Here are a few ideas of loving more.  Most are from friends and wonderfully, from children who simply "get it" faster than those of us who should.

 #1 Siblling Gifts.  Each year my girls (all three of them the same age) get each other a small 20 dollar gift.  We contribute another 20.  They give that gift a week before Christmas, before any other gift is openned.  The girls spend more time trying to figure out exactly what would be meaningful to their sisters starting in well. . . about August.  At the end of the day, it may not be the biggest gift or even the one that is the most used over the course of the year, but it is the most anticipated and the most meaningful for the simple reason it's the one each girl has poured themselves into.

#2  Inviting The Lonely.  We spent a fair amount of time with refugees (St. Louis is a leading center of refugee migration) and African students coming to America on athletic scholarships to get an education.  They often have no one to celebrate holidays with and can't afford to go home.  Invite just one or two to your family celebration.  You may just learn an interesting tradition, recipe or story about how different cultures celebrate the same story!

 #3  Giving Away a Gift.  Each child picks one unwrapped gift and that gift is given away, before it is ever openned.  The child gets to present the gift (depending on the charity or church you work with this is either a good or terrible idea) in an effort to build a seedling of a relationship between two families and two children from two very different backgrounds.  Sure, the new bike, sweater Aunt Mae knitted and the cymbals that go with the drum set (and wouldn't be useful without the drums) are not necessarily the gifts from which the child choose.  One of the absolute keys is that the gift remains unopenned.  The child never knows what they gave away until it is openned by the child in need.  When they see their reaction, they never miss it!

 #4 Serving those who serve us.  Many people work on Christmas in essential public service jobs such as firemen, police, hospital, etc.  So why not take your children and family to the firehouse and bring a meal?  You can do the same with hospitals or whatever fits your family. 

 #5  Feeding the Poor.  We do this around Thanksgiving or on it, but Christmas should be the same.  Spend your meal serving a meal at a homeless shelter.  Fair warning.  Many shelters require children a bit older and wiser.  You can hear a few things that require a bit of maturity even if it is just learning about their personal stories.  But assuming it is age appropriate for your family, the blessings you receive from serving are greater even than the blessing of the meal provided. 

 #6  Picking a Project.  I knew a family whose Father would give each member of the family (children, wife and some relatives who were in town) a gift (amongst others) of the name of a charity or group the family would then work with over the course of the upcoming year.  I think they did a project with that group once a month.  It might be a shelter or an ESL program for refugees or fixing houses for widows and other poor families.  This is also a great Christmas present or commitment for small bible study groups to give to charities and churches that really could use manpower.  Personally, I suggest you focus on a commitment to serve in a personal fashion versus a commitment to raise or contribute resources (cash or things).  Think of it as Kingdom SWEAT equity.

 That is all for now.

Merry Christmas and thank you to three pastors who started a conspiracy.

 Rich K.