Christmas has always been my favorite time of year. I think it might be fair to say that my love for this holiday is well shared with a large majority of people around the globe. As a child, my parents made sure to capture all of the beauty of the season. It seemed to always kick off with the First Presidency Christmas devotional that occurs yearly in our church the first Sunday Evening of December. I remember getting dressed back into my Sunday dress to go with my family to the chapel, we would sit and watch and listen to stories and talks about the birth of our Savior and how He literally has lit the world with his love. I cherished the stories that were told about families who were in need and the way that different people felt inspired to help them.

Spirit of giving

Ever since I can remember my parents have cultivated in me and my other siblings a spirit of giving. They always let us know that no matter what our material possessions were, we always had something to give. I remember my dad would literally take strangers in from off the street. He would give them rides and provide a warm meal to eat. Although this doesn’t seem very safe and practical he still did it. He always seemed to find interest in their individual life stories, he asked them questions about their specific circumstances and tried to help out as much as he possibly could.

My dad and my Grandpa had a family business that they had started from the ground up. There were many times over the years where my dad never took home a paycheck because he had to make sure his employees were paid first. My dad is a man of selfless service. Always finding people who were less fortunate than us to help physically and spiritually. No matter who he came in contact with he brought the love of Jesus Christ with him and he was never shy or scared to share what he knew brought the most happiness to his life, which is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

My mom is equally as giving. She would stop everything at the drop of a hat to accommodate anyone my dad would take in. It wasn’t an easy task because she was also raising 7 children at the same time. She cared for neighbors, and our friends as if they were her own kindred. She took the time to constantly make sure all of us felt the love that we needed by supporting us through anything we thought was important. I remember her saving every dime she could so that she could make those months where there was not a paycheck stretch and work. She never hesitated to make meals, help clean, or bring cheer to anyone who seemed to need it.

The gifts I always wanted

I honestly can’t remember a Christmas as a child where I got what I asked for. I specifically wanted a Teddy Ruxpin doll for probably 5 years in a row. I asked for it consistently year after year. It was at the top of my list. After years of relentless asking, I still never received it. As I grew older and was a teenager I really loved a specific name brand perfume. I told my mom that it was the only thing I wanted that year. Well, I didn’t get it. As a child it was a little frustrating, I would wonder, “why can’t my parents just get what I ask for?”. Now, let me be clear, there never was a Christmas that I did not get plenty of gifts. Somehow my mom and dad would pull together what they could afford and provide amazing thoughtful gifts for each of us. Even though I never got what I thought I “had to have” my parents somehow bought or made me what I “really wanted”. One year Instead of a Little Tikes kitchen set (I had my heart set on which was new and popular in the ’80s) My dad and older brother spent long hours building one out of stainless steel at dads work, and my mom furnished it with emptied boxes of food for us to use for pretend play. My sister and I had the best time playing with our one of a kind kitchen set for several years to come.

Each year my mom would try to make something homemade for us. I remember she made us cabbage Patch dolls and baby cradles and baby blankets etc. There were a few years we would wake up on Christmas morning to a new puppy bouncing playfully around the living room. We had a close family friend who was a jeweler and most years my dad would buy us girls in the family a special ring or necklace.
Obviously looking back I can see clearly that it wasn’t about the cost of the gifts or me getting what I thought I wanted, but what stands out to me the most, is the sincere thought that was so carefully put into our individual gifts year after year.

Choosing to give

It wasn’t just the material gifts I remember getting either. Each year growing up we would try to choose a family we knew that was a little less fortunate than us and do something special for them for Christmas. Because we didn’t have much money ourselves, we would sometimes make homemade treats and gifts to give to them. One particular Christmas stands out to me. It was a Christmas we were giving to a family of young kids. My mom made a homemade baby doll pad and blanket and we put in in a basket to make a little cradle. We bought a small baby doll to put inside. This was one of the gifts for the little girl in the family. We bought a few food items and a couple of other little toys for the other kids. Then one cold night before Christmas we drove up to this family’s house and dropped off the wrapped gifts, and snuck away secretly before we could be spotted. Year after year we would do something similar. some years we did more extensive giving and others were simply secretly dropping off plates of homemade Christmas cookies.

Every year from kindergarten till the 6th grade for each of us seven kids, my mom would spend hours baking homemade gingerbread houses for us to beautifully decorate and then bring it to our school teachers. We loved seeing their faces light up at the houses personally made to represent them(this was back when there was no such thing as buying a gingerbread house kit at Walmart ).

The joy and happiness filled us as we were preparing and thinking of the different families and individuals. Each year I looked forward to feeling those same feelings again, and again.
As I left home and went to college I realized the special gift my parents had given me. Being away from them made me appreciate the little lessons of love they had taught me over the years. During my freshman year, My older sister and I were roommates and we often tried to duplicate small acts of kindness ourselves. Usually, that consisted of baking cookies and giving them out to people we thought could use a quick uplift. (or boys we thought were cute;)

Christmas far away

A couple of years later I left on an 18-month mission for my Church, I found myself thousands of miles and countries away from my family and friends. I arrived in Puerto Montt Chile 5 days before Christmas. I had been introduced to a whole new way of life, from the culture to the language, to the new people I did not know, it was a lot for me to adjust to. On Christmas eve a large box came in the mail for me. Complete with a small artificial Christmas tree and little tiny ornaments. Included in the box were some small gifts for me and my companion. My parents had overnighted that package for me (I can only imagine it cost a small fortune)and It meant the world to me.

Later that day as I was feeling a little homesick and sorry for myself, my over happy companion reassured me that it was going to be a great day. We had dinner scheduled with a family that she loved. I was excited to meet them not really knowing what to expect. It took us probably 15 minutes or so to walk to their house off of the main road to a dirt road and then to a small grassy path that led to a shack in the middle of a small field. The walls were made of cardboard and it was the most humble home I had ever laid eyes on.

We walked up to the door and no one answered. They were not home. My heart sunk and we tried for plan B. We went to another family’s home across town this time they lived in a much larger home with more modern accommodations. We spent the evening with them and it felt nice to feel their love. Even though I could not understand very many of the words coming out of their mouths, somehow I knew that they loved me though we had just met.

My companion was an incredible example of service to me as well. One day we visited a family in our area who was in a lot of need temporally. They had nothing, not even a dime to their names. Later that day hearing of their dilemma, my companion wrapped up a large sum of money in a piece of white paper and put clear duct tape over it with the sticky side down. After we had visited with this family we walked out of their side door to the outside where the laundry was hanging on the line to dry. They must have been drying their sheets that day because she quickly and secretly stuck the money to the inside of one of the drying white sheets as we walked by.

She never said anything about it after that. But the next time we went for a visit this family was elated at the gift of money they so desperately needed. They shared the story of how they surprisingly found it in their clean laundry and emphasized it was an answer to their pleading prayers and how grateful they were for this person who was so generous and thoughtful. I’ll never forget the excitement and gratitude in their voices and the huge smile on my companion’s face as we walked home that night.

My own family

Returning home from my mission I married my college sweetheart. 6 years later we found ourselves living in Philadelphia in a small 2 bedroom apartment. We had 3 kids 3 and under. My husband was finishing grad school and we were hours from family and our close friends we had made before we moved. Christmas was fast approaching and I wanted to do something different that year. I wanted to do something my children would long remember after the excitement of their Christmas gifts would fade. We didn’t have a dime to our names. We were living off of student loans and Food Stamps. I thought and thought and researched on the internet what other families had done to make their holiday more lasting and memorable. I came across a Christmas service advent calendar. Right away I knew this is what we were to do. I collected some large envelopes, 25 to be exact. I numbered them on the outside and then filled them with slips of paper of different services we were to do each day leading up to Christmas.

There were all sorts of different ideas in the envelopes; such as donating canned food to a food bank, making homemade gingerbread houses and delivering them to neighbors, singing Christmas carols to the front desk staff at the local YMCA or telling your family member 5 things you love about them.

Perhaps one of the most memorable ones for all of us was to make homemade stockings and fill them with small gifts and goodies and pass them out to random kids in a location of our choosing. My kids who were very young but also very aware helped me and my mom (she was in town visiting for a couple of days) fill the stockings with small toys and candy. After they were filled and ready we chose to pass the stockings out at Target because it was the closest and safest public place to us. I told my kids to stand and watch as the people came to the entrance. If they felt like they saw someone who they thought should get the stocking they were to walk up to them and hand it off. At first, my kids were shy and skeptical about the whole idea. But as soon as they passed out one stocking it gave them the courage to keep doing it. Most of the people they handed them to asked us how much money we wanted them to pay us. We reassured them it was a gift at no cost to them and wished them a Merry Christmas. Some of them had tears filling their eyes as they thanked us and told us how special it made them feel. All of us including my husband left that day with hearts that felt like they could burst with love.

Over the years since that first year that we started the Christmas service advent, my kids have looked forward to doing these random acts of kindness almost more than anything else we traditionally do at Christmas time.
We might not be saving thousands of people from hunger or sadness by these small acts, but we have brought bits of Christ’s love to some people around us. As we have done this it has unified us with God, with Christ, and with each other.

Looking Back

Looking back on the memories I have of Christmas’s over the years I feel like I have been been a witness to an abundance of love. I see that the family I came to know and love, who lived in the tiny cardboard wall shack in Puerto Montt gave me a gift. That family, no matter what situation they were in, was happy. Their home was abundant with love. Their walls were covered with wrapping paper, and some of their most prized possessions were the stickers they accumulated on their refrigerator, but it didn’t matter, they found happiness in giving and sharing the light of Christ, a gift that never stops giving.

I hope as I grow older I can focus on what I can give to others, not necessarily material things, but what I can give to them that shows my love.
Even though I have depression and my days can feel hopeless and dim I can still have internal joy. Joy from knowing I have a Savior and who’s love I can share is something that no matter what state of mind I’m in, the joy from this does not go away.

May your Christmas be filled with light and hope, that through Jesus Christ tomorrow will always be a brighter day.

What are some of your memories or traditions of giving have you done over the years?

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

With love,

Sara