We had a great Christmas this year. The weeks preceeding the holidays were wrought with sickness. Flu caught a few of us. Colds and such caught a few others. We still managed to all get together for Christmas Eve. We only had 3 of our entire family that didn't show up. That is pretty good for that many people. We ate too much, sang Christmas carols, gave out about a hundred gifts from under the big tree, and played "Dirty Santa." That was just the beginning of the evening. We then went to my daughter's house for another gift-giving extravaganza. We always exchange gifts amongst ourselves (our immediate family) after the Christmas Eve party at my mother-in-law and sister-in-law's house. The kids get so tired by the end of that party. I believe that next year, we will do that on another day. New traditions.
We had a wonderful time. I love to give gifts. I think that is more fun than receiving gifts. Not that I don't like to receive, I do, I just like giving them more. This year, we were fortunate to be a part of giving to others that were not as blessed as we are. The delight and gratitude on those people's faces just blew me away. I know 'tis better to give than receive, but this time, it was brought to me face to face. I knew these people. I love these people. And I could help these people in this small way. My daughter and a friend from church helped to bless these folks also. They were very happy with the blessing as shown by the tears on their face and the many hugs that we received.
One of my dear friends had chosen a family to give their gifts to this year. You heard right. Whatever they would have spent on each other, they gave to spend on this family. The family was so blessed by this. Instead of getting gifts that they didn't really need, my friend's family bought for this other family instead. They got much joy out of shopping for toys for the kids, and they even got stuff for the mother. It was such a blessing to be a small part of this.
I know I have used the word blessing a lot in this post, but honestly, it is the only word that fit. Our blessings are so many this year. God has blessed us with good health, a fine house to live in, wonderful friends, and family that loves each other. What else would anyone need?
No comments:
Post a Comment