Kelly’s Christmas Shop

Posts Tagged ‘celebrate Christmas’

It’s just a small, white envelope stuck among the branches of our Christmas tree. No name, no identification, no inscription. It has peeked through the branches of our tree for the past 10 years or so.

It all began because my husband Mike hated Christmas — oh, not the true meaning of Christmas, but the commercial aspects of it overspending… the frantic running around at the last minute to get a tie for Uncle Harry and the dusting powder for Grandma — the gifts given in desperation because you couldn’t think of anything else.

Knowing he felt this way, I decided one year to bypass the usual shirts, sweaters, ties and so forth. I reached for something special just for Mike. The inspiration came in an unusual way. Our son Kevin, who was 12 that year, was wrestling at the junior level at the school he attended; and shortly before Christmas, there was a non-league match against a team sponsored by an inner-city church, mostly black. These youngsters, dressed in sneakers so ragged that shoestrings seemed to be the only thing holding them together, presented a sharp contrast to our boys in their spiffy blue and gold uniforms and sparkling new wrestling shoes.

As the match began, I was alarmed to see that the other team was wrestling without headgear, a kind of light helmet designed to protect a wrestler’s ears. It was a luxury the ragtag team obviously could not afford. Well, we ended up walloping them. We took every weight class. And as each of their boys got up from the mat, he swaggered around in his tatters with false bravado, a kind of street pride that couldn’t acknowledge defeat. Mike, seated beside me, shook his head sadly, I wish just one of them could have won, he said. They have a lot of potential, but losing like this could take the heart right out of them.

Mike loved kids — all kids — and he knew them, having coached little league football, baseball and lacrosse. That’s when the idea for his present came. That afternoon, I went to a local sporting goods store and bought an assortment of wrestling headgear and shoes and sent them anonymously to the inner-city church. On Christmas Eve, I placed the envelope on the tree, the note inside telling Mike what I had done and that this was his gift from me.

His smile was the brightest thing about Christmas that year and in succeeding years. For each Christmas, I followed the tradition — one year sending a group of mentally handicapped youngsters to a hockey game, another year a check to a pair of elderly brothers whose home had burned to the ground the week before Christmas, and on and on. The envelope became the highlight of our Christmas. It was always the last thing opened on Christmas morning and our children, ignoring their new toys, would stand with wide-eyed anticipation as their dad lifted the envelope from the tree to reveal its contents.

As the children grew, the toys gave way to more practical presents, but the envelope never lost its allure. The story doesn’t end there. You see, we lost Mike one year due to dreaded cancer. When Christmas rolled around, I was still so wrapped in grief that I barely got the tree up. But Christmas Eve found me placing an envelope on the tree, and in the morning, it was joined by three more. Each of our children, unbeknownst to the others, had placed an envelope on the tree for their dad. The tradition has grown and someday will expand even further with our grandchildren standing around the tree with wide-eyed anticipation watching as their fathers take down the envelope.

Mike’s spirit, like the Christmas spirit, will always be with us. May we all remember Christ, who is the reason for the season, and the true Christmas spirit this year and always.

Author Unknown (Please notify me if anyone can identify the author. Thanks!)

Years ago, a friend on my homeschooling email list wrote the following:

“I wanted to share with you all something different we’re doing this year.  This was my DH’s idea, and I think its just wonderful!

Every year in the past, our kids just TEAR through their presents on Christmas Day, then they are so dazed and worn out that they don’t appreciate what they got, and they are cranky and ill-behaved, too, from all the “information overload”. Then, too, there is the subsequent let-down as everyone realizes that it’s all over so quickly.

But this year, we are observing the “12 Days Of Christmas” – we are opening 1 or 2 presents each day, beginning on Christmas Day, and ending on Epiphany, which is the feast of the 3 Kings on January 5th. We have a small Bible reading before we open the presents each day, then everyone picks out their presents to open for that day.

The kids have, surprisingly, taken to this idea VERY well! They open that day’s present(s), and spend the day playing nicely with them, then they get to look forward to what’s coming tomorrow! It’s very peaceful and pleasant!

There are few, if any, drawbacks. First, your kids might get you up early for 12 consecutive days (but ours haven’t – by the third day, we had to wake THEM! Second, you have to be patient and set a good example, even if you got your husband a really great gift and you can’t wait to see his face when he opens it!

DH and I think we’re going to do this every year from now on; we’re going to discuss it at our regular family meeting with the kids, to see what they think.”

I thought that this was a very interesting concept. Haven’t tried it yet because we have a large family Christmas every year with people that we might only see once or twice a year. Has anyone done anything like this or have any other suggestions on how to “do” Christmas a different way? I’d love to hear!