21 Dec The Gifts that Last
Recently, Ella asked me what kinds of things I got for Christmas when I was little.
I thought for a moment, trying to remember details of childhood Christmas mornings. Reflecting on cozy family times, I realized I don’t recall what was inside most of those wrapped packages or the toys that came to life with the addition of AA batteries. What stands out to me most are the moments:
Every year, we would make my Nana’s sugar cookie recipe, carefully cut the dough into shapes and decorate each cookie with sprinkles and Red Hots. I think of the first cookies that we would decorate with such care and attention to detail. Then, as we would eat more and more of the candy and frosting, the final cookies would have a gigantic blob of frosting with a handful of candy poured on top. We would survey our work and laugh about the cookies we decorated at the end. But all of them tasted equally delicious.
After my dad would place the tree in the tree stand, we would open a big box of ornaments and taking turns sharing the memories associated with them as we put them on the tree. I can still remember taking my favorite ornament carefully out of the tissue paper. It was fragile, made from an eggshell that our kind local librarian, Maxine, had made by carefully cutting the front of the egg open and decorating the inside with a tiny, intricate holiday scene. She had given it to me when I was two years old. To this day, it reminds me how nice it is to show kindness to others with homemade treasures.
A ffriend would gift our family a tray full of golden Christmas crackers every year. We would each select one and pop it open to reveal a tissue paper crown, a small toy and a paper full of jokes. I think of how we stayed up late next to the tree, wearing the lopsided crowns on our heads and telling the silly jokes until our sides ached from laughter.
We would go to the Christmas Eve candlelight service at church and be so excited when they would finally pass out the candles and sing Silent Night. While trying to keep a serious and attentive church face, we would try to warm the candles with our hands and bend them into different shapes. I remember my mom glancing over and feeling worried that a lecture was coming. Then I saw her smile and open her hand, revealing that she had bent her own candle into the most creative shape of all of us.
My dad would drive our family around the city to find the most festive house decorations. Without the internet and Google maps, it was mostly a leisurely drive through neighborhoods until we stumbled upon some amazing decorations. We would drive for hours, singing Christmas songs at the top of our lungs.
At the time, finding the perfect gift to put under the tree might have seemed like the most important task. As the years pass, though, my guess is that most gifts that seem so important to get right will lose their sparkle and excitement. The delight will fade. But the worth of those moments of warmth, love and togetherness – those will endure.
Wishing you a holiday season full of gifts that last.