Last Year, I started a new tradition with our girls. Instead of counting down the days till Christmas with chocolate, we count down the days by giving praise to our Lord! They girls embraced the idea with joy, and never once did I hear a peep about the missing chocolate!
Here are the Steps:
I simply cut Christmas themed ribbon and rolled the top. With hot glue, I carefully tack the inside of the roll. I made sure the ribbon was about 8 feet in height and cut the bottom. I added a decorative element on the top portion of the roll to add some holiday charm to the strand. To hang the strand, I used a thumb tack in the inside of the roll.
On the first card I write their name, year and the title, "This Christmas I pray and give praise for..."
Then each day I ask the girls, with out assistance from Mom, "today what you would like to give praise for". My younger daughters are five and three, so I write down exactly what they tell me. Emma, the five year old, will write down her praises next year. Afterwards they pick-out one sticker to place on their card and we say a little prayer to Jesus giving Him praise! Afterwards, we uses double-sided sticky tape to tape the card onto the strand.
When the girls tell me what they would like to give praise for, I am astonished of their compassion and understand of the world around them . Their praises are heart-warming and some times bring a tear to my eye. They even give praise for the little things in life for example; a rock they found, having alone time from the other sister, but it is their praise.
When it is time to put away the Christmas decorations, we place the cards in a zip-lock bag. The next year we revisit the cards to see what Jesus has done in our lives from the previous year.
Needed Items:
Ribbion
Hot glue gun and sticks
Tumb-tack
Decorative item
25 Stickers
25 3x5 cards
Pen
Double-sided sticky tape / tape
Enjoy and Happy Memories!
