Thanks for the Memories...Part 2

Do you have snooping children? Perhaps like the Dennis the Menace comic strip where he rushes into the room, with his mother standing there with her mouth wide open, and he says, holding a big box in his hand, “we’d better tell Santa to forget about the train set I asked for. I just found one on the top shelf of dad’s closet!” Here’s a good idea for you parents out there with snooping children around Christmas time (except your kids cannot read this article or it won’t work, and here’s a message to my kids: your presents are not on the top shelf of my closet!). Charles Swindoll tells this story about one set of parents who were sick and tired of their children trying to find their gifts. They enlisted the help of their neighbors one year! They would keep all the neighbors’ presents in their own closet, while the neighbors kept theirs. Naturally the kids peeked, but both sets of parents acted like they didn’t know anything about it. And then, Christmas Eve, when all the kids were asleep, they would swap and wrap al the gifts. He said that you should have seen his kids when they looked out in the street on that special day and saw bicycles being ridden they thought they were going to get for their Christmas!
I love watching children at Christmas time. The best response ever to Christmas was by my oldest daughter when she was about 2 years old. We usually leave a couple of gifts unwrapped so they can see that Santa came. She came running down the hall and looked around the corner and saw the dollhouse she wanted and stopped and put her hands to her face for just a second. Her eyes sparkled. It was a Kodak moment (too bad it happened too fast for tired dad to get a snapshot of it!). I had six nieces and nephews around at Christmas when I was in college so it was always fun to watch all of their reactions to things, seeing the two brothers’ fight over what they thought was theirs. That special time of opening the gifts is always great. And the wonderful thing is that each family has the unique ability to make a lasting memory each time they get together. Remember to do that when your family all comes home and gathers for the Holiday season. Make a memory or, better yet, just sit and watch the kids open their gifts. Regardless of how we do gift giving this year, remember why we give, remember to give as we have been given, and watch your closets, parents!