My prayer this Christmas is that my kids may find the joy that comes from giving rather than receiving. Mark, my husband, has asked each person to prayerfully come up with a family or person who could use Christmas cheer. Instead of buying each other gift or receiving gifts from us, the parents, we will buy and deliver gifts to these families on Christmas Eve. I’ll be honest, this is scary for the kids. Christmas morning is full of present opening. With a family our size gift opening can take hours. It’s tradition…we sit in a circle and one by one we open presents. Each person enjoying what the others receive. As much as this feels like Christmas…we want them to experience what Christmas is really about. We want them to experience the gift of giving. It’s been fun to listen to the youngsters talk about how it’s going to be okay…we will still have hot chocolate and we can play games. You can feel the nervousness that they feel. However, I have also noticed that they haven’t made huge endless lists of what they want. They have been making list of people who could use Christmas cheer. I am surprised as they have started to notice a gentleman at church who sits alone and may be lonely at Christmas, or the lady who was in the hospital, the family who has lots of kid, like our own and could maybe use an extra gift or two. There eyes are already opening to what’s going on around them. I hope and pray that this will be a Christmas that they will remember forever. I hope that they feel the love so much that they beg to do it each and every year.
As your heart pours out to others, you can come to know how much the Lord loves us. You get the chance to recognize how truly blessed we are and to understand the situations and lives of others.
I’m thankful that Mark has asked each person to find their own person or family. We are staying local so that the kids can physically buy the gifts, wrap them, and deliver them. We want then to be a part of every step. I wish they could be a fly on the wall and see the joy they bring…but I believe the Holy Ghost will put that joy in their hearts as they give to others.
Even for a mother it’s scary. I’m use to spending hours making lists, balancing them, shopping, and then rebalancing, and shopping more. It’s been a calm season.
Growing up, there are two Christmas’s I remember most. One year, I finally got a scooter, and Shauna, my closest sister, got a much desired cabbage patch kid. We were so excited. Besides that we got a few smaller things like finger nail polish. My dad called us all in to tell us about a family that didn’t have money to buy any presents at all. He asked us to look at what we got and pick one present to share. He didn’t tell us what we should give, he just asked us to give. I remember every single one of us, gave our one big present. We took our Christmas to the other family. That memory had stuck with me all these years. Some how giving makes more of an impression than getting.
Another year, Christmas was going to be extra slim at our house. Christmas Eve the door bell rang, and we opened the door to find the walk way covered with gifts. We sat outside and opened presents. Tried on our new outfits and played with our new toys. It’s was the most magical experience of my life. I have always yearned to give that magic to someone else.
May your homes be filled with Christ’s magic…that you can fill your hearts and others with that joy.
Merry Christmas!
-Sherri Jorgensen
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