Tag: christmas

My kids saw their gifts–now what?

Post author By Jordan
Post date 2:22 pm
1 Comment on My kids saw their gifts–now what?

I love surprises, and to me, surprises are part of the joy of giving gifts. In the interest of keeping everything a surprise for Christmas, Saturday I pulled out all my kids’ gifts from me and wrapped almost all of them. I decided to save four odd-shaped ones until later, when I’d have more boxes to wrap in.

(Don’t feel too bad, I’m not that on top of things: it’s December, and also, I just bought the stuff the day before.)

And then, like an idiot, I left ALL the presents in the middle of the family room. The kids got up before me the next day and found the gifts. Oy.

I asked my mom what to do and she recommended I tell them how we were planning on donating some toys to charity (and, of course, actually doing so—just not with those particular toys).

I like this idea a lot because it kills two birds—or some less violent clichÃ©. I want Christmas to be about giving (you know, after being about Jesus), especially giving to those in need, and I want to involve my kids in that. And of course, I want them to still be surprised on Christmas day. (That might be three birds.)

Since the kids are getting new toys for Christmas, I really want them to pick at least a few toys of theirs that they don’t really play with anymore that we can donate to other kids. (This also helps to make room for our incoming toys.) It’s a little hard to find places that want used toys, but I’m thinking a local women’s shelter and possibly the food bank (they take used toys for only their waiting room, but still).

A few useful links:
Kids’ Health article on getting your kids to donate their toys
And a fun lesson to help emphasize Jesus at Christmastime when Santa offer stiff competition: Santa as a type of Christ (seriously!)

Tags charity, christmas, gifts

Kids/Parenting

Merry Christmas!

Post author By Jordan
Post date 9:32 am
2 Comments on Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Tags Pictures, christmas, holidays

Contests

Christmas Music GIVEAWAY

I love listening to Christmas music during the holidays. The other day, I realized that I’d learned a lot of (secular) Christmas songs in school, and that my children probably won’t. I think my kids enjoy Christmas music (any music, really) more if they hear kids singing it. They’re more likely to learn and sing along, I think.

So today, we have up to three Christmas music CDs to give away! Win a copy of Kidz Bop Christmas Party!

The CD includes, among other Christmas favorites:

It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year
Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree
Silver Bells
White Christmas
Winter Wonderland
And, according to the press release, “fun ‘Sounds of Christmas!’ music which provides ideal background for baking cookies, decorating the tree, wrapping presents or simply staying warm inside!” And I’m down with all that.

I’ll be receiving a review copy as well, and I’ll let you know what we think!

To win, all you have to do is comment on this post any time through Sunday, December 12. Winners will be chosen at random. Really want to win? Tweet about the contest or mention it on Facebook, and leave me a link in the comments so I can see it for another entry!

Tags giveaway, christmas music, cd, kidz bop, christmas

Kids/Parenting

Finding service opportunities for young children

Post author By Jordan
Post date 5:23 pm
1 Comment on Finding service opportunities for young children

This year, I wanted to get my kids involved in the spirit of Christmas, and not just by having them pick out gifts for cousins or telling the Christmas story every. Single. Night. So I looked for service opportunities in our area, things that the kids could do and maybe even see the people they were helping as they performed their service. (At 3 and 1, they’re still a little young for that, but I wanted to do what they could).

One place that I found great opportunities in our community was the local United Way website. in the volunteering section, you could even search for opportunities by age group—as young as 5. (Five is like three, right?)

I found one that I particularly liked—preparing stockings for underprivileged and homeless families in our area. We bought the stuff and Hayden helped me stuff the stockings. I made sure to take him with me when we dropped them off. We also took some other things they needed for homeless families being placed into housing.

Now, you know I’m not normally one to pass these along, but a few days ago, I got a press release in my email. They pretty much had me the subject line: “Five ways for parents to teach children the true spirit of the holidays.” Here are their suggestions:

1. As a family, select a charitable organization you’d like to support. Use online tools like Charity Navigator to find an organization that you trust. Give your children a budget and encourage them to decide how your family will donate to that organization this holiday.

2. Cherish the stories of your family. Have your children talk to their grandparents and write down the stories of their past. Create a book to share with the entire family or record it online through Story Corps.

3. Consider do-it-yourself gifts, like no-sew fleece blankets, that you can make with your children. Donate those blankets to a local homeless shelter. Find other homemade gift ideas at About.com’s Family Crafts page.

4. Work with your children to create a coupon book for your neighbors that might need an extra hand this year. Coupons could include shoveling their sidewalk, watching their children, or providing a meal.

5. Bake cookies or sweets with your children and deliver them to your local nursing home or school-in-need. Get started with this list of holiday recipes.

(It feels like cheating if I don’t mention the company the press release was supposed to be touting: World Vision’s Gift Catalog, which lets you make a gift purchase—in the name of a friend/family member/whoever—ranging from clothing, shelter and food to education for families in the US and abroad.)

Finally, if you’re looking to make an impact, one non-profit I can recommend is SainTerre. I know it’s not glamorous to discuss, basic sanitation (yeah, potties) is something 2.6 million people live without—not even pit latrines. SainTerre is working to provide the people of West Africa with environmentally-friendly composting toilets, through its non-profit (okay, the business structure is a lot more complicated than that, but you can just stick to that side of it). My cousin was one of the founders, and you can contact him, Ammon Franklin, for information on how to donate.

How have you gotten you children into the spirit of giving this Christmas season?

Photo credits: toddler hands—McBeth; giving rice—Kris

Tags christmas, giving pack, service, service with kids, service with toddlers

Kids/Parenting

Christmas jammies

I can’t remember how long we’ve had this tradition, but every year, my mom would let us open one gift on Christmas Eve—and it was always pajamas (and virtually always flannel pajamas).

This year, Hayden and Rebecca got pajamas that match all their cousins’ (thanks Aunt Toria!). You can see Hayden’s beloved monkey pajamas with his bike on Christmas morning.

Keeping with the animal theme, my mom got us reindeer pajamas!

Here’s our happy family in front of my in-laws’ Christmas tree: