Planning a Provident Christmas

After 2 1/2 hrs. of waiting, we're almost in the store!

Black Friday has added a whole new meaning to Christmas…even more so, when the great pre-season ritual begins Thanksgiving eve. 

Never having fully experienced this “enduring” activity before, I joined my daughter-in-law Thursday “night” (and I use that term broadly, as it turned into a 10 hr. marathon which began at 8 PM Thursday and ended Friday at 6 AM. 

My daughter-in-law and other crazy people we stood in line with!

Most “enduring” about this tradition was the waiting. Most of that time was spent either circling Toys “or” Us, in a stand off of survival in the unseasonable cold weather of Mesa.  The “inner circles”  were equally tedious and long, but without the wind.  Adding to the insanity of the experience, we found ourselves using her cell phone to call other crazy people in the family who were in Utah doing the same thing, or checking Bev to see if she had found the things she was looking for.  

Crossing that experience off “my bucket list,” I can now revert back to my more rational life, and go about preparing for Christmas in a more provident way.

One of the burdens of both reading and TV watching, is that we are bombarded with grandiose illusions of what Christmas and every other holiday should be. When we add commercialization into the mix of “holiday cheer” the expectations become even more burdensome. 

We love our children, and grandchildren, and dote on them, but there comes a time when parents must simply, simplify and rein in the ruthlessness of rampant materialism which raises its head even higher in December.

So how does a provident person celebrate the real spirit of Christmas, or any other holiday? First we need to examine our own heart and evaluate how it aligns with the celebration. To do this we need to understand the underpinnings and core values of the holiday. When there is no personal spiritual connection to the real meaning of a holiday, whether it is Veterans Day, Easter, Thanksgiving or Christmas, it is easy to give the occasion a materialistic makeover, and forget the reason for the season.

Once we acknowledge our commitment and belief in Christ, we can then plan Christ-centered activities instead of submitting to Santa’s substitute celebration. Activities which promote peace on earth and good will toward men should be our focus, events which promote on the real meaning of Christmas and bring lasting joy, not debt and depression. A provident person will choose wisely the better part. Often the simplest gifts are the best. 

Christmas gift suggestions:
To your enemy, forgiveness.
To an opponent, tolerance.
To a friend, your heart.
To a customer, cheerful service.
To all, charity.
To every child, a good example.
To yourself, respect.”
     --Oren Arnold--

Simplifying Christmas does not make it any less important or fun for families. The youngest child as well as the oldest grandparent can equally can find joy in service and sharing. Here are some ideas:

--Orchestrate a “Pay it Forward” activity where you as a parent or grandparent make a cash donation to a family or individual with the challenge that they in turn use it to bless someone else’s life. When you “cast your bread upon the water, it will come back-- buttered.”
--Reenact the Nativity story with simple costumes, music, and Jewish foods. Play Dreidel, or a game from your own culture.

--Take a musical program to the Nursing Home; children can break a Piñata, and share the goodies. Sharing friendly handshakes with the elderly is important.
--Go caroling with other families, and learn the songs of Christmas.
--Host a neighborhood sing in, or wassail-fest where everyone shares favorite songs and Christmases past.
-- Organize a food or clothing collection for families who may need help this winter.

--The Twelve Days of Christmas was something our family as well as the Eberhard family, did for many, many years. We picked 2-3 families we could “bless” and surprise with 12 days of deliveries. This took some orchestration, but it was so fun hearing the delivery stories, and how they “almost” got caught.

Here are a few ideas for rhymes for the deliveries:

1) It's the first day of Christmas And we thought you'd like to know

We think you're really special, And it's time we told you so.

1)The trees look nice and frosty. But there's no partridge to be found

But pears are always welcome. So we left some on the ground.

2) On the second day of Christmas, 

We looked for Turtle Doves

These are really Wash and Wear 

And sent with all our love (Dove soap)

6) The six geese a laying, Will really have a ball

With balloons and streamer, You can decorate the hall.

-- Instead of a present, ask your children to write a story for you from their life, an experience that taught them something, or where they felt God’s love for them. These would be treasured more than perfume or necktie by any parent or grandparent. Steve’s oldest sister and her husband, are currently on their 4th mission, and don’t need “things.” But their 12 children take turns organizing a “story” topic for the year, and each sibling writes something for their parents. I know that book of stories is one that has been a real blessing to them over the past 15 or so years.

-- Read the scriptures with “real intent”, have children take turns sharing a scripture that to them exemplifies what Christ would do. Make plans as a family to orchestrate what you learned.
-- For a family activity, have each child add a piece a straw to your nativity scene, representing something specific that they will do as a gift to Christ this year. Or another version is to write what your gift to Christ will be, on a slip of paper, and everyone puts theirs in a box. After Christmas see if the rest of the family can guess what your gift was, by the changes you made.

--Families or neighbors can with you to tie quilts to donate to the hospital, or women’s shelter.
-- Make tree decorations together as a family, or decorate wreaths to hang on someone else’s door.
--Adopt a family, or a school class and provide something they need.

There are hundreds more equally good ideas which will reaffirm the goodness of mankind in the lives of others.  Plan now for a Merry Provident Christmas.

Provident Nightmares--EeeK Moments

     Eeek! It was one of those Nighmare on Elm Street moments. I remember the first time I felt this way. It was when one of Blanding’s icons passed away, and the family photo collection was divided up, and then put in a garage. Shortly thereafter these irreplaceable photos were severely water damaged. My heart twisted in agony!

     Again I cringed when a dear elderly grandmother in our neighborhood died, and I learned that boxes of her historic photos were thrown out in the trash. Before such historic treasures are trashed, families should consider donating the collection to the San Juan Historical Society.  They can at least archive the collection keeping it intact, safe and secure. Such a decision conserves history for posterity & community.  

 

hese are pages from my grandmother's album

which I scanned about 2004.  Then I used 

Photoshop and dissected then into individual

photos, filing them by categories. My Dad is in 

eachof these photos.  I really treasure them.

     If you don't want to do that, then start organizing and digitizing your photos now. You don't have to store all of your slides, photos, mementos.  Take photos of them, or scan then, then identify them by year, and organize them all on your computer, so you can find them when you write your history some day.  Or teach your teen ager how to do it.

     This week’s Eeek! Moment came when I learned a neighbor’s well-meaning (but not provident) family had carted off all her canning jars to the dump. I couldn’t help but think of all the people who could have benefited from their use. This year promises to be a “summer of plenty” and canning is a way to conserve its abundance. The last jars I got were from Jacquie Moses’ curbside last summer!   Many of my favorite “trash to treasure finds” I discovered in someone else’s garbage. I know it’s embarrassing to my walking partners, and probably my children as well, but if something can be used, whether a high chair, an ironing board, lawn decoration, or canning bottles, I have no qualms about asking if I can have it. Your trash may likewise, be another’s treasure. Think outside the box (‘er . . .trash can) and share.

      For the past 4 years as I’ve tried to simplify and declutter my life, I have found it a simple matter to set out on our corner things we don’t need, in hopes that someone else may find a use for them. I am always happy when they’re gone by the next day, and hope they find a “new purpose under heaven.” My heroine in this behavioral change has been the aforementioned Jacquie, a woman who practices real conservation. She has a wealth of provident pointers, if you’re ready to change.

     Enough on recycling…let’s get our hands dirty. It’s time to start gardening in Blanding. May 15 is typically the last killing frost, so unless you’re a gambler and already have your seeds in, it’s time to prepare your soil and plant.

     Nothing advertisers can promise can match home-grown fresh tomatoes, corn, beans, & peaches. They are superior in flavor, nutrition and therapy. Ada Rigby is Blanding’s guru gardener. She told me many years ago that her father recommended working in dirt for mental, emotion, and physical therapy. She followed his advice and learned “bushels” full of information the past 60 years, while she and Truman produced some of the best and most varied gardens in town.

There is something wonderful about working with plants and having quiet time to ponder and plan while pulling weeds. My first missionary companion was a metaphor queen, a true transcendentalist. She found lessons of life in nature, whether in a cracked sidewalk, or a faded bloom. While pulling mallow I, too learned that weeds not plucked young, grown deeply and may require a crowbar to eradicate. Like addictions and sin, old roots die hard.

    Gardening helps to counteract Mammon’s Malaise which William Wordsworth described 200 years ago:

The world is too much with us; late and soon,

Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;

Little we see in Nature that is ours;

We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!

I memorized this in college, but have spent the past 40 years trying to practice it-- a lesson that is easily practiced while gardening.