Christmas crushes, Christmas cheer

I think one of the disappointments that I have with our over commercialized celebration of Christmas is the selfish sense of expectation we – even us adults – have with respect with what we want to receive as gifts. Many families we know go deeply in debt to meet those exuberant expectations in their children only to realize after the presents are opened that there is only a muted sense of gratitude for what was given – somehow everyone expected more; the children expected more presents, the parents more thankfulness for what they sacrificed to give.


I am temped to go the way of several families I know who forego the gift giving all together to celebrate the event and what it represents to believers in Christ. However, my better half would have a real problem with that. She loves buying gifts even though she too has wrestled with her sense of expectation.

Such is the case with Chase this year. He asked for a ticket to fly back to New Jersey to attend Winter Camp with Somerset Bible Baptist Church. Though the request is an admirable one, I cannot justify the $500 plus price tag associated with it. It is not that I cannot afford it. We have enough money. I cannot justify it and I have tried to make it very clear to him why I feel as I do. So no matter what I give Chase as a gift this year, it will be a crushing disappointment. That makes Christmas almost no fun and it should never be so.

For Chase this year, the reading of the Christmas story, the big dinner, the time of getting together with family, the special meetings at church will all seem hollow, dissatisfying, disappointing. Sadly, there is nothing I can do to change that. That change will have to originate from within his heart. This is one of those things that father’s do for which they ought to be thanked. That’s not going to happen.

When I got home last night I started hanging Christmas lights we had borrowed from our neighbor. He told us he had enough lights to string on several houses. He told us the truth. What I put on the front and side of our small house did not noticeable effect the volume of lights in one of the three totes he gave us to use.

It was windy through the entire process – as it had been all day. The temperature was over seventy degrees so it was pleasant, almost a little cool. I was worried that the lights would not work once they were up, but those worries were unfounded. All the lights worked well and Mama declared it “good.” When we had put all the excess outside decorations away, Mama and the girls decorated the tree. It looks a little more like Christmas now at our house the Llano Estacado.

The down side was that this morning I woke up about 1:30 a.m. with so much pain in my back that I was barely able to move. Ya gotta love Christmas!