Scripture
“For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.” (Luke 2:30–32 NIV)
Cookie Exchange
A week or so before the program, create a sign–up sheet of those women willing to participate. Print a variety of cookie recipes or encourage the women to make cookies that are special to them or a tradition in their families. The number of cookies each woman will be asked to bring depends on the size of the group. Remember to include enough cookies to sample as part of the refreshments. The goal is for everyone to go home with several dozen cookies in a variety of flavors.
Decorations
Cover the tables with red or green tablecloths. Place festive Christmas centerpieces of glittery Christmas bulbs in glass vases on sheet music of Christmas carols. Reserve one table for the cookies with gold and silver doilies to go under the serving plates.
Activities:
Christmas Carol Pictionary Relay
Divide the women into two or more teams depending on the size of the group. Place the names of Christmas carols in a bowl. The players must identity the song based on the drawings their teammate makes. The teammate then races back to the bowl to grab another carol until they complete three rounds of Pictionary. The team that correctly guesses three songs first is the winner.
Christmas Bingo Game
Name that Christmas Song
Divide the women into 2 to 3 teams depending on the size of the group. The first team recites the first line of a Christmas carol. The other teams must complete the entire verse. Award extra points if they sing the song. The following site provides lyrics for the carols.
http://christmas-carol-words.com/
Craft: Make DIY Cookie Boxes
Make boxes for the women to take their cookies home.
https://housefulofhandmade.com/easy-cookie-gift-boxes-diy/
https://www.itsalwaysautumn.com/easy-diy-folded-paper-cookie-treat-gift-box-tutorial.html
https://www.ohmy-creative.com/holiday-crafts/christmas/diy-cookie-box-gift-printable/
Christmas Hope
Read Luke 2:25–38 NIV.
I love Christmas! It is a busy season and there is always something to do, especially at The Salvation Army. But more than the lights, decorations and food is the opportunity we have to affect the lives of people around us for the better. Whenever I think of Christmas Hope, I recall my childhood and one particular Christmas when my parents helped provide hope to someone who desperately needed it.
My parents are Salvation Army officers. One year during a particularly busy Christmas season they got a call about a woman who had just been released from prison. She had been given a train ticket so that she could get home to her family whom she hadn’t seen for many years. The train didn’t leave until much later that day and she had nowhere to go in the meantime. My parents picked her up and she helped us finish the Angel Tree shopping. They made sure that she had gifts for her family and meals for her trip. What my mother did was very simple and in her view anyone would have done the same, but I know that she obeyed the leading of the Spirit and brought a little Christmas hope into the life of the woman who came into our lives for a little while.
Each day we can encounter people who have very little hope. They have nowhere to turn and can feel very much alone. Will the Lord send such a person into your busy life during this Christmas season? Will you take the time to offer His hope and share that Jesus is the hope of the world?
