After Christmas

Now that Christmas is over, it’s time to evaluate your gift-giving. (Don’t tell me you don’t want to. Just do it.)

Do you feel stress over the perfect gift? Are you a “grab-whatever’s-left-on-Christmas-Eve” sort of buyer? Maybe you’re ready to give it all up for a day helping at the Rescue Mission or a week on the ski slopes.

Here’s a quiz for you:

Before Christmas, I

• -ordered frankincense and myrrh from the Holy Land to give to all my special people, including the pizza delivery guy.
• -took a bow-making seminar at the Hallmark store downtown to complete my gift-wrapping certificate.
• -pulled the gifts I purchased last December 26, wrapped them in paper purchased last December 26, and found them all perfect for my recipients.
• -couldn’t find the one gift I bought last year and decided to give out a book to everybody. They all looked alike because I didn’t know how to wrap a book in 14 different ways for 14 different recipients.
• 
  

On Christmas Eve, I

• -brought out the boxes of decorated cookies that I had been crafting since early December.
• -made my special punch to accompany the tradition-laden evening of candlelight service, artichoke appetizers and slender candles fitted into Grandma’s silver candelabra.
• -organized a caroling team to visit the neighborhood, nursing home, and shut-ins.
• -pulled the foil off the plate of cookies Grandma sent over, heated some water on the stove, and grabbed my camera.

After Christmas, I

• -alphabetized my gift-giving list and filed all the Christmas card addresses.
• -purchased a new tote for the balls on the Christmas tree, reminiscing about the memories of each as I tenderly put each ball away.
• -put a counter on my blog so I’d know how many days I had left to prepare for next Christmas.
• -went to Walmart to buy some cheap wrapping paper, loading it into the one plastic tote that I can find in the attic.

OK, here are the results. If you selected the first, second or third responses above, you are the Christmas version of Martha Stewart. If you selected number 4, you are me.

This was the year I decided not to abandon Christmas but to marinate it with people and relationships. I didn’t buy a Jesus action figure riding a motorcycle and I didn’t buy any crystal angels either.

I didn’t even put on a “Jesus is the Reason” pin. But I spent time talking with my daughters and helping my husband. I didn’t even bake Christmas cookies this year although I helped my son decorate a gingerbread house.

Jesus came to us in the flesh and I want to be the skin of Jesus to others. Even at the Christmas season!