12 Days of Christmas

Something I have loved doing with my family during the Christmas season is the 12 days of Christmas. Almost every year since I was young, we have chosen a family to be their "secret santas" for 12 days before Christmas. Sometimes we would choose a family in need. Sometimes we would choose a family with a lot of kids. Sometimes we would do a few families and do it to our friends.... anyway. Long story short, it has always been a tradition I have loved. I loved choosing the family. I loved picking out the gifts. I loved how my heart would beat fast just before I knocked on the door. I loved sprinting to the car, driving around the block, and then checking the house to see if they got their gift.

One year, I remember doing the 12 days of Christmas for a lady in my ward who was one of my young women's leaders. One day, at an activity, I remember her telling us a story about how that had been a very hard year for her and her family because she had just gone through a divorce. I remember her breaking down into tears as she told us how much it meant to her that someone had decided to do the 12 days of Christmas for her and her young daughter. That left such an impression on me. At that point it became more that just a fun tradition. I didn't realize what it meant to the recipients until that day.

Anyway... for the last few years, my parents haven't had any kids at home to run and drop off the presents, so they have been teaming up with some other people in the ward, and just take a couple of the 12 days. When Bryce and I went home for Christmas this year, we got to take my parents' gifts to a couple families in the ward. At one of the houses, I was able to snap this photo of a sign they left on their front window before I knocked on the door. How sweet is that?