Christmas presents a dilemma for children. What should they request of Santa? They do not want to seem greedy, but there are some things they dearly want and what better time to ask for them than Christmas? After all, Santa’s sleigh is loaded and he can give things parents cannot normally give. Parents, on the other hand, know that Santa is in fact limited by the resources of the parents.
Christmas presents a dilemma for children. What
should they request of Santa? They do not want to seem greedy, but
there are some things they dearly want and what better time to ask for
them than Christmas? After all, Santa’s sleigh is loaded and he can
give things parents cannot normally give. Parents, on the other hand,
know that Santa is in fact limited by the resources of the parents.
A friend of ours has two daughters, Katelyn, age
eight, and Emily, age four. Obviously, excitement was building toward
Christmas around their home. But, their parents had just built a new
house and much of what Santa may have given was tied up in boards and
nails. Their parents want to teach their offsprings that even at
Christmas, restraints are often necessary.
“This Christmas, you can each ask three gifts from
Santa. Jesus got three gifts on His birthday, so that is what you can
have – just three.”
The theology might be a little shaky, but the lesson was valid.
For the four-year-old, that truly was a dilemma. She
had studied wish books for days and she had decided there were . . .
not three but four gifts she “really, really, really” wanted. Try as
she might, she could not decide which gift she could live without. She
begged, she pleadied, but her parents stuck to the limit.
So, the mother left Emily to struggle to bring her desires within the limit. One request had to go.
The mother then turned to the older daughter.
“What three gifts do you want to ask Santa for?” she asked Katelyn.
The older lass has become less materialistic, or
maybe she just had everything she could want. You know how we parents
are.
She answered simply, “I just want a scooter and the love of my family and being with them at Christmas.”
“Katelyn, that is so sweet. Are you sure you want to ask Santa for just one gift?”
“Yes ma’am. A scooter and the love of my family.”
Wow! If I had been that humble at Christmas growing
up, I probably would have gotten everything in the Sears catalog. But
the little girl was absolutely sincere.
Not so with the younger child.
Emily had listened carefully to see what her older
sister was asking. A light came on in her little brain and she said,
“Katelyn, if you just want one gift, can I have the other two!”
Amazing, isn’t it? The older we get the more we appreciate the intangibles–the gifts money cannot buy.
So, if you could just ask for three gifts this
Christmas, what would they be? Would you want more “things” for which
you do not have room to store, or the wonderful intangibles of life our
hearts always have room for?
We could learn from the eight-year-old.
Merry Christmas!