Because it's good to give... {the legend of St. Nicholas}

...and have only God know about it.As parents we have so many dreams and hopes for our children. Above all, I want my littles to love Jesus with all their heart and to be kind...to have a giving heart and to know the joy that comes from serving others.Sometimes it's easy to get discouraged when you can't give in the ways you think you should, whether it be time or money or a number of other things, but we can all give something. I have to admit, I struggle with this one. I want so much to give in ways that sometimes I'm not able to and then it gets me down. Someone very wise {hi, mom!} once said this to me: you have to re-think how you look at it. It can be so simple. It's as simple as a smile. We can all give a smile to a passerby...we can all share joy and be kind. That is great giving right there.My littles are still very young and I have to admit, teaching them about giving is sometimes hard...teaching them that we give not from our leftovers or things we don't want, but from our "first fruits".Both of my littles love books, like really, really, really, really love books. So I've been trying to use that to help us convey to them the real meaning of Christmas - the story of our Savior's birth. I also want them to know about the real story behind Santa Claus, the story of St. Nicholas and how he helped those in need. There were a couple of books I wanted to get before Dec. 6th - St. Nicholas Day - but I couldn't find them locally and then Dec. 6th came and went...and well, you get the picture. I just couldn't get it together on time. So silly of me.So this weekend, in lieu of books, we just sat together and I shared the story of St. Nicholas with them through some websites. {This one} is good for the story but {this one} was much easier for my littles since they are still wee ones. Of course my little smarty pants wanted to know how St. Nicholas knew who the people were that needed help and a certain other little one wanted to know if St. Nicholas liked dragons {snicker}...but I hope some of the seeds planted take root.Learning at this age has to be fun - that's what I think anyway - so I've got a couple of projects up my sleeve that I'm excited about to help my littles learn a bit more about giving. Some I may share here and others I probably won't because that same wise person taught me by example about giving without pomp & circumstance.And yes, I scattered some pics throught the post because well, a post without pics is just plain b.o.r.i.n.g - HA! And just to be lighthearted, we sure had to throw Super Belly & Cookie Rooftop, our elves, in the mix. Grace & Hudson put their shoes {wellies} by the fireplace hoping St. Nicholas would leave them a little something and the next morning those sneaky little elves had moved their wellies into another room! Fun!It is not how much we give, but how much love we put in the giving.
~Mother Theresa
Dear God, Please help me remember that. Amen.