The gift

I remember when I was a child how excited I was for Christmas.  My parents both worked and my dad especially worked hard and most time he worked his regular job at Fisher Body and he also did lots of side jobs so his family could have the things.  Take vacations, have great birthdays and of course there was Christmas. Many times I would make my list, change my list and make it again because I believed that I would get what I ask for. It was not a free for all by no stretch of the imagination but we knew a few times a year we would be able to get that gift. The sears catalog would be flipped through more times then I could count.
I was really reminded this year because Ansley has ask for everything Barbie, that one year I ask for everything Barbie.  I was about 9 or 10 years old and even though we got gifts they was by no means easy to come by.  I know now that my mom spent days and days making an entire wardrobe of Barbie clothes for me. I did not know that at the time, but she would work after we all went to bed on these tiny little little clothes and made dresses, shorts, pants and coats. I remember going to her a few days before Christmas to tell her that I was going to ask Santa for something else.  I am sure she was crushed.  I did receive the Barbie doll, the clothes and the Barbie car but the gift was not what I ask for but the real gift was what my mom done. I don’t remember being overly excited about the Barbie stuff on that day but I wish I could go back and have a redo. I wish I could tell my mom thank you for all the time and effort you put into making all those things. Thank you for staying up and sewing all those clothes so I could have what I ask for. I did not understand that for many years and yes I would give so much to have all those clothes back but the memory is worth so much more then the clothes. We do take so much for granted but God is still teaching me to be grateful. He is teaching me that it isn’t about the stuff, but the sacrifice that is involved in our everyday life.  It is sure different then when I was little.  I doubt that Ansley will be impressed that her nana ordered her stuff from amazon but I hope she recalls the cookie making, the hot chocolate making, the playtime in the floor.
I always think it is like you know that spray foam that comes in a can.  Once you spray it you can’t put it back in the can. But the foam fills all the cracks and and empty space.  That is what I think about our memories.  Once they are made they are made.  My memory is not the Barbie or the clothes but today I have a memory that fills those cracks and empty spaces of my mom.  And for that I am grateful.  Make that memory this Christmas with your children and you grandchildren.  I promise it isn’t about the stuff but about the sacrifice.  They may not see it today but I promise one day or maybe in the middle of the night 50 some years later they will cry with gratitude of the unselfish love you poured into making Barbie clothes.  Merry Christmas and on this day Mary had a son and she named him Jesus. The greatest sacrifice of all!