Hi all!  Our family has officially started our Christmas break.  We are having out of town family coming to visit us for the holiday one weekend, a piano recital, we're taking a trip out of town, plus various family birthdays in the next couple of weeks.  We always take some time off in December since our house always gets rather chaotic during this time of year. 

Blessing Others

We always focus, especially during the Christmas season, on blessing others.  We save money all year long that we use at Christmas to bless others.  Childrens' Services in our area always has a tree with the first names and ages of children that you can buy gifts for. 

We have also bought gifts through Samaritan's Purse.  Samaritan's Purse has gifts that are low enough in price that our children were able to choose something to buy with their own money - such as buying milk for a child.  We have also done the Operation Christmas Child shoebox gifts. 

We also bless our neighbors with goodies from our kitchen, help shovelling and salting sidewalks, etc. 

We are hoping to bless a neighbor who is struggling with cancer this year with a Christmas Nativity. 

We have blessed some children with 12 Days of Christmas Books.  We select and wrap 12 books and mail or drop off 1 book each day leading up to Christmas day. 

Passing on the Blessing

You don't need to have any money in order to bless others.  A visit to a nursing home, shovelling a snowy sidewalk for a neighbor, visiting with an elderly neighbor who can't get out,  smiling at the cashier who's checking you out after you have waited in line for an hour, and many other "small" things can be a blessing to others and cost you nothing more than your time. 

Christmas celebrates the fact that God sent His greatest Blessing to earth as a tiny Baby.  I pray that each and every one of us will pass on the blessing of the season this year. 

Have a safe and Merry Christmas!

The Folden Family