Our New Holiday Tradition – The Gifts of the Magi Revisited
Last year I told you about one our Christmas traditions, The Gifts of the Magi, in which each child receives 3 gifts for Christmas, each one representing the gifts the magi brought to honor the infant Savior. This is a great tradition all by itself but this year, I’m making it even better!
I often run around like a horse with blinders on. But lately God has been pulling so much stuff into my path, my plane of view, so that I couldn’t possibly miss it. Like Robin’s call to action several weeks ago in her post, Dead Faith. I hadn’t ever heard the song she mentioned in that post, Follow You by Leeland, until I read that post. A few days later while traveling, I heard it on the radio and it got the wheels in my head spinning.
Long story short, I’m putting together all the pieces of the puzzle this year and creating what could possibly be our best Christmas tradition yet. This year, we’re turning our Gold present, the present of value, into a present of a different value – a spiritual value.I talked to my children, and we’re giving that gift- away. Every year we will choose together a specific ministry and we will donate the money for that gift to that ministry- a ministry near or far, hopefully many of them in our own community. In return, I will find and choose some kind of small Christmas ornament to remind us the ministry that we chose, and on Christmas morning, the gold box will contain a small ornament for each of my children to serve as a token for that gift.
This is a beautiful thing, people. Think ahead, think long term.
Every year we will choose to give to a ministry, we will receive an ornament, I will write the kids initials and dates on the bottom and eventually, we will have a whole tree full of ornaments representing all the gifts that we have given to others. Ideally my children would take this tradition with them. When they leave home they can take all of their ornaments with them to start their own tree. When they have children they can pass this tradition on.
I like it.
This year we chose to begin with Operation Christmas Child, which we have already done and just need to get in the mail. I need to find some kind of Christmas ornaments that looks like a shoe or a shoe box/giftbox. Something inexpensive and cute.
This year, the new tradition begins. I’m am SO excited about this. I can’t wait to see how this tradition blossoms and matures over the years. Can’t you just imagine?
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