I’ve been doing a lot of thinking this year. About Christmas. About my toddlers who are quickly growing into little boys. About our traditions, gifts, and giving. And above all: About Christ.

I really want to be intentional with my time and resources this Christmas. It’s my favorite time of the year and it’s so easy to get wrapped up in the fun things of this season: yummy drinks, festive decorations, gifts, Christmas parties, baking cookies, and everything else that comes with this busy season.

But as I look ahead to establishing traditions for our growing family, I don’t ever want to be too busy to focus on the important things this time of year. The fact that God sent his only son to this year to be our savior. The joy that we have in knowing that our Lord and Savior came to this earth as a little baby. That we want to shout JOY TO THE WORLD, the Lord has come!

My kids are still young – We have twin toddlers (who will be 3 the day after Christmas) and our younger twins who are 5 months old this week. And yet, even now, I want my boys to grow up thinking that Christmas time is a month for giving and not just receiving. 

I love making Christmas morning fun – I love filling our stockings and the excitement of opening up a few new toys and pajamas! But more than that, I want to cultivate thankful hearts and a giving spirit within my sons.

So when Samaritan’s Purse reached out to me about sharing a project they are working on, I thought, sure! Then I started looking through the information they sent over. And I felt so thankful that God would send this my way.

This year they have put together a Christmas Gift Catalog. But this catalog is different, it’s 42 gifts from the heart to help spread the Gospel. By giving these gifts, you are helping Samaritan’s Purse to bring the Gospel to people around the globe.

Before I highlight a few of my favorite gifts from this catalog, I want to quickly share how I hope and pray to focus on the Gospel and on giving in future years with my boys.

3 Ways to Cultivate a Heart of Giving in Our Kids

1) Focus on the Gospel FIRST

First and foremost, I want to make sure that we emphasize the Gospel within our home. Giving to ministries like Samaritan’s Purse and partnering with them are great teaching opportunities, but the real meaning is lost when we forget to focus on the Gospel.

When we focus on the Gospel and share with our kids that Jesus gave the ultimate sacrifice – his life on the cross for our sins – it puts our own giving into perspective.

2) Encouragement my kids to save and use their money

As our kids get older, I want to encourage them to give out of what they have. When they are young, this will be very small amounts. But I think there is a powerful lesson to be learned from knowing that God will use your gift and that no matter what we have, we can still give.

3) Talk about it often

It’s so easy to get wrapped up in baking cookies, enjoying the season, and even picking out gifts for others that we truly forget to remember the reason for this celebration. It’s one thing to hang a painting in your house that says “Christ is the Reason for the Season” it’s an entirely different thing to live that out.

So basically my three “rules” for the Christmas season boil down to this: Remember the Gospel and share it with my kids on a daily basis. Actually, that’s a pretty good rule to remember all the time. But it takes on specific meaning and significance when we view this in light of Christmas!

Using the Samaritan’s Purse Gift Guide…

…to Focus on the Gospel!

This unique gift guide contains 42 gifts that you can purchase to help people in need and share the Gospel.

Gifts include things like purchasing baby chicks for $14 so that an impoverished family has an ongoing source of nutrition and supplemental income or spending $25 to provide warm clothes and shoes to families fleeing to safety in northern Iraq.

I love that as a family we can participate in these opportunities to give together. And I love the idea of encouraging my older children to pick a gift and then saving towards that goal.

Gifts range from $7 to $35,000, but you can always share the cost by donating a portion of the amount to a project you are passionate about.

One of the gifts in particular touches my heart as a mother – for $9 a week, your donation will feed a hungry baby or a nursing mama. My heart aches to think about my newborn twins not having enough to eat or a mama who can’t feed herself enough.

Which of the 42 gifts in this year’s catalog touches your heart?