Multitude Monday: What I Want for Christmas

My local Walmart already has two complete aisles of Christmas ornaments stocked. Before Halloween even.

And this leads me to a terrible, taboo confession. 

I hate Christmas.

No, I haven't always felt this way. I used to love Christmas. I found it the most exciting time of year, even when I lived in sunny San Diego. My mom and step-dad, non-Christians, always made a big deal about this holiday in a secular sense. I grew up loving the presents and the festivities and the token church visit, though they gave up on that once-a-year church service well before my teens. 

When I learned to drive, I went to Christmas service by myself or with a friend's family.

My parents probably used credit cards for most of Christmas and struggled to pay it back before the next Christmas arrived. 

I'm over 10 years into my parenting experience and at first I mimicked my upbringing regarding Christmas, at least until I quit my part-time job.

After that, Christmas became more challenging. The first year I think we used a credit card for very modest gifts, both for our two boys and for our families. That year, Christmas felt like nothing but an obligation. It didn't seem acceptable to stop getting gifts for my family because Christmas was a big deal to them. And I knew they would send us gifts. 

So we went through the motions, but there was no joy in it. Just worry.

After I quit working we happened to move to a state experiencing economic downturn several years earlier than most of the nation. Wages are low here still, seven years later, and jobs are plentiful only in large cities. 

In 2009 things got worse for us when my husband lost his full-time job. Christmas became something we could no longer participate in. Just holiday food overwhelmed our budget. 

One year a church adopted us and bought our children gifts. We were very grateful because the thought of having nothing for them to open on Christmas morning made us sick to our stomachs. 

They did also receive gifts from my mom and step-dad, but they always opened those early, upon arrival.

For two years a generous friend sent a surprise monetary gift, so my children had several things to share on Christmas morning. 

Because of others' generosity, my children still don't know what a barren Christmas feels like.

Every year all we could thing of was....will they have anything to open on Christmas morning? At the same time, I knew they had enough toys. They didn't need anything. They had a mom and dad who loved each other, who were committed to one another for life, they had Jesus and a Christian upbringing, a decent home and enough to do. They were far more blessed than most of the kids in the world. 

80% of the world lives on less than $2.50 a day. So what did my kids have to worry about?

The things under the tree? They broke easily or they were quickly forgotten. Not four weeks after Christmas, it became clear that everything but the books we bought from Goodwill and the craft paint, was money down the drain. 

All so our kids wouldn't cry quiet tears on Christmas morning. That was our biggest fear.

I began to contemplate the whole thing heavily last Christmas. We had money to make baked good for our relatives, but we didn't have money for postage for out-of-state family, which was most of our family, save for two aunts who reside here. 

So we gave next to nothing and our kids got gifts I bought with money sent by Grandma. Not because they needed them, but because I felt she would get upset if I didn't spend at least $100 on the kids. The rest of her Christmas money went to overdue utility bills.

Last year was the first year I was brave enough to admit it. I hate Christmas and everything our culture does with it. We live so much richer than the rest of the world, and our only thought at Christmas is to buy new things for people who already have too much. And fifty percent of the time, it's out of obligation.

Let me digress a little here.

Once we were the recipients of a Thanksgiving basket. Do you know what it contained, besides a turkey (for which we were very grateful)? Outdated canned and boxed food, donated by the church body.

I was very grateful for that turkey, but I thought long and hard about those outdated cans and boxes. 

Have you ever gone through your cupboard for food-pantry drives? Is your first instinct to give what you don't use? Or to give the best things in your cupboard?

I will never forget those outdated offerings, and now, when my church does food drives, I always give the best, most-needed things from my cupboard, knowing God will replace them. First fruits. 

My husband works at a church that sponsors a large rummage sale every year. For a whole month prior to the sale, merchandise comes in, for which he's responsible for receiving and storing. 80% of what comes in is junk people just want to dump.

However, about 20% of the items are good used items, and every year the church makes several thousand dollars for local charities. Thank God for the 20% who understand the first fruits concept!

One more digression about giving, and then I'll get back to Christmas.

One year ago, we sponsored Nelson from El Salvador for $38 a month, on faith. You could say it wasn't wise, given our situation. We write to two other children who are sponsored by someone else and we love them dearly, but we really wanted another child to love and write to, sponsored by our family.

In honor of our one-year sponsorship anniversary, and to demonstrate God's faithfulness, let me tell you how we were blessed this past year, as we gave $38 to Nelson each month.

• My husband and my boys were given free basketball and free football tickets, five times. 


• My aunt and uncle, who inherited some money, gave us a Christmas gift of $1000 worth of repairs on our two old vehicles. 


• When our vacuum cleaner broke, an acquaintance gave us her spare. 


• Several times this year there were banquets at my husband's work church and he was given the left-over food for our family.


• This same church is having its used piano delivered to our home this Wednesday for our son, Paul, who is self-teaching on the piano and doing very well. His cheap lap piano broke for good two days before the church called. He cried when it broke and I was heartbroken, knowing there was no way to replace it. Now, he will have a real piano! 

• The children's hospital Beth goes to for arthritis care sent our family to the zoo and to a Thomas the Train exhibit.

And these are only the blessings I can think of off the top of my head! I'm sure there are more. Giving no longer feels like a brave thing to do. It feels like the perfect thing to do.

Now, back to those Christmas ornaments I passed at Walmart last week.

When I saw them, my heart sank. Christmas is for the rich and the middle class, I told myself, and I'm neither of those.

As I drove home, I prayed. I don't want to hate Christmas, God. Show me another way to get through this season. Show me how it can be a joyous occasion. Show me how it can honor You, despite what our culture's done with it.

I want my life to be fashioned after Biblical precepts, not after the world. So the next day, I prayed about Christmas again. I live in a Christmas culture and it's not going away. I can't hibernate for the season.

What does the Bible say about it? The first and only Christmas in the Bible. That was my next thought. 

Mary, Joseph, Jesus, the Wise Men, the shepherds, the animals, the manger...I thought about all of it. 

Jesus received three gifts. Is that what I should do...give Jesus three gifts? Is it that simple? 

The Sheep and the Goats (source)

³¹ “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. ³² All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³ He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

³⁴ “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶ I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹ When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

⁴⁰ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

⁴¹ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ⁴² For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

⁴⁴ “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

⁴⁵ “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

⁴⁶ “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

Soon, I had a clear picture of what I wanted to do for Christmas. I honestly believe the Holy Spirit put these thoughts in my head. 

I want to give a generous family gift to our Compassion sponsor child, Nelson, and also to our correspondent children, Divya and Raphael. I also want to give every child in my neighborhood The Jesus Storybook Bible. And I want to invite them to bring it with them once a week, for an after-school Bible Study at my house, complete with snack time and prayer.

I don't have a penny to do any of this. But God does and this is what he wants for Christmas. My job is to pray for the funds to come in. For the first time in years, I am excited about Christmas! 

Only God knows what to do about my own children. They don't need anything but underwear and socks, but if He wants them to have something to unwrap on Christmas morning, I trust him to provide it. And if not, I trust Him to give them joy of an eternal kind.

The kind of joy that doesn't break or get stuck in the vacuum.

I urge you, pray about Christmas. What would God have you do to make it honor Him, instead of capitalism. Ask him what He wants this year, and give of your best. Your very best for Jesus. Money is not an object...because God? He owns the earth and everything in it.

For some giving inspiration, I'd though you'd enjoy a couple more stories:

The following are true stories in a series of radio spots by Brian Kluth of GiveWithJoy.org

When I was in my 20s, I moved to another city to take a new job. After I was told my salary, I sat down and wrote up a budget. First, I decided I would give 10% of my gross income to the LORD. I then discovered I could only afford $100 a month for rent and $55 a month for groceries. That wasn’t much money, but I prayed and asked God to lead me. That same day, someone invited me to their house for dinner. It was a large home where 6 single Christian guys lived. After dinner, they invited me to move in with them. I told them I couldn’t afford it. They then told me the rent was $100 a month and the shared grocery bill was $55 a month. I was blown away. I had decided to honor the LORD with 10% of my new salary and then God gave me a great place to live for exactly what I could afford. You, too, can learn to honor God and see Him provide.

A friend e-mailed about his 89-year-old mother. She had called him on the phone to confess she hadn't been tithing because she was on a fixed income--but she'd decided that she was going to start faithfully tithing again. Within a few days, she got a call from her pastor asking her to go on a church prayer retreat with all the expenses paid by the church. The next day, she went to her bank to get some money and the bank teller told her, “Don’t withdraw any money, since your 90th birthday is coming up, our bank is going to give you a present of $100 in cash!" The following day, she got a letter from a community group to let her know she had been chosen to receive a $500 grant to help pay her utility bills. After she began tithing again, she was amazed at the unexpected provisions she received from the LORD.

 Giving thanks today:

~ My Paul marveling at God's gift of a real piano.

~ My children having a wonderful time at the fall homeschooling party.

~ Meeting a very nice lady there (the hostess).

~ Hugs from Beth in the middle of the night.

~ Husband playing basketball with our boys and all the neighborhood boys.

~ Lexi coming over today to braid my girls' hair and bake muffins with my Paul and rake leaves with Peter, for his compost. She hadn't been here for over a week because she was getting very involved with two teenage girls, which worried me. They are too old for her. I prayed for a second chance to disciple her and re-spark her interest in the Lord...and today...she came and had a wonderful time! She missed AWANA last week and we knew a spiritual battle had begun. We are praying for victory and for her to give her life to the Lord.

~ spiritual fruit coming from my Mary

~ Psalms

~ Old Testament stories

~ The wonderful presentation of the Gospel in The Jesus Storybook Bible

~ Husband put up rain gutters in the playroom for me to display books on.

~ Beth will not need surgery for her wandering eyes (strasbismus). Her glasses are correcting it well enough. And there was no arthritis-related eye inflammation seen at her last appointment. What a huge relief both pieces of news are to us! She gets checked again in three months.

Giving thanks with Ann today, and other thankful ladies.