The GRINCH was here...*insert Grinchy laugh*
One day in Relief Society (a meeting at
church for the ladies), a sister told of a story she had read of how a family
had had their Christmas stolen by the Grinch.
As soon as I heard of this story, I knew, this is what I needed to do
for my boys.
Several weeks leading up to Christmas, I
had been feeling like my children’s perspective was all about “me – me – me”. They didn’t seem to grasp very well the need
to serve others, to be grateful for what they had or to recognize that all
things come from our Father in Heaven.
So, I decided that the Grinch would steal their Christmas.
I discussed it with my husband and he was
on board right away. We agreed that in
lieu of their presents, they would be taking goodie bags to the homeless (as
was recommended in the article shared at church).
On the night of Christmas Eve, the tree was
beautiful and had been decorated mostly by the children. My husband had put up beautiful lights around
the living room and had wrapped all of the larger picture frames hanging on
each of the side walls. The room was
quite festive. There were a few presents
under tree which intrigued the children and tempted their patience for
waiting. We had our traditional
celebration at my mom’s house with Christmas stockings and hot chocolate. Then we returned home and had a simple meal,
read a special story and then open up one present. The scene was set. The boys were told to not come down until
8am. Since their rooms are upstairs, we
do have the capability of locking the door that leads from the stairs to the
family room …and we did.
After we were sure the kids had fallen
asleep, my husband went to work of taking down all of the decorations, lights
included, and the wrapped picture frames, took the star off of the tree,
unplugged the lights, took the stockings from the wall and took the presents from the tree. He took them all over to my mom’s house (who
lives across the street). I had been in
the office working on my homework and when I finally emerged from the office to
see if I could help with anything, I walked into the living room and felt the
instant drabness of the room without festive lightings and decorations. The Christmas spirit was not in that
room. It would definitely have an impact
upon the boys, I hoped.
While making final preparations for the
goodie bags, my husband made the transition from “bags” to actual Christmas
stockings. What a wonderful idea and it
looked so much more festive!
On Christmas morning, at 8am, I heard the
boys knocking on the locked door. They
were singing “Jingle Bells”. It was
cute. I had to keep my heart in check because
even though I hate disappointing them, I knew they needed this experience. With a heavy sigh, unsure of what was to
happen, I opened the door to let them in the living room.
To my surprise, they had their blankets
over their faces and asked me to lead them into the room. Their excitement was palpable and they were
in really good moods. I led them into
the room and they made their way to the couches. I stood at the back of the living room and my
husband sat in his chair. My youngest
son, removed his blanket and his first question was, “Why are there no
presents?” This prompted my other son to
remove his blanket and wonder the same.
My husband then said, “Yes, why are there no presents? And why are there no decorations?” They then proceeded to look around the
room. My young son, who still believes
in Santa, had his mouth agape, unable to articulate what he was thinking or
seeing. My older son, finally removed
his blanket and laughed – because that is what he does when he is nervously
upset.
They soon saw the 6 Christmas stockings
beneath the tree and a small envelope that simply read “Maybury Boys”. Daniel shouted, “Scavenger Hunt” and jumped
up to read it. Clearly he thought it was
a game.
Here is the letter that was left for them:
To
The Maybury Boys -
I
have stolen your Christmas. All of your
presents and stockings are mine.
I
have noticed that despite some good Christmas spirit, you’ve been helping me
out by focusing a bit too much on what you can get, rather than what you can
give. I have noticed that you fight a
lot with one another, you are competitive, you argue with your parents, you
seem to only care about FUN and GAMES, you don’t like to hug, you frown much
more than you smile, you lie and you steal, you leave your things out for other
people to pick up for you, you don’t take care of your possessions, and you
forget to say ‘thank you’.
All
of these things are the opposite of the Christmas spirit. Your life is not perfect, but it is
blessed. You have a bed. You have a change of clothes. You have hot water. You have a toilet to use whenever you want. You have bikes. You have food. You have lots of family around you. But you seem to focus too much on what you
DON’T have and what others can give to YOU.
So
now, instead of the Christmas you thought you were getting, you get the chance
to see what life is like for those who WISH they had all the things that you
take for granted.
So
get dressed. You are going to be elves
today and do something for someone else.
Because for them, today there will be no tree, no presents, no warm
dinner, no new clothes, no Fifa, NBA or Madden.
Just another cold winter day.
Try
to keep your perspective and remember; you get out only what you put in.
The Grinch
ps: Maybe, if I can feel the true
Christmas spirit is alive in your hearts, I’ll return your presents. It’s up to you.
My
son Daniel, who thought this was a game, looked up from the letter only
once. At the line that said, “So now,
instead of the Christmas you thought you were getting…”. I got a nice glare from him at that
point. But soon they were off to get
dressed, as their chauffer would shortly arrive.
At
8:15am, their chauffer (a family friend with whom I had pre-arranged this
adventure), knocked on the door. The
boys had received their instructions to each hand out two stockings to people
that they felt were in need. They left
in good spirits.
For
the next hour, James and I worked to bring Christmas back to our house. We brought back the decorations, the lights,
the star on the tree and the presents.
By now, my daughter (age 3) had woken up and she was an eager
helper.
When
the boys arrived home, they were different.
They were happier. Lighter. The first thing my son Daniel said to me was,
“Mom, I had a great time and I don’t even care about my presents anymore.” My younger son echoed the same, although he
was concerned about Santa. My older son
was plagued with dealing with being rejected by someone when he tried to hand
out his last stocking. He couldn’t
understand it. But he was able to find a
woman who was very accepting and appreciative.
All
in all, while this was an experiment that had potential for tears and upset, I
am proud of my boys for participating and for allowing it to impact them. I hope we do not have to repeat this
experiment again except I know that we will make goodie bags for the homeless
every year.
I
hope that my boys always remember the year the Grinch stole their Christmas!
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| My happy elves sitting in front of their Christmas that was returned by the Grinch |
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| This was our second Christmas day celebration with more family. |
