About a week before Christmas, I sat down with our kids and talked to them about why we don't make a big deal out of Christmas or cram a bunch of activities into one month just to make it feel like December is special. They've already picked up on a lot of this, but to have the formal talk was important...I thought at least.
My point was that every day is special...a gift. And every day, we should be focused on loving and serving Jesus. We shouldn't run to a soup kitchen in December to make ourselves feel better about spending hundreds of dollars on "stuff" at Christmas. We should be loving our fellow man daily.
We also should be watching our spending daily and only buying the things we need, can use often or will help streamline our lives so we have more freedom with our time to serve God. If we put all purchases...including Christmas ones...through this filter then we'll not only spend less and have more resources for God's use...but we will have a more simple lifestyle that will look very different from the materialism and consumer-driven culture around us.
Did I 100% live by this standard of gift-buying? Of course not, there were still fun and pointless things under the tree. But hopefully, those were more appreciated and will be better taken care of because there was not an excess.
But here were the best gifts I received:
With some Christmas money, I purchased a new vacuum because ours has slowly been falling apart for the last two years. I never dreamed I could be so excited to sweep the floors! Truly...poverty and the inability to buy whatever you want, whenever you want has huge blessings.
I also bought a toaster oven...our first. We haven't owned a microwave for about three years now. With the addition of the toaster oven, we could not only get rid of our broken toaster...but can now reheat leftovers without using the oven or caving into the use of an unhealthy microwave.
But yesterday, as I reflected on the past week, there were two gifts that stood out even though they weren't wrapped and placed under the tree.
When we learned that a blizzard was coming toward Indiana on the day we planned to drive there, we offered to let the kids open their presents on Christmas Eve instead of Christmas morning. Traditionally, we insist on staying home Christmas Day, but the anticipated weather required a change in plans. I expected the kids to be excited and to immediately want to rip into the presents...but no, the two oldest were very disappointed and insisted on waiting until Christmas morning. Our third child just wanted to do what the majority wanted and a small disagreement ensued when the youngest saw her hopes raised and dashed in a matter of seconds...so we compromised and each opened only one that night. We saved the rest until Christmas morning.
Best gift #1? We've reached a place in our family where tradition and spending time together matters more than "stuff"...at least at Christmastime.
And best gift #2 was that because we left early to head to Indiana, we were there when Dale received a call that his mom was heading to the hospital on Christmas afternoon. Dale's sister lives in Indiana as well and they were able to take off to Ohio together and be with their mom while they tried to find out what was wrong. Turns out, she'd had a minor stroke. She has been blessed to have very minor side affects that will mostly include speech therapy, but she's already home and recovering well. The gift is that God's protecting hand and foresight of our futures kept Dale and his sister from having to travel in a blizzard and prevented Dale's mom from enduring a long, slow recovery.
Really, as far as downtime versus running around...it wasn't a "simple" Christmas. Instead, it was the "simple things" that made it great.
My point was that every day is special...a gift. And every day, we should be focused on loving and serving Jesus. We shouldn't run to a soup kitchen in December to make ourselves feel better about spending hundreds of dollars on "stuff" at Christmas. We should be loving our fellow man daily.
We also should be watching our spending daily and only buying the things we need, can use often or will help streamline our lives so we have more freedom with our time to serve God. If we put all purchases...including Christmas ones...through this filter then we'll not only spend less and have more resources for God's use...but we will have a more simple lifestyle that will look very different from the materialism and consumer-driven culture around us.
Did I 100% live by this standard of gift-buying? Of course not, there were still fun and pointless things under the tree. But hopefully, those were more appreciated and will be better taken care of because there was not an excess.
But here were the best gifts I received:
photos of all four of our kids, taken and framed by our oldest, Abbey
Not even my gift, but Abbey painted the cover of The Great Gatsby onto a mug for her dad and I was very impressed by it.
Also, getting an "I Love You" note in my stocking from Leah.
With some Christmas money, I purchased a new vacuum because ours has slowly been falling apart for the last two years. I never dreamed I could be so excited to sweep the floors! Truly...poverty and the inability to buy whatever you want, whenever you want has huge blessings.
I also bought a toaster oven...our first. We haven't owned a microwave for about three years now. With the addition of the toaster oven, we could not only get rid of our broken toaster...but can now reheat leftovers without using the oven or caving into the use of an unhealthy microwave.
But yesterday, as I reflected on the past week, there were two gifts that stood out even though they weren't wrapped and placed under the tree.
When we learned that a blizzard was coming toward Indiana on the day we planned to drive there, we offered to let the kids open their presents on Christmas Eve instead of Christmas morning. Traditionally, we insist on staying home Christmas Day, but the anticipated weather required a change in plans. I expected the kids to be excited and to immediately want to rip into the presents...but no, the two oldest were very disappointed and insisted on waiting until Christmas morning. Our third child just wanted to do what the majority wanted and a small disagreement ensued when the youngest saw her hopes raised and dashed in a matter of seconds...so we compromised and each opened only one that night. We saved the rest until Christmas morning.
Best gift #1? We've reached a place in our family where tradition and spending time together matters more than "stuff"...at least at Christmastime.
And best gift #2 was that because we left early to head to Indiana, we were there when Dale received a call that his mom was heading to the hospital on Christmas afternoon. Dale's sister lives in Indiana as well and they were able to take off to Ohio together and be with their mom while they tried to find out what was wrong. Turns out, she'd had a minor stroke. She has been blessed to have very minor side affects that will mostly include speech therapy, but she's already home and recovering well. The gift is that God's protecting hand and foresight of our futures kept Dale and his sister from having to travel in a blizzard and prevented Dale's mom from enduring a long, slow recovery.
Really, as far as downtime versus running around...it wasn't a "simple" Christmas. Instead, it was the "simple things" that made it great.
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