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The Spirit of Gift Giving!
Gifts are a love language. Some gifts are sentimental and some are fun. Some are surprising and some are anticipated. Some are serious and some are hilarious. They can make us laugh and yet others make us cry. But whatever the gift, most likely it is being given in a spirit of love.
Years ago when the kids were little, money was tight. Prior to having kids, my husband and I would get each other anything our hearts desired. But, after having 3 little ones, there was always more “month at the end of the money.”
One Christmas we had just finished the kids visit with Santa, and were browsing through the aisles at the department store, when I found a lovely perfume. I wanted it in the worst way, but I was not going to ask my husband because it cost $50.00.
That was a lot of money to us in the late 80’s. Ted and I had agreed “NO gifts” that year, so I elected not to say anything. I quickly sprayed the sample bottle of perfume all over myself and even in my purse so the fragrance would linger as long as possible, and we went on our way.
That Christmas we had done most of our shopping for the kids at a discount store and even managed to find some “gently used” items at the thrift store. The kids were happy that morning as they played with their new toys and tried on their clothes. They didn’t realize their gifts hadn’t come from the department store. All was merry and bright. And I had long since forgotten about the perfume I had fell in love with a couple weeks prior.
That morning after all the gifts had been opened my husband pulled out a beautifully wrapped present. Of course I protested that he had broken our deal about No gifts, but I was secretly overjoyed to get it. I unwrapped the gift and saw the word “Eternity” on the box. It was that lovely perfume. Ted smiled at me with contentment, and I started to cry. It was so sweet. I hadn’t realized that he had been watching as I admired the lovely fragrance.
Ted knew we couldn’t afford it, but bought it anyway, knowing he couldn’t afford NOT to buy it. And my reaction was worth it all.
Eternity perfume hit the market in 1988, and I still have a small bit of that perfume left in the bottle all these years later. I rarely wear it, but every once in a while I open the bottle and smell it to remind me of Ted’s thoughtfulness, a gift I will always treasure.
That was one of those sentimental gifts given in the spirit of sacrifice that makes you cry…
On another occasion…it was the first year all 3 of our kids knew who the real Santa was. We were afraid it might be a bit ho-hum on Christmas morning, so Ted thought it would be funny to play a joke on our youngest son, Jeremy. Jeremy was always a good sport and he himself was a bit of a “jokester”, so my Husband knew he was the right “victim”.
First my husband bought each of the kids a really cool and expensive gift. (We had a little more money that year.) I wrapped them and put them under the tree. My husband also bought a stuffed doll called Baby-Bop, who was one of the characters from a popular show called Barney.
Jeremy was a few years beyond the age of kids who were enamored by this purple dinosaur and his friends, and even when he was younger Jeremy couldn’t stand Barney.
Barney was one of those television characters either you absolutely loved or hated – there was no in-between. I thought he was kind of irritating myself. I couldn’t see how he had made the children’s TV program scene and made it so big. But there was a full blown marketing campaign around the TV show and you could find Barney and his friends at every retail store.
So, being in on my husband’s prank, I wrapped Baby-Bop and put him under the tree too.
Our tradition is that on Christmas morning we all sit around the tree and someone is designated “Santa”. Santa pulls each present out, one at a time, reads the tag and gives it to that person. That person then proceeds to open it while we all watch with great anticipation, yet hoping they will hurry so we can get to the next gift.
That morning, my husband designated himself as Santa, (so he could be in control of the prank.) Knowing which gifts were the cool ones and which was Baby-Bop, he began our gift unwrapping ritual by giving our oldest son, Teddy, a gift from under the tree. Teddy burst with excitement upon opening the cool expensive gift.
Next was our daughter’s turn. Stacy opened her gift. She too was elated. Jeremy’s excitement grew as each amazing gift was opened and we all oohed and awed. Jeremy just knew his gift had to be as awesome as the others.
Finally after much anticipation, my husband reached under the tree and said, “Jeremy this one’s for you!” At that Jeremy squealed with excitement! He grabbed the gift and quickly tore off the wrapping, but it was not what he had expected.
You should have seen the look on Jeremy’s face when he opened his gift and it was Baby-Bop. “Baby-Bop!” he yelled, “I hate Baby-Bop.”
Ted and I played along with it for a minute, saying “we thought you loved Barney and his friends.” His sibling started to raz him too.
We finally let Jeremy in on the joke and gave him his real present from under the tree. Jeremy was delighted with the nice gift. He then spent a good majority of the morning, reminiscing how we had pulled one over on him. We all had a good laugh that day and Jeremy was a good sport.
That was one of those hilarious gifts, given in the spirit of fun!
Once again I am reminded of time when the kids were young and still believed in Santa. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the kids would cut pictures out of catalogues of things they wanted for Christmas and put them in an envelope with their name on it. Then when we went to see Santa they would give the envelopes to Santa as their Christmas wish list.
After the visit with Santa, my husband would distract the kids and I’d go back and get the envelopes from Santa’s helper so we could have a reminder of what they wanted.
One year after coming home from the annual Santa visit, I was going through our youngest son, Jeremy’s envelope and saw he had cut out a picture of Mr. Potato Head. I thought it was odd he wanted a Mr. Potato Head since he was kind of past that age and was more into remote control cars, trucks and pushing things around. But I shrugged my shoulders and thought, “Well if that’s what he wants…”
Christmas morning arrived and the kids ran out to see what Santa had left. Jeremy opened his first present and to his surprise it wasn’t at all what he had expected. “A Mr. Potato Head?!", he said, “ I wanted the race car on the back!!!”
Race Car, what was this kid talking about? There wasn’t any picture of a race car in his envelope…. I decided to check it out. So I slipped away into my room and pulled out the envelopes and sure enough there on the back of Mr. Potato Head was a picture of a really cool race car.
Jeremy was pretty disappointed that Santa could make such an error. I assured him that Santa was probably just really tired by the time he got to our house.
Between my husband and I, we had a really good laugh at how mistaken Santa could be.
The next year I noticed that Jeremy had put a big “X” on the back of all the pictures of items in his envelope, which he had cut out to give to Santa, making certain there would be no confusion.
That was one of those surprising gifts given in the spirit of loving “ignorance”.
And the Christmas gift memories go on and on…
So this Christmas as we all sit around the living room, the gifts will be passed out in our typical tradition. In the mix of gifts there will be ones that make us laugh and ones that bring tears. There will be jokes and surprises. There will be both useful and extravagant gifts and expensive and inexpensive . But one thing is for sure… they’ll be given in the spirit of love.
The custom of gift giving is a way to show love. And this custom is a reflection of the greatest gift that was ever given - the little baby Jesus on Christmas day.
God became man in the person of Jesus Christ, to eventually go to the cross to die for our sins, in order to save us - his children. He was born in a stable, and laid in a manger in Bethlehem over 2,000 years ago.
But unlike the gifts we give on Christmas, that eventually wear out or we outgrow; His gift of eternal life for all who believe in Him, goes on and on. His gift continues to be given to anyone who opens the door to him and accepts Him as their Savior. God's gift of Himself to mankind is the ultimate gift given in the spirit of love.
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only son, that whoever believes in Him (accepts the gift), will not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16
Years ago when the kids were little, money was tight. Prior to having kids, my husband and I would get each other anything our hearts desired. But, after having 3 little ones, there was always more “month at the end of the money.”
One Christmas we had just finished the kids visit with Santa, and were browsing through the aisles at the department store, when I found a lovely perfume. I wanted it in the worst way, but I was not going to ask my husband because it cost $50.00.
That was a lot of money to us in the late 80’s. Ted and I had agreed “NO gifts” that year, so I elected not to say anything. I quickly sprayed the sample bottle of perfume all over myself and even in my purse so the fragrance would linger as long as possible, and we went on our way.
That Christmas we had done most of our shopping for the kids at a discount store and even managed to find some “gently used” items at the thrift store. The kids were happy that morning as they played with their new toys and tried on their clothes. They didn’t realize their gifts hadn’t come from the department store. All was merry and bright. And I had long since forgotten about the perfume I had fell in love with a couple weeks prior.
That morning after all the gifts had been opened my husband pulled out a beautifully wrapped present. Of course I protested that he had broken our deal about No gifts, but I was secretly overjoyed to get it. I unwrapped the gift and saw the word “Eternity” on the box. It was that lovely perfume. Ted smiled at me with contentment, and I started to cry. It was so sweet. I hadn’t realized that he had been watching as I admired the lovely fragrance.
Ted knew we couldn’t afford it, but bought it anyway, knowing he couldn’t afford NOT to buy it. And my reaction was worth it all.
Eternity perfume hit the market in 1988, and I still have a small bit of that perfume left in the bottle all these years later. I rarely wear it, but every once in a while I open the bottle and smell it to remind me of Ted’s thoughtfulness, a gift I will always treasure.
That was one of those sentimental gifts given in the spirit of sacrifice that makes you cry…
On another occasion…it was the first year all 3 of our kids knew who the real Santa was. We were afraid it might be a bit ho-hum on Christmas morning, so Ted thought it would be funny to play a joke on our youngest son, Jeremy. Jeremy was always a good sport and he himself was a bit of a “jokester”, so my Husband knew he was the right “victim”.
First my husband bought each of the kids a really cool and expensive gift. (We had a little more money that year.) I wrapped them and put them under the tree. My husband also bought a stuffed doll called Baby-Bop, who was one of the characters from a popular show called Barney.
Jeremy was a few years beyond the age of kids who were enamored by this purple dinosaur and his friends, and even when he was younger Jeremy couldn’t stand Barney.
Barney was one of those television characters either you absolutely loved or hated – there was no in-between. I thought he was kind of irritating myself. I couldn’t see how he had made the children’s TV program scene and made it so big. But there was a full blown marketing campaign around the TV show and you could find Barney and his friends at every retail store.
So, being in on my husband’s prank, I wrapped Baby-Bop and put him under the tree too.
Our tradition is that on Christmas morning we all sit around the tree and someone is designated “Santa”. Santa pulls each present out, one at a time, reads the tag and gives it to that person. That person then proceeds to open it while we all watch with great anticipation, yet hoping they will hurry so we can get to the next gift.
That morning, my husband designated himself as Santa, (so he could be in control of the prank.) Knowing which gifts were the cool ones and which was Baby-Bop, he began our gift unwrapping ritual by giving our oldest son, Teddy, a gift from under the tree. Teddy burst with excitement upon opening the cool expensive gift.
Next was our daughter’s turn. Stacy opened her gift. She too was elated. Jeremy’s excitement grew as each amazing gift was opened and we all oohed and awed. Jeremy just knew his gift had to be as awesome as the others.
Finally after much anticipation, my husband reached under the tree and said, “Jeremy this one’s for you!” At that Jeremy squealed with excitement! He grabbed the gift and quickly tore off the wrapping, but it was not what he had expected.
You should have seen the look on Jeremy’s face when he opened his gift and it was Baby-Bop. “Baby-Bop!” he yelled, “I hate Baby-Bop.”
Ted and I played along with it for a minute, saying “we thought you loved Barney and his friends.” His sibling started to raz him too.
We finally let Jeremy in on the joke and gave him his real present from under the tree. Jeremy was delighted with the nice gift. He then spent a good majority of the morning, reminiscing how we had pulled one over on him. We all had a good laugh that day and Jeremy was a good sport.
That was one of those hilarious gifts, given in the spirit of fun!
Once again I am reminded of time when the kids were young and still believed in Santa. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the kids would cut pictures out of catalogues of things they wanted for Christmas and put them in an envelope with their name on it. Then when we went to see Santa they would give the envelopes to Santa as their Christmas wish list.
After the visit with Santa, my husband would distract the kids and I’d go back and get the envelopes from Santa’s helper so we could have a reminder of what they wanted.
One year after coming home from the annual Santa visit, I was going through our youngest son, Jeremy’s envelope and saw he had cut out a picture of Mr. Potato Head. I thought it was odd he wanted a Mr. Potato Head since he was kind of past that age and was more into remote control cars, trucks and pushing things around. But I shrugged my shoulders and thought, “Well if that’s what he wants…”
Christmas morning arrived and the kids ran out to see what Santa had left. Jeremy opened his first present and to his surprise it wasn’t at all what he had expected. “A Mr. Potato Head?!", he said, “ I wanted the race car on the back!!!”
Race Car, what was this kid talking about? There wasn’t any picture of a race car in his envelope…. I decided to check it out. So I slipped away into my room and pulled out the envelopes and sure enough there on the back of Mr. Potato Head was a picture of a really cool race car.
Jeremy was pretty disappointed that Santa could make such an error. I assured him that Santa was probably just really tired by the time he got to our house.
Between my husband and I, we had a really good laugh at how mistaken Santa could be.
The next year I noticed that Jeremy had put a big “X” on the back of all the pictures of items in his envelope, which he had cut out to give to Santa, making certain there would be no confusion.
That was one of those surprising gifts given in the spirit of loving “ignorance”.
And the Christmas gift memories go on and on…
So this Christmas as we all sit around the living room, the gifts will be passed out in our typical tradition. In the mix of gifts there will be ones that make us laugh and ones that bring tears. There will be jokes and surprises. There will be both useful and extravagant gifts and expensive and inexpensive . But one thing is for sure… they’ll be given in the spirit of love.
The custom of gift giving is a way to show love. And this custom is a reflection of the greatest gift that was ever given - the little baby Jesus on Christmas day.
God became man in the person of Jesus Christ, to eventually go to the cross to die for our sins, in order to save us - his children. He was born in a stable, and laid in a manger in Bethlehem over 2,000 years ago.
But unlike the gifts we give on Christmas, that eventually wear out or we outgrow; His gift of eternal life for all who believe in Him, goes on and on. His gift continues to be given to anyone who opens the door to him and accepts Him as their Savior. God's gift of Himself to mankind is the ultimate gift given in the spirit of love.
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only son, that whoever believes in Him (accepts the gift), will not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16
“We three kings of Orient are… bearing gifts we traverse afar…”