My family has taken group texting to a whole new level. Ann,
my youngest sister, sent a message to ten of us suggesting a time and place to
pull names for Christmas gift giving. 166 text messages later (I couldn't
believe it either!) it was done. Not only did we break a family, and possibly a
world record for the longest group message in the shortest amount of time, we
have taken our tradition of pulling names to the internet.
Brittany,
Ann's daughter, registered our family's information on www.drawnames.com, a
site which does the name picking for you. There's even a place to specify
immediate family members so that they don't get each other's name. Once the
information is logged into the system, an email sends you the name you (or the
computer) picked and a link to their wish list. The best part is the ability to
view everyone's gift list.
Frank's list
was quite revealing. Normally a Home Depot gift card is the perfect present for
him. Still in the midst of repairing their home from Hurricane Isaac's visit, it
seems as though he's ready for a little diversion. My son-in-law requested a
gift card from Academy, an LSU or Saints shirt, and, I quote, "socks,
because Monique doesn't wash mine."
My niece
Mattie's list was the perfect ending to the night. After listing a few of her
favorite things, she concluded with, "Don't stress… grateful for anything.
J"
It made me smile, too, Mattie.
Gift-giving
shouldn't be stressful; it's truly one of my favorite things. Gift-receiving, on
the other hand, has occasionally induced stress. A recent text message from
Lauren read, " You'll love your Christmas present. I've been saving up for
it." Now that scares me. Please, Lauren, please put that money away for
Adeline's education. Trust me, you'll need it.
At least
Lauren's text was better than the comment I've occasionally heard while being
handed a gift, "When you open this, you'll cry." What? Talk about
pressure! Their expectation of a dramatic reaction leaves me wishing the gift
was the ability to weep on demand.
In the
midst of all of the Christmas preparations, I am often visited by the questions,
how much of this celebration is really about the birth of Jesus? How many
parties have completely ignored the guest of honor? At how many birthday
celebrations have I arrived empty handed? What would be on Jesus' wish list?
Maybe one
of the answers would be daily communication with His children. Reading my
children's text messages, answering their phone calls (including the one Lauren
accidentally made to me while dropping her phone in her boot while at work) and
real, live visits with my family and friends are gifts I hope to never take for
granted. Even those 166 messages. I'd like to think I've met my personal goal
of praying and just talking to Jesus as much as I interact with others, however
I'm sure I've fallen short on many occasions.
So
what am I going to do this season? I'm going to continue to enjoy the
decorations, attempt to make pralines, buy a few more gifts, savor the family moments,
continue to search for the white mesh ribbon I put around the front door last
year, and most of all, I will lengthen and strengthen my communication with the
One for Whom we celebrate December 25th. I hope to take my
relationship with Jesus to a whole new level
No comments:
Post a Comment