Praise & Giveaway: The Sparkle Box – Start a New Tradition this Christmas

Disclaimer: I received the product mentioned in order to facilitate my review. 

One of the traditions that I started a few years ago, is to put away all of our Christmas books away when we pack up our decorations. This way my children feel like they are getting an entire new library the night we put up our tree. One of the effects of this is that my kids don’t quiet get into the Christmas spirit until the tree is up and our Elf has arrived. I kind of kept this review book hidden for a couple of weeks because I wanted to really take the time to introduce the idea to the kids.

The Sparkle Box is a beautiful story about a young boy whose parents create a special tradition of sharing Christ’s love with the less fortunate and then creating a “gift” for Jesus to be left under the tree.

I read the story with my daughter and we talked about how we can do things for others. This isn’t completely a foreign idea, as my daughter goes to a Christian pre-school and they are really big about food drives and talking about helping those that are in need. After we read the story, I asked Lu if there was something our family could do like the boy in the book and Lu said that we could bake cookies and give them to someone. I love her generous heart and will definitely be looking at a way that she and I can bake some cookies.

Ephraim is a little more independent in his reading and doesn’t really like me to read to him so I let him read the book on his own. The baby and I snuck in just as he was finishing up. I asked him how he like the book and he grinned broadly. I asked him to tell me what part of the book was his favorite and he told me that he liked the part where the boy gave the candy bar and mittens to the man. I asked Eph if he could think of some ways that he has shown Christ’s love like Sam did.  Thanks to our amazing children’s ministry at church he gave me a pretty detailed list including collecting batteries for Belize, going to a nursing home to sing Christmas carols and collecting food and pennies.

I asked him what he would like to do this year and his answer surprised me a bit. He said that he wants to buy a “whole bunch of lighters and pass them out to the homeless so they can start fires and keep warm.”  Probably not an idea that will work but I will investigate some other options for us.

The book comes with your own silver Sparkle Box that you can put together and fill with little slips or tokens. I am looking forward to starting this new tradition in our home.

Would you like your own copy of The Sparkle Box?

Buy your own copy for $19.99.

Post your very own acts of generosity on the The Sparkle Box Facebook Page

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