The family of Ed and Kriss Gates have started a new family tradition to
celebrate the Christmas season. For years, the six Gates children and
their spouses exchanged gifts every Christmas, but in 2009, with
families spread across five state throughout the country, we decided the
gift-giving tradition was too costly and difficult. We decided we
needed to find a better way to celebrate the true Christmas spirit.
Amy, the second Gates child, suggested that instead of the
commercialized practice of buying small gifts and paying high shipping
costs, we each perform acts of service in the name of the sibling whose
name we were assigned at random.
Our good friend Carrie Collins drew the names and notified each of us privately of the person who should inspire our service. On Christmas Day, we reveal who we were given and how we chose to
serve by posting
our stories on The Gates Family Season of Service blog.
We love how this tradition has helped us focus on serving our communities and each other during the annual celebration of the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
We invite you to come back to our blog on Christmas morning to read
this year's service. If you would like to read about past years, here are two links to guide you:
A few friends have started this tradition in their
family. If you do, we would love to hear about your experience. And if
you allow, we will link to your blog and ask you to link back to ours.
