The 12 days of Christmas I prepared for my sister's family is described in the post before this one. Here is a file (56KB, pdf) you can download which consists of 4 x A4 pages, with 3 activities per page. Note that some activities are LDS specific.
If the file doesn't download successfully, try coming back to it during the Australian daytime; I think it's dependent on my computer being on.
Each day in December leading up to Christmas, we took it in turns to open a little envelope that was stuck to each calendar square. The contents of each envelope was for each family member, not just one, and each had an emphasis on serving others.
Once a week on a different day each week, we had a ‘wild card’ envelope. The activity for this day involved some kind of message to do with service, plus instructions as to where to find a hidden treat somewhere in the house.
There was no compulsion to complete each activity, it was left entirely up to the individual whether they participated or not. The treats on wild-card days however, were only for people who completed the activity on that day.
Most envelopes (template from looking at the shape of a commercial envelope, opened up) were made from a variety of Christmas wrapping papers from years past, or cut out of brightly coloured pages from magazines. The envelope for Christmas day however was made from plain brown paper, to symbolise the humble nature of the Saviour’s birth.
As the last envelope to open on the calendar was the one for Christmas day, for the remaining days until the end of December we invited the children to either catch up on activities that were set them in previous envelopes, or to simply choose an activity from the past 25 days to repeat.
The contents of the 25 envelopes were made up by me, with lots of inspiration from church magazines, and from the children themselves (though they didn’t know it!). I took into account what day of the week it was, how busy we were on particular days, and whether or not people were at school or home.
This is how we wrapped our gifts this year - cloth bags tied up with ribbon. Very easy to make, just a length of fabric sewn up 3 sides with the top edge neatened. Gift tags made from card with shiny wrapping paper scraps glued on the back. Christmas fabric is something I like to shop for just before or just after Christmas. Last year I was fortunate enough to come across a 75% off sale at Spotlight!
Here are the contents of the envelopes in our service calendar:
1. Do a good deed for someone today without them knowing it was you.
2. Take the time to catch someone doing a good job at something, and tell them they did well.
3. Choose one of the blank squares on this calendar [there were four] and, over the month, fill it with tiny words and / or pictures that express the Christmas spirit.
4. Look in the piano stool. [There was a small package for each child containing a yogurt frog. The message had to do with bounding, jumping, or leaping into action to say something nice about one of their siblings.]
5. List ten things you are grateful for.
6. Read Mark 10:43-44. Go out of your way to serve / help someone today.
7. Express gratitude to people who help you today.
• thanks • wave • phone • smile • email • thank you • nod • letter
8. Smile at someone you don’t normally talk to.
9. Read Job 42:10. Pray for your friends today. Be a true friend to someone in need.
10. Clean a window inside and outside in the loungeroom. Do a really good job. [once this was finished, there was a treat bag under the Christmas tree for each child, containing paper scissors, a glue stick, and a sweet treat. The message was about us having our work cut out for us to help our family be strong, and that Jesus Christ is the glue that binds us all together.]
11. Choose at least two of your belongings that are in good condition, to give away.
12. Ask someone in the family to give you a pair of their shoes to polish.
13. Find a scripture that is about serving or helping others. Write it out neatly and put it up on the wall in the kitchen area. •make sure it is different to everyone else’s scripture •no bigger than A4 size •decorate it if you wish.
14. Try to be a good listener today, and imagine how other people might be feeling.
15. Read Matthew 5:44. Memorize it, and try to put it into practice today.
16. Clean a chair: get all the hide-away dirt off; make it shine! [a treat followed this activity.]
17. Look for someone who seems a bit down, and encourage them. Try to help them smile.
18. Say something you are grateful for about each family member.
19. Do something you know you should do, which you have been putting off.
20. Write or draw about some of your feelings or experiences this Christmas. Put it in your journal.
21. Play a Christmas song which is about the Saviour, on an instrument of your choice. [instruments our family used included piano, glockenspiel, voice, and cd player]
22. Say only kind and positive things to and about other people today.
23. Everyone say something good that Joseph Smith has done, and how it is a blessing in our lives. [Joseph Smith’s birthday today - 23 December 1805]
24. Each child please look up and read one of these scriptures: •Alma 5:12 • 3 Nephi 20:41 • Mosiah 5:7 • Mosiah 27:25 THEN: change your bed sheets so they are nice and fresh for Christmas day.
25. Say at least one prayer today that is full of gratitude, with no requests.
I can honestly say that keeping our vision on serving others has made this one of the best Christmases I can remember. We had a sweet and peaceful spirit in our home much of the time; certainly a lot more than usual. The undercurrent of excitement approaching Christmas day was more related to what we could do for others, than what we hoped to receive for ourselves.
Now to consider what to do for this coming Christmas!
As we began opening envelopes and enjoying the feelings that came from giving of ourselves, I thought how much I’d like to share the joy with my sister and her family. All of us brainstormed ideas her family might like to do, then we put each one into a sealed envelope with the date to be opened on the outside. Because we didn’t think of doing this before December, her envelopes began on December 14. Some envelopes were attached to a small gift.
I'll post what we put in my sister's family's envelopes later, and hopefully add a picture.
I love words. Words that create beautiful pictures in my head, words that help me to feel what someone else is feeling, to understand why and how things are, and even the shape of words and letters.
Did a quiz today on commonly confused words - thought I'd get 100%, but am still pleased with the 93% result I managed. So...are you an expert with words? Try the quiz and see!
Your result for The Commonly Confused Words Test...
You scored 100% Beginner, 100% Intermediate, 100% Advanced, and 93% Expert!
For the complete Answer Key, visit the blog: http://shortredhead78.blogspot.com/.
Click here to see a short video taken on the fly that tells the story of one man's struggle to rise above the past and to forge himself a new future. Many thanks to Zack Arias for making this movie, and for Derrick for allowing his story to be seen.
2009 was the year I decided to grow my hair long again. The year I turn 42, I am on a journey to beautiful, dignified, lovely long grey hair! I am convinced this will be a wonderful thing for me, but you know, just say I get my long hair and then don't like it, what'll I do? Shrug my shoulders and cut it all off. BUT I will know for sure that wasn't what I wanted, instead of always wondering.
Have a read here about long hair on women over 40.
Perhaps being an older woman with long hair is a type of retro-rebellion? I kinda like that!
Where I am now. Long way to go, but I am happy to be on the long-hair journey. A journey that I will take continuing to wash my locks in 50:50 bicarb (baking soda) and honey, condition it with diluted lemon juice, and give it treatments as needed with coconut oil and jojoba oil. Probably will trim it every 3 to 4 months at the hair dressers so the long layers look right.
Some more interesting reading about long hair, and about going gray gracefully:
http://www.goinggraylookinggreat.com/
http://goinggrayblog.com/
http://brightonwoman.blogspot.com/2008/08/why-i-wear-my-hair-long.html
http://brightonwoman.blogspot.com/2009/02/long-grey-beautiful.html
I've just read an inspirational post over at Frugal + Urban on one mother's journey in the Cloth Revolution. It feels good writing that in capitals! It's a real movement out there, it's partly a return to old values, and partly a quest to save and improve our future.
Like that mother from Ottowa, I've also been on the journey to replace disposable items with reusable items over the past year. As I commented on the Cloth Revolution post at Frugal and Urban, most everything in our home is cloth rather than disposable except…. toilet paper. I am inspired by the description of using the cloth for no. 1’s however, that does seem do-able.
Something I've been doing lately, taking inspiration from several great repurposing blogs/sites, has been rag knitting. Must post some photos of this because words aren't enough to get across the delight that it is to take something that is no longer serviceable in its current form, and transform it into something enirely new that has a useful purpose.
The cotton knit jumper I wore last Friday is now a dishcloth! Looking in the mirror Friday evening I saw that the fabric was starting to deteriorate around the neck line, and that there were stains that wouldn't come out...so it was time to repurpose. First of all I carefully cut it into pieces: front, back, collar and sleeves, and traced each so I can make this comfy top again from other fabric. Then I started cutting a 1.5cm strip up the side of the back, and continued cutting in a spiral so that once finished, I had a long long strip of knit fabric (thin knit, by the way) and the original jumper back was completely gone. Yes I know, this would be much much easier to visualize if I had photographed the process.
I then simply knitted this 'yarn' into a simple dishcloth using size 9 needles, and voilà! A new and useful item is born. I love the luxury of being able to use a new dishcloth every time I wash up. Not that I do use a new one every time mind you, I just love it that I can if I want to.
All these fabrics with their variety of designs and purposes, create such a wonderful atmosphere of steady, simple living – I really really love it.
If you have a moment, take the time to watch this video of a Slovenian choir singing a cappella what was my favourite song back in 1982. It's fairly long for a song, but worth every second.
