79: How To Shine Bright This Christmas Heroes For Her

Rooney and I stopped by HomeGoods a few days ago to get some Christmas placemats for our kitchen table. It took all but five seconds before she abandoned our hunt and went meandering down the toy aisles that were overflowing with ‘stuff’.  She walked with purpose up and down each section, pointing out toys and games and figurines and dolls and cribs for the dolls and strollers for the dolls that were all going on her Christmas list. Hold on a second. In our house, we haven’t really decided on the Santa thing in general. She asked me about it last year and I told her the truth. “The people who love you have purchased these gifts for you. Now, let’s write our thank you notes.”   We don’t really have a clear-cut approach to this whole Santa business, but we definitely have not discussed writing out an entire list of things we want for ourselves. Moms, even though we battle cultural norms DAILY -- like selfishness over service-- can we still be intentional about flipping the focus this Christmas? You bet we can.  As a family, we've been having a blast doing the SANTA Switch this month to get ready for Christmas! I seriously can’t tell you how uplifting it has been these last few weeks. A BIG thank you to every one of you who sent in stories of how your family is noticing the needs of others and taking action to meet those needs. It's so cool.  In my original podcast episode from a few weeks ago, I talked about our family's first entry in our SANTA Switch journal where we had to track down a homeless man outside of the grocery store down the street from my parents’ house while we were there visiting. Check it out here. Need some inspiration? Here are a three stories from last week to get your creative juices flowing.  :) November 11, 2018 Today is Veteran’s Day. While we were sitting in church we watched a video that paid tribute to the men and women of our military. Our pastor asked all of the veterans to raise their hands so we could honor them as a church family. My husband elbowed me. “I want to ask the people sitting in front of us who raised their hands if we can take them to lunch after church,” he whispered. Once the service was over, he got their attention and asked if they wanted to go. They did! So we met them at In N Out down the street, chatting with them over hamburgers. Jim was from Indiana and lives with his wife just a little south of us. Tony had just moved here from Detroit and he’d only been in town for two days so far. It was great getting to know that they hadn’t been attending our church for that long. They also showed us how to order Flying Dutchmans off of In N Out’s secret menu. :) November 26, 2018 I was in New York City with my husband last week. We were walking down the street on the way to Times Square to decide where we should eat lunch. We noticed a mama, standing on the sidewalk in front of us. She was holding her infant son. It was cold and windy, and the baby had no hat. My husband was holding his new beanie in his hands when we saw her. He walked straight over to the woman and gave her the hat for her baby. November 28, 2018 We were driving to Home Depot to get our Christmas tree. On the opposite side of the street, going the other direction, an ambulance passed us with its lights flashing and its sirens going off. After a few moments, my daughter (totally on her own) said, “Hey, we need to pray for those people the ambulance is going to help.” We prayed together in the car for wherever that ambulance was headed and for healing and safety for whoever was involved. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. John 13:35 It’s not too late for you to hop on board the SANTA Switch Express! Start this fun and intentional Christmas tradition with your family. All you need is a journal, something to write with, and a commitment to notice the needs you see out in the world and do something about meeting...