Merry Christmas~2011

For my last post of the year, I wish to post the story that I wrote for my Christmas letter.  The title is "What Do You Want For Christmas, Johnny?"

It was December 15th and my thoughts were all a jumble as I contemplated the many names on my Christmas list.  There was Grandma Georgia, who lived with us since Grandpa Henry had passed away last year.  She didn't get around like she used to.  She had arthritis pretty bad and a hip that pained her something fierce.  What should I get her?

And there was Carol, our oldest who was coming home from her third year at college with a broken heart. The “love of her life” had recently told her she was not the one for him and that she should move on and find someone else. She surely has many needs.


Next, there was Steven, who was only 19 and so far away from home. He was deployed to Afghanistan nearly a year ago and there is a hole in my heart. I sent him a care package a month ago, but surely there must be more that he needs.

My husband works night and day to keep this family afloat. He gets home late most nights and hardly has time to share any family fun. He’s so tired all the time, it makes him grumpy. I’m sure there are a great many things he could use.

And then there is Johnny. He is our 11-year-old who suffers nearly every day of the fall, winter and spring season with asthma. Breathing is a huge priority for him. And yet he takes it all in his stride, hardly ever complains and is just one great big magnet of love. Finding just the right gift for him is always the hardest.

I was not finding solutions to my dilemma, so I went to Johnny’s room, knocked quietly on the door and entered when he said, “It’s OK, Mom, you don’t have to knock.”

“Johnny, I have been trying to come up with a gift list for Christmas and decided to come ask you. What do you want?”

Johnny got that really serious, thoughtful look on his face…the one he gets just before he’s about to say something profound. “I want a baseball game,” he said. I was confused.

“Do you mean you want a new glove, or a ball, or a bat? Or do you want tickets to a baseball game? How does one give a baseball game?”

I should have known this was going to be a lesson for me on how an 11-year-old’s brain works. “Well, here’s the thing. Think of LOVE as home plate. All of us are the team players and each one of us has to come up to bat and make it around the bases to home, ‘cuz that’s where LOVE is.

“When Grandma comes up to the plate, I want her to be pain free and maybe have a new hip so she can walk around the bases like she used to. And when she crosses home plate, she can hug everybody without pain.

“I want Carol to hit a home run, instead of striking out like she did last time she was up to bat. And I want her to run home with a big smile on her face, because that’s where LOVE really is.

“I want Steven to fly to home plate from Afghanistan, after touching each and every base safely. I know we will all be there to hug and congratulate him and thank him for his service.

“I want dad to take a day off and just throw the ball to me and spend a day NOT being so grumpy, because he’s so overworked and tired. And when he crosses home plate, I want to see the look on his face when he realizes how much we all LOVE him.

“And I want you to take a vacation from housework and cooking and have a pinch-hitter to do all the work for you. You’ll be standing on home plate, because you are the LOVE in our home.

“That’s all I want for Christmas.”

I was speechless. I knew out of the mouth of this child something profound would come forth

“What do you want, Mom?” He wasn’t done yet.

I searched my soul and remembered the story of a far off land. “I want to see the brightest star in the heavens and hear angels singing. I want to look into the faces of the Holy Family and feel the LOVE that lives there. I want to wrap my arms and my heart around that tiny little baby boy and be a witness to the first gift of Christmas. I want what you want…LOVE."

And as we end one year and begin thinking about wiping our slate clean and turning the page into a New Year, my wish for each and every one of my family and friends is that the LOVE of Christ, which was the first gift of Christmas, surround you in everything you do throughout 2012.