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| Mary’s Heart by Liz Lemon Swindle |
Christmas already? You bet! Around here we do a handmade Christmas. The children draw names and figure out something they can make for one another. Mr. Ferrero Rocher and I think of things we can make the children, as well as each other. And I’m not lying even a little bit when I say it is a well loved tradition by us all! The children realize we do it to simplify our Christmas holiday and put the focus on serving rather than getting. Doing a handmade Christmas entails planning ahead especially because I like to have it all done by November 1st so we can enjoy the holidays without feeling rushed or stressed. I’m also not lying when I say that the hardest one to make or do something for is Mr. FR.
But this year we have come up with something special. I KNOW it will be perfect for him. The children are all on board 100% and are so excited to participate. Want to know what it is?
You have to promise not to tell.
PROMISE?
We, the children and I, are memorizing The Living Christ to recite to him first thing Christmas morning. We want to do it before any other gifts are open, to help set the tone of our Christmas celebrations that day. Bon Bon has already memorized it for a Young Women value project on Faith. She is in charge of helping the rest of us learn. My children are all very good at memorizing, even Special Dark, so I have no worries there. In fact I’m most worried about stretching my own little brain cells too much. 😀
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| Why Weepest Thou by Simon Dewey |
I came up with the idea to memorize it as a gift after reading this article, Bringing Christ Into Our Home, in the September 2010 Ensign. The mother in the article helped her children memorize The Living Christ by matching phrases with pictures. I suggested the idea to my children and they loved it! To add to our excitement just a few days later I received an e-mail from Discover the Scriptures announcing a plan and schedule, complete with visuals, for memorizing The Living Christ by Christmas. Coincidence? I think not! We will be printing off the visuals and creating little flip books for the younger children.
We are having to be a little sneaky as Mr. FR is home quite often, especially during our morning devotionals when we had planned on memorizing it. Today while driving to church we realized the half hour drive going and the half hour drive coming is perfect for reciting what we have memorized over and over again as Mr. FR has to go to church earlier than the rest of us and comes home later than we do. Another plus…it adds to the spirit of our Sundays!
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What an ambitious undertaking. I saw that article and like you it would be quite a stretch for my brain to memorize it. Joni
Sounds SO cool! You’ll have a great time doing and do a fantastic job too, I’ll wager! 🙂
I love this idea. We are going to do the same thing. Thank you for posting this. I am excited, although, like you, this will stretch my poor brain.
What a great idea, good luck!
What an undertaking. Memorizing the whole thing is quite a gift!
I had already planned to study The Living Christ in December as a way to prepare for Christmas. After getting that same email from Discover the Scriptures I decided we would get started early and try to memorize it. It is a little long for my little guys but we will give it a shot. I downloaded the visuals the other day.
Good luck with your secret gift!
Beautiful gift idea. It will be so wonderful for all of you.
What a WONDERFUL idea! I can’t think of a better gift…not just for him but for all of you as well.
I promise not to tell. What a great idea!! I read that article too and thought about memorizing it for myself just right now. I’m not great at memorizing though so I figured the pictures would help me.
I love homemade christmas gifts!!!
What a great idea! I LOVE it!
I love this idea I think we will be looking it over. I heard your daughter recite The Living Christ and it is so amazing. You are awesome.
Awesome idea and I love that y’all are all so excited about it! Enjoy.
Thanks for sharing and the motivation. I appreciate the added link for visuals. Your husband doesn’t look at your blog?
Nope! My husband doesn’t like the spotlight at all so he doesn’t want to know if/when I post about him so he just doesn’t read. My children do read my blog though, and since they are sharing in the secret they won’t tell. 😀
This is an awesome gift idea, Cocoa! I can’t wait to hear how it goes!