Our main Christmas outreach at Square Peg Ministries this season is the Holiday House! Our kids earned “Christmas Bucks” during the last couple of weeks and were then able to spend them at the Holiday House. Well, thanks to some sponsors and donors and some wonderful volunteers- we were able to pull off a fun and exciting event for our kids.
In the weeks leading to the outreach event, we explained to the kids that the “bucks” they were earning would allow them to shop for parents, grandparents and siblings. When we told them that- they kind of liked the idea. However, the main question was still, “What do we get?”
Well, our purpose in the Holiday House was to dilute the attitude behind that exact question. Of course kids want and expect stuff at Christmas time. What kids doesn’t? However, even our kids, from a lower income strata and with slightly different holiday traditions than most American families need to experience not only receiving- but giving.
So, here are a few pictures of all the fun at the Holiday House:
Well, of course, it’s hard for me to not add Nora into the mix of pictures! During our setup time, before PaPa picked her up- we kept Nora busy cleaning the fence on our apartment’s back porch. She LOVED spraying that Windex! Nice weather, too!
Some of our wonderful volunteers from a North Point Community Couples Group getting the kids’ snack bags ready.
Photos of gifts the kids could choose from.
As kids wait to be called into the Gift Room, they colored Christmas pictures that Miss Brandy provided.
Miss Traci and her 8th grade class from Horizon Christian Academy provided fun holiday crafts for the kids.
More crafting!
Waiting in line to “check out!”
Choosing gifts.
Miss Elizabeth and Mr. David hard at work wrapping gifts. Mr. Jason was our cashier- this is one of the few moments he didn’t have kids in line!
More kids waiting in line.
Our wrappers did a marvelous job!
They wrapped over 150 gifts in less than two hours. Even the kitchen counters and a makeshift table on the porch were put into use for wrapping!
Satisfied customers!
All in all, it was a fun and exciting day. By the way, what did the kids get? An experience in the satisfaction of giving. And they loved it!!
God is in the details! 