Gift giving can be a true joy, yet it is being convoluted and mismanaged everywhere and is most awful at Christmas. The best gifts I have received and given are those that are made out of a napkin and a pen and are given for no special occasion. These gifts cost little or no money and the recipients are happy to receive them. I am disappointed that we have let ourselves get so lost in the tradition of gift giving at Christmas. We are teaching our children the wrong lessons by delivering to them a list of their material wants on a Biblical Holiday.
My favorite gift this year was from Mommy Moore and was worth nothing.
Mom went to the railroad tracks where she heard a coal train had tipped over and she proceeded to harvest coal for her baby girl this December. When I heard the story of how she did it I was not surprised at all that my mother had trucked her ass up some hill, behind a school, in the middle of the cold afternoon, looking for left over coal from a train accident, to give to her daughter as a Christmas gift. I hope I can do the same for one of my brats some day as well.
We all laughed around the X-Mas tree when I opened the gift and we laughed when we heard the story of how it came to be in a red and green wrapped box with my name on it.
What makes this gift meaningful is that someone took time to research and acquire the gift and they had a good time doing it. This is not likely the case when the exact green J.Crew Sweater I told you I want from the mall is purchased and handed over.
I'm sure iTunes gift cards and Playstations are valuable and appreciated in some circles, however too often I see them being expected and demanded of the children we are meant to teach and raise well.
Instead let's show them meaningful gifts this year, all year.
This certainly warms my heart because I'm the Mommy Moore that gave Rachel coal for Christmas. Of course I gave her some other things, too. We'd talked about this before, my giving her coal because of all the trouble she'd caused me when she was a little "brat", but seems she'd forgotten. So, when she opened the box, which by the way her sister & brother in law knew about, she broke out in hysterical laughter, and loved it. Just illustrates that love can be shown in many ways, including giving you "baby girl" coal for Christmas.
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