Love our comic? Check out Morning Praise with Kids Alive! on Salvationist Radio every Saturday and Monday at 7.30–8am and every Sunday at 9–9.30am
Go to salvationist.org.uk/radio to get your morning started with half an hour of music, prayer, a thought and lots of giggles
Ask your parents or carers to go to sps-shop.com/kids-alive, call 01933 445445 (option 1, option 1) or email subscriptions@satcol.org to set up a subscription.
EDITOR Cara Mott
for £4.33 a
DEPUTY EDITOR AND KA! JAM CO-ORDINATOR Ibukun Baku
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Jacob Adams
GRAPHIC DESIGNER Philippa Martin
PROOFREADER Chris Horne
CONTACT US Phone Offce – 020 7367 4910
Territorial Headquarters Switchboard – 0845 634 0101 Email kidsalive@salvationarmy.org.uk Post 1 Champion Park, London SE5 8FJ
elcome to our Christmas Special! Before you read this issue, take a peek at a calendar. How many days away is 25 December? Christmas is almost here, so we hope you’re already getting into a festive mood! Maybe you’ve decorated your home so that it looks as jolly as Santa’s grotto! You might even have a Christmas tree, with baubles and tinsel hanging from its branches. And lights – don’t forget the fairy lights wrapped around the tree, glowing like hundreds of tiny candles! Beautiful!
This Christmas we’re celebrating a light that’s even more wonderful than any Christmas tree light you nd. It’s a light that will never go out, even after Christmas is over and all the decorations are packed into a box (which is ages away, so don’t panic!).
rst Christmas was around 2,000 years ago. A baby was born in a place called Bethlehem. This baby, given the name Jesus, was unlike any baby that had ever been born. That’s because this baby was God himself, come to bring hope to the world! Just like fairy lights can help us to see a Christmas tree in a dark room, Jesus came to bring light to our lives so that we can see and know God!
The light that Jesus brings is for everyone and lasts for ever. That’s why we’re still celebrating Christmas all these years after he was born! So as you’re reading this very special issue, we hope you feel full of joy. The everlasting light of Jesus is worth getting excited about!
The Everlasting Light
Happy Christmas!
The decorations, the food, the music – Christmas is amazing! With all that stuff going on, it’s easy to forget why we actually celebrate Christmas. Jesus and the light he brings are what’s really special about Christmas.
As well as celebrating Jesus’ light, we can also share light with others by doing things to bring joy to their lives. Instead of just thinking about what you want for Christmas, you could ask your parents or carers to buy a gift to donate to your local Salvation Army. Or how about writing cards or baking treats to give to people who will be spending Christmas alone? You could also collect food or drink items during Advent to donate to a food bank or give old coats to charity so that people can stay warm during the colder months. As you enjoy this wonderful time of year, remember to celebrate and share Jesus’ light and love wherever you can.
Christingle Prayers
Christingles are used to celebrate the light and hope that Jesus’ birth brought to the world. Many churches hold Christingle services during December to celebrate this light. This Advent season we’ll be looking at what each part of a Christingle means. Why not join in with our Christingle prayers and let the light of Jesus fll your heart this Christmas?
The orange represents the world
Join...
Name:
Address:
Dear God, Amen
Thank you for making the world. Thank you for each person and for the gift of life that you give to us. We think of those who are going through hard times and ask that you comfort them. May they know your love and peace this Christmas. We also pray for peace for the world and ask that we’ll all treat one another with kindness, love and respect. We pray that this Advent season more people will hear about you, Jesus, and the love and hope that you give.
KA! JAM is the coolest Bible activity club around. As a member you’ll go on amazing adventures through the Bible learning about Jesus. Each activity sheet is filled with lots of great stuff about being a Christian. You’ll also receive our mini-mag, Chatterbox which is filled with jokes, games and much more. And to top it off, there are loads of awesome prizes to be won! To join KA! JAM and complete the Bible activity courses online, go to salvationist.org.uk/kajam.
Or if you would like to receive the postal version, simply fill in the coupon below.
To join KA! JAM just fll in the application form and send it – along with two KA! JAM, 1 Champion Park, London SE5 8FJ. Applicants must be between 7 and 17 years old to join.
Date of birth:
Postcode:
Boy or girl: Do you attend a church, and if so, which one?
I, (signature)
apply for membership of Kids Alive! Jesus And Me. I understand that joining KA! JAM doesn’t mean I have joined The Salvation Army and that it is not a free subscription to Kids Alive!
PLEASE USE BLOCK CAPITALS.
Happy Birthday to You! Happy Birthday t to
To see your name and birthday printed in a future issue of KA! email your full name, address and date of birth to kidsalive@salvationarmy.org.uk. Remember to type ‘Happy Birthday to You!’ in the email’s subject box.
1 December
Emmeline Brine – age 6
3 December
Samuel Williams – age 13
5 December
Andrew Rigg – age 13
Christmas
Have you ever seen a really tall Christmas tree? In 1950 there was one tree in the United States of America that was so tall that it broke a world record. It was 64.6 metres tall, which is taller than the Cinderella Castle at
Good Will
Hello! I’m Good Will and I’m here to remind you about the importance of doing nice things. I’ve also hidden this present on another page in this week’s ISsue. In the Run-up to Christmas, spread some Christmas cheer by…
Donating old toys or winter coats to charity
You probably know the date of Christmas Day and the name of the reindeer with a shiny, red nose. However, there are plenty of facts about Christmas we reckon you haven’t got stored in your noggin! So here are a couple of random Christmas facts that you defnitely (and by defnitely, we mean don’t really) need to know.
Renting means paying to use something that belongs to someone else. Back in the early 1900s it was too expensive to own Christmas lights, so people used to have to pay about £260 to rent them instead! It took until 1925 for lights to become cheap enough to be worth buying.
To celebrate the countdown to Christmas have a go at drawing this Christmas pudding. To help you get started copy the Christmas pudding (right) into the empty grid. Hoho,haha,hehe! Hehe,hehe!
Identify the mystery item in the magnifying glass Who hides in the bakery at Christmas? A mince spy! What goes, ‘Oh, oh, oh’? Santabackwards!walking Answers on Page 2
by Neil Locker
across:
3 Christmas fuel: yule _ _ _. 5 Wax light used as a Christmas decoration. 6 Say something to get an answer. 7 Useful skill or a thing of value. 8 Number of wise men. 11 Number of turtle doves in the Christmas song. 12 Number of pipers piping in the same song. 13 Colour of Father Christmas’s coat. down:
1 Little or no light. 2 Notion. 3 Fewer. 4 Santa’s cave. 6 Reindeer’s branched horn. 9 Pond grass. 10 Organs of sight. 11 Fir decorated for Christmas, for example.
Ha ha, ha ha, ha ha!
Ho ho, ha ha, he he!
Ho ho, ho ho! He he, he he!
The NativityStoryPart 1
TRICKY TREE TRICKY TREE
Starting at the top, use the letters from each row to make a new word in the row below until you arrive at the base of the tree with a six-letter word that will tell you the name of one of Santa's reindeer
E
S H
D a R
Answers on Page 2
What type of key do you need for a nativity play?
byNeilLocker
How can you tell that Santa is real? You can always sense his presents! Who delivers presents to baby sharks at Christmas? Santa Jaws!
Find the Everlasting Light-related words in the grid
JOSEPH MARY JESUS
shepherds star peace stable gifts
Right Ribbon Right Ribbon
Find the right ribbon that leads to the present
B C
A don-key! Knock, knock! Who’s there? Hannah! Hannah who? Hannah partridge in a pear tree! saviour WISE MEN donkey nativity god LIGHT
A
Plus-Plus Competition
Arocket blasting into space! A volcano spewing lava all over the place! Father Christmas riding his sleigh! All of these are things that you can build with this week’s prize. In fact, there’s not much that you can’t build – your imagination is the limit. A Plus-Plus piece is a building block, and the Learn to Build Colourverse set comes with 1,000 of them! Each set also comes with six small baseplates and ten wheels. When you’re building, there are 17 colours to choose from. That means your creations might look as colourful as a rainbow!
This week’s prize also comes with a Plus-Plus HEXEL®, which is a fdget toy made out of six Plus-Plus pieces. It bends, twists and connects to make amazing shapes. It even fts in your pocket. So if you’d like to have a toy that you can take everywhere with you, then this is the competition for you!
For your opportunity to win your own Plus-Plus bundle*, answer the question below and email your full name, age, address and answer to kidsalive@salvationarmy.org.uk. Remember to put ‘Plus-Plus Competition’ in the subject box. Your entry needs to reach us by Friday 17 January when the winners will be chosen. You can also enter by flling in the details on the coupon below and posting it to: Plus-Plus Competition, Kids Alive! 1 Champion Park, London SE5 8FJ.
Name:
Learn to Build Colourverse is available from Amazon.co.uk and John Lewis. HEXEL® is available from Amazon.co.uk and other good toy stores
How many Plus-Plus pieces are there in the Learn to Build Colourverse set?
100 500 1,000
Address:
CHRISTMAS GINGERBREAD HOUSE COLOURING
There are so many different ways to get into a festive mood before Christmas Day. One fantastic way is to decorate a gingerbread house! People in Europe have been decorating gingerbread houses at Christmas since the early 1800s. You might not be able to decorate a real gingerbread house, but you can defnitely add a brilliant splash of colour to the design below! If you’d like to share your artwork with other readers, email your colouring to: kidsalive@salvationarmy.org.uk. Make sure you write ‘Christmas Gingerbread House Colouring’ in the subject box and give us your full name, age and address. Alternatively you can post your colouring to: Your Space, Kids Alive! 1 Champion Park, London SE5 8FJ. One last reminder, if you’re sending by post remember to fll in the details below so we know who you are. We send a gift to everyone whose colouring we publish, so don’t miss out!
Name: Age:
Address:
Postcode:
The Light in the Snow
By Jacob Adams & Illustrated by Philippa Martin
Ali and Mum were on their Christmas Eve walk when Ali spotted the light. Mum had been going on and on about her favourite book. She’d been saying that it told the best story ever written. She’d even offered to read it with Ali, but Ali hadn’t been listening.
In the snow on the path ahead, shining like a lantern, Ali had seen a little sparkling ball. Ali ran to it and dropped to his knees. It was amazing, dazzling, unlike anything he’d ever seen before. It was so bright that Ali wondered whether a star had fallen from the sky and settled in the frost.
With a nervous shiver, Ali reached out to pick up the ball. It felt like it was made of glass and it was neither hot nor cold. If anything, it looked like an incredibly bright Christmas tree bauble. Mum caught up to Ali, still talking about her book. And as Ali went to slip the light into his pocket, Mum said, ‘It’s a light that will never go out!’
Ali gasped. Mum must have spotted the light that was now in his pocket. She must have known what it was. A light that would never go out! What on earth was he going to do with it?
When Ali and Mum got home, Mum went into the kitchen to make a hot chocolate. While Ali was waiting, he rushed up the stairs to his bedroom, jumped onto his bed and crawled under the covers. Then he pulled out the light from his pocket. It lit up the darkness beneath his blanket like nothing Ali had ever seen before.
What actually was this thing? Ali wondered whether it had been made by a genius inventor. Or maybe it had fallen off a rocket that had been launched into space. Or maybe, just maybe, Father Christmas had already fown over Ali’s town. Perhaps this light had dropped off Father Christmas’s sleigh. Or maybe it was Rudolph’s shiny nose!
That night, after Mum had gone to bed, Ali sneaked out of his room. He held the light like a torch as he walked down the stairs on tiptoes. When he reached the living room, Ali could see the presents under the Christmas tree perfectly. He crept up to one present and held the light against the label. The label had his name written on it. Perfect! Ali could spend all night sat next to the Christmas tree. He could use this light to fnd all of his presents!
But then something Ali thought was impossible happened. The light fickered. It shimmered. It wibbled. It wobbled. And then it went out. Suddenly Ali couldn’t see the presents surrounding his feet. He couldn’t even see his own hands in front of him!
Ali barged into Mum’s room, still holding the light – although it gave no light now. Ali was fuming! Why had Mum said that this light would never go out?
‘The light went out,’ Ali said, ‘even though you said it never would!’ Ali held up the ball that had once glowed so brightly. Mum sat up in her bed, rubbed her eyes and yawned. When she saw the bauble, a big grin spread across her face.
‘But I wasn’t talking about that light,’ Mum said. ‘Were you not listening to what I was saying?’ Ali had to be honest –he’d really not been paying any attention to Mum when they were out on their walk.
‘I’d been telling you about my favourite book, the Bible,’ Mum told him. ‘I was telling you about the best story ever written – the story of Jesus! That story starts with the Nativity, which was the frst ever Christmas, when Jesus was born. Jesus was born into a world full of darkness, but he came to bring us hope. He came to bring light to our lives.’ Mum’s smile grew even larger. ‘The light that Jesus brings to our lives –well, that’s a light that will never go out.’
So Mum told Ali the story of Jesus, starting with his birth, and soon Ali forgot all about the glass bauble he’d found in the snow. That was a light that hadn’t lasted a night, but the light of Jesus would last for ever!
OUR ‘KIDS ALIVE!’ CHRISTMAS TREE HAS JUST BEEN DELIVERED, norman!
but i don’t want you to start putting the decorations on it until the rest of the crew are here. TIME TO be naughty and ignore what patch said!
i’d say that this was exactly what i planned to happen.
Phew! that took much longer than i thought, but it’s all done. i wonder what patch will say. oh well, serves me
you’ve done all the hard work for us, norman! That will teach you!
Anyway,
I knew you wouldn’t be able to resist being naughty.
