The True Meaning of Christmas

*Note: this lesson will be short due to time and other things.
Discuss with your family on what you think the true meaning of Christmas is. The discussion can be as long or short as you like like.
Give each member of your family one of these handouts:

Download Link

What Gift Can I Give the Savior?

We are all busy Christmas shopping, and most likely wondering what our families have gotten us. :-)
But rather than focusing on what gifts we can give ourselves, we should focus on what gift we can give the Savior.  
The Savior wants service.
Challenge your family to commit one act of service this week. It can be big or small.
You could help at the animal shelter or a soup kitchen. You can even just make a family member's bed.
 Give each member of your family one of these handouts:

Download Link

Challenge your family to think about others rather than themselves this Christmas season.

December 6th, 2015

Please note:
There will be no lesson post today, December 6th, 2015.
Thanks,
Taylor

Beginning the Christmas Season

The Christmas season is beginning, so we decorate our house, go shopping, wrap presents, and feel slightly overwhelmed in general. 

In the December 2015 Friend, There is a story called Making Room for Christmas. You may or may not want to read this with your family. Here is a link:

Making Room for Christmas 

Here is a quick summary of the story:

A girl was faced with a full schedule for every day that December. A friend invited her family to go caroling on the same night that they were to go to an ice-skating party. There were several things like this throughout their month, so her mother finally decided to sit the family down and under-schedule the month. They chose only one event for each night that they were double booked, and they decided to not go to some events so they could spend time with family instead. They felt better and more relaxed about their month after doing this.

Read the first paragraph of this talk:

What Happened Next? Rosemary M. Wixom

Remember that if your children or siblings seem overbearing during this season, remember, you were a child once too. Christmas seemed to be the most magical time ever.

Give each member of your family one of these handouts:

Download Link

Gratitude, Part 2

This Thursday we have Thanksgiving, a holiday all about being thankful. But do we really think of what we're thankful for? Some of us may just focus on the food.

 :-)

 

You will need a blank sheet of paper, colored pencils/crayons/markers for each member of your family.

Ask your Family to get out their gratitude lists from last week's lesson. 

Ask them to read their lists out loud.

Now, ask them to draw one of the things on their grateful lists on the sheet of paper. 

Have everyone share pictures with each other. 

Tell everyone to put their pictures in a place they will often see them, for example, their wall, and challenge them to be thankful, not ungrateful.

Read and discuss this quote with your family:

"Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some." 

~Charles Dickens

Give each member of your family one of these quotes.

Download Link

Challenge your family to always be thankful.

Gratitude, Part One

This is Part One of a two-part, two-lesson gratitude lesson-to be continued next week.

Thanksgiving is coming up, a holiday all about being thankful for what you have. But I think that some of us don't realize just how blessed we are.
Read the "We Can Be grateful" section in this talk by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf.
Grateful in Any Circumstances - April 2014
Discuss how your family can be more grateful; even in times of hardship.
Read this quote with your family. 

Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough. 
- Oprah Winfrey

Give each member of your family one of these quotes and a blank or lined sheet of paper.

Download Link

Challenge each member of your family to find 10 things they are grateful for this next week; and to write those things down on that sheet of paper. Tell them that they will then share that list with everyone in the next FHE Lesson.

Clean, Profanity Free Language

This lesson is about positive language and keeping profanity out of your words.
Read or summarize this talk by Elder Dallin H. Oaks with your family.
Reverent and Clean
https://www.lds.org/ensign/1986/05/reverent-and-clean?lang=eng
Read Matthew 12:36-37
Discuss how you are not only judged by your acts, but by your language as well. Ask them if that makes them feel uncomfortable about their current language habits.

Click this link to download and print out one of these for each member of your family:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B05B2vstesapMmpnWUo5OFNjWjA/view?usp=sharing
After giving each of your family members one of these, challenge them to tell their friends not to use profanity in their language if one member happens to come across it, and to never be the source of such crude language.

Service Lesson

Here is a quick & easy lesson about service:
Read or summarize this talk with your family, and discuss why service is so important. You may want to talk about examples of service in your lives and how you can be more like them.
Service-Steven E. Snow.
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2007/10/service?lang=eng
Read Mosiah 2:16-17
Discuss the importance and truth of this scripture, and ask that if they would be more willing to serve others if they thought of it as serving God.

Here is a free printable to go along with this lesson.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B05B2vstesapRG9ZVmhWcnRtTmc/view?usp=sharing

This link enables you to download this picture.

After you download it, you can size and print it.

Give each member of your family one of these, and encourage them to do one act of service each week,and to let the printable be a reminder.