“The best of all Christmas gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.“ ~Burton HillisThe Gift of a Happy Family
Christmas is almost here for me since we are celebrating our family Christmas early. Some of my family has to travel a ways to get home and so a weekend celebration works better. Besides, the families with kids want to have time for Christmas morning around their own trees. Our children don’t stay kids for long, but Christmas morning can be such a fun and joyous time with them while the magic of Christmas shines in their eyes.
“Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas time.” ~Laura Ingalls Wilder
A Box of Rocks
How many of you have teased those in your family by telling them they aren’t getting anything for Christmas but a box of rocks? Or a lump of coal in their stockings? Or even worse, a bundle of switches? Kim has a story for us about that box of rocks that gave her family some laughs.
“This wasn’t the best or the worst gift we ever gave, but it certainly created the most laughs. My dad was a big deer hunter and always got at least one so we could have venison throughout the year. One Christmas, my sisters and I saw three concrete statues of white-tailed deer. So we pooled our money and bought them for Mom and Dad to put in the back yard. Of course, we had to wrap them in a big box. It took all three of us to carry it from the tree to their chairs in the living room. When we dropped it (literally – that sucker was heavy!), Dad said, “What is that? A box of rocks?” Which made us all laugh, because technically that’s what it was. From that Christmas on whenever someone got a really heavy present, someone would always ask if they were getting a box of rocks.”
A Gangs of New York Gift
Kim’s dad enjoyed that “box of rocks.” But sometimes when we’re thinking about what to get for a mom or dad, we forget that our sisters or brothers might be thinking of the same gift. My sister-in-law and I bought my husband’s mother the same thing for Christmas so often that it became a kind of family joke. After a couple of years, you’d think we could have figured out that a phone call might be in order to see what the other one was getting for my mother-in-law. Maybe we thought she needed two of whatever. Instead, on Christmas Day, we just hoped she picked our present to open first. 🙂 Annemarie tells about something the same happening in her family that still has them laughing.
Christmas Eve came and we were opening gifts and it was my Dad’s turn. He opened a few gifts and then one from my youngest brother…..yes, it was “Gangs of New York.” So I was disappointed that we had a repeat of the gift. The next gift he opened was from my sister and it was….”Gangs of New York”.So, now I’m trying not to laugh out loud because I knew what was coming. Sure enough, my present was next and we all had a laugh when he opened it and it was ” Gangs of New York.” When my other brother’s gift turned out to be the same video we were all in hysterics and the phrase “Gangs of New York” became a family catchphrase that really takes away the disappointment of a duplicate gift. We all remember that Christmas when my Dad received 4 copies of the same video. And to this day hope that our gift will not turn out to be a “Gangs of New York” gift.It might have been the same gift, but it showed they were all wanting to please their dad. And isn’t that what we all want when we’re hunting gifts for our loved ones? We want our gifts to show our love. And then we find out that, although we love giving gifts and getting those loving gifts, Christmas is more than gifts.
