Celebrate the TRUE MEANING of

Christmas this Season!

EXPERIENCE TRUE JOY THIS CHRISTMAS - Imagine your family blessing another family this Christmas while sharing daily devotions surrounded by candlelight and sipping hot cocoa ...

We have a very special Christmas tradition at our house that is such a blessing to our family and one other family each year. Early in December, we purchase a nativity set, including a stable. We get some small (shoebox size) boxes and then package each piece of the nativity individually for mailing. On the outside of each package, we tape an envelope which contains a devotion and song related to that particular piece of the nativity. For example, with the package that contains the first Wiseman, we might include a devotion that tells the significance of the three gifts; gold, frankincense, and myrrh, along with the carol, We Three Kings of Orient Are. We also cut the front cover off of old Christmas cards (such as a picture of the Wisemen) and include that in the envelope along with any other related item such as a bookmark, coloring pages of the Wisemen, crafts, recipes, etc. Instead of packaging the baby Jesus for mailing, we wrap that box with Christmas wrap and decorate it with bows and ribbons, we also include in the envelope a special Christmas card which we sign.

We prayerfully choose another family that we know — not well enough, though that we might see them too often and provide an opportunity for our children to accidentally let the "secret" out to one of their children. We choose a family whom we would like to encourage or whose salvation we have been praying for. We then begin mailing out the packages one per day (we get all of the packages stamped at once at the post office, then bring them home to mail in our own mailbox). We do not put a return address on the packages — however, due to recent terrorism concerns, we have the children decorate the outside of the boxes with stickers, crayons, markers, etc. to make sure the packages look Christmassy & "friendly" - not suspicious. We first mail out the stable, then the donkey, cow, sheep, shepherds (one per day, of course), Wisemen, Joseph, and finally, Mary — scheduled to arrive in their mailbox on Dec. 24th.

Beginning on the day that the other family will receive the first package, our family starts bringing out our own nativity set — one piece per day. We allow the children to sip hot chocolate, or Christmas tea (instant tea, lemonade mix, orange drink mix, cinnamon, cloves and sugar) and eat popcorn during these times. We have a lot of candles for our Christmas decorations and we light them (taking care, of course, with all our little ones) and have our devotions by candlelight. This creates an atmosphere in which the children are respectful and captivated with the devotions. We then sing the carol and read the devotions that we sent to the other family (we print copies for ourselves). Since we try to choose a family with children close in age to our own, we then assign each child to pray for the corresponding child in the other family and Warren & I pray for the parents.

Our "Nativity Tradition PDF" contains everything you need to begin your own Christmas tradition this year - excluding the nativity set. THIS IS A PDF FILE WHICH MUST BE PRINTED OUT ON YOUR PRINTER. Be sure to order your packet early so you have plenty of time to purchase a nativity set, find and prepare the individual boxes, and start mailing them out by Dec. 10th or 11th (assuming next-day postal delivery). During the years when money is particularly tight we have chosen a family in our own neighborhood and personally delivered the packages each day - this leaves out the element of surprise but is still an exciting and joyous experience for both our family and the receiving family.

P.S. — here's a helpful tip: In the lower left-hand corner of the envelopes, we write in small print the date on which that package is to be mailed (so we don't get them confused), then before we put that day's package in the mailbox, we cover the date with a Christmas sticker which makes the package look more festive and hides our secret! Also, in choosing a family, it's important to do a little detective work to be sure they won't be out of town during the holiday.

Here's what our Nativity Tradition PDF includes:

CONTENTS:

13 Daily Devotions - each centered around a specific piece of the Nativity set (Mary, Joseph, Shepherds, etc.) - these devotions are simple and interesting to keep the children's attention, yet each contains important spiritual insight that even the adults will profit from reading

13 Scripture focus sheets - each portion of Scripture focused on the daily devotion

13 Christmas caroling sheets - carols are related to the Scripture focus and add a spirit of worship and celebration to the daily devotions

13 Christmas coloring pages - each related to the Nativity figure

Complete instructions - including helpful tips that we've learned from our own experience with this wonderful Christmas tradition

This file is in PDF format which can be downloaded and then opened with Adobe Acrobat Reader - so you can print out the Nativity Kit Pages and re-use year after memorable year. Please do not miss out on the tremendous spiritual blessing of this Family Christmas Nativity Tradition!

Cost for our Nativity Tradition Packet is $6.50. Email vyckieb@conpoint.com for an address to send your check or money order – or click the PayPal button below to BUY NOW.

ALL PROCEEDS from the sale of this Nativity Tradition Packet are being donated to our favorite ministry, The Lord’s Heritage! (Please visit the The Lord’s Heritage Reversal Ministry Website –

http://www.TheLordsHeritage.com.)

Merry Christmas from Our Family to Yours!