FHE Lesson {Christmas all year round}

This lesson inspired by a great talk I heard in Sacrament. The speaker kindly gave me a copy.

Opening Song: I'm trying to be like Jesus #78

Opening Prayer:



Lesson:

Organising for Christmas can be a lot of hard work.
We prepare, buy, organize, wrap, cook, do service

Get children to list some things/work you do in order to have a great Christmas.

While Christmas is a wonderful time of year and the symbols of the first Christmas are still celebrated today {gifts, family, kindness}It would be great to have the spirit of Christmas all year round. Just like Christmas with our families keeping the spirit of Christ all year round will not happen on its own, we need to prepare & organise for this to occur.


When I think of Christmas there are a few key topics that immediately spring to mind, they are:
 Gifts
 Spirit of Christmas
 Family
 Gratitude
{Insert your own key topic}

Think of some ways you can do the above areas all year round.
Try to get children to come up with some ideas. eg:

Gifts:
Give the gift of your service. Help in someone's garden, bake a meal, drop off cookies,

Family:
Spend time with extended family other than holidays, do family history work, go to the temple {to help our family that went before us}, call family far away or grandparents weekly, Tell our families how much we love them. Do acts of service for one another. Help an Aunt or Uncle or grandparents. Spend time with cousins.

Spirit of Christmas:
Be generous with your time and money other than just at Christmas, host some friendly get togethers for no reason as you would a Christmas party, give donations to charities at times other than Christmas.

Gratitude:
Have a spirit of gratitude all year round - keep a gratitude journal or regular journal in which to write the miracles of your life, write things you are grateful for weekly on slips of paper and keep them in a jar in which to look back on at the end of the year.


First Presidency Christmas message from 2000:
It is our hope that each of us this Christmas season will find the Spirit of Christ in our hearts and homes as we try to be more like the Saviour—forgiving others as He forgives us, serving others with a glad heart, and keeping the commandments.


That is an immediate way we can have the spirit of Christmas or the Spirit of Christ with us all year round.  – Forgive others, serve with a glad heart & keep the commandments.
It’s very simple & very doable.

Keeping the spirit of Christmas all year round is a perfect new year resolution.


Keep a list of the things you will do all year to keep the spirit of Christmas.
Draw it out on a big sheet of paper.
Leave one small Christmas decoration out all year to remind you of your resolution.

Visit your list throughout the year and take notice when you accomplish things from your list. Remind everyone this is how you are keeping the Christmas Spirit the whole year through.


Closing Song: Have a Very Merry Christmas #51

Closing Prayer: