A Special Bedtime

Today's activity was a special bedtime story. When I was a little girl, my aunt gave me a special book. Somehow it survived my childhood, and I have treasured it. I love the illustrations, the story, and the message. So now I read it to my children at Christmastime. The cover is ripped a bit at the binding, the pages are worn, but it is well loved. I look at that book as a special gift of love from my aunt Robin, and remember her fondly when I read it. And I remember my mom reading it to me, which I also recall with much fondness.

So we got our jammies on, got up on my bed, and grabbed our little jam jar glasses of Martinelli's sparkling apple cider. I put a bowl of Anna's Gingerthins in the middle, and first we took up the Bible. We read the Christmas story from Luke, and talked briefly about why the shepherds were so excited. We concluded that they were joyful to receive their Savior, and we briefly talked about what that meant. My point for this exercise was to impress the idea that Jesus is most precious and important thing you can receive, He is God's gift to the world, and the best gift we can give to others aside from ourselves.

While we were still sipping our sparkling cider and nibbling on our gingerbread thins, I took up the aforementioned book, "A Special Gift" by Steve McKinstry and Lucy Rigg. :) It's the charming tale of a lucy bear named Lucy and her family. In the hustle and bustle of Christmas (referred to as Jesus' birthday), they forget about another birthday--Mama's. On Christmas Eve, Papa, Lucy and Benjamin set out to find the perfect gift to let their Mama know how special she is. They think and think, and search and search, and can't find anything that is special enough for their mom. When they are almost out of time, Lucy gets an inspiration. Meanwhile, back at their house, Mama has been baking and cooking up a storm in preparation for Christmas Eve supper. A knock on the door heralds a huge package tied with a big red bow (spoiler alert!) and when she opens the package, she finds her family inside!

I think many lessons can be found from this sweet little tale. What I pulled from it tonight was an extension of our discussion following the Christmas story in Luke. The best gift you can give someone is yourself, because what's most important on this earth and in the next are people. We can't take our dubloons, but we can take our connections. We can take love. God's love gifted Jesus to us, which is why we celebrate Christmas. And just like Jesus, we can give of ourselves as well. We can give of ourselves, and most importantly share the gift of Jesus with others. Jesus matters most, people matter next, things aren't as special or important as we are.

Interestingly, this led on Arianna's part to a discussion about homeless people and how we can help them. This was quite out of left field for me. She just randomly asked "Why are people homeless?" in the midst of this discussion. It blessed me that her thoughts turned to the less fortunate when I spoke of giving. She made several comments along those lines, actually.

Anyways, I think that my goal was quite nicely accomplished. We had a special snuggly family time together. We enjoyed an aspect of the Christmas season. We enjoyed treats. We read a special nostalgic book together. We read God's Word. We spoke of the greatest gift, Jesus, and of our ability to give of ourselves and of Jesus and how people are more special and important than things. And it even sparked a touch of goodwill--thinking to serve others, looking beyond the specialness of ourselves and recognizing the specialness and import of others, even those "low on the totem pole." I am blessed.