on december 1st, we got a small package in the mail from my mom.
she had compiled 25 of her favorite christmas stories and 25 christmas challenges into a small booklet and sent it to each of her children as an early gift. she asked that we read one christmas story each day, along with completing one christmas challenge each day up until christmas day.
i loved this whole concept. especially her christmas challenges. alot of them are very simple things– so it’s very sad that i needed to see some of these challenges in print to actually focus and think of them…. i’m so guilty of being wrapped up in “me” right now. i admit i’ve only completed a few of these challenges so far, but i’m making a goal of carrying them into the new year– and throughout the year.
incase you’d like to join in….
christmas challenges:
- go out of your way– befriend someone today that needs a friend and follow through to christmas
- tell someone you love them
- make a tree decoration that will remind you of Christ
- in your prayers today, give thanks for every blessing without asking for anything
- try to be as kind as possible to others today
- try not to quarrel with family members today
- do a good deed anonymously
- make goals for yourself– seal a copy in an envelope to be opened in a year
- visit someone sick or lonely or sad
- do volunteer work for some worthy cause
- do something fun for a child or younger sibling
- try to forgive someone who has wronged you, be reconciled
- make a “give list” instead of a list of gifts you’d like
- improve yourself in some way to please the Savior
- quietly reflect and choose uplifting activities vs shopping
- phone or send a card to an old friend or family member
- listen to Handel’s Messiah
- make a christmas treat for someone else
- be a calming influence today and control your temper
- accept the gift of forgiveness– pray for some weakness and ask for help in repenting of it
- look at christmas lights… where does all light come from?
- sing carols
- do something nice for someone without their knowing it was you
- be the first to say hello to people all day
- ask someone to tell you about a past christmas
merry christmas!
My mom gave Ted and I a book with 25 Christmas stories, as well. It was wonderful to have a little devotional each night.
I love challenges. I would like to do those!
Merry Christmas.
What a beautiful gift to receive (and re-give). I'm clearly running out of time till the 25th, but perhaps I can give several of those challenges a shot today. :)
that is so cool – i love little things like that. my mom is the same way!
merry christmas to you!!!
xoxo alison
http://www.froufroufashionista.blogspot.com
naomi, you are blessed with such a wise and creative mom. this is such a wonderful idea!
the challenges are very creative and worthy of everything that really stands for Christmas. lovely
What a beautiful idea! I am going to try some of these today. Merry Christmas!
What a great idea to keep the true meaning of Christmas intact. I need to work on ALL of those!
Merry Christmas!
This is wonderful! I love the idea. And I must say, just from the few posts that discuss her, I love your mom, you're a very lucky daughter! Merry Christmas! ox
wow!! this is so cool!! thanks for sharing luv :) hope you were able to complete them all :)
mamas are the best right? sigh
love.xx
and merry christmas!!
That is a wonderful idea…I am going to do this for my children next year…I love it! Thank you and your awesome mom for this! Merry Christmas to you and your family! xxoo
this is wonderful…just what i needed. thanks for sharing! :)
This is such a cute, creative and special gift. I love it. I might be copying this and passing out to my loved ones next year.
And I must say that the photo below of you and the hubby is my favorite Christmas couple photo of all time. Seriously, you are beautiful. Thanks for sharing that, it made me happy.
Have a super Christmas and a wonderful, fabulous new year!!
i think i might join in many of these challenges too :) merry christmas, naomi. hope it'll be a beautiful one for you and josh. keep up the great spirit you have. xo
absolutely WONDERFUL!!!!
wow, your mother is an amazing woman!
merry christmas to you and your family!
Aww this is nice!! I love your mum though I don´t know her personally I just think she is a great woman.
I needed this today because I noticed how much I was focusing on me again. Will try to follow those challenges too.
Thank you and Merry Christmas Eve to you and Josh!!
It was beautiful :-)
Merry Christmas dear Naomi.
Wish you health, happiness and all the good things!
xo
What a beautiful gift! I think I'm going to use some of those for New Year's resolutions.
Thanks for sharing and Merry Christmas!
what a great idea. merry christmas lovely girl!
Your mom is such a wise and wonderful woman. Those are very lovely goals. I think it's a great idea to continue those goals in teh new year. Also, a super cute picture below!
My grandma made each of our families a book like that, with stories and scriptures, and I copied it to give to my sister; she's getting married next month and moving to Argentina. I also added photos of past Christmases, mostly for her future kids, since they won't know us very well :)
What a beautiful gift to enrich your life as well as those around you. Your mother seems like such a sweet and creative person! Have a Merry Christmas!
It seems you have yourself an Amazing mom who gave you the best gift any of us could receive after Christ!
Thanks sooo much for sharing this!! I absolutely love it!
This is a beautiful list… and such a wonderful tradition to begin!
PS: thank you for the headbands, my daughters loved them!
these are wonderful challenges… something everyone should do!
merry christmas!
This is so amazing. I hope my kids will look back one day and have memories like this of me as their mom.
I love lists like these! That would definitely be my favorite Christmas gift from my mom.
Merry Christmas!
wonderful idea and the perfect things to be thinking about at christmastime and all year….as elvis so sweetly sings, "why can't every day be like christmas?" BEAUTIFUL and the nicest post to read on christmas eve.
LOVE AND PEACE to you!!!
heather
I love this. My New Year's resolutions have failed every year so I've stopped making them. However, I'll try to do these challenges to keep the spirit of Christ with me all year round. Hope you had a good Christmas! The picture of you and Josh is TOO cute! :)
That photo of you two is so adorable!!! Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas beautiful Taza. I love you and your blog. Sending you many good wishes for a Happy New Year!
Merry Christmas! What a lovely way to build up to Christmas!
what great ideas! thank you!
I'm going to steal the challenges and give them as early gifts… NEXT YEAR.
Is that okay?
What a neat gift from Mom! So special and fun.
What a great concept!!
I've been feeling pretty down and out about how we celebrated Christmas this year, and I want to do better about making Christ the focus. Thanks so much for posting this list! I have it bookmarked and plan on incorporating it into our festivities next year. Thanks for always being an inspiration Naomi!
you are beautiful and you always inspire me! <3 Thank you for sharing.
I LOVE this! Will your mom adopt me?! :) I'm going to print this out and give it a try! We miss you!
Man, with all the running around and exhaustion associated with the season this post actually made me stop and slow down. What a wonderful gift your mom sent!
Thanks for sharing this! My husband and I were trying to come up with a similar list for FHE this week, but we only thought of 14 things. We'll definitely be adding some of these to our list.