Christmas Aftershock

Is anyone else completely exhausted? Or is it just me? Because I need a 3 hour massage and about 18 hours of sleep. Seriously. I totally get why bears hibernate through the winter. One, to avoid going out in the bone numbing cold and two, to recover from the holidays.

We had a wonderfully awesome Christmas here. The kids had a blast and we were so lucky to have my mom stay with us. Somehow, even though I had all the gifts wrapped and ready to go before lunch on Christmas Eve (that's a big deal for me by the way) I was still up until after midnight. There wasn't even anything to assemble. I'm not sure how it happened, but there you go.

Then wham...Christmas morning. In our house Christmas morning sounded something like this.

Door creaks open.

Child gasps.

Footsteps race across the house.

Our bedroom door flies open.

Biggest child launches herself with a flying squirrel leap onto our bed and screams,

"IT'S CHRISTMAS!!!!"

To which I said, "is your brother awake?"

Biggest child does some sort of Russian gymnastic dismount from the bed and races to her brother's room.

Muffled and intense sibling discussion.

Smaller footsteps race across the house.

Smallest child tries to jump on the bed. Falls. Tries again. Falls. Grabs onto Major Dad's leg and pulls himself up (possibly pulling out leg hair as well).

"IT'S CHRISTMAS!"

To which Major Dad says, "well we're not opening presents until Grandma is up."

Both children disappear in a puff of pajama colored smoke.

Footsteps race down the stairs to jump on poor unsuspecting Grandma's bed.

And it was a fun day. A wrapped present that barked (a toy dog, not a wrapped puppy I promise), a remote control helicopter that I'm pretty sure is stalking me and Turducken for dinner (thank you Grandma Lisa for sending it!).

What? You've never heard of a Turducken? Neither had I until I married a man from New Orleans. It's a duck stuffed inside a chicken then stuffed inside a turkey. So when you slice it, you get a Neapolitan of meat. Yes, Turducken, when one plucked and stuffed bird on a platter just isn't enough. In fact, isn't there some song about the three dead birds of Christmas? No? Hmmm....I really must be tired.

The Great Gift Bag Rebellion

Today as I was wrapping gifts (not at the last minute...its still daylight) I was suddenly confronted by the single most controversial element of the Christmas season. Not the whole "It's not politically correct to say Merry Christmas while you're Christmas shopping in a major retail store decorated in red and green and advertising huge price cuts just in time for the holiday still officially known as Christmas" debate.

And not even the whole "how dare you put up a Nativity scene on your private property to celebrate a fundamental truth of your faith in this land of religious freedom and democracy because someone might see the display and be offended by such an obvious act of religious intolerance that they'll sue you, the city and the people who made the plastic baby Jesus sculpture."

No, my friends, I'm taking about an even more controversial issue. One that threatens the very heart of our Christmas traditions and festivities...the skyrocketing use of gift bags. That's right, the gift bag. It's the gift bag that is singularly at fault for the commercialization of Christmas...and the Zhu Zhu Pets riots...and basically the entire downfall of Western Civilization. Yes, every possible down side to Christmas is due to the insipid and sneaky rise of the gift bag to the pinnacle of present presentation.

See, I remember spending hours before Christmas trying to perfect the slide the scissors down the paper technique that my mom could do, defying the basics of geometry to smoothe snowflake bedecked paper around round corners, desperately trying to figure out the secret to wrapping ribbon around the package evenly and then debating the best location to place a big bow on top the whole thing. Only to see the carefully and lovingly created masterpieces of Christmas joy be shredded to microscopic pieces the next morning. And then gathering the wreckage into giant trash bags (saving the bows of course) and using the empty cardboard tubes as swords or telescopes.

But no more. Now the gift bag rules the wrapping roost. With its simple and time saving character rolls of colored paper don't stand a chance. The ease of dropping in a gift, stuffing with tissue paper and slapping on a gift tag has defeated the skill and precision of sliding scissors and precisely folded edges. No forced creativity to deal with an odd shaped box, no contortions to hold the paper in place while using your teeth to peal off a piece of tape, no frustration when an unruly gift pokes a hole through the wrapping. And no tornado of destruction on Christmas morning.

Those smug little gift bags are neat and easy, no stress, no challenge...and they're reusable. It's anarchy, I tell you!

So this Christmas, just say no to easy. Say no to the quick clean-up. Curl the curly ribbon...wrap a basket ball in an entire roll of wrapping paper and hold it all together with enough tape to put the space shuttle back in orbit! Wear your paper cuts with pride, my friends...and don't pay any attention to those gift bags under my tree.

Merry Christmas!!

Christmas Isn't About Giving

Whoa there, what did that title say? Yep, you read it right...and nope, I'm not in a Grinch-y mood. But I have been entertaining deep and profound thoughts on the meaning of Christmas.

Let's start with the (hopefully) obvious, Christmas is about Jesus Christ. It's not about gifts or family or peace on earth...even though those are all good things. Christmas is about the birth of Savior of the world. Does Jesus bring joy and peace and incalculable gifts? Absolutely. But I still say Christmas isn't about giving. Or how about this...Christmas isn't only about giving.

Christmas should also be about receiving. God gave the gift of His only Son on Christmas. He gave us a Savior. He gave us His life. So, in this Christmas season, are we truly receiving those gifts? Or are we simply acknowledging their existence without any true, heart deep recognition of the beauty of the gifts we have been given? It's like someone handing us a beautifully wrapped gift that we never open. Did we receive the gift? Sort of. We looked at it, acknowledged it, probably even thanked the person who gave it to us. But if we don't open it we miss the whole point.

Have we become so wrapped up in our giving, that we have neglected the Father's giving? I love the generosity and thoughtfulness that fill Christmas. It's wonderful that people want to give gifts and bless others during this season. I have gifts that are wrapped and waiting for my family and I can't wait to see them open each one. But I don't want to be so concerned with what I'm giving or what I'm doing that I forget, or worse, take for granted what God has given me.

Lord, help me to truly receive the gift of Jesus Christ into my heart and to be grateful everyday that You loved me so much that You gave Your own Son for me.