Sweet Charity

My husband and I throw a party with a twist: We ask each guest to come with a blank check for $20. Everyone is also instructed to choose a charitable organization she would like to support and to bring information about it to share with others. At the party, as we all enjoy great food, drinks, and company, each guest is asked to pitch her charity. Everyone votes at the end, and the winning charity receives all the $20 checks. Not only do we have a fabulous get-together with family and friends but we also all discover worthy charitable organizations about which we might not have known otherwise.
Lauren McLaughlin
Fairfax, California

My family and I “adopt” a family from an emergency shelter. We purchase gifts and food for a holiday meal, then get together for a day to wrap and tag the gifts. There’s no greater gift than making someone else’s holiday a little brighter.
Heidi Winkenwerder
Tacoma, Washington

Celebrations and Traditions

Maintaining family rituals gives us a feeling of connectedness, but preserving all the traditions handed down from two families was too stressful. Instead, we created one that is just “us.” We celebrate Saint Lucia Day in honor of my Swedish heritage, inviting our dearest friends for a smorgasbord. It connects us to those who have passed on while allowing us to enjoy the wonderful friends that make our life so rich today.
Karen Blandford
Sykesville, Maryland

On Christmas morning, while my husband goes downstairs to make sure Santa is gone (in other words, to turn on the tree lights and make coffee), I bring the children into my room and read the Christmas story to them. It has become the nicest tradition of our holidays.
Ann Brennan
Millersville, Maryland

The Heart of the Matter

I ask myself what I look forward to most about the season and use that as my guide to decide activities I will choose to participate in. If you allow yourself to be caught up in all the meaningless activities, your mind and attention will be everywhere but where you want them. I look forward to family traditions, get-togethers with close relatives, and reflecting on how God has blessed me over the year.
Bethany Peters
West Milton, Ohio

The holiday season signifies the end of another year. I take time to reflect on the events of the past year by looking at photographs and event programs and by remembering conversations with family and friends. This allows me to appreciate all the little things I may have taken for granted and to focus my attention away from the commercialism often associated with the holidays.
JaVonna Coley-Mustin
Kennewick, Washington

My husband passed away this past April. Our daughters are five and seven, and pictures of their dad have become precious to them. This year for Christmas I am skipping the malls and taking the time to sit down with my girls to make mini scrapbooks for each member of my family. This will show them that they are what is most important to us — not just at Christmas, but every day.
Jennifer Hennegan
Racine, Wisconsin

During this hectic period, there are so many dinners to prepare, decorations to hang, parties to attend, and presents to buy, it is easy to lose the meaning of the holidays. I try to take a step back and remember that meaning lies in the simple family traditions. Sharing favorite memories of past holidays, decorating the tree (with a story to tell about each ornament we hang), making cookies together (and eating the batter), helping the children with their handmade gifts for friends and family — these small tasks are what the holidays mean to me.
Carol List
Fair Haven, New Jersey

For me the holidays are filled with thoughts of my mother and the many wonderful memories I have of her from when I was growing up. Though she is still living, her health is in decline, and she’s certainly not the person she once was. But this time of year I see my mother in my favorite cookie recipe, the tree decorations she gave me, or the twinkle of freshly fallen snow, and I remember how much she means to me.
Meg Brown
East Rutherford, New Jersey

Even though we’re all in different corners of the world, the holidays bring me, my parents, and my seven siblings together, if not physically then at least in our thoughts. We each get to pause, reflect, and call one another in the spirit of the season. Sure, nothing beats a hug from a family member, but dropping everything to hear the sweet voices of my parents or my siblings during the holidays is uplifting.
Angela Reyes-Iglesia
Freehold, New Jersey

We try to emphasize the giving part of the holidays by making small presents for our family and friends. We create homemade (and mostly edible) gifts for family friends, teachers, and others — banana bread, hot cocoa mix with marshmallows, brownie mix in a jar, homemade smoked almonds. My daughter, now 10 years old, enjoys the planning and preparation but seems to enjoy the giving most.
Dana Beatty
Apollo, Pennsylvania

While there is some sentimental value in tradition, my husband and I find much more meaning in being still. Our society’s need for perfectionism and materialistic items never reveals itself more than at this time, and with the birth of our first child, we reevaluated what we do and why we do it. We don’t want to raise our daughter with the expectation of the perfect gift or of watching her mom race breathlessly through December shopping and baking. We have promised each other that we will never get so tied to any tradition that we forget to ask whether it’s still working for our family.
Susan Hager
Gilbert, Arizona