‘Tis the Season for Holiday Generosity…So, I Have a Little something for You!

There are so many reasons to look forward to the holidays but if you really get down to the heart of it – the holidays resound across cultures and nations because it is an entire season devoted to giving.  Sure, we can get caught up in the gifts and holiday drama. Certainly, being annoyed when you see Christmas decorations for sale before Halloween is fair, but once you peel away the commercialization it is a wonder that we have created a season that is a reminder to give.

Thinking of others as ourselves does wonders for the soul! The stress of the year wears heavy on our shoulders. People can feel beat down and dwell on the “little things.” But, here, just before the clock turns over to a new year and we give ourselves the gift of resetting, we get the opportunity to reach out and give our time, our love, and/ or our money (which is completely fine, we all have our own ways to give). We do not regulate the giving.  Encouraging children to make a homemade card that will be as lovingly received as expensive tickets to an event is the gift of the season and embodies holiday generosity.

The Generosity of a City

Houston has already had the opportunity to come together with an outpouring of generosity for our neighbors and friends in need.  Many are still putting their homes back together after Harvey. It was a wonder to see the movement and mobilization of our city in the aftermath of the destruction.

While most of us are starting to think ahead (oh, I know some of you finished Christmas shopping in July, but for the rest of us) to the gifts we want to bestow upon our nearest and dearest we are given the opportunity of the season to reach out and help strangers and neighbors with our gifts and services.

Spread the Holiday Cheer

We like to make an evening of building a few shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child, a project of Samaritan’s Purse, with our kiddos, then snuggling down for holiday family movie night. Show holiday generosity by building the boxes together and engage with your kids.  The cost is very affordable and the process of shopping and assembling the shoebox full of gifts can be done by very young children.? Also, the kids love being able to track their shoebox to its final destination.

National collection week begins today, November 13, 2017, and runs all week. There are over 5,000 drop-off locations and find the closest one to you HERE. If you don’t have time to do this in person you can Build a Shoebox Online, for $25.

These boxes are distributed all over the world so it’s a good idea to use the suggestions of what to put in your shoebox listed on the website – as well as to note what not to put in the boxes.

And, Something for you, Dear Reader

An essential part of teaching children holiday generosity is showing children holiday generosity. In this case, it is with your time and affection. Our family loves to do movie night together. We do it almost weekly. The holidays might even find us doing it multiple times per week! The kids know that during this time it is about us.

Not about them. A lot of our society is very child-focused right now and while I am guilty of a little helicoptering I also like to remind my kids, on the reg, that they are capable beings and that 100 years ago they could be working in a coal mine (now go get your own cereal!).

My point is that movie night is a family affair. We chose the movie together. We pick the snacks together. We spend the time together. As luck would have it Freeform (previously ABC Family) has released their 25 days of Christmas movie list. So, you don’t even have to spend a penny. My DVR is going to be working overtime starting December 1st!

I was about to digress into a list of my must-watch Christmas movies, but it might get a little lengthy and I really appreciate you making it this far…so, I’ll just post about that later.

But, speaking of movies there are some staples like The Sound of Music (I agree, it’s really only that one song and them escaping over snow-capped mountains, but it is, so…) and A Christmas Carol (almost any incarnation works for me).? This season there is a new movie being released called The Man Who Invented Christmas, which tells the magical journey that led to the creation of Ebenezer Scrooge, Tiny Tim and other classic characters from A Christmas Carol. The film shows how Charles Dickens (Dan Stevens – you know, the guy who left Downton Abbey before he should have) mixed real-life inspirations to conjure up unforgettable characters and a timeless tale, forever changing the holiday season into the celebration we know today. The movie releases in theatres on November 22, 2017.

In promotion of this movie, we have been gifted a holiday 3-pack of movies to gift to you! There are four ways to enter so get all the entries you can! Winner will be notified via email and announced on this page during the week after the sweepstakes ends.

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Good Luck!