"'How could it be so? It came without ribbons! It came without tags! It came without packages, boxes, or bags!' And he puzzled three hours, till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before!
"'Maybe Christmas,' he thought, 'doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!'"
Isn't Suess a genius? I love the messages within some of his books for kids (check out the Butter Battle book). Ahhh... Why can't I remember that Christmas doesn't come from a store? How do I take the focus off of buying and recieving gifts, and onto the birth of the Savior?
I want a Christmas that is meaningful and I'm not sure how to do it. I love reading the gospels this time of year - I love learning about the Savior and realizing how much more focused I need to be on helping and loving people. I love reading about His healing the blind man and taking time to cry with Martha after the death of her brother. Powerful, powerful stuff.
However, when I've been in Wal-Mart's never-ending customer service line or waiting for my fabric to be cut at Jo-Ann's for five hours, I quickly forget this. Will my children really be happy and feel the magic of Christmas with a stressed-out Mom who has five billion projects to complete before a certain holiday arrives? (I'm considering hiring on a few elves...) I obviously need to simplify, cut back on the gifts (as hard as that is!! just give me ten minutes in Toys 'r Us and I've found a bazillion things the kids need), and share time with these little ones who find excitement and amazement in Christmas lights glowing.
Owen, my mom and I were all having a discussion very similar to this earlier. Although I don't think I've had problems feeling Grinch-y. I would say I've felt more Santa-y thinking of all the things my kids "need". My mom has been reading a book that I think is called A Christ-Centered Christmas. I think I've seen something about it at Seagull book. It's probably at Deseret also. Anyway, one idea that we are going to start as a tradition to keep the focus of Christmas on Christ is to have Santa only fill stockings and bring one big family gift. Then everyone will receive three gifts representing gold, frankincense and myrrh. Gold - a prized and much desired gift. Frankincense - something that can be shared/enjoyed with another family member, such as a game. Myrrh - something practical and useful. Hopefully that will start our family along the path to having a more Christ-centered Christmas since He really is the reason for the season. :) Also, we don't have Santa decorations and I really try to not bring him up much in songs or conversation. Our kids really don't need us to talk about him; they will hear about him plenty everywhere else.
ReplyDeleteGrowing up as a kid I got way too many presents and the truth of it is that it really makes you ungrateful. We have countless homemovies of us kids complaining about how we wanted the gift that someone else ended up getting and not even showing thanks for the ten gifts that we did get! Jay and I started thinking how much more grateful I would have been if I had only gotten one present. I bet I would have cherished it so much because it was all I got. Because of this, jay and I give matthew one gift from us and one from santa. That's it. We try to teach matthew to be grateful for what he has and teach him to give to those who are much less fortunate. We take any extra money that we would have spent on more gifts for matthew and take matthew shopping to buy gifts for families that need them. This keeps us in the spirit of giving instead of receiving and follows the saviors example. Besides, 2gifts from us,the stocking, and gifts from grandparents and other relatives...I think he'll have plenty to be thankful for. (Hope you're doing great, btw. We miss you guys!)
ReplyDeleteHaylee-you're funny. I was reading her post & thought "she needs to talk to Haylee". You're both amazing women!
ReplyDeleteSo cute! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and great new year. I'll update more if you do too!
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