Over the past few weeks we've heard from Yvonne, Aimee and Hannah about how they incorporate the ministry of Compassion into their Christmas celebrations. And now it's my turn.
I have to be honest with you. I don't have a long-standing tradition that we come back to year after year. What we do each year it seems to be a little different and I'm ok with that. When my girls were very young I was very intentional about them knowing whose birthday we were celebrating and what it means to give gifts to the greatest gift of all...Jesus.
"The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me." Matthew 25:40
Every year we come back to this....one of the best ways to love Jesus is to love others. How we love each other, how we love our extended family members, how we love our literal neighbors, how we love our church family and how we love those around the world. Our Christmas celebrations include showing love in all the above ways.
We buy each other gifts. We make or buy gifts and cards for our extended family. We share our violin music with our neighbors and church family, and invite them into our home for food and fellowship. And we use the blessings God has given our family to bless children and their families around the world.
One of the biggest ways we've done that is by using Compassion's Gift Catalog. The ministry of Compassion and child sponsorship is part of our family culture. Making Christmas cards for both our sponsored children and unsponsored children is normal for my girls. Going through the catalog and choosing items we'd like to gift to others is also normal. This year, my girls each chose a gift and intend to buy it with their own money - at their own initiative.
Also normal at our house is to decorate our Christmas tree with ornaments from Compassion countries and photos of our sponsored children. We've been blessed to travel to several countries now, and have a nice little collection. I love turning souvenir keychains into ornaments.
My kids have also enjoyed reading and learning about how other cultures and countries celebrate Christmas. To read more of my Christmas posts from past years, here is a list with links:
- Birthday Party for Jesus
- Christmas Ornaments
- Christmas in Africa
- Christmas in Latin America
- Giving Gifts of Compassion
