Monthly Letter Prompt - January

Hopefully the last post helped inspire you to write a letter. If you have no idea what to write about, never fear! This is what I wrote to my girls about this last month. (I usually write at the end of the month but I think I'm going to start posting my prompt at the beginning of the month).

This one is pretty easy. We just celebrated Christmas and New Year's and the way you and your family celebrate is most likely very different than how your child celebrated.

Writing Prompts:
1. Describe how your family prepares and decorates for Christmas
2. Describe your family's traditions on Christmas
3. Talk about your favorite gift (I wouldn't describe everything you received because it may make the child feel awkward seeing as they probably only get one or two gifts).
4. Talk about the family you got to see
5. Talk about any traveling you did
6. Talk about how you celebrated New Year's Eve (try to keep it Christian G-rated, if you went to a crazy party and drank until you passed out, maybe leave that out :))
7. Talk about your goals for the New Year
8. Talk about the weather where you live (sounds crazy but if you live in an area where it snows, your child has probably never experienced that before!)

Question ideas:
1. Ask how he/she celebrated Christmas
2. Ask how he/she celebrated the New Year
3. Ask if he/she has any goals for the New Year
4. Ask about his/her dreams
5. Ask if he/she has any prayer requests

Gift ideas:
1. I included some pictures of my yard to show the snow on the ground because it doesn't snow in my girl's countries.
2. Pictures from your Christmas or New Years (again, try not to show material possessions or non-Christian activities)
3. Anything relating to winter/Christmas/New Years (that can fit in an envelope)

This month I chose to write my letters online. Compassion has a plethora of really cool stationary you can choose from, you have lots of space to type your letter, and you can easily upload up to three pictures.

This is great for when you want to send a letter to your child but don't have any stationary on hand. In addition to that, if you want to write a letter but don't have any Compassion stationary on hand and you don't want to send an online letter, you can always print out stationary from the Compassion website. You can also use your own stationary. If you do this though, it's important that you make sure to write your sponsor number and your child's number on the letter. Anything you put in that envelope to your child should have your number and your child's number on it in case something gets misplaced.

Happy writing!