What traditions of generosity does your family cherish during the holidays?

Like all of you, we’re striving to minimize the wish lists, shopping trips, and general over-consumption of the holiday. My hope is that our traditions, focusing on what we have to give and the time we spend together, will make them more memorable and thoughtful days for our family.

At 4 and 6, my daughters are just beginning to truly recognize the traditions we’ve adopted. Like last year, we are contributing to a variety of toy collections and food drives over the holiday season, which gives us ample opportunity to talk about generosity and sharing. If you’re looking for any clever ideas for doing good together this holiday season check out our post 12 Easy Ways to Give Back Over the Holidays. I’m especially looking forward to creating the giving calendar from that list, setting goals for our families service in 2012.

I’m also helping the girls make their own gifts. In my experience the joy of giving outshines receiving whenever a great deal of thought and energy goes into the gift. Here are a few of the ideas that we’re working on (keep in mind that my six-year-old loves to sew).

• Crock Pot Candles for teachers and grandparents
• Cloth chess set for campers in our life (the pattern courtesy of One Yard Wonders, a book we love)
• Magnet Paper Dolls from Miss First-Grader to Little Miss Four (gluing cut-out photos of family members to those free magnets that come in the mail, adding a few exotic calendar photos of locations, and giving her space on the fridge to take us all on imaginary family vacations!)
• Marble Maze supplies from Little Miss Four to Miss First-Grader (including cardboard paper tubes decorated by Little Miss, duct tape, & marbles)
• Fabric Coasters (along with an inexpensive set of drinking glasses) for teachers and grandparents

There are wonderful homemade gift ideas all over the place. Share what  your family is making!

We won’t forget to re-visit our copies of The Gift of Nothing and Great Joy.

My favorite addition to last year’s holiday activities was a variation on the wish list. Right after we write our letters to Santa, we’ll draw up another, much more important list: our giving list.

The girls enjoyed taking the time last year to note all of the kind things they could do for the many friends and loved ones we see throughout the holiday season. From extra hugs to compliments to help with the suitcases, this list puts the kids in a helpful mood and orients them toward kindness as the company begins to arrive.

Share your hopes for holiday traditions this season!

Tags: Holidays

About Sarah

Sarah Aadland is striving to make family volunteering a meaningful habit for her family of five. Join the conversation as she ponders what they may (or may not have) learned and looks for helpful information about raising compassionate kids.Though she plans to one day put her Masters in Public Policy back to work for social justice, she sees family volunteering as a way to build a stronger community, a better world, and a more connected family. In addition to her children, Sarah tends a large garden, a small flock of chickens, and a habit of mindfulness amid the necessary rituals of parenting.

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