Who gives a pig as a Christmas gift?

What is the #1 question children are asked at this time of the year? Undoubtedly, it is this: "What is Santa Claus going to bring you for Christmas?" I understand that people are well-meaning when they ask my children this, but sometimes when I hear it, I have to grit my teeth so hard I think blood is going to flow out of my ears!

Don't get me wrong--we love presents at the Jarrell house! And although Jeff and I get all the credit for the gifts under the tree instead of Santa, our girls are otherwise remarkably similar to other children who are excited about Christmas. They circle every girl gift in the Target catalog (other catalogs are discreetly hidden in the recycle bin) and beg for toys advertised on TV. Many conversations center around their ever-growing Christmas gift list.

They shake presents to determine what might be inside. There is endless speculation about who will get a Rapunzel Barbie and who will receive Barbie at the beauty salon. They countdown the days until it's Christmas when they will FINALLY get to open their presents with unadulterated glee!

All this is fun!!! We believe that exchanging gifts is a symbol of God's gift of his Son. The memories we make on Christmas morning when the girls giddily rush down the stairs to open up their stocking and gifts is absolutely priceless.

But is "what are YOU going to be getting for Christmas?" the only question our children should be asked? Does this not feed right into their sense of entitlement and belief that the world revolves around them and that they are owed presents simply because they are totally awesome?

How about this one: "What are YOU giving Jesus for his birthday this year?" I think 99% of kids would look at any adult who asked them this a dumbfounded stare. This includes Mika and Macy, but we are working to change that.

We are trying to stress to the girls that since this is Jesus birthday, he should get some gifts that are meaningful to Him. When I asked the girls what they think Jesus would want for his birthday, they responded "worship and prayer." Actually, those are good answers that I hadn't really considered to be gifts to Jesus, but they most certainly are!

Regarding more "tangible" gifts for Jesus--those that can be touched and seen--our Savior has requested that we give to the least of these in his name. God's heartbeat for the poor, sick, orphans, outcasts, and oppressed can be found throughout scripture. The verses below demonstrate just how personally Jesus views our care and concern for others:

"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'" (Matthew 25:37-40)

So, we have told the girls that they will receive three presents under the tree plus a few things in their stocking (we also bought a Wii as a family gift). The rest of the money that we have available for Christmas will be spent to buy gifts for Jesus.

You may think that spending money for gifts on anyone other than themselves is a real bummer for children, but Mika and Macy have really been excited about our focus on Jesus' birthday gifts. As Macy puts it, "this makes my heart feel good!" (from the mouths of babes...)

We love the gift catalogs (available in an online format, but hard copies work best for children) put out by various organizations. For example, in the World Vision catalog, you can purchase chickens, pigs, and cows (or shares of an animal) to be given as a gift to a needy family in the developing world in honor of a friend, family member, or teacher. International Justice Mission puts out a catalog showing how a gift can help train an investigator, free a slave, or provide aftercare for exploited children. There are many worthy organizations; here are just a few: http://www.ijm.org/ http://www.worldvision.org/ http://www.mercycorps.org/ http://www.miraclefoundation.org/

Visiting a lonely shut-in, delivering a meal, baking cookies for the neighbors, sending a Christmas card crafted by your children to an overseas missionary, donating a toy to Toys for Tots, and collecting food for the local food pantry are also gifts Jesus would love to receive!

To assure that Mika and Macy do not forget the gifts our family has given to Jesus, we write them on a slip of paper and place them in a special box. After we unwrap presents on Christmas morning, we open the box and read the gifts we have given to the King.

Of course, number #1 on Jesus' gift list is the same year after year. He has given His life for you; have you given him your heart?

"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23)

Have a blessed Christmas, everyone!

Hard Candy Christmas

Pretend you are in a Christmas time machine! We are headed to the year 1945! Destination: a one room house in the Smokey Mountains, where a little Dolly Parton and her 11 siblings are overwhelmed with excitement at the thought of having a store-bought gift under the tree. Let's listen in:

"Somehow Mama and Daddy always managed for each of us to get one store-bought gift. Regardless of what it was, it was a thing of wonder to be revered, looked at with slow eyes, felt with tender hands, and relished for its newness. Best of all was that "it's really mine" feeling that could carry you around on a cloud for days, or until it was replaced by that "it's really broken" feeling.

The boys' gifts usually included fireworks, and they'd be outside announcing that fact to the world as soon as a match was found. For today, tin cans would become space capsules, finger-formed dams would be blown, and many a German matchbox would no longer threaten Allied troops...

We girls usually got a little pink plastic doll with its own white cloth diaper held in place by a tiny gold safety pin. That may sound really cheap, and I'm sure it was. But for us, just the fact that it was plastic made it different from the ordinary things we saw in the holler. There was no way this could have been homemade. Unless you're home happened to be a sweatshop in Taiwan.

Those little plastic dolls instantly became the focus of whatever motherly instances the Parton girls had. Of course we all had one, and they basically all looked alike. If you looked closely enough, and of course we did, you could see little imperfections in the plastic that identified each doll. We "mothers" would get to know our dolls intimately. Inevitably, some body's would get lost or eaten by a cow or thrown down a well by an ill-tempered brother; sometimes there would be a "baby snatching."

A fight would usually follow, consisting more of accusations and name calling than anything else. "That's my doll," the rightful mother would cry. "See, it's got two little extra globs of plastic on it's left ear." On a good day, though, each mother would care for her own plastic treasure, and all would be well with the world.

We would scavenge to find things to serve as a crib and bedclothes. The more industrious ones would even fashion clothes for the doll. I always liked mine just the way it arrived on Christmas morning, in its special cloth diaper with the shiny gold pin."

Wow! Dolly's family may have been poor, but the children were rich in appreciation for even the smallest gifts, and they used so much creativity in their play.

Certainly, I am grateful that I can buy my girls more than one dollar store toy for Christmas, but I feel like by giving them so much, they have come to expect it as "their right," and often don't truly appreciate all the gifts we put in front of them. I would love for our house to have fewer toys. I'd like to find a balance between Mika and Macy having nothing and a having everything, like owning a few toys they really treasure and appreciate, instead of a house full of cheap, imported, lead-laced pieces of junk that probably cost pennies on the dollar to manufacture. Easier said than done, right? I may never figure out how to tame the "toy beast" in our lives, but I can smile when I think about little Dolly Parton, clutching her tiny store-bought doll with so much wonder and delight.