Generous George

Back in the 80's, my mom would to go to Family Home Evening groups where all the women would take turns putting together FHE lessons to swap. My mom accumulated vast amounts of manila folders with FHE lessons. One of my favorite lessons was about Gracious George the Gingerbread Man. The lesson told the story of the Gingerbread Man with a twist. Instead of just running away, George would stop and do service along the way. After the lesson, we would take turns doing something nice for a family member and leave a little stuffed gingerbread man behind to indicate that it was now that person's turn to do something nice.

Ten years or so ago, I bought a plush gingerbread man and renamed him Generous George (because "generous" has better alliteration with George than "gracious" does). During the month of December, Generous George gets passed around the family as we do service for one another.

In theory, it's a wonderful tradition, but in reality, we have some issues. Whenever we've had a toddler in the house, GG gets stolen for days on end, and we find him hidden in backpacks or bedding. There have also been plenty of fights over GG. 

Last year I kept GG locked up for the season because Eva made it impossible for anyone to have a chance to pass GG around. She couldn’t understand that George belongs to the whole family and not just her.

This year, with Eva being five, I thought we might have a successful holiday with GG. It's been okay, but Eva still doesn't quite grasp the concept. She just hides GG somewhere for someone else to find, and she doesn’t complete a service. She thinks of it more like a hide and seek game. 

But at least we're getting closer to mastering the tradition I’ve envisioned for all these years.