Top Ten (Ways to Use My Books for Christmas)

Per suggestion I recently read: TA-DAH! Welcome to
Angie's Top Ten Ways to Use Her Books for Christmas.

10. Can you? Read I Can Do It. Look at the different things Meiying does to be on mission (live like Jesus and tell others about Him). Look at the Chinese writing on the sides of the illustrations. Take the book with you and go to a Chinese restaurant for dinner. Reach out in love to the servers. If you have Chinese servers, after the meal, choose one of the pages and ask your server to read it in Chinese for you. Try to repeat the words. Ask how to say Thank you and good-bye in Chinese. Repeat the words as you leave the restaurant. Mmmm. This makes me hungry!

9. Make sure that your child's teacher has a copy of Families on Mission, Ideas for Teaching Your Preschooler to Love, Share, and Care. If she does not have a personal copy, buy her one for Christmas. Before you wrap the book, help your child print his or her name on the inside cover. Choose one of the chapters and look at the activities. Help your child highlight an activity that he or she would like to do. Place a sticky note to mark the page. Wrap the book and let your child hand deliver it to the teacher. Offer to help prepare or do some of the suggestions in the book. You will be a favorite with the teacher!

8. Read I Can Pray. Purchase a large desk calendar at an office supply store. Let your child decorate the borders of the calendar. Think about people you know that need prayer. With your child, print one name on each day of the month. Make sure to list a person on the date of his/her birthday! Display the calendar near the dining room table. Choose a meal (breakfast, lunch, or dinner) and create the daily habit of praying for the listed person at your chosen meal. Model how to pray aloud and let your child echo your words or think up and say his/her own words. Your child can draw a heart or star or squiggle on each day you remember to pray. Continue for each month of the year (repeat names as often as you like). BTW - my birthday is November 20th, if you want to add it to the calendar! I could always use prayer. ;0

7. Does your child's classroom have any of these books (see list at the bottom or past posts to my blog)? Donate a complete set. Let your child do the giving. Volunteer to host a weekly read-aloud. Read a different book each week and provide a simple 'after reading activity' (see the back of each book, or any part of Families on Mission).

6. Does your school have an auction? Donate a set to be auctioned off as part of the fund raiser. Is your doctor or dentist a Christian? Suggest these books for the waiting room. Provide information on how to get them, or get them and give them to your provider. If you are in the northwest, get in touch with me, and maybe we can do something together centered around one or more of the books. ;0 Have a stash of the books on hand and include a copy for new parents or give a copy for a birthday gift when your child is invited to a party. The possibilities are endless!

5. I Can Give has many ideas for ways to give to others. Not all giving activities need to mean 'give money.' How about giving some time to a shut in? Sometimes visiting brings more cheer than any gift. If you have a friendly dog, perhaps your family would like to give some time to a local nursing home (always check with the facility before taking children or pets). Maybe you would like to collect toys and necessities for a women's and children's shelter. Many people write notes and send mail to our military personnel in December, but how about writing or making Valentines and sending them in January? Shoveling snow, helping with chores, surprising mommy or daddy with a special treat (dinner, bed made up hotel style with a chocolate and a love note, cleaned bedroom, I love you! banner), donating gently used or outgrown items to a thrift store...teach your child to look around her/him for ways to help others. Make it a game. Everybody wins!

4. Read I Can Be More Like Jesus. Look through a children's Bible and find examples of what Jesus was like. Point out how Jesus treated others (loving, forgiving, friendly, helpful) and think of one thing your family can focus on to be more like Jesus. Make it a goal to work hard on that idea during the Christmas season. Read the book again on January 1st and check to see if you were successful.

3. Picture walk I Can Give. As a family, think of an extended family member or neighbor or friend who would benefit from your special attention. Plan and implement a giving project to help or show love to that person. Some ideas could be: invite them to dinner, bake cookies and deliver them secretly (ring the doorbell and run), decorate their door for Christmas, wash their car, use old magazines to make a collage card of friends/family (write a mushy note inside), go for a neighborhood 'see the Christmas lights' walk and have hot cocoa afterwards, greet them with a smile and hug each time you see them...). I know they will love the attention.

2. Put the books in a paper sack. Let your child reach in and pull out a book. Read it with your child. Or let your child read it to you. Choose one of the extra activities at the end (or any part of the book) and do it together. Take pictures of you reading the book together and doing the activity. Put the books on a coffee table and tuck the pictures inside the book cover. Do this with all the books. Go back and reread the books and look at the photographs. Fun times! Don't be surprised if you have requests for repeats.

1. The top ten way to use my books - ;0 - buy them! Give them as gifts! Drop by and I'll autograph them. I'll even use my best writing so you can read it! (PS - I always draw a little cat's face on the books I autograph, just for fun.)

Thanks for letting me be silly and talk about my books (again). Merry Christmas!


*Books by Angie Quantrell:
I Can Pray
I Can Give
I Can Do It
I Can Be More Like Jesus
Families on Mission, Ideas for Teaching Your Preschooler to Love, Share, and Care

*Available at any of the sources listed at the bottom of this blog.