My Favorite Christmas Tradition

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is the gift that we give to my mother-in-law and father-in-law.

Several years ago they told us that they didn’t need any more stuff. So in lieu of a Christmas gift they asked us to perform an act of service in their name and tell them all about it at Christmas.

It has become one of our favorite parts of the holiday.

One reason I love this tradition is the spirit it puts us in. We think more about giving than receiving. And our focus is more on Christ.

Over the years we have done some great service projects.

One year my sister-in-law had just attended at Time Out for Women Conference where we listened to a refugee from Sierra-Leone, Africa tell of her experience in a war-torn country. She talked about how she got a hygiene kit from the church and how it helped her. Her story inspired the Time Out for Women people to do a service project. They enlisted the help of the people attending the conference.We were asked to bring specific items (depending on the first letter of our last name), and then we put together kits to donate to a women’s shelter. When we were shopping for our items, I complained about how much it cost and unfortunately only donated a small amount. After hearing the African lady talk I was ashamed of how grumpily I donated. It also made me very grateful for what I have. I wanted to make up for my negative attitude. We decided to donate to a women’s shelter. We found out about their needs and did what we could to fulfill them. One of the things they needed was toilet paper. I sent out emails to friends and posted on Facebook and got lots of rolls. My sister-in-law had a party and people had to bring toilet paper if they came. We also put together gift bags for the women at the shelter and Great-Grandpa Jones donated some homemade cars for the kids.

The following year, we worked together again with my sister-in-law and her kids. Both of our families had been touched by cancer that year, so we decided to do our annual service project in honor of our friends and family members affected by that horrible disease.   We wanted to help comfort the patients at the Cancer Treatment Center. We crocheted and loomed beanies and made goodie bags, then delivered the items to the Cancer Center.  

One year we hosted a food drive and collected 2½ collection boxes of food. Another year we gathered supplies and created care packages for the troops serving overseas. The year after that we made and sold chicken pot pies and donated the profits to our church missionary fund.

As my kids have gotten older they have participated more in the planning and carrying out of the service projects.

For one project we joined forces with our homeschool group and did several activities for a local homeless shelter—A New Leaf. We made 100 sack lunches, hosted a fundraiser talent show, and collected socks and underwear.

My favorite project was the year we did a month of service in conjunction with the Light the World campaign. Because every day was focused on serving others the way Christ served, my heart felt happy and the true meaning of Christmas was always present. A lot of the things we did were simple like doing a sibling’s chore or helping Grandma clean her kitchen or telling someone a joke. Others were more involved like gathering food and donating to a food bank and giving clothing and shoes to a shelter. We spent one morning volunteering at a food bank and another visiting an assisted living home.

Last year we worked with my brothers and sister and parents to create hygiene bags for a refugee center. Each of us was responsible for bringing a couple of items for the bags, then we worked together to bag the items. The next week, a few of us spent some time at the warehouse volunteering. The best part of that was hearing the stories of the refugees that had been helped by Lifting Hands International.

This year’s project is still a surprise (I don’t want them to know about it yet), but it will be included in a future post. 

I love that we get to do this every year. 

Share with us your favorite ways to serve during the holidays. We are always looking of other ideas.