Christmas can be a crazy time. No matter how in our home we strive to calm things down and simplify the season, it’s still busy and stressful. There’s simply no way to make Christmas NOT busy in the house of a pastor. I wish it were not that way, but the church is full of activities around Christmas. However, I’ve come to realize there are things I can do to make Christmas more meaningful for my family. The greatest gift I can give to others is the gift of myself. This past week-end, I did just that.
It started to seem a little crazy to me on about Friday morning to take the entire week-end to leave and go to the Cities with Laura. I mean, the 12th is my Open House and I was going to lose this entire week-end before of preparation; was I nuts!? I had to take care of our foster baby, Noah, as soon as I got back and make my gigantic pre-Open House Sam’s Club run. This could be cutting it close for both my sanity and my health. However, in the end I decided it was worth it, and I was proved right.
Laura and I drove to Minneapolis on Saturday afternoon. First stop was my sister in law, Maja’s house and her husband, Tom. I realized that although I’ve seen them at family events, I hadn’t been to their house in over two years! This is really bad, because we only live 2 1/2 hours apart! The three girls hopped on the light rail and took a 10 minute train ride to the Macy’s store at Nicollet Mall. There we took in Macy’s annual Christmas display. This year it was, “A Day in the Life of an Elf.” This is one of those things you really have to see to believe, but here’s just a small sample of the creative genius of the folks at Macy’s:
Of course we also had to browse through the shoe department at Macy’s. I found the most amazing pair of camouflage stilettos. I told Nathan about them later and he said, “Why didn’t you get them?” I was like, “Nathan, they were $150!” He said, “So? They sound really cool!” Well, for Pete’s sake, if I’d have known he would react like that I would have! And they say women are hard to figure out!
We shopped at the Gap where Laura got a very cute pair of flats for only $9. I’m afraid the latent Williams shoe-fetish gene has been passed on. Apologies to Laura’s future husband! And I was excited to find a Bruegger’s Bagels for a bagel sandwich supper. Yeah, I know everyone in Duluth is all excited that Big Apple Bagels is back in Superior, but they don’t have anything on Bruegger’s.
Laura and I were able to sit and rest and choke on our bagels as we laughed hysterically over nothing at dinner, while Maja and Tom got ready to go out. (ok, maybe we were a little tired by that point) But, I love that my daughter gets my warped and stupid sense of humor and HAS my warped and stupid sense of humor. Maja and Tom were going to a fundraiser that night, and Maja was excited to wear a dress she had custom made for her when she was in Thailand. She was bummed though because she didn’t have any sparkly earrings to wear. No problem there! As Nathan always says, “I bling everything,” and I just happened to be wearing dangly, sparkly earrings, so we swapped. After all, no one was going to be seeing me that night sitting in a concert hall.
The point of this whole trip to the Cities was to see Laura’s good friend, Emily, in Bethel College’s Festival of Christmas. Emily and Laura became close a few years ago on the Mexico Missions Trip at our church and really were buds last year when Laura joined the alpine ski team at the high school Emily attends. Emily has been a regular fixture over the past couple of years at Sunday lunch and around our house, so it was pretty sad, but also exciting to see her go off to college this fall. But, it’s so quiet around here! Kind of like losing a daughter in a way! Laura was excited for the week-end, because Emily invited Laura to stay in the dorm with her.
Emily plays violin in the Orchestra and we were blown away by the concert. Over 300 hundred musicians on stage. All the music and Scripture was carefully chosen and artistically presented to glorify Christ. I had goosebumps several times during the concert.
Afterwards I took Laura and Emily back to the dorms, met Emily’s RA and saw her dorm room. I could tell they were going to have fun. Apparently they went out for ice cream, talked and giggled, watched a movie and stayed up til 2 a.m. I’m pretty sure Laura, who already wanted to go to Bethel anyway, is even more excited about it now. Mom is desperately trying to slow these years down and Laura, I know, can’t wait to go to college. Argh. Where did my baby go?
In the morning I was able to spend a leisurely couple of hours visiting with Tom and Maja. I haven’t done that in ages and it was so wonderful! I then picked the girls up around noon and took them to Ikea for lunch and shopping. Three girls at Ikea is a lot of fun!!! We took our time and Emily dreamed of the home she is someday going to decorate with all Ikea furniture apparently. I took pictures of couches to show to Nathan as we are in desperate need of new couches. And of course, stocked up on some Ikea “stuff” we needed.
So, what was the point of all this fun? Well, it was fun for sure and fun is good. But more than that it was about relationships. And relationships take time. Without time they fall apart. Time spent with a very special sister/aunt Laura and I love.
Time with a friend who has moved away and yet is willing to take time out of her busy college life for a “lowly” high school freshman because she loves her. And time we were willing to take out of our Christmas to come down and see her perform and spend with her because we also love her very much too!
And most importantly, I got time with my daughter. At first, like I said, I was a little stressed at the thought of leaving for a whole week-end in the middle of Christmas. And yeah, this week is getting packed; I could have used the week-end for “work.” But, it was better spent on relationships. I had hours in the car alone with Laura to talk. We had silly conversations, ridiculous laughter, and some very serious conversations too. Those moments are priceless and irreplaceable. I can’t buy them by working harder, more hours, or making lots of money. I can only give time by . . . well, stopping and taking time.
It’s maybe a cliché, but clichés are true: No one ever got to their death bed and wished they had worked harder or made more money, but many times they wished they had spent more time with the ones they loved. Don’t waste Christmas. Don’t waste the fleeting moments of your life with your loved ones. Give the greatest gift this Christmas. Give the gift that equals love. Give time. I’m sure glad I did this week-end. Because you know what? It’s gone. And I can’t get it back.
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