Christmas Spirit

Well, it finally happened.

I've been waiting for it to happen all season and even yesterday I looked inside myself ... and aside from a few emotional moments during the candlelight service - Christmas was a flop. Quite disappointing in fact.  

Nobody felt like singing after the service as we went out to see the lights.  In fact, people had toned down their displays to cope with this financial / economic crisis.  I felt cheated.  Disappointed.  Gypped.  There was definitely something missing.  My daughter tried to tell me it was because there was no snow.  She loves snow at Christmas and it's been a thorn in her side that there has not been any snow this season. 

But snow has never been all that important to me, less and less as I get older.  No, this was something different.  The spark hadn't come yet.  It usually arrives for me long before the Day hits.  

This year .... nope.  Nothing stood out.  And I couldn't drum up any enthusiasm whatsoever.

But when I got up this morning and went to the living room, the youngest and her boyfriend were up.  They'd been up all night.  And something was different in the room.  There was another present there, a huge heavy box wrapped in gold paper with a gigantic red bow on top (see the photo - it's on the left!)  I looked at my daughter.  "Is that what I think it is?"  She beamed.  "You found it?  How did you get it home without him knowing?"  


She nodded.  "Taxi."  And she grinned again.

You see, she had told me what she was going to get her dad for Christmas with her own chore money: a certain particular type of circular saw... but the store was all out of that type.  She told me her dilemma and I said to keep calling them until they had more.

As I stared at the shiny yellow box and realized all she had done to make her dad's day, that's when it happened. I caught myself grinning as I imagined her and her boyfriend  manhandling it upstairs after we went to bed last night.

And that's when it hit me.  There - that feeling of bubbly excitement, that anticipation, that special warm feeling known as the Christmas Spirit.  It's the spirit of giving, the one that takes joy in another's happiness.

Once that started, everything started to snowball.  (Pardon the winter pun.)

The Christmas carols were more special around the tree.  And best of all, it was a treat to hear my hubby reading the Christmas story from Luke 2.  Just two Christmases ago, the pain of his addiction and the uncertainty of what would happen next outweighed the pleasure of the presents and the carols.  As I listened to him read, it was so special... the feeling intensified.


We all opened gifts - one by one so that the giver could see the look on the recipient's face when he/she opened a present.  And then all the gifts were opened except one - the big gold box in the corner.  

Someone dragged and pushed the box over to my hubby; he couldn't quite believe that it was for him.  Disbelief changed to wonder as he tore off the wrapping and revealed the prize underneath, worth two months of savings by his little girl.  

I told him that it was all her idea, her money, and she even arranged for transport when he was away on errands. 

He was blown away.  It was by far the best present of the morning... the highlight of the gift-opening portion of the day.  For everyone.  And in less than an hour, he had the box open and put the saw up on his lap.  The best photo of the day!


Shortly after that ... (bonus!!)    ...  it started to snow....