rechelle's lifelyrics

Every year during the month of December, we listen to the audiobook, “A Christmas Carol,” performed by Jim Dale. It is always delightful and thought provoking. One year, in order to foster more listening engagement among my kids, I gave each of us a blank white piece of paper and had all of us draw and/or write impressions of what we heard as we listened to the first stave together. I still have all of them in one of my illustrated books of that beloved story that is brought out, among the decorations and holiday media, for the Christmas season every year. Simple traditions and gracious gatherings are the things that make this time of year special to me.

In fact, one of the most memorable Christmas celebrations of my childhood was absent of physical gifts. Looking back on a time when our society had become more and more focused on the things money can buy as each year passed, I am now grateful for the year my parents and extended family had fallen on hard times. The only gift exchange we had was “wish gifts” between our 3 families (6 adults and 14 grandchildren). We drew names and spent our time coming up with a thoughtful gift we would love to give. We were given blank sheets of paper to write out our wish gifts, and we were told to roll our gift into a scroll, to be given to the person whose name we drew when we were together for our family Christmas dinner together. That year, we were made far richer, both in the giving and in the receiving of those gifts, than ever before. I still remember the special wish gift Grandma & Grandpa gave to all of us grandkids that day! When several of our kids were young adults and struggling to make ends meet, I told them this story of my fondest Christmas memory. It was not a welcome concept at first, but they have spoken of their positive memory of that experience. We all benefitted in the process of scaling way back to the simplicity of our time spent together and sharing a special meal, instead of being so pressured to go beyond what we could be give at that time.

One of the things I love about the scenes illustrated through the words of Charles Dickens in “A Christmas Carol” is that the emphasis is on the moments shared between family and loved ones in the simplest of gatherings (or the lack thereof in some of the scenes in Scrooge’s childhood) . Even the big party scene had so much more to do with sharing food, drink, music, and some dancing than how the room was decorated or how fancifully people were dressed for the occasion. Most of the Christmas scenes have nothing to do with the gifts that were given, but they were rather focused on the way the participants enjoyed their meal together.

I hope you feel inspired to share what you can with a free heart, and that you will most enjoy the simple treasures of special gatherings with those you love. Merry Christmas.