The Gift and the 10-year old that Taught Me a Lesson. This One's For You, Moms. xoxoxo

See this Christmas gift? Isn't it pretty, with the ribbon, the shredded craft paper inside, and the quaint brown box? It's the fancy outer wrapping of a present I attempted to give a good friend. I left it on her doorstep a few days ago thinking I was spreading holiday cheer.

As I pulled into our garage, my phone beeped with a text: "Hey, girl, there was no gift in the box - it was empty."

I won't go into the details of what happened to the contents other than to tell you we have a 3-year old whippersnapper gift-tamperer who loves to open presents before Christmas day.

In all of the decorating, shopping, buying, cooking, planning, racing, preparing, hustling, bustling, hiding presents, forgetting where I've hidden presents, returning presents before they're given because of finicky list-makers, last-minute doing, re-doing, undoing, wrapping, re-wrapping, ... the list goes on and on and on, my family seems to have lost its focus this holiday. With four kids, a stomach virus that won't quit (that's a blog post in itself ... think blueberry smoothie remnants all over the walls and baseboards) and a list of tasks from here to the North Pole, I admit, I have lost my focus. We've done our Advent calendar ... um ... let's see .... twice maybe?

My present-less friend who was left with an empty box (albeit a very pretty box), with no gift inside, was given a profound perspective from her 10-year old son when opening my failed gift. When opening the empty box, rather than asking 'Where is the gift?,' he ever-so-wisely-for-his-age instead observed, "Mom, maybe she is trying to teach us the true meaning of Christmas."

Hmmmm .....

I wasn't. I'm not that wise.

But my dear friend's son is that wise and he screwed my head on straight - just in time for Christmas. Funny how kids can do that, isn't it?

Yep. Of course we all intellectually know it's not about the presents. It's about HIS presence. So why do we get lost/overwhelmed/consumed in the helter-skelter of the holiday busy-ness?

Because when that box is opened and it's empty, it reminds us it's not about the gifts. It's in the giving and the receiving. Those are the true gifts. He sent His only son on a night like this so long ago - He gave and we need only to receive. Our boxes are empty without His Presence. Mine included - no matter how decorative the wrapping.

Mommas, I'm thinking of each one of you right now, as I know you, too, have lists from here to the North Pole of things to-do. May you take those lists, crumple them in a box, and hand it to your elf on the shelf. Then wrap a beautiful, brown box with nothing in it, and give it to those you love. Remind them that it's His Presence that's the Present.

Merry Christmas. I'm grateful for each of you.

Love,