Thursday, November 19, 2009

Give A Cup Of Cheer

This is the simplest of things to do for Christmas....but sometimes the things that are the most simple, simply mean the most.

Give everyone in your family a cup or mug from the kitchen cabinet.  Or you could use jars if you have them on hand.  These will be their "cups of cheer" during the holiday season.  Make sure they are each labeled with the person's name. (Just use some masking tape or something that is not permanent---unless you want to go all out and permanently mark or stencil them.) Have the mugs setting in a community area of the house. (Kitchen counter, living room table etc.) Take a piece (or more) of construction paper and cut it  into thin strips (leave the strips near the mugs). Each member of the family then writes something they love about the other family members on separate strips of  the paper and puts the paper sentiment in each person's mug. The point is to do this and slip it in the person's mug of cheer without them seeing you do it, sometime throughout the day. The person can check their mug periodically or at an assigned time during the evening....whatever works for your family members.

Everyone loves to know that they are loved and appreciated. What parent's heart doesn't melt when a child writes something sweet to their mom or dad or tells them that they are loved? What child doesn't love to read that their mom or dad thinks that they are awesome? ( I don't care if they are 2, 12, or 20 they still love it!)  It could be something as simple as, "I love the way you helped me put the groceries away. You always know when I could use a helping hand."  to " You have the most dazzling smile. I just love when you share your smile with me!"  or "You rock when it comes to baking cookies!"  You get the idea.

The only stipulation for the cup of cheer is that no negative comments are allowed. Stress to siblings that there will be no snarky sentiments allowed AT ALL. The point is to spread love. We can always find good in others if we choose to focus on the positive. No matter how cold it gets outside---the heart of your family members can always stay warm if each day they "drink" from their cup of cheer. This is for the month of December, but you might find it is a fun thing to do and keep the cups of cheer going...all year long!

Keep tuning in for more of the Christmas Experiment........

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