Christmas Eve (Part II)

After coming home from mom's house, we gathered our little family together in the living room. I thought, somewhat wistfully, of my sisters, Kelli and Jodi, at home leaving cookies and milk for Santa and sprinkling reindeer dust to attract Rudolph and his gang to their house. I remembered all the years our kids wanted to sleep in the living room under the tree lights on the hopes of "catching" Santa filling their stockings. But right now my 'not-so little' kids were all just staring at me-waiting to get 'this' going-whatever 'this' was. The thought of sleeping anywhere besides their own lovely beds was the last thing on their minds.

"You guys aren't much fun anymore," I lamented.

They responded knowingly with grins and yawns.
We plowed ahead.
They listened intently as Jordan read, The Light of Christmas. In it the "Keeper of the Flame" looks for the giver of the "truest gift of Christmas" to light the Christmas torch. Unexpectedly, a young boy's selfless act of service rendered to the Keeper of the Flame himself is chosen as the "truest gift."


"I've thought a lot about "gifts" this Christmas," I said. They all glanced enthusiastically at the pile of Christmas Eve gifts (jammies) waiting to be opened.
This was what I expected but not what I meant. I tried to explain what had been on my mind.

I thought about gifts as our ward focused on providing gifts for children and families who otherwise would have gone without. I thought about "gifts" as Gabe and I watched The Polar Express. Me for the first time. I thought of the littlest boy on the train who was so hesitant to BELIEVE because his lack of "gifts" in the past had stripped him of anything tangible to believe in. I thought of my own children who had never had any lack of gifts but have also never had high expectations or have acted disappointed or entitled with what they received. But I also mentioned that I felt that there had been a greater focus on what they wanted to receive as opposed to what they wanted to give. There had been past years where we had the kids draw names between themselves to attempt to ease any financial burden they might feel. And though none were in any better position financially, I had begun to feel it was important they they spent the time and effort-and money-to give a gift to each other. All their siblings. I had thought much about my gratitude/guilt for our own good fortune. I struggled with the thought of the injustices in the world and focused specifically on the subject of "gifts." Why do some receive and not others?

And then a friend sent me the link to this short video:



Suddenly, it became very clear to me. My focus on gifts had been a little misguided. Christmas was about giving gifts. It was also about receiving gifts. And it became clear that each and every one of us have the opportunity to give and to receive equally. Our Heavenly Father gave His Only Begotten Son- a gift- to us ALL. The Savior's gave His love and His life and His redemptive power to us ALL. It has been offered freely and unconditionally. It is packaged for us personally.
And the choice is ours to either accept or reject the gift.
It is "the trust gift of Christmas" and I, for one, would like to gratefully accept the gift.



My favorite part of the night was watching my kids give and receive the gifts they had for each other. They were definitely more excited about the giving. They put a lot of thought into the gifts they gave each other.

Hailee loved her ring that Brittney found for her.

We are all big PSYCH fans around here. Christian made t-shirts for each of them in his graphics class. He went early and stayed late for days to get it done.

The girls picked out this t-shirt and his new favorite cologne for Christian. They totally have him pegged.
Hailee worked tirelessly to put together a photo calendar for Jordan from all the kids. It was a huge hit.

Jordan took the calendar out to work with him. The girls have mentioned receiving a couple of random "I'm thinking of you" texts from their dad since Christmas. I am willing to bet that seeing pictures of his kids on his new calendar had something to do with his middle of the day texts. I don't think Hailee realized at the time that it would be such a reciprocal gift.