Confession - Christmas Cookies

I thought she had done a good job.

When I was eight years old, I ran down the stairs in my red pajamas with my sister, Veronica. I'm sure my oldest sister Monika was there, too, but my memory places her as the last to get up for Christmas in our teens, so I think I've placed that back on our childhood.

Our first stop was always, of course, the stockings. We've had the same ivory-colored 18" stockings since we were in Spain, which was a looong time. They're more faded now, but hold small trinkets just the same. That year, each of us received a pack of cookies. I got a whole package of chewy Chips Ahoy! I hugged the red container into my red pajamas, as if they would become a part of me.

Knowing my lack of self-control, I gave Veronica very specific instructions: Hide them. I figured if I knew where they were, I would end up eating them all, so it would be best if they were out of sight, out of mind.

She hid the cookies.

For the remainder of the day I played with my new G. I. Joe's. I forgot all about the cookies as we continued on with our Christmas celebration, and eventually, after the sun bid us farewell, I headed off to sleep, another Christmas under my belt.

I brushed my teeth, climbed into bed, and, as I still do today, I put my left arm under my pillow.

*crinkle*

What the...?

I pulled my hand out with the foreign object in its clutches. ... "Wha?"

Yep. Veronica had hid the cookies alright. Under my pillow.

I'm sure you can figure out the rest of the story. After 10 minutes or so, I went from laying in my sheets looking at a package of cookies to laying in crumbs with an empty package of cookies looking at me.

I haven't bought chewy Chips Ahoy! since, but this year I may have to take a walk down memory cookie aisle.

Christmas Gifts?

This year I have reached a new dilemma, and it has to do with Christmas gifts. Here's the situation:

When a person in history is remembered, honored or celebrated, we usually do it by carrying out the work of that person. For example, we would celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. day by listening to the "I Have a Dream" speech or by looking at the progress of the civil rights movement. But for some reason, Christmas isn't like that. We celebrate the life of Jesus by saying things like "family" is the reason for the season.

I don't have a problem with family at all. In fact, I haven't seen my family since last Christmas, so I'm glad I'll be able to in a couple of weeks. Even still, I'm pretty sure they're not the reason for Christmas. If we want to celebrate Christmas, I think the best way is to continue the work of the person being celebrated:

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." (Lk 4:18, 19)

I heard someone say recently that a Gospel that isn't good news for the poor is no gospel at all. So, I've spent some time looking for alternative Christmas gifts. Here are the sites I've found that either offer relief for the poor, or are concerned with something other than a commercialized Christmas:

worldvisiongifts.org - many ways to help the poor of the world
heifer.org - Get a family a water buffalo [suggested by Anders - thanks!]
redefine-christmas.org - their tagline is "give globally, act locally"

Here's some other alternative Christmas sites:

adventconspiracy.org - thoughts on Christmas getting out of control
rethinkingchristmas.com - user contributed gift/alternative gift ideas
christmasfuture.org - aims to help communities in extreme poverty

I'm still not sure what I'm doing for Christmas gifts this year, but I know it's taking a lot more thought than usual.