Suggested Hymns:
He Sent His Son (Children's Songbook 34)
Because I Have Been Given Much (Hymns 219)

Read:
Over several evenings, read A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens. (The story is written at a level appropriate for adults and older children, so if you have younger children, it might be better to retell the story in your own words. Alternatively, you could watch one of the several film versions of the story. Be aware, though, that the original story's social message doesn't always come through strongly in film adaptations.)

Discuss:
A Christmas Carol is often retold as a story about a man who learns not to be a grouch. But there's more to the story than that. How exactly does Scrooge's life, or way of thinking, change?

Scrooge promises the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come that he will "honour Christmas in [his] heart, and try to keep it all the year." What does this story suggest about what it would mean to "keep Christmas" all year round?

At the end of Stave Three, Scrooge sees two children hiding in the robes of the Ghost of Christmas Present. What do these children symbolize? What is Dickens trying to tell readers in this part of the story?

Marley's Ghost tells Scrooge that "any Christian spirit working kindly in its little sphere, whatever it may be, will find its mortal life too short for its vast means of usefulness." Working in our "little sphere," what can our family do to help improve the lives of people in need?

Activity:
Contact an organization that serves the needy to find out how you can help out during the Christmas season.