Every year my family does some sort of December Advent calendar. This is a tradition that I looked forward to every year as a child. Each year my mom would hang up our red and white gingham advent calendar with 25 cross-stitch numbered pockets. We would rotate who got to look in the pocket each day, choose a piece of candy, and then do a service for someone else and give them a piece of candy.
This year I really wanted to focus on serving others in December and then I heard about Light the World. This was the perfect answer to what I wanted to do! Light the World is a Christmas initiative for 2016 to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ through service. It focuses on celebrating and sharing the Light of Jesus Christ with others.
I think it is so good for children to reach outside of themselves and serve others. Christmas time is an especially great time for them to serve instead of only focusing on what they want for Christmas.
Having travelled around the world a little bit, and definitely having seen poverty first hand, I have tried to emphasize to my children just how privileged they are. My girls will not be getting the American Girl dolls that they seem to ask for every year, and my boys will not be getting the newest Lego sets or action figures. Our Christmases are generally on the small side and focus on things we can do as a family.
So, how are we going to incorporate #Light the World into our Christmas advent calendar?
We are going to start off by watching this video tonight to get us thinking about serving others.
Than, throughout the rest of the month, we will do various acts of service. We have our Thankful cards that we will flip over and use to write down our daily acts of service. I want to encourage them to come up with original acts of service so that it becomes a habit and they will continue to seek ways to serve others even after December is over.
We will also be using this calendar to give us a theme of how to serve each day. 
There are some other great websites that have produced calendars as well.
If you are looking for a simplified one for small children, here is a great option from ayearoffhe:
If you want a more concise (one page) version of the calendar, try this one from thesmallseed.
What will you do to Light the World?
