Gift of Love

My Grandma and Grandpa started a "gift of love" project for our extended family years ago. It is a chance for us to come together as a large family group and put forth our efforts in a common service activity during the Christmas season. This year my moms youngest sister chose the project and we received our package explaining it all in October. My aunt invited us to read the book "The Ultimate Gift." In the book it refers to a series of gifts such as gratitude, laughter, hard work, friends, giving, problems, etc. We were to choose a couple of gifts and work on related service activities. We've been sharing our experiences on a family list serve. I look forward to my gift of love package each year. I am so grateful for the wonderful family that I have!

We spent the month of November putting a pine cone in a jar every time we felt grateful for something someone had done for us. We had a second jar to fill every time we did a good deed to someone else, encompassing the gift of gratitude and the gift of giving. Lucy LOVED it. Kurt is focusing on the gift of family, making efforts to call his siblings more often. I am working on the gift of learning, by trying to get things organized so I can volunteer as a tutor next semester when Kurt's school load isn't so heavy. We love this extra boost to get us thinking about what really matters and trying to improve areas of our lives that will increase our happiness and potentially bless others as well. It gets us heading in the right direction to honor the birth of the Savior and feel his love for us and any others we get to serve.