The Christmas season is one of our favorite times of the year! We love the music, the colors, the festivities, and we start watching Christmas movies about halfway through October! Every family has their favorite traditions and this year I am looking forward to beginning a new tradition in our home that will be special for years to come. When a box from The Giving Manger arrived on our front door step, I couldn’t wait to open the cute little package and share what was inside with my boys!
It is all too easy for the Christmas season to be a time where we are self-absorbed, focusing so much on our own desires that we forget to look around us and realize the needs of others. It is ironic to see what Christmas has become when we remember its true purpose. Christmas is meant to be a day of celebration! Not a celebration of new toys and gadgets and gifts, but the celebration of our Savior. Our Savior, who though one with God, humbled Himself to be born in the modest form of a small baby in a dirty, smelly manger. With the world constantly telling us that Christmas is all about us, I am excited to use The Giving Manger to show my boys one of the sweetest things Jesus demonstrated to us in his birth: Humility.
The Giving Manger is the story of a family who comes together as they learn to put one another’s needs before their own. In the book, the father implements a new family tradition of serving one another over giving gifts. While the kids are not thrilled about this initially, throughout the book we see hearts become tender and lives change as a result of humility growing in their home. Also included with the book The Giving Manger are three simple things: a manger, a small bundle of straw, and a wooden baby Jesus. And this is where our new family tradition comes in.
Every time someone in our family takes the time to serve someone else, they get to add a piece of straw to the manger, preparing for the birth of baby Jesus. I am excited to see how this will help our family see service more and more as a joy instead of a chore! We’re looking forward to the sweet conversations and moments with Noah and Cole that might be sparked by these small acts of kindness along the way. When Christmas Day finally arrives and we get to place Jesus in the manger, I know we’ll have many heartfelt memories of loving one another well throughout the Christmas season that we will treasure forever!
To reinforce the idea even more, I even bought a set for my son’s preschool class. I can’t wait to hear stories of how he and his friends serve one another & their teachers, aiming to outdo one another in love (Romans 12:10).
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Sometimes all we need is a small change of perspective to make a big difference in our lives. Thank you, Allison, and The Giving Manger team, for this incredible gift.
Grab yours here. (I get no kickback from this. I just genuinely love the concept!)
