• You will need five large cereal boxes wrapped in Christmas paper with the letters F, A, I, T, H on them, one per box.

1. Ask the children what they most like about Christmas. Expand and comment on the answers.
   
   
2. Choose five volunteers to each come and hold a box, with the letter facing the audience, but make sure the boxes are held out of order. See if the children can work out what the word is. Rearrange the children so that the boxes spell FAITH.
   
   
3. Go through each box in turn asking for suggestions of words beginning with each letter associated with Christmas:
   
   F is for: Food, Family, Frankincense, Father Christmas. F can also stand for faith.
   
   A is for: Angel, Alcohol, Alleluia, Anger(!). A can also stand for Action - faith without action isn't much good.
   
   I is for: Iluminations, Ivy, Inn. I can also stand for Incarnation, which is the religious word for God coming to be with his people in Jesus, born at Christmas.
   
   T is for: Tnsel, Turkey, Traditions, TV. T can also stand for Trust - Mary had to trust God that everything would be OK.
   
   H is for: Holly, Ho ho ho, Happy Christmas. H can also stand for Holy - Christmas is a very holy time, when Christians remember that God loves all people, and he showed this in the baby Jesus.
   
   
4. Remind the children that Christmas isn't only about having lots of fun and presents and food. It is also a very special celebration when we thank God for coming to be with everyone in his son Jesus. Jesus was a gift given for everyone to share (John 3.16).
   
   
5. Finish by saying that FAITH is a very important part of the Christmas message. Link this with the words of a famous Christmas carol they might know: 'O come all ye faithful'.
   

Dear God,
Help us to think about faith as well as fun this Christmas.
Teach us how to put faith into action
so that we can be 'Christmas people' all year round.
Amen.

Song

'O come all ye faithful' (if the children know it)
'The holly and the ivy' (Come and Praise, 119)