Holiday Lessons
The holidays are fast approaching. Most of the stores in my area were hanging large snowflakes from the ceiling before the Halloween candy was marked down. Christmas music is already playing in some stores and the greeting card isle is already promoting anything that falls under the category of 'Happy Holidays!' Holiday catalogs have been coming in the mail for weeks now and my children are already bringing home information about holiday festivities at school. There's feasts, parties, donations, charitable contributions, Secret Santa, and many other events in the works.
While I admit that the holidays are much more enjoyable since I've had children, I'm beginning to wonder if it isn't time to teach them a bigger lesson about the holidays.
Giving.
We give gifts to family and friends around the holidays and are always willing to open our home for a gathering or fellowship. But, I'm beginning to think it's time to teach my children about giving to others around the holidays. We work hard to help them understand the value of money, but I think we are failing to help them see that there are many people that don't have money for basics let alone a holiday celebration.
I don't think they realize that there are children out there that will not have anything special to open around the holidays and may not even have enough to eat this, or any other, time of year. I would love to find a way to help them see how fortunate they are to have the things that they do. It isn't about material possessions. I want them to see how lucky they are to have a roof over their heads, warm blankets on their beds, food in their tummies, and family that loves them. I want to take this holiday to help them learn to be grateful for what they have and to be generous to those that may not have enough.
Continued on the next page
Follow Technorati