When I was very young my mom decided to try something new. We always had lots of presents under the Christmas tree, but it really was about quantity. If we received an outfit, for example, each item would be wrapped in a separate box- more things to open and it drew out the suspense. We also would draw out the 'opening' of gifts by taking turns and opening one at a time and oohing and ahhing over each gift - even if it was a new pair of socks. So this one year, I don't even recall exactly how old I was, Mom decided there would be no snooping around the packages, so she numbered each one! The tag would simply read, in her very pretty handwriting #1, #2 and so on. She kept a list, carefully hidden, of each package number and who the recipient was. It actually was great fun to look at packages under the tree and try to guess from the size, weight and wrapping who it might be for. I was always quick to ask "Mom, do you have your list!?" It was agonizing on Christmas morning to wait for that list to be unfolded, choosing a package and hope it was my name she read.
The tradition of numbering packages actually continued for quite some time. As my sister and I married and started having our family holidays together, the amount of packages grew along with the number of people sitting around the tree. Mom quit numbering her packages but Judy and I took up the practice! The anticipation was great, no one knew who the packages were for. We did have a few Christmas mornings with missing lists, which actually could be comical as gifts were opened and one of us would have to say "oh, no that's not yours!" For us, the long process of opening gifts (hours!) was the best part. It became more about watching each person open their gift - talking about them and thanking each other. for me anyway, it was pure joy in giving. I miss those days.
Anticipation: Foretaste; previous view or impression of what is to happen afterward.
The anticipation of gift opening and all of the events of the season are what I love best. I look forward to opening my decoration boxes each year on the day after Thanksgiving, remembering Christmases past as I look at each item and recalling people and events. I bake items that are only made during the holiday season and savor the flavor of those special recipes. I remember the traditions that we had in our family and want them to continue, I want my daughter and granddaughters to have those same feelings of love and fun when they think back over our times together. Even the sad moments - recalling that the last time I saw my Dad alive was Christmas 1979. I came home from my tech school in the Air Force, expecting to hang lights and check each night to see that there were no burned out bulbs on the eaves of the house just like I had done the previous years with my Dad. What I came home to was a very thin, tired version of my Dad - in the midst of treatment for cancer and I remember being shocked at how different he looked. Even though we didn't voice it, deep down I wondered that whole season if it would be his last.
After Mary had been visited by the Angel Gabriel she paid a visit to her cousin Elizabeth- Luke 1:39-45 A few days later Mary hurried to the hill country of Judea to the town where Zechariah lived. She entered the house and greeted Elizabeth. At the sound of Mary's greeting, Elizabeth's child leaped within her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Elizabeth gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, "God has blessed you above all women, and your child is blessed. Why am I so honored, that the mother of my Lord should visit me? When I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy. You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he said".
Two women, both pregnant and both in unusual circumstances. One after many years of barrenness and the other visited by an angel. What will be coming next!? Just the anticipation of the birth of a baby is exciting enough, but for these women God was doing miraculous things. With such odd and almost unbelievable circumstances I'm sure the anticipation was more than we can imagine. Isn't it still like that for us today? We have this Bible, telling us of God's story and recording for us the miracles and ways He moved. Yet so many regard it still as a story - a fairy tale that is interesting to read, but God isn't going to move like that for them. Just like a numbered package under the tree, each time I open my Bible it is a gift. I value the words and how they speak to my heart, as if they were written specifically for me, for just that moment. There will be a treasure inside that speaks directly to my life circumstance. Other times I open it and think "oh, that one's not for me - but I must share it, that is a Word that ______ might receive, what a blessing that would be". God is alive and moving in lives today.
It is easy to get bogged down in the depression of our world and all that is going wrong. I could have just given up on Christmas after 1979, because so many of my traditions were with my parents. I hear comments from many people that say "I don't 'do' Christmas anymore, no kids, why bother" . Or "It is just too hard, and too sad - I just can't put up a tree with my loved one gone". By continuing on with my traditions, even though sometimes the sadness is overwhelming even after all these years, I keep my mom and dad alive with me every time I look at lights on a house or have that first cookie of the season, with ice cold milk. I anticipate what's coming. In fact, I anticipate so much that I battle depression when it is over. I hold this season so close to my heart that when it is time to put it all away it's as if I'm losing all of those surprises and traditions forever. Will this be the last time? Will I get to do this again? It is the same every year, and though I know it is coming, I can't stop it. Anticipation can be a good thing, but sometimes it just plain stinks!
One form of anticipation that helps me is the promise of Jesus' return. As we remember his birth and all that led up to it, the world that was hurting and oppressed, I take comfort knowing that Jesus is walking with me through it and someday he WILL come back and just like during his first coming, God will move in miraculous ways. Each day I choose another 'numbered package' and wonder what is inside and what nugget or gift God has for me. Some I enjoy and others challenge me and I wonder "why did you give me that?" - always I appreciate the gift and the Giver.
Spend some time today remembering important traditions that you have. Are you passing them along? Do you not really have any traditions? How could you start some and what value would there be in passing them along to someone? By telling our story, and telling God's story, we are passing the blessings along....... find someone to 'tell' your story to, then share the gift of Jesus with them. Maybe you are searching for a gift from God for yourself. Perhaps you are looking for that treasure from God, but it seems it is always labeled for someone else..... open another "box", your treasure is waiting.
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