Teaching our Children to Live a Life of Love.
The speakers name was Amber. She writes a blog on the whole topic of showing love.

“The cycle of love that God pours into our life is not complete until it is pouring out of ours into the lives of other.” -Joyce Meyer

The things she suggested were little things in our community:
-Start a “Giving Bucket”
-Host a playdate and have everyone bring an item for a specific charity
-When your child’s penny bank fills up, take it to Coinstar to count the change…divide up into spend, save, give. Brainstorm on ideas together how they can give their money to someone in need.
-Visit a retirement home and bring them flowers
-Bake goodies for your local schools
– Pay for the person in the drive thru behind you
– Plant a pot of flowers and place them on your neighbors’ porch as a pretty surprise
– Leave a bag of candy for the mailman
-Visit a DART station, buy some extra tickets and hand them out as people walk up
– Donate gently used books
– Go on a neighborhood walk and put everyone’s newspaper on the front porch
– Visit a Fire Station and thank them for what they do
– Make a card and take a sick friend a balloon
– Clean out your house and donate

The conversations are just as important as the act you are doing. Talk about why you’re doing it, who you’re doing it for, talk about how grateful your family is for the blessings you have. Remind them that God is so proud of them and happy when they think of others and show love to others.

Pray for God to open your eyes and theirs to the people and needs around us each day. And don’t just notice them but take the responsibility to do something for them.

CHRISTMAS:
Keep the focus on Christ and underplay the whole Santa angle. Its fun to do Santa, but don’t make it your focus.

**Get a Nativity scene that your children can play with. Read the Christmas story and let your children act it out. Keep baby Jesus “hidden” until Christmas morning. Have children find him BEFORE rushing for Santa gifts.

**3 gifts from Santa…just like baby Jesus’ 3 gifts from the Wise Men.
Helps with overindulgence of gifts.

**31 Family Devotions for Christmas by Marilee Parrish
**”The Crippled Lamb by Max Lucado
**Advent Chain
**Make a Birthday cake for Jesus and throw him a party on Christmas day! Chocolate cake, to symbolize our sin, with white frosting, to show how Jesus’ grace covers our sin. Put lots and lots of candles on it to show that He is truly the light of the world! Let your kids help make the cake and talk about Him and why you are doing it as you cook.
**Holiday letter to preserve family memories. These are so fun to keep and look back on through the years.
**Photo ornaments of your kids.
**Keep all those Christmas crafts they make. Pretty soon your tree will be covered in them and its precious
**Trace and cut our your children hands each year. Label who it is, the year and age of the child. Laminate and use as ornaments. I have a tree full fo my kids’ hands and they all love to look back and see what size their little hands were from year to year!
**Keep a special memory book with your family Christmas cards to display each year. Try really hard to get at least on family picture each year. Doesn’t have to be great or with everyone smiling and looking perfect. You’ll want these to look back on to see how your family grew and changed.
**Make a recording of your childrens precious voices singing a Christmas carol or Frosty the snowman or reading scripture. Those sweet baby voices change too quickly. You’ll want to remember what they sounded like as children…and they’ll love to hear it, too, when they grow up!

THANKSGIVING:
What a great time to reflect and thank the Lord for what He has done for your family throughout the year.
**Give each member of your family a piece of corn, and pass a basket around the table. As each person drops their piece of corn in the basket, the must tell what they are thankful for. It would be neat to record these blessings in a book each year so you can look back on what everyone was thankful for at different ages.
**Get an inexpensive white tablecloth and have each person sign it in their own handwriting with the date. Do this every year, and you will have a cherished family heirloom in 20-years and grandparents have passed on and new babies or in-laws are added

EASTER:
Such a significant holiday for Christians and yet it gets lost in the world of Easter eggs and the Easter bunny. Easter egg hunts are fine, but what you must put the focus on is the death and resurrection of our Lord
**Easter eggs- have fun dying and hunting them but talk about how the egg represents the promised life – life sealed away for a time before it literally bursts forth! Like Jesus, in a tomb, are “clothes in the newness of life.”
**Lots of great Christian Children’s books out there to read to hlep children understand the significance of Easter.

BIRTHDAYS
The object here is to honor and cherish that member of the family on their special day.
**Recount the day of your child’s birth in detail. Talk about when you first found out you were pregnant. Children love to hear these stories over and over
**Make their favorite dinner or take them to their favorite restaurant.
**Special day or trip, one-on-one. Especially good when you have several children.
**Write a letter to your child each ear on their birthday. Compile them and give them out as they leave for college or get married.
**Make an audio or video tape of your child each year. Ask them questions and just let them talk. Add to the tape each year. Imagine the treasure you will have by the time they are 21!

VALENTINES DAY
**Make handmade Valentine’s cards for special loved ones. Make your favorite cake in heart-shape with pink frosting! My husband brings flowers and candy to us all and we have special handmade things waiting for him once he gets home!

FOURTH OF JULY
**Neighborhood parades or just one of your own. Let kids decorate their bikes and scooters in good old red, white and blue!

OTHER IDEAS
Lunch with Dad on birthday
Trip with Dad on 13th Birthday
Don’t over do parties
Help mom cook one specific thing every year on Thanksgiving and Christmas
Write their own name on the Birthday Cake
Puzzles every year at Christmas
White table Cloth @ Thanksgiving
Open presents on Christmas Eve
Go on Christmas Eve Walk
Pick a Christmas Book and Movie
Decide if you want the gifts from Santa to be packaged
Pictures with Santa
Pumpkin Patches
Travel with other families every year
Family Camps like Pine Cove, Sky Ranch, Frontier Ranch, or Kanakuk