This holiday season has crept upon us, leaking out after Thanksgiving in bits and pieces like Christmas teacher gift donations and adopting a tag from the Giving Tree at church. However, it hasn't really felt "red and green all over" until last week when the kids finally made their list of things to give rather than receive.
You see, the traditional list had been brainstormed the week after Halloween when the Target toy catalog arrived in our mailbox with a heavy thump, eliciting squeals from the kids and groans from us parents. That catalog had provided days of silent consideration, heated debates---about who would get which pony so that they could play together---and finally, after the list was finalized and hung on the wall, the tattered pages got thrown away, one by one.
However, just as gifts received tend to fade from memory over time, so did the urgency and contents of that list. What seemed so cool that they had to have it immediately no longer immediately sprang to their memories when questioned by friends and relatives seeking gift ideas. Part of me was relieved, but part of me was wondering if the magic of the season wasn't touching their hearts. I wondered if I hadn't talked about the joy of gifts and sowed that spirit of anticipation. Until today. Today, when I sat them down with paper and a marker and tasked them with making a list of people they love and what they plan on giving them to show that love, the kids' eyes lit up like I had hoped they would on Christmas morning. The ensuing discussion was twice as animated and perhaps twice as ridiculous, (giving Grandma a trip to the moon probably wasn't going to happen,) but exactly what I needed to hear to know the spirit of Christmas is finally here to guide the rest of the season!
