In an effort to remind them that giving can be as much fun as receiving, the boys are having a little friendly competition this week. Kudos to Nana and Granddad for the great idea! You see, Granddad doesn’t like to carry change around, so he empties his pockets every day and saves the money — four full glass jars, at the moment. Here’s how the competition works:

 

The boys took turns guessing how much money the jars contain. The adults made unofficial guesses, too, but we’re not competing. The guesses had to be at least $5 apart, in order to avoid the $0.01 trick, ala, The Price Is Right. Nana will take the jars to the bank for the official tally, then the fun begins!

 

The boy who guessed closest to the total gets to keep 10% of the stash, with the expectation that he’ll tithe from his winnings. (So, if there’s $300, he’ll get $30 and give back $3. Sweet deal!) The other 90% will be used to support holiday ministries, which the winner will get to help choose. Our church and Nana & Granddad’s church each participate in several ministries, so it’ll be fun to involve the boys in a more hands-on way this year. We usually do the shoe boxes or gift trees, but there are lots of other options on the list, too. Depending on how much change-to-cash we end up with, we might be able to support a few different ones.

 

Needless to say, the boys are anxious to find how who the winner is!

 

In my next post, I’ll share another giving/receiving shopping idea that we’re launching this year. I think the boys will like it a lot.