One of our Favorite Christmas Traditions
The “Last Straw” Christmas Tradition and Craft Idea
One of our favorite family Christmas traditions is the “Last Straw” activity. We usually start this the first Sunday in December. We begin by reading the Last Straw story. There is a cute Christmas book you can purchase here. A free downloadable copy of the story is available here. There is even a movie you could watch with your family if you want!
The Last Straw is a story about a family whose children struggle with constant teasing and fighting. The feeling of love and joy at Christmas is lacking in their home – haven’t we all been there before! They decide to build a small manger and gather tall grass from a nearby field. Only those who can keep a secret can play the game! That challenge makes everyone want to participate!
For the month of December, every Sunday leading up to Christmas, they place the names of each family member in a hat. One by one they draw a person’s name out of the hat and secretly do acts of service for that family member throughout the next week. After they do an act of service, they discretely add one piece of straw to the manger.
Our Challenge
Just like the family in the story, we also choose names each week. It’s fun to try to not get caught as we serve our family members. We are surprised every year as we watch how quickly the manger is filled as we stealthily sneak to do acts of service for our loved ones. Here is a video description of how we do it!
Often, we love it so much that we keep the tradition going even after Christmas. We also sometimes draw names and do acts of service during the weeks leading up to Easter. We hope that you take the time to try this fun activity with your family and we hope the spirit of love and service builds within your home.
Make your own Last Straw Manger
We built our own manger with scraps of wood. Small pieces of raffia are what we use for our grass. You can make your own manger by cutting off the bottom of a brown paper lunch bag and then cutting strips of paper for the grass. The original manger for Baby Jesus was a humble feeding trough for animals so don’t worry about having a fancy manger. Go ahead and start this tradition with your family today.
Cut 1/4-inch strips of construction paper.
Then cut the strips into 2 to 2.5-inch pieces.
Put your pieces of “straw” in a fun bowl or container while waiting
for service to be done.
Go do some service so you can add your pieces of straw into the manger.
