Christmas Past
I have so many fond memories of the Christmases of my childhood. Each year, no matter where my dad was stationed, he would load us – and all the Christmas gifts – into the old station wagon and head to my grandparent’s house in West Virginia. It was a trip we looked forward to every year regardless of how many days it took us to get there. My brother, sister and I would sit there in the back seat, watching the miles roll by, with the question, “Are we there yet?” never far from our minds.
So, when I had children of my own, I had this innate drive to make Christmas as special as I could. We couldn’t always traverse the miles between our military base and home, but my family always made sure the kids had lots of gifts to open on Christmas morning (even when I was stationed in Frankfurt, Germany, which really took some doing!). As the years passed, the Christmas gifts went from toys to electronics, but we always managed somehow.
Christmas Present
Now, all my kids are grown, with children of their own. I love Christmas shopping for them! I remember walking into a Toys-R-Us a few years ago with my sister-in-law and we both stood in awe of the enormous selection of toys. I’ll confess that I’ve really come to love the online shopping available now, but every now and then, I get the urge to actually go into a store and just wander the aisles looking for the “perfect” gift. Not only has my family grown – I have four grandchildren now – but my sister has four as well. So, a few years ago, we came together as a (large) family and made the agreement that we would focus our gift-giving on the kids. Doing so has actually made it more fun because the budget doesn’t have to be stretched as far.
A Little Different this Year
For some reason, this year feels a little different for me, so I decided to shop for the adults in the family along with the kids. That’s what I told my dad I wanted for Christmas. Little did I know the chaos this would add to things. I sent out all the texts, asking for gift ideas – and the replies I received came with a discovery: Christmas gifts for the men in the family are considerably easier to shop for than Christmas gifts for the women in the family. Believe it or not, most of the men simply said they could use some new socks. I can remember as a teenager getting clothes and stuff for Christmas and I never quite understood it – but now I know why. It’s easy – or, at least for the guys, I should add. The responses I received from the women in the family (or their spouses when I asked them about it) ranged from, “I don’t really need anything,” to “I’ll have to think about it.” In short, they answered without really answering. In light of this discovery, I now realize that I’m on my own in terms of finding the “right” Christmas gift for the women in the family. Just the thought of it is daunting.
A Little Help
As Christmas draws near – it’s just two weeks away – I’ve turned to asking my grandchildren for some ideas for their moms. Granted – they range in age from 3.5 years to just turned 7, so it’s hard to tell what we might come up with. But one thing is for sure – whatever it ends up being, it will be given from my heart. And isn’t that what matters most? Isn’t that the best kind of gift there is?
Just a side note here – if you have a reader on your list of Christmas gifts for women, please check out my novel, Light of Grace, and my collaborative devotional project, Journeys of Faith: Two Ordinary People, One Extraordinary God – available on Amazon as both a Kindle and paperback edition.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!
Lori Domingo