Christmas is meant to be the season of peace, love, and goodwill to all. If you are a Christian, think of your favorite carols and their messages. None of them says, "spend, spend, spend, buy, buy, buy."

If you share the belief that the holidays have become too commercialized, and that the main purpose of the season seems to have become the pressure to buy toys that will be broken within a month, think of ways to give the gift of peace.

For example, consider family activities that promote cooperation... and give gifts that foster peace education...  Read more...

The Benebikira Congregation is a native Rwandan order of Catholic nuns. Their Rwandese name means Daughters of Mary.

When many of Rwanda's religious leaders failed their people during the Genocide of the Tutsi, this  group of women "stood up" for truth, which meant putting their entire congregation of 350 sisters at risk for their refusal to separate themselves into ethnic groups and for their insistence on... Read more....

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations in 1948, asserts that all of humanity is entitled to a social and international order in which all safely co-exist, free from torture, slavery, threat or discrimination.

Still, more than 60 years later, many on our planet live in fear of genocide, invasion and other threats. Discrimination persists. Despite good intentions, rights are sometimes taken away by the very people who claim... Read more...

Check out these children's books about peace:

• 101 Relaxation Games for Children: Finding a Little Peace and Quiet In Between (SmartFun Activity Books)
   
• Can You Say Peace?
   
• Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Journey to Change the World... One Child at a Time ( The Young Reader's Edition)