In our ward, we keep track of things that come out of Enrichment meetings (Things like good stories, quotes from leaders and lessons, recipes, and patterns for things we made over the year, handouts etc. I keep them all on a disc and by December we have a good collection of hints, ideas, and stories for the sisters to enjoy. In December we make a booklet for the sisters. We entitled it “From the Kitchens and Hearts of the Enrichment Committee” They loved it and are looking forward to the one for this year.

LA from LA

We are going to have a lesson about the gifts we can give the Savior in the Relief Society room and at that time we will hand out slips of paper for the sisters to write their gift on.

We will then go to the Primary room which will be decorated with a large manger. Each sister will be asked to remove their shoes and given a shawl to wear to set the mood for the evening. As they enter the Primary room they will be given a bundle of raffia to place in the manger and there will be a gift box for them to put their anonymous gift to the Savior.

The food we will be serving will be foods that the Savior would have eaten while He was on the earth. It will be placed on small tables throughout the room so the sisters can eat while they watch the presentation.

1. The Cradle Story
2. A song Breath of Heaven
3. A song The Inn Keeper - Let Him in
4. More music I was not His Father - He was Mine

There will be a different area of the room lit while each presentation is being made.

After this we will pass the gift box around and each sister will read a gift to the Savior that was written.

As the sisters leave we will give them a white stocking to hang on their tree to put their present to the Savior for 2005. We may make them mantle size.

About the food, we have thought of grape juice to drink, figs, dates, some kind of bread and honey, but what else.

-Jeannie Weber

We are having a FHE idea that is in the Dec. 2004 Ensign. “Five True Gifts” Based on an article on page 65.

We will then watch an old church film called “Christmas Snows, Christmas Winds. ” It really gets you in the mood for Christmas and brings back memories of childhoods past. Plus teaches a good lesson.

As sister is going to teach us how to make beautiful bows.

Our dinner will be Hawaiian Haystacks, Cottage Cheese and Lime Jell-O Salad, Croissants.

-Carol in NC

We have the best ward in the Church! Seriously, though, a couple of years ago we started having a Christmas “Service Round Robin”, where each sister bring a gifts of her time (such as a card specifying dinner, a FHE treat, snowplowing a driveway, etc.) or something she made (such as a knitted scarf). All of the gifts go under a tree.
We give each sister a number, then the sister with the number 1 picks a gift from under the tree, opens it, and then puts it on the table. After that, that gift is up for grabs by any of the sisters whose numbers follow. After the gift has been taken three times, it can’t be “stolen” again!. This has been such a success.
Everyone remembers what they received each year, we laugh until we cry at all of the “taking”, and the really amazing part is the realization of all of the talent that exists in the ward! It really gives us an appreciation for our sisters, not to mention an opportunity for true service to one another. Nobody wants to do anything else for our December Enrichment Night now!

Contributed by: Karen Lane

We had a really great Christmas HFPE! we did a ornament exchange. Then had
classes….

#1 Holiday Planning. Our RS Pres is a great Holiday Planner, she has a full 8 week plan of things she has to do, when she needs to do them. It was great!

#2 Easy Ornaments to make with your kids! We had someone demonstrate some great ornaments to make with your kids, stained glass ornaments using Jolly Ranchers, Macaroni Angels, Foamie Ornaments, Ornaments using OJ lids etc…

#3 Keeping our Family Centered on Christ at Christmas

It turned out really well! Everyone seemed to love the classes! If I had to do it again, I would do it in a Round Robin Style so everyone could go to all classes!

Contributed by: Sherri in TX

We went Christmas Caroling to the less active Sisters in our Ward, and had made a very cute clay pot Nativity that we gave to each of the Sisters that we Caroled to. The clay pots were very easy to make.

-Carolin Catling

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by: Janice Thomas

The idea was to help the Sisters build a Holiday Resource Planner at no cost. I wanted it to encompass everything from budgeting for the holidays to gifts to music.

I wanted there to be a gym full of display tables with different sections of the planner on display with copies of that section at that table. I asked about 12 sisters for help. They all chose a different subject to cover. I instructed them to come up with a display of that subject and a print out of that section of the planner with instructions, etc. The displays were to be nice, but not to go to much expense, just use ideas they already have, or can use afterwards.

The copying of their handouts were to either give them to me for copying at my work and at the church or if they had copy privileges at their disposal. Almost all of them were actually able to make their own copies. I set the number at 30 planners, as that is an average attendance for us. If I had the delightful problem of too many sisters, and not enough binders, than all of the committee members and participants would go without and I would make them a binder afterwards.

I actually ended up exactly with the right number. I had a sister generously donate 3-ring binders, but you could have sisters bring their own binder, or charge a nominal fee to purchase the binders. I had several sections already in the planner which I used as the first half of our program.
These sections were:

Finance & budgeting
Music
Stories
Gifts from the bath
We sang an opening song from the Music section which had words to most of the Christmas songs around. The Enrichment Teacher then shared one of the stories. One Sister then reviewed the finance and budgeting section, and then we had a demonstration in the kitchen on how to make gifts for the bath.
We then ushered the sisters into the gym where they were able to browse all of the tables and gather the sections to the planner. We provided 3 hole punches and tables for them to assemble their planners.

Refreshments came from the Gifts from the Kitchen table.

The sections of the planners were:
Finance/budgeting
Christmas Music
Christmas Stories
Gifts for the Bath
Gifts from the Kitchen
Kid Crafts
Ornaments
Advent Calendars
Quick and Easy Gifts: Make-a Kit gifts
Family Traditions & Activities/FHE Lessons
Clay Pot Crafts

The 1 inch binders ended up being completely filled with pages and when I went to make a copy of it to make as a gift for a relative, the copying cost $30.00! As you can see there are way to many pages for me to send out, and the truth is the idea is for the sisters of your ward to share their ideas with each other! I left the content of the sections up to each sister unless they requested some ideas from me.

It was a fun change of pace from the typical make & take Craft night we always have, yet the sisters left with a valuable resource to use for many years to come.

I did set the rule that if you didn’t come you don’t get a binder
later! I only made 2 exceptions when the Primary President had a sick child, and one sister gave hers away to an inactive sister she V.T.’s I surprised her with another copy. ( I didn’t advertise this rule ahead of time I just handled the request on an individual basis- I felt like it was too much copying and follow-up work afterwards and didn’t want the requests to get out of hand.)