"Embracing a Spirit of Giving"

It all began on a silent night.

I found myself unable to sleep, staring at the bedroom ceiling at 1 o’clock in the morning. The room was quiet, lit only by the soft glow of the lights strung along the Christmas tree by the side of my bed.

I played through the events of the day. The mail had arrived that afternoon with a slew of new ads. I recalled how excitedly my kids flipped through them, tearing the pages with their little hands.

“Mommy, I want this dinosaur! No wait, Mommy, I want this pirate ship!! Look Mommy! Look at these building blocks! I want these! Oh, and here’s a microphone. I want that too Mommy!”

”Mommy, I want…!”

That was the phrase I heard over and over again. Their voices rang out in a sweet timbre, but the message underneath struck a discord within me.

I wanted my kids to have Christmas wishes and dreams. However, I couldn’t help but think of the meaning of Christmas and I knew we lost balance in our home.

What could I do?

I knew I needed to gently turn their eyes in a new direction: toward those around them. Instead of focusing on what they might receive for Christmas, I hoped they would instead find joy in what they could give.

That’s when “Embracing a Spirit of Giving” instantly fell upon me.

I can’t describe that moment to you, except to say that was when my silent night became a holy night.

All of a sudden it was there…

What if we became a living Advent Calendar?

Growing up, my parents had an Advent Calendar in our home every Christmas season. In case you are unfamiliar with this concept, an Advent Calendar is a special calendar used to count down the days until Christmas.

I grabbed my pen and paper and started writing down different ways to give to others as we counted down each day to Christmas morning.

The next morning, I laid out my ideas and created a project where our family would give to a specific group of people in simple ways. Over the course of 25 days, we showed God’s love with cups of hot chocolate, homemade decorations and baked goodies. We gave to many people as we counted down to the day where we celebrated the birth of our Lord and Savior.

There are many wonderful principles and truths I learned during this journey. The most important being that this project works. I wanted to be very intentional in teaching my kids that the fruit of giving is really found with the “who,” not in the “what.” They may not have been aware of it, but the time spent making our handcrafted ornaments, cookies, cups of hot chocolate and colored cards required my kids to give something precious and priceless…themselves. Thus, making giving not about presents, but of presence.

But, this book isn’t just about our adventures. For, I believe our story can become your story too. My kids and I saw the impact our one family had on the lives of others. Imagine what a home, neighborhood, community or world would look like with many people partnering together to spread joy and kindness to others.

In this book, I share my list of the 25 different categories I used with my kids during the project. Under each category, I give you different ideas of ways to give depending on your schedule and family needs. Plus, you’ll get all the tips and helpful hints from things we learned during our experience. I still shake my head and laugh about how we tried to give cups of hot chocolate to toll booth workers. That was a fun mishap! And I will never forget the woman in the retirement home who, with tears streaming down her face, exclaimed, “I’ve never seen anything like this! What dear, dear children! Thank you so much for coming to see me!!”

The remainder of the book is then full of pages for you to record your own experience. You chose who you give to and how. I’ll provide some thoughtful questions and fun prompts, in addition to pages to place photos and mementos.

I witnessed firsthand how 25 days can instill a spirit of giving into my children.
In simple ways, we showed other people that they matter. And for me, that is what Christmas is about. Christ humbled Himself and came to this earth in a crude manger because we matter. When we give, we share the love of Christ radiating from within us.