“When you have a holiday, make it a pleasant and happy day for your children, and make it also a pleasant day for the poor and the afflicted. Do not let the day pass without bringing thanksgiving and thank offerings for Jesus.” (AH 476)

In my family’s search to make the holidays more Christ-centered, we came across this quote and it has changed how we celebrate Christmas and Thanksgiving specifically. We try to be very intentional about making the day pleasant for others and about giving our “thank offerings” to Jesus by way of Matthew 25:40. We enjoy the holidays more now than ever!! Here are a few of the things that we have down to celebrate these days. 

Our very favorite Christmas tradition started about nine years ago and it has evolved over time, but the idea is the same.  We get all sorts of holiday treats ready on Christmas Eve.  Not treats for ourselves, but treats that we can deliver.  We’ve made muffins.  We’ve bought muffins.  We’ve filled small gift bags with snacks and a hot drink packet.  We always tie things up with ribbon and attach a GLOW tract.  We have these ready because right after breakfast on Christmas morning we head out to find the people who are at work.  We made stops at hotels, gas stations, convenience stores, and Walgreens.  Each time we walk in and head straight for the cashier or desk clerk.  We start by singing “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” and we hand them the goodies that we have.  After we finish singing we let them know how much we appreciate their sacrifice and wish them a merry Christmas!  People’s responses are amazing and they are what keeps us doing this year after year.  Many are so pleased that they’ve hugged us, asked us to sing again, started crying, or just beamed from ear to ear.  We always go home filled with so much joy and a little sadness that we ran out of goodies.  It really is the highlight of our day and we’ve come to know that giving “thank offerings” to Jesus really is the best part of Christmas.

For pictures and a few other ideas, follow these links.

CHRISTMAS IDEAS

http://biblelabs.blogspot.com/2017/11/christmas-advent-calendar.html

http://biblelabs.blogspot.com/2013/12/christmas-survival-kit.html

http://biblelabs.blogspot.com/2017/01/delivery-person-treats.html

http://biblelabs.blogspot.com/2019/02/christmas.html

http://biblelabs.blogspot.com/2016/12/

THANKSGIVING

http://biblelabs.blogspot.com/2019/02/gratitude-calendar.html

http://biblelabs.blogspot.com/2019/02/thanksgiving.html

http://biblelabs.blogspot.com/2017/11/being-thankful.html

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Thanks Amy for this wonderful post full of ideas that we can personalize and try with our families! This is post 3 of 6. Come back next Wednesday for another post from Amy.