Memorable Gifts
It’s that time in December; we’re scrambling to find that “perfect” gift for our loved ones. This year, I’ll be happy just to get any gifts, let alone a special, perfect gift for my family members! But maybe that’s what makes memorable gifts so special…they don’t happen easily or quickly. They involve forethought, planning, and sacrifice.
When I was in fourth grade, I came down Christmas morning to a big, beautiful Barbie dollhouse. (It’s not quite in the same shape as when I got it umpteen years ago)
My parents had spent months of late nights with another couple designing, building, and crafting 2 dollhouses for their daughters. Everything was custom, down to the furnishings and decor. I can still remember the sense of utter disbelief at how big and beautiful it was that Christmas morn! {Maybe what inspired me to create a special dollhouse for my neice, see it here}
Years later, my husband evoked that same feeling of amazement with one of his gifts. We had experienced some water leakage in our old house basement near the fireplace ash chute. Unbeknownst to me, my childhood dolls had taken the brunt of the soot-filled water and had even gotten moldy before I’d found the problem. I had sadly walked them to the garbage can myself. Flash forward several months later, during which Mr. Fix-it had excused himself several Saturday mornings with “errands to run.” Little did I know as all my family’s eyes were upon me, how surprised I would be at my gift! As I lifted the cover of the big box, and peeked under the tissue. My doll’s sweet faces were smiling up at me! It was like something that had been dead came back to life! The dolls had spent several weeks at the doll hospital, being brought back to their beautiful selves!
Memorable gifts. They involve forethought, planning and sacrifice, and they are received with utter amazement, almost disbelief to their recipients. My kids would say their most memorable gift was when Santa brought a puppy to them Christmas morning. I know the incredible amount of time and strategy it took to pull off that logistical surprise! But the amazement and wonder of their reaction will be forever in my memory!
God’s gift of Christmas was thousands of years in the making. He had foretold a baby being born of a virgin that would change the world. His memorable gift involved forethought, planning, and ultimately the greatest sacrifice. As the special star shone that first Christmas night, the first recipients of His gift were awestruck, and filled with wonder and amazement.
Memorable gifts don’t happen every year, sadly. But maybe that’s why they’re so…memorable. They involve sacrifice, not only of money, but of thought, precious time, and energy.
Hope you spend some time thanking Him for His Most Precious gift this Christmas!
Your husband is definitely a Keeper!! Surely the best gifts are the ones with all the love and time and thought involved. Thank you for a beautiful post.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Vikki! So good to remember some of the deeper parts of Christmas, along with all the pretty!