Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Christmas Moments
It's been over a month since my last post and I have absolutely no excuses...expect for the holiday season. The amount of time spent preparing for the BIG day - decorating, shopping, cooking - it takes its toll on all other parts of life.
Interestingly, my three special Christmas Moments didn't even take place on December 25th!
The first was volunteering at the Edmonton Christmas Bureau the weekend prior to Christmas. This was a truly eye opening experience. Its easy for me to go about my days, work to home, home to work, running errands on the weekend etc and never really encounter people in poverty. The kind of poverty that makes Christmas gift giving a challenge - groceries or Christmas presents? Turkey or paying the rent? These are questions I have thankfully not had to personally consider, but there are people in this city who do face these questions and I met several hundred of them over the course of two days. It was an incredible blessing to be able to serve those in need. I was assigned to "Santa's Toyland" - the area where bags are filled with toys for children. I got a slip of paper with the names and ages of each child and my job was to fill their order. Each order was a mission to find the perfect toy from the bins of donated toys - to make it a special Christmas for that child. I imagined the children opening up their gifts on Christmas, hoping that they would love the toys I chosen for them.
My second special moment was attending a local AA meeting. I'm not an Alcholic, but I went in support of a family member. I was a little intimated at first and not at all sure what to expect, but during that meeting I experienced some of the most honest, uncensored and heartfelt sharing that I have ever encountered in my life. I remember thinking that the church could learn something from Alcoholics Annonymous! There were no masks here - nobody trying to protect their reputation or cover up anything. These are people who had completely come to the end of themselves. There were many discussions about spirituality - not always Christian - but real recognition of a higher power...of God. Each persons story was incredibly moving, sad but hopeful - a realization that life needs to be lived day by day. I learned so much in my short time with them.
My third special Christmas moment was on Dec 24th. My mother-in-law - who has not been to church in over 30 years...came to church with us - TWICE - in one day. We had a regular Sunday morning service and then a candlelight Christmas Eve service that night. And my sister in law and brother in law - who are not Christian or particularly religious - also attended the candlelight service. It was really amazing to have the family together, celebrating Jesus birth the night before Christmas.
The irony is that I spent so much time trying to create the perfect Christmas - gifts, decorations, food etc - and while all that was nice, it wasn't even close to being as meaningful as these three precious moments.
Interestingly, my three special Christmas Moments didn't even take place on December 25th!
The first was volunteering at the Edmonton Christmas Bureau the weekend prior to Christmas. This was a truly eye opening experience. Its easy for me to go about my days, work to home, home to work, running errands on the weekend etc and never really encounter people in poverty. The kind of poverty that makes Christmas gift giving a challenge - groceries or Christmas presents? Turkey or paying the rent? These are questions I have thankfully not had to personally consider, but there are people in this city who do face these questions and I met several hundred of them over the course of two days. It was an incredible blessing to be able to serve those in need. I was assigned to "Santa's Toyland" - the area where bags are filled with toys for children. I got a slip of paper with the names and ages of each child and my job was to fill their order. Each order was a mission to find the perfect toy from the bins of donated toys - to make it a special Christmas for that child. I imagined the children opening up their gifts on Christmas, hoping that they would love the toys I chosen for them.
My second special moment was attending a local AA meeting. I'm not an Alcholic, but I went in support of a family member. I was a little intimated at first and not at all sure what to expect, but during that meeting I experienced some of the most honest, uncensored and heartfelt sharing that I have ever encountered in my life. I remember thinking that the church could learn something from Alcoholics Annonymous! There were no masks here - nobody trying to protect their reputation or cover up anything. These are people who had completely come to the end of themselves. There were many discussions about spirituality - not always Christian - but real recognition of a higher power...of God. Each persons story was incredibly moving, sad but hopeful - a realization that life needs to be lived day by day. I learned so much in my short time with them.
My third special Christmas moment was on Dec 24th. My mother-in-law - who has not been to church in over 30 years...came to church with us - TWICE - in one day. We had a regular Sunday morning service and then a candlelight Christmas Eve service that night. And my sister in law and brother in law - who are not Christian or particularly religious - also attended the candlelight service. It was really amazing to have the family together, celebrating Jesus birth the night before Christmas.
The irony is that I spent so much time trying to create the perfect Christmas - gifts, decorations, food etc - and while all that was nice, it wasn't even close to being as meaningful as these three precious moments.
# posted by KRI @ 3:36 PM 
