Christmas shopping = Stressed Sue. I always swear I want to make Christmas less about the gifts... but cmon, it sure is hard not to. My mom just told me a story I hadnt heard, kind of made me a little more motivated to be less about the shopping! At the time my parents just had my 5 oldest siblings, in a tiny ranch, with no money. They were members of OLMC - there was no church building yet, but they had mass in the school gymnasium. My Dad told my mom he could only give her $50 for all the Christmas shopping she had to do - the 5 kids, nieces/nephews etc. My mom was really stressed because she really wanted to make Christmas delightful and special like we all want to. She spent lots of lots of time bargain shopping and fretting and trying to stay in the budget. She even sent old scraps of fabric to my grandma who made Barbie clothes out of it all for a nice surprise for the girls under the tree. She tried hard but felt a little sick about the meager presents under the tree. A bit before Christmas, the priest at church came up to my mom and said, I just really really want to thank you for donating the driveway all around the building. That was so generous of your family and the parish is truly grateful. My mom, shocked, asked how much it cost. The priest told her several thousand dollars. She was so upset she was shaking while she waited for my Dad to get home. Obviously, she let him have it. He gave her $50 to make Christmas special and it caused her alot of anxiety and stress. Yet my Dad had given thousands of dollars in donations to build a driveway at church? My Dad said, “Sheila, that driveway was a mess. People were ruining their cars. They weren’t coming to mass because of it. Our kids are happy and have everything they need….it’s okay they didn’t have 10 toys under the tree.” Hmmmm……. I wasn’t sure what to think of this story. Like my mom, I would have been furious if this wasn’t a mutual decision! But the more and more I think about it, I keep thinking how right my Dad was. Most of us so blessed with all our Needs….. We don’t need to get crazy with the Wants!! Give until it hurts I guess! Not to be a Scrooge and ruin Christmas shopping for you all….just something to think about when you hit the mall! I guess I could be a little more generous with the red bell Salvation Army ringers!
Posted on: Thu, 06 Nov 2014 21:14:12 +0000
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