"Tis Better to Give than Receive"

It's always sort of sad to say goodbye to the holiday season. I still haven't taken down the tree but I have put a lot of the other decorative items away. Of course it's also sad to have to say goodbye to Audrey knowing that it will be awhile before we get to spend time together once again.

As I reflect over this past holiday season, this year I saw evidence of our children getting more and more expensive gifts....more and more gifts, period! I'm sure that Santa Claus' deliveries may have been leaner in some homes, but some of the children I talked to after Christmas didn't seem to have any recession woes at all. I couldn't help but think back to my own childhood and the lessons that my parents tried to hand down.

Since most of the people that look at this blog are primarily family, then most of you know that Christmas during my childhood was not filled with presents under the tree because there wasn't a tree. I'm still not sure all of the reasons that mom and dad objected to all of the traditions but I distinctly remember them remember them teaching me to think...What are you giving someone? rather than What are getting for Christmas? or What do you want for Christmas?"

Instead of ever making out a list for Santa..(which of course we never believed in) we were asked to pick out a gift for some other child in our class or grade that perhaps was less fortunate. Now of course we were all wearing hand-me-downs and had meals that consisted of bread of gravy at times, but still we were so blessed and I never realized that our financial means were so tight.

One of my favorite memories of giving was during 2nd grade. A girl named Dawn had a single mom and I believe the mother was sick a lot. She loved to draw and so I decided that she would be my choice this year. So mom took me down to Duncan's Five and Dime Store and as I recall we bought a sketch pad, colored pencils, and other art supplies. Then we delivered them to her house. She opened the bag and I'll never forget the look on her red-freckled face: sheer surprise and elation! At that moment I learned the true meaning of the season....which is the age old words of wisdom I entitled this post....Tis better to give than receive.

So to Mom...who occasionally reads my blog.... Thank you that even though as a child I felt really sorry for myself on the day back to school after Christmas break when everyone listed their new inventory of toys....Thank you! Thank you for helping me learn this lesson.

Yes, years down the road, when I was in junior high, Dad had a change of heart regarding the usual traditions of the tree, gift exchanging and even putting lights on the house! However I don't think he ever had a change of heart that the lessons of Christ were always supposed to be about giving rather than receiving.