My favorite Christmas memory doesn't involve gifts or highly planned events. It actually happened on accident. For as long as I can remember my parents have had this nativity set. Every year they set it up, and every year we played with one of the wise man's heads. That's right, a head. Somewhere along the way one of the heads of the wisemen broke off. And somewhere along the way we began moving the wiseman's head. I think it started off with my brother putting it in the manger with baby Jesus. One of us would move the head and wait for the others to find it. At first we moved it to different places in the nativity set. With the camels, on the roof, on the shepherd's staff.... but we quickly ran out of hiding places. So we moved it to different places throughout the living room. (My personal favorite hiding place was in Mom's Christmas village.) For years we played with the wise man's head. Sometimes it would take days for someone to find the hiding spot. It wasn't until Mom found it in the fridge that she finally put a stop to it and glued it back on.
I'd like to take a moment to encourage my readers that you don't have to get your kids anything amazing to make their Christmas awesome. What makes my memory special isn't the extravagance. It wasn't a gift I'd been dying for. It wasn't a well-planned out family vacation. We just appreciated one another's sense of humor. We continually found the wiseman's head at random places around the house and it was hilarious! (And the headless figurine standing next to the manger was pretty amusing itself!)
I'd like to argue that the meaning of Christmas isn't giving. It's not even about making memories. It's bigger than that. Christmas is about love. "For God so loved the world that He gave us his only son," (John 3:16). We celebrate Christmas by celebrating God's greatest act of love towards us - the gift of Christ. We show this thankfulness and celebration by loving and giving to one another. We sacrifice our time, money, and patience to show others how much we care for them. Just as Christ sacrificed Himself for us through his death and resurrection, and just as God sacrifices for us every day when He forgives us of our sins.
Don't allow yourself to get wrapped up (pun intended) in the Christmas chaos. It's a trap! It will leave you feeling disappointed - like something is missing. Let's celebrate God's love for us through loving one another this holiday season!
******Now that I have my own nativity set, it's hard not to play with the pieces. Sometimes I turn a figure backwards or make the sheep stare at baby Jesus for my own amusement. *****
