I love Charlie Brown's Christmas special and the sad Christmas tree and especially the part where Linus quotes Luke 2. "...For unto you is born this day in the City of David, a savior which is Christ the Lord......" I aim to encourage my boys to appreciate a simple Christmas, giving to others, not expecting everything on their "list" to be under the tree on Christmas morning, you know "it is better to give, than to receive....." I am not sure I am getting through to them, but I don't want to give up trying.
I am reminded of the cardboard box walls of the homes of some of the families we served and treated, acting as the hands and feet of Jesus in Honduras this summer, or the destitute in Haiti who are dying (literally) of Cholera in less that 12 hours if they are unable to get IV fluids or homeless families in this country, even Des Moines, who will wake up Christmas morning without any presents. My heart hurts to imagine how hard it is for a mama to not be able to give even the smallest of gifts to her children. I feel amazingly rich compared to most of the world's population.
My first attempt was to have the boys each pick out something out of the World Vision catalog to give to the "least of these". Nick picked out chickens, Jake picked medicine for sick babies and Sam picked a goat. I am not completely sure Nick didn't think he wasn't going to get the actual chickens himself to give away,but I am hoping they each thought of the people all over the globe who will appreciate the items each picked out.
I need to "walk the walk", not just "talk the talk"....... I can be obsessed with making sure I "make a memory" for each of my sons each Christmas morning. Sadly, it usually doesn't work out as I planned, and I am pretty sure I have passed on the obsession to my firstborn. He has his own (secret) expectations, that he forgets to share with his mother so I am sure it will take years of therapy to overcome most of my attempts at "tradition".
Christmas has become a much more Italian event compared to the Beattie (Wistrom) celebration with Swedish fare that no one really liked nor had the heart to tell Grandma Ellen that we all would rather have something besides luetfisk or pickled herring for Christmas Eve dinner. This year, as in years past, we will be having Christmas Pasta instead. Yummo! Tomorrow it will be TEN years since my mother-in-law went to Heaven VERY unexpectedly. It is hard to believe that it has been that long. Her dying changed Christmas forever. Jake has never known anything different, Nick still doesn't remember how much he adored Grandma Ellen, and Sam refuses to give up any of the toys she ever gave him. She was definitely a "giver". She thought through each gift she bought. That was what was so hard about Christmas 2000. She went to Heaven while she was wrapping presents and we had to guess who she bought the remaining, unwrapped presents were for. God has healed our hearts and we do know that we will see Grandma again and are looking forward to her giving us our tour of the Golden Streets.
The Advent Conspiracy has affected me, so my goal is to "Worship fully, spend less, give more, and love all". Jesus came to earth as the son of a teenager who wasn't married and He did it all for me. I don't want to forget that he came to this earth only to die for my sins so I could spend eternity in Heaven.
"And there were with the angels a multitude of Heavenly hosts, singing 'Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill to men".
Wishing you a very Merry Christmas!
2 comments:
Oh Jerilynn, you made me laugh and then cry. Thank you for giving me a window into your heart. I love you!
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