My thoughts (Brent Walsh):
When I was a child, my family was barely making ends meet. Fortunately I had a set of parents who worked well together. My father worked hard to bring the money in, and my mother worked just as hard to make it stretch as far as she could.
Throughout the year, she would go treasure hunting at garage sales and thrift stores to buy like-new toys, games and clothes, and then stash them away in a box in her closet. When December rolled around and it was time to wrap gifts, my siblings and I would “go shopping” in mom’s room. She would pre-select a set of gifts for each of us to choose from and encourage us by saying, “I think Christie would like this” or “Don’t you think this would be perfect for Daddy?” When each of our gifts had a name attached to it, we would wrap them with wrinkled and ironed squares of wrapping paper that were employed for the seventh or eighth season in a row. Then we would make our grand exit and parade our gifts out to the living room.
When there is barely enough money to buy food, a Christmas tree just falls out the bottom of a budget. No need to worry, though, because we had lots of friends who would send us Christmas cards. My mother would clear a wall in the living room and affix the cards to it in the shape of a tree. Then she would outline it with green garland and put a tree skirt on the floor. Before you knew it, we would have gifts piled high beneath our tree-shaped card mural!
That Christmas I remember clearly what I gave my father. It was a big box of “daddy-sized” Kleenex. I was a bit downhearted at my gift when I realized that my older sister got to give him a box of chocolate-covered cherries. Those were his favorite candy, and my Kleenex just seemed to pale in comparison. That was, until he opened my gift! My father turned the gift over in his hands. “What could it be?” he wondered out loud. “It’s a square box… it’s not too heavy… it doesn’t rattle…” Carefully — amid pleas from my mother of “Be careful! Don’t rip the paper!” — he released each strip of tape, allowing the suspense to build. My eyes grew wider and I squirmed in my pajamas. He slowly peeled away the paper and, “Oh my!” he exclaimed. “Is this what I think it is?” I nodded enthusiastically. He gasped, as if he couldn’t believe my genius. My face lit up at the sight of his delight. “I was just wishing for some Kleenex like these the other day! How did you know?” I beamed as he opened the box and pulled out a huge tissue. He held it up to his nose, and with great ceremony… BLEW! I just about wiggled out of my socks as he chuckled with satisfaction. “Now THIS is a great box of Kleenex!” he said. “Thank you so much!”
That was about thirty years ago, and to this day I can see that moment like it was yesterday.
If you would have asked me then, I would have denied we were poor. I didn’t care that the toys we got were from garage sales. I didn’t care that we had to make our Christmas tree from greeting cards. I didn’t care that we went shopping in my mother’s gift box. It was the way my parents approached Christmas that made it so special. It was the little things they did that mean the most to me now.
Money is tight for so many people this year, and you may feel that you just can’t give your kids the Christmas you want them to have. But maybe the Christmas you can give them is exactly the one they want!
I know that my parents sacrificed from time to time to buy us brand new toys from the store, but for the life of me I can’t remember a single one of them. I remember that silly box of Kleenex because my father made the experience fun and memorable. I remember the ancient wrapping paper because it was sometimes a challenge to find a piece that fit around the gift I had to wrap. And I remember the card mural because I got to help create it. The things my parents may have felt bad about are the things I wouldn’t trade for anything in the world!
Thought for the day: What can you do with your kids this Christmas that they will tell their friends about thirty years from now? (These ideas can be translated to partner, spouse, family, friends…) Can you make homemade ornaments for the tree? Can you build a ginger bread house? Can you create a scavenger hunt on Christmas morning to prolong the gift exchange and make it more fun? Of all the things kids and family might ask for on Christmas morning, what they really want is… YOU.
We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the guidelines on the How to Pray page.