Sharing the Spirit of Christmas

My whole life, I have been taught that it's better to give than to receive. It's a motto I've tried to instill in my children: Jesus was given 3 gifts, and they could "ask" for 3 gifts, but could expect no more.

I've tried to create for my children that it's important to be "secret" about their givings, to not gloat or take "credit" for what has been given. I think we're doing a good job of that.

This past month has been hard; the city of Mapleton is holding on to a bond that was paid to make sure that parts of John's development were done properly. Even though that part of the property is done, the city hasn't released the bond, and the development has to wait to continue until they have money to start on the next phase. That's also meant that they haven't been able to cut paychecks to the staff who works on the development, John included. Of course, we've been expecting to be paid any day now for a couple of weeks. It's like watching the Feds and banks squabble over money and how it's to be paid out. It's frustratingly slow.

Yesterday, we were in the unique position of being the Sub-for-Santa family: not donating, but being the recipients. I suddenly looked at all the stories of kids who say "We gave, never knowing we were poor" because that's the way I felt. Having the Bishop in our home, knowing his great love and support for us and to us really put a different spin on Christmas for me.

We are extremely blessed that we have a home; we bought Christmas months ago and our kids will lack for nothing; both John and I have a job, and more importantly insurance, but we are so richly blessed by people who are generous and giving and wanted to make sure that until John was paid, we could take care of the necessities. How amazing people are at Christmas.

I have felt mighty sheepish, knowing that we could not have prepared for this in any other way. We did everything "right" and can pay our bills, but life in America for average working people (especially people who work on, for, with building and homes) is very hard.

I've also been grateful for the Relief Society as they've taken care of meals for us because John has had the flu for a week, and I'm still struggling all the time with kidney stones. Our neighbors are good people who love each other. What a great opportunity it is to be on the receiving end of such love, to know that we are in someone's prayers, and to know that we are being watched over by those who surround us. That's the real lesson I've learned this Christmas: it's not just what you give, but what you receive from being part of the gift. Even though the blessing might be in the form of money, it sure feels like love to me.