New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day marks an end and a beginning. These days offer some fun possibilities to celebrate that ending and beginning. Below are some ideas that might trigger a thought for you … blessings to you and yours in this new year … Karen
• write a note, individually or as a family, and tuck it away in the boxes as you pack away the Christmas decorations … speak of the events of the past year and your family prayers for the New Year … read your letter next year, together, when you re-open the Christmas decorations … reflect upon how God has answered your prayers during the past year … (it might be fun to keep these notes from year to year) …
• plan a family dinner to talk about the past year … what happened, what you wanted to accomplish and did, what you learned, happy and sad events, what you look forward to in the New Year …
• keep a family journal and list the events of the past year … add to the journal each New Year’s Eve …
• tell each other your dreams for the New Year … discuss how family members can help one another reach their goals for the upcoming year …
• share your favorite event from the past year …
• pick a family member’s name out of a party hat and tell your wishes for that person for the coming year …
• plan to eat black-eyed peas for “good luck” in the coming new year … a fun New Year’s legend …
• create a family time capsule (a five-gallon bucket with lid) … each family member adds a small memento in that bucket on New Year’s Eve telling why he/she put that item in the bucket … bucket is sealed and stored until the next New Year’s Eve when items are again added (no peeking into it each year) … open at a future reunion for a “bucket of memories” … perhaps when kids are grown …
• print your New Year’s party initiation and paste it to the inside of a paper party blower
• have a family New Year’s Eve party … celebrate with the same families every year … even when the young children become adults with their own children …
• think of ways your family or your neighborhood might serve in the new year … collect food for a local food drive, donate time to help clean up a playground …
... and my personal New Year’s prayer that I will share with you …
Dear Heavenly Father ...
for this New Year I pray I might have more “more” …
and more “less” …
more peace … less friction …
more hope … less discouragement …
more love … less division …
more joy … less grumbling …
more faith … less disbelief …
more gratefulness … less whining …
more service … less selfishness …
more moving forward … less standing still …
more awe … less ho-hum …
more giving … less spending …
more forgiveness … less grudges …
more inclusion … less exclusion …
more kindness … less apathy …
more commitment … less wavering …
more worship …
more praise …
just simply more of You, Lord …
and less of me …
©karen anderson
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Saturday, December 1, 2012
Christmas Ideas ... for creating memories, traditions and acts of caring
Christmas is a wonderful time to create memories, traditions and acts of caring. It is also a challenge, sometimes, to remain peaceful and calm during this busy season and to keep Jesus as the focus of Christmas. Following are some ideas for this season of Advent (as we wait for the birth of The Christ Child). It is my hope that one or two ideas may have meaning for you … as you seek to enjoy your family and friends while keeping CHRIST as the center of your Christmas. Amidst the lights, bells and bows, may we just strive to keep HIM the reason for this season. And, may we all remember that our attention, love and presence with our loved ones is always, very simply, the very best present we can give …
• have a family devotional with a candle lighting each week of Advent … take turns reading the devotional entries and lighting that week’s candle …
• make or purchase an Advent calendar … open a “door” each day before Christmas … each day could offer a Promise (a gift!) from our Lord …
• create a family “Advent-ure” game … children look for the small, decorated box each day of Advent … carefully hidden somewhere in the house … each day the box holds a fact or scripture about Jesus … as well as a few piece of candy or an IOU to see a movie, etc.
• bring out the family Nativity scene … have the stable visitors (the shepherd, the 3 wisemen) begin their journey in a distant location of your home … and have the children move the figures a bit closer to the Nativity each day … Jesus and the stable visitors and the angel arrive on Christmas morning …
• invite small children to draw their interpretation of the Nativity to illustrate your Christmas
card …
• turn your Christmas upside down and join the “Advent Conspiracy” by concentrating on compassion rather than consumption … http://www.adventconspiracy.org (worship fully, spend less, give more, love all) …
• buy gifts at a church Christmas Alternative Market focusing on gifts thatsupport meaningful projects and ministries …
• share a Christmas family devotional each night around the Christmas tree … soft Christmas music and candles … everyone in their pj’s …
• visit a local Christmas tree farm and cut down your own tree … take a picnic and enjoy the day … slice off a piece of the trunk for each family member as a Christmas keepsake … and date it …
• encourage family members to write a note of what they want to do for Jesus the following year as their gift to Jesus (be more kind to brother, etc.) … explain that the notes do not have to be shared …
• hide a large, spike-like nail (together as a family) at the base of your Christmas tree as a reminder of the sacrifice Jesus made for us …
• pray for each person as you wrap their gift …
• have a family “caroling” night around the Christmas tree … serving popcorn, hot chocolate and
candy canes …
• have a family slumber party under the Christmas Tree … read family favorite Christmas books …
• consider giving an “experience” as your Christmas gift …a day playing board games with a elderly family member, a trip to a museum or to the zoo with a young child or neighbor friend …
• pray for families as you receive their Christmas greeting card …
• take Christmas crafts to a local apartment complex to share with the children there …
• invite friends for a cookie decorating party … take plates of cookies to elderly neighbors or church members who may not get out during the holidays …
• consider giving a gift to a charity or to an organization in honor of someone instead of giving a present … make it a tradition between adult sibling or between all adults … (donation could be symbolized by giving a small ornament such a bike ornament for a donation given to a bike project for children) … or give a “family gift” to other families … (donation towards an Africa water well; donation for chickens for a family in Haiti; socks, shoes or a sweater for someone at the shelter for the homeless) …
• send anonymous family “thank you notes” to other families for special gestures they have offered to others in serving the church or community … leave the note with a candy cane at their front door … ring the bell and run …
• take a plate of goodies to the church staff who will be serving at many services Christmas Eve …
• buy a small, tabletop, artificial tree … attach miniature trinkets or bows … take the tree to a nearby nursing home or family service center… invite other families to join you … or make placemats for those who are bedridden during the holidays …
• celebrate the “Twelve Days of Christmas” by sharing 12 random acts of kindness, anonymously, as a family …
• bring canned goods to the local food pantry during the holiday season … or find a family “service project of good will” to share during the holidays …
• locate a family whose children might have a very lean Christmas and take the money you would have spend on each other to purchase gifts for their children and family …
• make “heat and serve” dinners in microwave disposable containers for elderly neighbors … deliver with cooking instructions and sign the card from “Santa and his reindeers” …
• give something you love to someone who has admired that item in the past … or pass along a family heirloom to an adult child or grandchild …
• babysit for parents who seldom get a “couple night” … tell them it is your Christmas gift to
them … share a Christmas movie and popcorn with the children or decorate a gingerbread house or Christmas cookies … or create a “hot chocolate bar” (crushed peppermint, whip cream, and chocolate kisses for topping the hot chocolate) …
• pack a Christmas gift box, or goodies for the New Year, as a family … for someone serving in the military … (toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, mouthwash, hand wipes, hand sanitizer, shampoo, deodorant, sun screen, medicated lip balm with SPF 15, comb, first aid kit, cotton swabs, shower soap, gum, foot powder, ponytail holders, hard candy, current movie or music CD, devotional, travel Bible, Kool Aid, coffee, tea bags, hot cider, movie popcorn, protein bars, foot warmers, sunflower seeds, etc.) … add a note from your family and perhaps, your photograph and prayer for them …
• prepare a small gift box for each family member … include a note that says, “what I love about you …” (place the note that holds your special words inside the box as your gift to them …perhaps each family member could do this ... a family yearly Christmas tradition?)
• consider each family member receiving only three gifts … just as Jesus received …
• place sidewalk luminaries along your curb Christmas Eve (paper bags, sand, candles) … lighting the way to Bethlehem for the Holy Family … fill the bags Christmas Day while listening to (and singing!) Christmas music …
• give a surprise gift basket of wrapped treats to toll booth workers on Christmas Eve …
• go Christmas caroling as a family … in the neighborhood or in a nursing home …
• take Christmas treats to a business who must work on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day … the local gas service station, fire station, etc.
• enjoy the neighborhood Christmas lights in the car together with popcorn, hot chocolate and Christmas music … or bundle up and tour the neighborhood on a Christmas walk …
• create your own family Christmas pageant each Christmas Eve … children can dress as Mary, Joseph, a shepherd, an angel, the Three Wise Men … have a doll in a basket for Jesus with stuffed animals surrounding the manger … invite an adult or child to read the Christmas story from the Bible …
• leave a note for Santa … along with cookies and milk … and find Santa’s reply on Christmas
morning … fun to save these letters each year …
• complete your family Christmas Eve celebration with lighted candles while singing, “Silent Night”…
• buy matching socks to wear to bed Christmas Eve … (or matching pajamas!) …
• encourage all family members (except Mom and Dad who have the camera) to enter the “Christmas Tree room” with their eyes closed on Christmas morning … (have special Christmas music playing, candles lighted) … fun to compare the “entrance” pictures year after year (sometimes Santa leave a “sign” in front of each child’s gift so that everyone knows which gift is his/her “Santa” gift … or family members can leave the same name-labeled duffle bag each year for Santa’s special gift ) …
• share your favorite Christmas breakfast around the Christmas tree on Christmas morning (with Christmas music and candlelight)… perhaps a breakfast casserole, various fruits and yummy breads or rolls … wear jingle bell necklaces (from the Polar Express story!) …
• bake a birthday cake for Jesus … and sing “Happy Birthday” to Jesus …
• share your memories of the previous year while enjoying Christmas dinner together …
• write a note, as a family, and tuck it away in the boxes when you pack the Christmas
decorations ... speak of the events of the past year and your family prayers for the New Year … read your letter next year, together, when you re-open the Christmas decorations … reflect upon how God has answered your prayers during the past year … give thanks for His faithfulness …
Please leave YOUR ideas for making Christmas memories and traditions … you can leave your thoughts below as a “comment” … what do YOU do before Christmas, on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day? … what are your special activities, menus, games, outings? … what are YOUR favorite childhood memories? Please share with us!
blessings as you and yours celebrate God’s Gift …
for life's moments, Karen
• have a family devotional with a candle lighting each week of Advent … take turns reading the devotional entries and lighting that week’s candle …
• make or purchase an Advent calendar … open a “door” each day before Christmas … each day could offer a Promise (a gift!) from our Lord …
• create a family “Advent-ure” game … children look for the small, decorated box each day of Advent … carefully hidden somewhere in the house … each day the box holds a fact or scripture about Jesus … as well as a few piece of candy or an IOU to see a movie, etc.
• bring out the family Nativity scene … have the stable visitors (the shepherd, the 3 wisemen) begin their journey in a distant location of your home … and have the children move the figures a bit closer to the Nativity each day … Jesus and the stable visitors and the angel arrive on Christmas morning …
• invite small children to draw their interpretation of the Nativity to illustrate your Christmas
card …
• turn your Christmas upside down and join the “Advent Conspiracy” by concentrating on compassion rather than consumption … http://www.adventconspiracy.org (worship fully, spend less, give more, love all) …
• buy gifts at a church Christmas Alternative Market focusing on gifts thatsupport meaningful projects and ministries …
• share a Christmas family devotional each night around the Christmas tree … soft Christmas music and candles … everyone in their pj’s …
• visit a local Christmas tree farm and cut down your own tree … take a picnic and enjoy the day … slice off a piece of the trunk for each family member as a Christmas keepsake … and date it …
• encourage family members to write a note of what they want to do for Jesus the following year as their gift to Jesus (be more kind to brother, etc.) … explain that the notes do not have to be shared …
• hide a large, spike-like nail (together as a family) at the base of your Christmas tree as a reminder of the sacrifice Jesus made for us …
• pray for each person as you wrap their gift …
• have a family “caroling” night around the Christmas tree … serving popcorn, hot chocolate and
candy canes …
• have a family slumber party under the Christmas Tree … read family favorite Christmas books …
• consider giving an “experience” as your Christmas gift …a day playing board games with a elderly family member, a trip to a museum or to the zoo with a young child or neighbor friend …
• pray for families as you receive their Christmas greeting card …
• take Christmas crafts to a local apartment complex to share with the children there …
• invite friends for a cookie decorating party … take plates of cookies to elderly neighbors or church members who may not get out during the holidays …
• consider giving a gift to a charity or to an organization in honor of someone instead of giving a present … make it a tradition between adult sibling or between all adults … (donation could be symbolized by giving a small ornament such a bike ornament for a donation given to a bike project for children) … or give a “family gift” to other families … (donation towards an Africa water well; donation for chickens for a family in Haiti; socks, shoes or a sweater for someone at the shelter for the homeless) …
• send anonymous family “thank you notes” to other families for special gestures they have offered to others in serving the church or community … leave the note with a candy cane at their front door … ring the bell and run …
• take a plate of goodies to the church staff who will be serving at many services Christmas Eve …
• buy a small, tabletop, artificial tree … attach miniature trinkets or bows … take the tree to a nearby nursing home or family service center… invite other families to join you … or make placemats for those who are bedridden during the holidays …
• celebrate the “Twelve Days of Christmas” by sharing 12 random acts of kindness, anonymously, as a family …
• bring canned goods to the local food pantry during the holiday season … or find a family “service project of good will” to share during the holidays …
• locate a family whose children might have a very lean Christmas and take the money you would have spend on each other to purchase gifts for their children and family …
• make “heat and serve” dinners in microwave disposable containers for elderly neighbors … deliver with cooking instructions and sign the card from “Santa and his reindeers” …
• give something you love to someone who has admired that item in the past … or pass along a family heirloom to an adult child or grandchild …
• babysit for parents who seldom get a “couple night” … tell them it is your Christmas gift to
them … share a Christmas movie and popcorn with the children or decorate a gingerbread house or Christmas cookies … or create a “hot chocolate bar” (crushed peppermint, whip cream, and chocolate kisses for topping the hot chocolate) …
• pack a Christmas gift box, or goodies for the New Year, as a family … for someone serving in the military … (toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, mouthwash, hand wipes, hand sanitizer, shampoo, deodorant, sun screen, medicated lip balm with SPF 15, comb, first aid kit, cotton swabs, shower soap, gum, foot powder, ponytail holders, hard candy, current movie or music CD, devotional, travel Bible, Kool Aid, coffee, tea bags, hot cider, movie popcorn, protein bars, foot warmers, sunflower seeds, etc.) … add a note from your family and perhaps, your photograph and prayer for them …
• prepare a small gift box for each family member … include a note that says, “what I love about you …” (place the note that holds your special words inside the box as your gift to them …perhaps each family member could do this ... a family yearly Christmas tradition?)
• consider each family member receiving only three gifts … just as Jesus received …
• place sidewalk luminaries along your curb Christmas Eve (paper bags, sand, candles) … lighting the way to Bethlehem for the Holy Family … fill the bags Christmas Day while listening to (and singing!) Christmas music …
• give a surprise gift basket of wrapped treats to toll booth workers on Christmas Eve …
• go Christmas caroling as a family … in the neighborhood or in a nursing home …
• take Christmas treats to a business who must work on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day … the local gas service station, fire station, etc.
• enjoy the neighborhood Christmas lights in the car together with popcorn, hot chocolate and Christmas music … or bundle up and tour the neighborhood on a Christmas walk …
• create your own family Christmas pageant each Christmas Eve … children can dress as Mary, Joseph, a shepherd, an angel, the Three Wise Men … have a doll in a basket for Jesus with stuffed animals surrounding the manger … invite an adult or child to read the Christmas story from the Bible …
• leave a note for Santa … along with cookies and milk … and find Santa’s reply on Christmas
morning … fun to save these letters each year …
• complete your family Christmas Eve celebration with lighted candles while singing, “Silent Night”…
• buy matching socks to wear to bed Christmas Eve … (or matching pajamas!) …
• encourage all family members (except Mom and Dad who have the camera) to enter the “Christmas Tree room” with their eyes closed on Christmas morning … (have special Christmas music playing, candles lighted) … fun to compare the “entrance” pictures year after year (sometimes Santa leave a “sign” in front of each child’s gift so that everyone knows which gift is his/her “Santa” gift … or family members can leave the same name-labeled duffle bag each year for Santa’s special gift ) …
• share your favorite Christmas breakfast around the Christmas tree on Christmas morning (with Christmas music and candlelight)… perhaps a breakfast casserole, various fruits and yummy breads or rolls … wear jingle bell necklaces (from the Polar Express story!) …
• bake a birthday cake for Jesus … and sing “Happy Birthday” to Jesus …
• share your memories of the previous year while enjoying Christmas dinner together …
• write a note, as a family, and tuck it away in the boxes when you pack the Christmas
decorations ... speak of the events of the past year and your family prayers for the New Year … read your letter next year, together, when you re-open the Christmas decorations … reflect upon how God has answered your prayers during the past year … give thanks for His faithfulness …
Please leave YOUR ideas for making Christmas memories and traditions … you can leave your thoughts below as a “comment” … what do YOU do before Christmas, on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day? … what are your special activities, menus, games, outings? … what are YOUR favorite childhood memories? Please share with us!
blessings as you and yours celebrate God’s Gift …
for life's moments, Karen
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Thanks Giving ideas for Thanksgiving season
a sweet moment ... something done once … or something shared enough times to be considered a tradition …
I have always been a “collector” of special moments … thoughts, words, actions, acts of caring that create a sense of belonging, or affirm, or encourage, or enhance, or rebuild, or restore, or build something new. Moments that just seem to say “I care about you” or “you care about me”.
memory moments.
I first began experiencing these moments in my growing-up home. I didn’t realize, at the time, that I was becoming a “heart collector” of moments. That realization did not happen until I, myself, was a new parent.
Through reflection, I realized what a gift my own childhood had been. As a young parent, I set out to create that same celebratory life for my family … “intentionally” creating memory moments.
It wasn’t until our family traveled through some challenging years that I realized what sustenance and joy came from not only from giving or making sweet memory moments, but also from receiving such moments. Getting past my own life challenges to invest in the life of another kept me focused on gratefulness. Receiving these gifts from others, during difficult times, also kept me focused on thankfulness.
Through both the light and through the darkness, I have continued to be a collector of memory making moments ... because I believe in the power of love and of sharing love. After some pretty spectacular family memory making decades, I promised my children I would “write down” our own memory moments … or ones they have since started in their own families … along with others that we might have enjoyed experiencing … or ones we might want to try in the future. Thus, my book (my passion!) “Love Lifts … through the generations” was created … over 1300 ideas for creating a legacy of memories, traditions and acts of caring through all the ages and stages of life (“sample” memory making ideas at www.MomentsPublishing.com under “excerpts”).
so … book written. book published. promised kept.
but … I am still hooked …
and I am still "collecting" …
so … through this new wee blog, I would love to just continue sharing thoughts with you that, perhaps, might strike a thought for you from time to time ...
I will share periodically ... memory making ideas for not only for holidays … but also for times like the birth of a child, the growing up years, for that day when a child graduates or begins to build his/her own home, for the marriage of a child, for the grand era of GRANDparenting, for reaching out to others past our own family in acts of kindness or service, for parties and celebrations, for new jobs and for retirements ... and for “just because” moments …
I would love for you to journey along … and I invite you to share your own moments through your comments to a post … because we can all learn from each other … and together, we might just build up a bit more love for all of us … and maybe together, we can grow a “resource” here for sharing love and acts of kindness and caring for those days when thoughts just don’t come as easily …
so … for now … a few ideas for this season of “Thanks Giving” …
• send Thanksgiving cards to family and friends instead of Christmas cards … (“I thank my God in all my remembrances of you” Philippians 1:3 … include a family photo) …
• leave “We are thankful for YOU” gift bags of fall treats at your neighbors’ doorstep … with a note signed by each family member … or leave treats anonymously … or give them to community workers … to your clergy … or mail a “thankful” box to those serving in our military …
• place an “empty” chair at your Thanksgiving table in honor of those family members who are no longer present with you … or light a candle on the mantle to remember those loved ones …
• give everyone a pressed “leaf” (or leaves) ... (or a real leaf from the yard)... http://www.etsy.com/listing/83101816/real-pressed-leaves-50-qty-dried-autumn
when they arrive Thanksgiving Day … ask family/guests to write on the leaf something for which they are thankful … spread the leaves around the dinner table centerpiece or place in a basket to read together after dinner … (save the leaves from year-to-year for your “growing” centerpiece of “thanks” giving) …
• make an annual “vegetable” turkey or “fruit” turkey for a Thanksgiving Day appetizer (fun to make while the Thanksgiving Parade rolls across the TV screen) … a creative tradition from my childhood (we always used an acorn squash for the base and a crooked neck squash or zucchini for the head/neck with wood sticks to hold the “feather-veggies”) … some sample pictures of other styles at: http://www.eatingwithfoodallergies.com/turkeyveggieplatter.html
and at http://www.apartystyle.com/search?q=fruit+turkey+instructions ... or
fill a “carved out” pumpkin with your favorite dip, surround with veggies to serve with left-over turkey sandwiches …
• make a photo placemat or photo name card for each family member for Thanksgiving Dinner …
• place 5 kernels of corn on each person’s dinner plate on Thanksgiving Day … in remembrance of this same gesture offered by the Pilgrims on their Second Thanksgiving … as they recalled God’s provision during the Pilgrim’s starving winter time after their First Thanksgiving (for a family “readable” version of this great story taken from “The Light and The Glory” by Peter Marshall and David Manuel, please email me (Karen) at info@MomentsPublishing.com) …
• create a fun “kids table” if several tables are needed … cover table with “draw on” brown paper tablecloth, offer Indian headdresses and Pilgrim Hats … and add other fun ideas: http://www.hgtv.com/entertaining/kids-thanksgiving-table/pictures/index.html ...
• encourage the kids to put on a Pilgrim’s Thanksgiving Story for the whole family … write your own script or read from a favorite Thanksgiving story book as kids enter the room “dressed up” in simple costumes … (or act out the “Five Kernels of Corn” story that is referred to above …in honor of the Pilgrims)… add some special music to the beginning or end of the play like “We Gather Together” http://www.spritzels.com/thanksgiving/gather-song.html ... perhaps close with a blessing from Numbers 6:24-26 …
• create a “Thanksgiving Gratefulness Basket” … each day of November, family members write (or draw) something for which they are thankful … a new thought each day … keep strips of paper and pens near the basket … the family gathers together Thanksgiving evening to read the grateful notes and to remember…
• create a “thankful garland chain” of thankful notes throughout the month of November (or trace each member’s hand… and cut-out “the hand” for the note writing) … hook new links (or hands) to the chain after dinner each night … or make a “grateful tree” with sticks secured in a can … write what you are grateful for on colorful paper leaves and attach to the “stick” tree …
• begin a Gratitude Journal that can be kept and added to each Sunday night throughout the year in a special family time … maybe while eating cookies? …
• send letters of gratefulness to family members who cannot be with you for Thanksgiving Dinner this year … “I give thanks for you because …”
• purchase a smooth, large tablecloth … as family and guests arrive, trace each person’s hand and let them sign their name/year and write beside their “hand” two things for which they are thankful … continue the tablecloth “hand” tradition each year … fun to watch hands and blessings grow …
• ask if anyone would like to share a favorite Thanksgiving memory during dinner … or a favorite family memory since last Thanksgiving …
• spend time as a family thinking of a special family project that might be experienced as a family in the upcoming year … for someone else who may not be as blessed … parents can offer “pre-thought” suggestions and children can offer their ideas as well …
• create fun Fall/Thanksgiving desserts: “Pumpkin Rice Krispie Treats with Tootsie Roll Stump” http://grinandbakeit.com or search the web or magazines for a new special, fun, creative dessert … or gather around an outside fire pit for ‘smores Thanksgiving night …
• share favorite scripture before or after the meal … family members could take turns reading … (Psalm 31:19, Psalm 95:1-6, Psalm 100, Psalm 107:1, Psalm 145: 7, 1 Chronicles 29:11-13) …
• end Thanksgiving Day with a family game of football or … a favorite Christmas movie … the presentation of new winter pajamas for the kids (matching?) … a Christmas ornament exchange that has some special meaning (names drawn earlier) … take the annual family picture while everyone is together … decorate a gingerbread house together … sing Christmas carols as the family looks forward to celebrating the Christ Child …
• leave an “I am thankful for you” note under family members’ pillows … or write a note on their bathroom mirror (with special erasable window/mirror pens) … or leave note of gratefulness for that person in their car, or on their bike … or on their walking cane … or in their brief case …
wishing you and yours a blessed season of “Thanks Giving” …
for life’s moments, Karen
www.MomentsPublishing.com
www.MomentsPublishing.blogspot.com
P.S. If you would like to receive future blog posts from Moments Publishing blog, please submit your email in the box “FOLLOW BY EMAIL” on the main blog page … and if you would like to pass along this post (or others on the blog), please click the red M under comments to send an email to this blog link ..
and ... if you are looking for a Christmas gift idea … or a 31 day Christmas Devotional … or a reading for family devotionals, may I invite you to review “Behold the Gift … the Blessings of Bethlehem” available at www.MomentsPublishing.com (excerpt from the book is available on this website) ... reflective words written in humble gratefulness ... seeking to comprehend The Gift given to us that Bethlehem Day ...
I have always been a “collector” of special moments … thoughts, words, actions, acts of caring that create a sense of belonging, or affirm, or encourage, or enhance, or rebuild, or restore, or build something new. Moments that just seem to say “I care about you” or “you care about me”.
memory moments.
I first began experiencing these moments in my growing-up home. I didn’t realize, at the time, that I was becoming a “heart collector” of moments. That realization did not happen until I, myself, was a new parent.
Through reflection, I realized what a gift my own childhood had been. As a young parent, I set out to create that same celebratory life for my family … “intentionally” creating memory moments.
It wasn’t until our family traveled through some challenging years that I realized what sustenance and joy came from not only from giving or making sweet memory moments, but also from receiving such moments. Getting past my own life challenges to invest in the life of another kept me focused on gratefulness. Receiving these gifts from others, during difficult times, also kept me focused on thankfulness.
Through both the light and through the darkness, I have continued to be a collector of memory making moments ... because I believe in the power of love and of sharing love. After some pretty spectacular family memory making decades, I promised my children I would “write down” our own memory moments … or ones they have since started in their own families … along with others that we might have enjoyed experiencing … or ones we might want to try in the future. Thus, my book (my passion!) “Love Lifts … through the generations” was created … over 1300 ideas for creating a legacy of memories, traditions and acts of caring through all the ages and stages of life (“sample” memory making ideas at www.MomentsPublishing.com under “excerpts”).
so … book written. book published. promised kept.
but … I am still hooked …
and I am still "collecting" …
so … through this new wee blog, I would love to just continue sharing thoughts with you that, perhaps, might strike a thought for you from time to time ...
I will share periodically ... memory making ideas for not only for holidays … but also for times like the birth of a child, the growing up years, for that day when a child graduates or begins to build his/her own home, for the marriage of a child, for the grand era of GRANDparenting, for reaching out to others past our own family in acts of kindness or service, for parties and celebrations, for new jobs and for retirements ... and for “just because” moments …
I would love for you to journey along … and I invite you to share your own moments through your comments to a post … because we can all learn from each other … and together, we might just build up a bit more love for all of us … and maybe together, we can grow a “resource” here for sharing love and acts of kindness and caring for those days when thoughts just don’t come as easily …
so … for now … a few ideas for this season of “Thanks Giving” …
• send Thanksgiving cards to family and friends instead of Christmas cards … (“I thank my God in all my remembrances of you” Philippians 1:3 … include a family photo) …
• leave “We are thankful for YOU” gift bags of fall treats at your neighbors’ doorstep … with a note signed by each family member … or leave treats anonymously … or give them to community workers … to your clergy … or mail a “thankful” box to those serving in our military …
• place an “empty” chair at your Thanksgiving table in honor of those family members who are no longer present with you … or light a candle on the mantle to remember those loved ones …
• give everyone a pressed “leaf” (or leaves) ... (or a real leaf from the yard)... http://www.etsy.com/listing/83101816/real-pressed-leaves-50-qty-dried-autumn
when they arrive Thanksgiving Day … ask family/guests to write on the leaf something for which they are thankful … spread the leaves around the dinner table centerpiece or place in a basket to read together after dinner … (save the leaves from year-to-year for your “growing” centerpiece of “thanks” giving) …
• make an annual “vegetable” turkey or “fruit” turkey for a Thanksgiving Day appetizer (fun to make while the Thanksgiving Parade rolls across the TV screen) … a creative tradition from my childhood (we always used an acorn squash for the base and a crooked neck squash or zucchini for the head/neck with wood sticks to hold the “feather-veggies”) … some sample pictures of other styles at: http://www.eatingwithfoodallergies.com/turkeyveggieplatter.html
and at http://www.apartystyle.com/search?q=fruit+turkey+instructions ... or
fill a “carved out” pumpkin with your favorite dip, surround with veggies to serve with left-over turkey sandwiches …
• make a photo placemat or photo name card for each family member for Thanksgiving Dinner …
• place 5 kernels of corn on each person’s dinner plate on Thanksgiving Day … in remembrance of this same gesture offered by the Pilgrims on their Second Thanksgiving … as they recalled God’s provision during the Pilgrim’s starving winter time after their First Thanksgiving (for a family “readable” version of this great story taken from “The Light and The Glory” by Peter Marshall and David Manuel, please email me (Karen) at info@MomentsPublishing.com) …
• create a fun “kids table” if several tables are needed … cover table with “draw on” brown paper tablecloth, offer Indian headdresses and Pilgrim Hats … and add other fun ideas: http://www.hgtv.com/entertaining/kids-thanksgiving-table/pictures/index.html ...
• encourage the kids to put on a Pilgrim’s Thanksgiving Story for the whole family … write your own script or read from a favorite Thanksgiving story book as kids enter the room “dressed up” in simple costumes … (or act out the “Five Kernels of Corn” story that is referred to above …in honor of the Pilgrims)… add some special music to the beginning or end of the play like “We Gather Together” http://www.spritzels.com/thanksgiving/gather-song.html ... perhaps close with a blessing from Numbers 6:24-26 …
• create a “Thanksgiving Gratefulness Basket” … each day of November, family members write (or draw) something for which they are thankful … a new thought each day … keep strips of paper and pens near the basket … the family gathers together Thanksgiving evening to read the grateful notes and to remember…
• create a “thankful garland chain” of thankful notes throughout the month of November (or trace each member’s hand… and cut-out “the hand” for the note writing) … hook new links (or hands) to the chain after dinner each night … or make a “grateful tree” with sticks secured in a can … write what you are grateful for on colorful paper leaves and attach to the “stick” tree …
• begin a Gratitude Journal that can be kept and added to each Sunday night throughout the year in a special family time … maybe while eating cookies? …
• send letters of gratefulness to family members who cannot be with you for Thanksgiving Dinner this year … “I give thanks for you because …”
• purchase a smooth, large tablecloth … as family and guests arrive, trace each person’s hand and let them sign their name/year and write beside their “hand” two things for which they are thankful … continue the tablecloth “hand” tradition each year … fun to watch hands and blessings grow …
• ask if anyone would like to share a favorite Thanksgiving memory during dinner … or a favorite family memory since last Thanksgiving …
• spend time as a family thinking of a special family project that might be experienced as a family in the upcoming year … for someone else who may not be as blessed … parents can offer “pre-thought” suggestions and children can offer their ideas as well …
• create fun Fall/Thanksgiving desserts: “Pumpkin Rice Krispie Treats with Tootsie Roll Stump” http://grinandbakeit.com or search the web or magazines for a new special, fun, creative dessert … or gather around an outside fire pit for ‘smores Thanksgiving night …
• share favorite scripture before or after the meal … family members could take turns reading … (Psalm 31:19, Psalm 95:1-6, Psalm 100, Psalm 107:1, Psalm 145: 7, 1 Chronicles 29:11-13) …
• end Thanksgiving Day with a family game of football or … a favorite Christmas movie … the presentation of new winter pajamas for the kids (matching?) … a Christmas ornament exchange that has some special meaning (names drawn earlier) … take the annual family picture while everyone is together … decorate a gingerbread house together … sing Christmas carols as the family looks forward to celebrating the Christ Child …
• leave an “I am thankful for you” note under family members’ pillows … or write a note on their bathroom mirror (with special erasable window/mirror pens) … or leave note of gratefulness for that person in their car, or on their bike … or on their walking cane … or in their brief case …
wishing you and yours a blessed season of “Thanks Giving” …
for life’s moments, Karen
www.MomentsPublishing.com
www.MomentsPublishing.blogspot.com
P.S. If you would like to receive future blog posts from Moments Publishing blog, please submit your email in the box “FOLLOW BY EMAIL” on the main blog page … and if you would like to pass along this post (or others on the blog), please click the red M under comments to send an email to this blog link ..
and ... if you are looking for a Christmas gift idea … or a 31 day Christmas Devotional … or a reading for family devotionals, may I invite you to review “Behold the Gift … the Blessings of Bethlehem” available at www.MomentsPublishing.com (excerpt from the book is available on this website) ... reflective words written in humble gratefulness ... seeking to comprehend The Gift given to us that Bethlehem Day ...
Monday, October 29, 2012
outside adventures ...
what memories/traditions do you have (or would like to start) when you and your family are enjoying the great outdoors? (one of our fondest memories was sliding down a snow covered mountain base (on plastic trash bags!) during a summer trip in Colorado!) what memories can YOU share with us? we might just need to try them! for outdoor memory making, Karen (Moments Publishing)
traveling ...
do you have an idea for memory making when you family travels together? like someone starting a story, then another family member adds a line or two, then the next family member adds a piece to the story, etc. and the crazy story continues ... we would LOVE to hear what you do as you travel! joy in the journeys! Karen (Moments Publishing)
need an idea?
do you need an idea for a special day or for a special event? or an idea to make someone feel special? or an idea of something to do for someone who could just use a "lift"? or an idea for a party or reunion or for a special "milestone" birthday? a holiday? a new baby? an engagement? I don't guarantee that I will have a brilliant, helpful idea but I am sure willing to try! just email me (info@MomentsPublishing.com) and I will see what thoughts we might exchange ... it would just be my joy to think upon it! together, surely, we can think of something that will make a memory for just that moment! because love does, indeed, lift! Karen (Moments Publishing)
building and sharing your faith ...
can you share ways that you are building a household of faith? do you have family devotionals? do you tell your grandchild the scripture that you are praying over them? we would love to hear the ways that you are seeking to nurture and share your faith ... for Him! Karen (Moments Publishing)
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