Simple Success with a Come, Follow Me Family Home Evening

Sunday afternoon, my husband and I each read John 1 for our personal study.*
I also spent a long time online studying suggestions from other families and considering pre-made printables.
When I finished the day, the "Family Home Evening" box in my planner was still blank.
On Monday there was a sewing project to finish, lots of laundry, plus some MLK Day sales to take advantage of. When dinner time rolled around, I still hadn't printed anything cute. It was my daughter's turn to help with treat, and she was busy making cake mix cookies (to be filled with lemon pie filling). That was pretty much it. We were going to have to "wing it."
So we called the whole family in, and reminded them of expectations (stay sitting in this room until we're done; no electronics use unless you're looking up scriptures) and began. Without a "plan."
Well, glancing at the manual, we decided to start by explaining who John was, and what happened in this week's chapter. Having already (recently) read it ourselves, my husband and I felt comfortable with the material. This time, instead of reading that section straight out of the manual (which I had also familiarized myself with), my husband and I started to explain who John was in our own words. He would say something, and then I would say something. We encouraged questions or relevant comments from the children.
It felt very natural, like a dialogue.
Then everyone in the family helped us read John 1 out loud.**
We knelt for prayers.
Then my daughter served the treat she had made.
That was it. A simple, unadorned attempt to teach our family the gospel. The funny thing was: it felt like one of our most successful family nights.

It reminded my of something I had hear Elder Bednar say some time ago. After describing an unstructured family home evening based on gospel discussion and spontaneous sharing of testimonies, he said, "The best family home evenings are not necessarily the product of preprepared, purchased, or downloaded packets of outlines and visual aids."
"Watching with All Perseverance," Elder David A. Bednar, April 2010

There are many wonderful ideas and printables out there. I'm not saying there aren't. I even admire people who take the time and thought to create them. I just needed a reminder that the best thing our family needed this week had nothing to do with paper and ink. My children needed parents who had studied the gospel in advance, and an enthusiastic, informal discussion.

*For family study on Sunday, we shared what happened in our church classes, then read a story from The Ensign. (Before this year, I never would have thought to count a story from a church magazine as scripture. It turns out the kids love it.)
**This week, we will reread a few verses each following day, and have discussions or activities specific to those verses on those days.