It’s three days before Christmas and I’m still finishing my
shopping. Okay, well, to be a bit more honest, I’m really just starting. And this time, it’s not my normal
procrastination. Well, maybe a little bit.
As I mentioned last week, I’ve been in a decluttering mode. So I’ve been piling up, donating, upcycling,
recycling, throwing out clothes, books, address labels, cooking magazines, t-shirts,
toys, old paperwork. It’s a lot of work.
You can understand why I don’t want to fill up those almost empty, uncluttered
spaces again, can’t you?
Also, my purging has also revealed to me another thing: my
kids have a lot of stuff. The amount of
laundry that I do a week is a big tell-tale sign of how much clothes they
have. And I can hardly think of stuff
they “need.” Well, my son does need a new pair of shoes and the girls could use
some tights. But that’s about it on the “need”
list. “Want?” Eh, there’s a few things
but aren’t there always?
So then, I have to wonder, as the good mom I inspire to be:
what lesson am I teaching my kids by getting them more stuff they don’t need
and hardly even know that they want to celebrate the birth of Jesus? See, that could be confusing, confounding the
message of the virgin birth and the greatest gift to the world. How does a new pair of sports socks and a
video game cartridge and a(nother) Barbie fit into that?
But then we put up our beautiful tree, with its sparkly
lights and ornaments we’ve collected over the years. We sang Christmas songs at
church and enjoyed our friends at our cookie exchange party. And I can’t imagine my kids not waking up
early early Christmas morning, reading the story of the birth of Jesus, and
then not opening anything. Not enjoying
the anticipation of something new or the excitement of something picked out
just for them.
Perhaps they will translate the message of birth into one of
all things new, the promises yet unveiled, and a love unconditional. Perhaps they will be oh so happy for a new case
for their phone or a new box of Legos. I
guess it’s our job as their parents to make sure that they get the blessing of
both.
In the meantime, I’m off to have a chat with Santa.
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