Why weren't you at elf practice?! (December sponsor family)!

Lately when I get frustrated with my kids I've been yelling this at them. :) It confuses everyone and makes everyone stop and think, "What is she talking about?" And then all the contention stops. Next time your kids are fighting try yelling, "Why weren't you at elf practice?!" and see what happens.

 

Christmas is the best time of year! Some who follow our sponsor program may have noticed we didn't have sponsors in October or November. That's because we save up from those two months to provide a Christmas for a family in need!

 

We asked the Bishop at our church if there was a family he was aware of that needed help for Christmas. He told us about a mixed family, both parents came to the relationship with children and then they had more children :) Yea for babies!

 

So here is what we did.



 

After saving five dollars of every order in the months of October and November, we gathered our funds and went shopping for presents (After the Bishop gave us the family name, ages and genders of the children). And yes, my children hated every moment of shopping for presents for other kids. Too bad, I said. This shopping trip is not about you, not one bit of it. And I didn't expect them to fully understand that at this young age so I did buy them ice cream afterward for being as delightful as two children siting in a shopping cart full of toys they will never play with can possibly be. They did eventually have fun when we started wrapping and making Santa letters.

 



We always buy the shiniest and sparkliest wrapping paer, ribbon and bows! We like it to be nice to look at all month!

 

Then we write two letters. One is to the family saying that Santa had to come early, but not to open the presents 'til Christmas. We do it this early in the month so that the parents don't have to stretch themselves too thin throughout the month trying to make a Christmas for their family. This is an effort to help the parents relax and enjoy the holidays with their family instead of taking on more work or squeezing in extra hours.

 

 

 

The second letter is for the parents and tells them what is in each wrapped gift so that they don't buy duplicates. And it explains that we added a gift card in case we forgot a kid :) Or they can use it for a nice Christmas dinner!

 

I had lots of little elf hands (and paws) to help me, so I made a little note to them to explain ;)

 

Then we paint over the letters in the note from Santa with glitter paint.

 

Below is Runy Tuesday, one of our cats. She was mad because I chose to paint first instead of feeding her. So she sat down right on our project to make herself known.

 

After the letters were dry we rolled them up, tied them with a ribbon and went to the families home to drop off the presents! They were all at home, but the light outside were off. Perfect! We dropped everything right in front of their door, rang the door bell and ran!

 

We had so much fun providing Christmas for a family in need! I wanted to blog about since it was done with money from our sales the past few months. So in a way you all who have purchased the past few months have helped this family have a nice Christmas!!! Thank you all!

 

And now I'm off to my "harp circle." It's a "jam session" for harps. :) ha! I hope you all are enjoying your holiday season so far.