Better to Give than to receive

Celebrating Christmas, ironcally, always presents something of a dilemma for the Christian. How do you celebrate a holiday which is inextrably linked to consumerism, while trying to teach your children that "a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions (Luke 12:15)"

Some of the best wisdom gleaned from one of my homeschool mentors is to being the practice when your children are very young of making gifts for other people. For years now we have tried to wrap up our homeschooling by Thanksgiving and devote the month of December to making gifts for people. It is amazing how, when the kids pour their energy into making a gift, no matter how humble it is, they are brimming with enthusiasm to share it. So for the month of December our homeschool room is transformed into a workshop. Even Butes5 and 6 were busily squirting fabric paint on anything in sight and dumping beads all over the floors. One of the my absolute favorite memories from this Christmas morning is watching Bute3, who had made customized clipboards for all his siblings, distribute his gifts. After pasing them all out, he stood in the middle of room, jumping up and down, yelling "Go, GO Open NOW!!" It was priceless to see his joy in giving something away that was a labor of love from the heart.








By far the gift thatall of us were most excited about giving this year is a dollhouse. Years ago, when my brother and I spent a few weeks at my Grandmas's house we had begun work on a gigantic dollhouse that needed to be assembled and finished. As we got older the project stalled and sat in my Grandma's attic for years. I always dreamed of finishing that project and giving it to my daugher, but, of course, after a while I pretty much gave up on that dream. Until Bute6 came along. She was not even a year old when we hauled that dollhouse (it is 3'x3') and probably weighs 50 lbs. home from my Grandma's house. It has been safely hidden at Uncle Gabe's house until Christmas Eve this year. Gabe and I had made some furniture for it years ago, and Butes 1 and 2 helped make some more this Christmas season. Bute6 had noticed us working on the furniture and asked about it. We would say "It is a little bed, or a little couch, if only you had a little house to put it in". So then, while she slept on Christmas Eve we set the house up with all the furniture in it. The house still needs a lot more finishing, but that did not dampen her enthusiasm one bit for rearranging the furniture and settign up her little dolls in it. I look forward to many hours of good memories ahead us making and furnishing that house for her!











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