Christmas has always been a big deal at our house –
with lots of decorations in every room and so many presents under the Christmas tree! Every year I spend countless hours decorating, shopping, and wrapping presents to make Christmas special – especially for my children – Chandler and Carter. And every year we have had the same Christmas Eve traditions – we go to church, come home and have dinner, open one or two presents, and go to bed to wait for Santa Claus. Until recently I never knew that when Carter was little he would sneak downstairs in the middle of the night to make sure Santa had come to bring him lots of presents – Things for hunting, Lego sets, or whatever happened to be the thing he was interested in that year! I’m so glad Santa never disappointed my children!
Christmas at our house was different this year. Yes – I decorated some and I shopped a little – but not with the same enthusiasm I usually have. This year had a lot of changes – Carter was in another country and not here to rip open his presents, Chandler was newly married and “splitting” her time with us, and for the first time in my life I had a job that required me to work Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. And also for the first time – Santa did not come to our house to fill up our family room with lots of presents! I was hoping Chandler wouldn’t notice, but she did.
Maybe Santa will stop by in June when Carter comes home or maybe he will wait until next Christmas? I don’t know – but I do know that this year reminded me that Christmas is so much more than gifts and presents! Christmas is about love and the true gift that God gave us of his only son who he sent to die for all of us. Yes – I know we all learned that when we were little, but I realized I always get so caught up in Christmas and making everything perfect for others that I neglect to recognize the perfect gift that was given to all of us – Jesus Christ.
As I was heading off to work on Christmas Day – Carter facetimed us and we were all able to be together for a few minutes – and that was a perfect gift for me!
