porch packages

One day during Advent, I found myself sitting in my bathrobe, in my living room where I could see the front of the house, afraid to leave in case porch pirates were tempted by the stack of Christmas boxes on my  porch.  Mostly full of worthless trinkets of gifts that I send to my extended family, they would have been a bitter disappointment to any thief upon opening his haul.  But it would have been a bummer for me, nonetheless.

I have said to a couple of my cousins that gift-giving is my super power.  I give gifts that mean something to me, something that I use frequently or that I’ve discovered in my travels through life.  I give things that I have made myself (last year each person received a homemade bottlecap ornament—can you imagine what a porch pirate would have made of that!) 

The gift itself is not impressive.  I live by the adage that it is the thought that counts.  I want everyone in our extended family to know that they have been thought of as I conceptualize or find the gifts, wrap the gifts, ship the gifts. 

Years ago, I asked to be given a generous heart, reflecting the generous nature of God.  Christmas is not the only season for giving gifts, but it is a time of gathering together.  It is a time when I can imagine the fun and maybe the laughter of opening Aunt Liz’s crazy gifts (what will we find in there this year?!?)  I don’t even mind if they swap them around or regift them, if the presents are not to their liking.  It is the love that goes with the gift that cannot be traded away.

It is the same with the love of God.  Once given, it will not be taken back.  It is the gift that keeps on giving for all eternity.

May you unwrap that perfect gift, the savior Jesus Christ, this Christmas.

Merry, merry!  Liz

“Your unfailing love is better than life itself; how I praise you!  I will praise you as long as I live.”       Psalm 63:3-4