Letters."


So take up that pen or head over to that keyboard to write your annual Christmas letter. After all, you're writing much more than a letter - you're writing history.

The Christmas Story by Elsie Montgomery

The children gathered just in front of the first pew as the pastor knelt to speak to them. It was Christmas Eve, time to hear the old, old story once again.

You’d think they would come willingly, eagerly. This is the “magic” of Christmas—the Babe in a manger, a guiding star, gifts from the wise men of the east—fascinating stuff. But some cried, “I don’t want to” and cling to mommy’s skirt.

The older ones shrink back and mutter, “This is embarrassing.”

A three-year-old runs from the back exit, stays for a minute, then dashes out again, exclaiming to his dad on the way by, “I don’t like it, it’s too hard.”

One little girl leads a similar-sized buddy in a game. They seemed to be trying to determine who can crawl the fastest on knees and elbows away from the storyteller.

Another late arrival holds his bottle of milk, not only firm in hand but firm in his mouth.

Eventually they settle. Some put their hands in the air in response to questions. When the microphone comes to their mouth, they shrug, forgetting what they intended to say. In response to, “What would it feel like to be a wise man?” one says, “I’d be scared, because I don’t know if Jesus would like me or not.”

A few speak loud and clear, proclaiming, “This is Jesus’ birthday,” proud of their insight. Several are eager to report whether or not mom and dad have “been good.” A few smile shyly at the attention from the congregation, but no one lingers when dismissed to their seats.

Jesus said, “Suffer the little children to come unto me.” It seems they were once eager to come, but what happened over these 2000 plus years?

*****

The pessimist in me imagines Jesus in the pastor’s shoes. The children become adults and as Jesus speaks, “Come, follow me,” I imagine their responses.

That first child grows up and still clings to his mother’s skirts saying, “Sorry Jesus, I need time to go say goodbye to my mother and father.”

Those who dragged their heels will continue to hold back, and someday hear Jesus say, “He who is ashamed of me and my words, so shall my Father in heaven be ashamed.”

As for the little fellow who thought the story “too hard,” he will be like the rich young ruler who turned away sorrowing because he couldn’t give his all to follow Jesus. Because he had no intention of “counting the cost,” Jesus will tell him, “Anyone who is not willing to forsake all and follow me is not fit to be my disciple.”

These little game players will likewise become fun-loving but religiously reluctant adults. For them, Christianity will be a joking matter, the church a place only for bingo games and box socials. In His day, Jesus used a whip to clear such game-players from His Father’s house of worship. I understand His annoyance.

Then my eyes land on that little one with the bottle. I see him grown up and still carrying a bottle wherever he goes, its shape and contents changed but that bottle remaining his resource of choice. Jesus bids him come and be set free, but I don’t think he will.


The Holy Spirit pokes me. “Suffer the little children . . .” and I agree with Him that I am both negative and pessimistic. “Faith sees them with different eyes,” He tells me. I drop my pessimism and quickly experience the touch of God revising my ‘quick to judge’ attitudes.

Now these children appear different from what I first noticed. The one who loves his mother goes home as an adult to “tell her what great things the Lord has done” because he wants the most important influence in his life to be with Jesus for eternity.

Those who are embarrassed now with being up front are not a problem for God. In my eyes of faith I see them transformed into tireless, behind-the-scenes workers who are willing to stay in the background, not because they are shy but because they humbly recognize that even the most hidden deed done in His name will not go unrewarded.

As for the one who finds the story “too hard” I see God touch those ears and change that child into a counselor, or maybe just the best listening friend that someone ever had, or perhaps He capitalizes on his ‘no time for idle conversation’ attitude and turns him into a great student of the Word, intent on letting it richly dwell in his heart.

Even the game-players seem different. They have grown into men and women with great joy and a gift to cheer and comfort shut-ins. Their playful moods are quick to think of ways that lighten the darkest corners and heaviest loads.

As I watch the children with new eyes, I see that this one with the milk bottle growing faster than them all. The Holy Spirit transfers his dependence on his bottle to a deep dependency on the Lord Jesus Christ and this helpless babe has become a spiritual giant. God uses the milk of His Word and the power of His Spirit to bring him to full maturity.

*****

Someone behind me whispers, “This is the church of tomorrow,” and I smile. Yes it is, and it is up to the church of today to see beyond their childishness to their childlike potential in Christ. It is up to us, up to me, to make sure I say “Yes” when Jesus invites the little children to come!

© Elsie Montgomery, 2007