In the month ahead, we'll be featuring Christmas memories from your favourite Canadian Christian authors!
When my daughter Rebecca was almost three we had our last encounter with true Christmas innocence. As the family gathered around the tree, Grandpa handed her a gift. She was thrilled. And then Grandpa tried to give her another package. Looking confused, she protested, “but I already have a present.” She didn’t know more were coming, and she was grateful for what she had.
That was then. This is now. Her younger sister Katie never experienced that innocence because she had a big sister telling her about the haul they were about to get.
To try to combat this we have instituted the “Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh” principle. Each child gets a Gold gift—something they want. And they get the Frankincense gift—something they need. But finally they get the Myrrh gift—something to help them grow spiritually. And that’s it.
And I pray that as they start to think more about the meaning of Christmas, and not the greed of Christmas, we can recapture that look of pure bliss on Rebecca’s face just to be remembered. For God remembered us, and I hope we never forget it.
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Sheila Wray Gregoire is the author of four books, including "To Love, Honor and Vacuum: When you feel more like a maid than a wife and a mother."
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1 comment:
Lovely story, Sheila. It's so important to teach these lessons to our kids! Our Christmases were usually sparse when my kids were young. Things have changed, for the better, so a few yeas ago we decided to spoil them and the gifts were heaped under the tree. Their response? Please don't do that again! Bless them! :)
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