Month: December 2008

What kids really want this Christmas

christmas village
christmas village

The Simple Dollar shares several pointers on how to make Christmas much more meaningful this year.

First off they note, that the really meaningful Christmas gifts don’t come from MegaMart.

My wife and I take pleasure in creating homemade Christmas gifts, as do many of our friends. But even these are secondary to the time we spend “playing Santa”, driving around making holiday deliveries to the people we know. As we chat on porches or sit in living rooms, sipping hot cocoa and fawning over children, it’s the bonds of friendship that are important — not the gifts.

The post then shares several pointers from the book, Unplugging the Christmas Machine.

Robinson and Staeheli (the book’s authors) argue that children don’t really want clothes and toys and games. The four things they actually want are:

  • A relaxed and loving time with the family. Children need relaxed attention. During the holidays, normal family routines are temporarily set aside for parties, shopping, and special events. It’s important to slow down and spend quality time with your kids.
  • Realistic expectations about gifts. Kids enjoy looking forward to gifts and then having their expectations met. The key is to manage their expectations. By educating them about what “Santa” can afford, and is willing to give, it’s possible to prevent disappointment on Christmas morning.
  • An evenly-paced holiday season. The modern Christmas season starts months before December 25th, when the first store displays go up. Things end with a bang on Christmas day. The authors suggest beginning the season late in the year instead. Get out the Christmas music on December 15th. Pick out a tree on the following weekend. Schedule some low-key family events during Christmas week. Stretch the season to New Years Day.
  • Reliable family traditions. When I talk to my friends about what Christmas was like when we were Children, it’s not the gifts that we remember. We recall the things we did as a family. I remember sleeping next to the tree every Christmas eve, but never being able to catch Santa in the act. I remember seeing the cousins. I remember decorating the trailer house. Your kids will remember the traditions, not the gifts.

That last point is so important: it’s the traditions that make this season special, not the gifts.

I shared with our small group Saturday night that the idea of giving and receiving “material gifts” has become a lot more trivial to me in recent years. Maybe I’m ungrateful and expect everyone else to feel the same way — I dunno. I just feel like a gift card or a last minute gift says nothing about how you might really feel about that person.

Spending an hour over coffee at Starbucks, or a bowl of popcorn seems to say so much more.

What about you? What are you thinking, doing differently this year?

Does it matter?

My friend Briana sent this to me this evening relating to my message yesterday.

Had to share it here. Not exactly sure of the origin or author. If you know, please feel free to share so I can give credit.

I was hungry and you formed a humanities club to discuss my hunger.

Thank you.

I was imprisoned and you crept off quietly to your chapel to pray for my release.

Nice.

I was naked and in your mind you debated the morality of my appearance.

What good did that do?

I was sick and you knelt and thanked God for your health.

But I needed you.

I was homeless and you preached to me of the shelter of the love of God.

I wish you’d have taken me home.

I was lonely and you left me alone to pray for me.

Why didn’t you stay?

You seem so holy, so close to God; but I’m still very hungry, lonely, cold, still in pain.

Does it matter?

A day of fasting

This is the kind of fast day I’m after:
to break the chains of injustice,
get rid of exploitation in the workplace,
free the oppressed,
cancel debts.
What I’m interested in seeing you do is:
sharing your food with the hungry,
inviting the homeless poor into your homes,
putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad,
being available to your own families.
Do this and the lights will turn on,
and your lives will turn around at once.
Your righteousness will pave your way.
The God of glory will secure your passage.
Then when you pray, God will answer.
You’ll call out for help and I’ll say, ‘Here I am.’

Isaiah 55:6-9

For those interested or curious, you can listen to the message I shared with my tribe yesterday.

re: What would you tell Obama?

I took a photo tonight for my memo to Barack Obama. Took it in the midst of another photo shoot with Laurie (so that’s the brief background on the suit and santa hat :-)).

I posted the photo to Facebook and Flickr and then decided – hey – why not create a Flickr group to let everyone share their memo’s to the president-elect.

So, I’m hoping that by the time you read this – this slideshow will be full of photos (and not just mine). But regardless – share yours and then tell a friend.

Rethinking church

Neil Cole writes ::

We must transition from seeing church as a once-a-week worship event to an ongoing spiritual family on mission together. Then people will see church as something worth giving your life for. Honestly, people need one another more then they need another inspiring message. You would be surprised what people will do for Jesus, or for a brother or sister, that they will not do for a vision statement and a capital giving campaign.

(HT @emergentvillage)

What would you tell Obama?

Sojourners is asking folks, “What would you tell president-elect Obama if you had a chance meeting with him?”

…with rumors flying about the details of the Obamas’ impending move to the capital, Obama sightings may become none too rare for locals, forcing all D.C. residents to wonder, if given a fleeting audience with the president, what would I say?

We’ve had the experts and notables in the Sojourners network weigh in with their memos to Obama (which I am excited for you all to read in full in the upcoming issue of Sojourners magazine), but truthfully, I am more curious to see what average Americans wish to tell the man on whom so much is riding these days, because to me it seems that our collective hopes, fears, dreams, and requests need to be heard in this time of change, so we never forget the felt needs of Americans today.

They only ask that you send it as a picture – like so ::

Or like so ::

So, what would you tell the president elect? Post your photo on your blog and share the link in the comments below or via twitter or somewhere we can all see it. And of course, while you’re at it – send a copy of it to interact@sojo.net as well.

I’ll try and post mine later tonight.