Thursday, December 13, 2007

Traditions and aberrations

Hey Easton -- Spoiler Alert!

We got Easton a Little Tykes basketball hoop for Christmas. That's not all, but it's the gift that excites me the most. He loves to put things away and close doors and drawers. Wait til he figures out he can put the ball away over and over. Tried to convince Grandpa Jeff that we needed to assemble it last night for some quality control but he was having none of that. Jeff learned from his family the art of enhancing the joy by increasing the wait.

A friend is having a different kind of experience with her loved ones. They don't exchange gifts in their family, it detracts from the celebration of Christ's birth. There was talk of going to see a movie Christmas night as a fun family activity. That plan has been scrapped as it would distract the focus from Jesus on this special day.

We all agree that there can be way too much emphasis on the gifts and not the ultimate gift giver. But what is the limit of our devotion to Christ? Should we miss out on family holiday fun for the sake of celebration of what is, in the scheme of eternity, a man-made holiday? Just wondering.

2 comments:

erin said...

I love GIVING gifts WAY more than I like receiving them.
I get so much joy out of it. For that reason, I would be very disappointed if we stopped giving gifts at Christmas time.

Kristin said...

yes, man did make the commercial version of the holiday, but i have to believe that God really is at the start of it all...
He gave us a gift--one we never would deserve--but one He would give out of love.

that's what we teach our boys at Christmas (and birthdays!) gifts are fun, but you have to remember who's at the center! God gave because He loves us, just like we give gifts because we love others too!

(of course carter tries to use that against us...he's convinced that i love him so much i should get him a nintendo wii) :)

will be thinking on this for a bit...thanks for something to ponder over!