The True Meaning of Christmas

Like with any other holiday and birthday parties in our house, I tend to celebrate Christmas in a BIG way.  There are the customary decorations and lights; there is the onslaught of Christmas smells and Christmas music and there are many traditions (old and new) mixed in.  But this year, now that the kids are older and can understand more about the real meaning behind Christmas, I wanted to be sure to incorporate that.

At the elementary school, there is a "Giving Tree" in the hallway with paper ornaments hung from it.  We were encouraged to take an ornament (or two) and buy the requested item(s) and then return them to the school in time for Christmas.  Many of the items were necessities for kids or families and some of the items were more frivolous wish ideas. 

I talked to Samantha, Sophia and Jack about us participating and they were excited to help.  We initially chose two ornaments (pants for a 9-year old boy and make-up for a 9-year old girl) and later took two more ornaments (play-doh for a 5 year old girl and a $15 gift card to Meijer for a 14-year old boy).  In all, we were buying and donating for four kids ... one for each one of the Lapinski children.  We had so many conversations about this, especially when the girls saw that kids were asking for sheets for their beds.  It blew their minds to know that that is what kids need/want for the holiday.

But, the even bigger reward for me was this:

Samantha came home from school one day and told me that she wanted to give Mr. Balow a present for Christmas.  (Mr. Balow is not her homeroom teacher, but rather, one that she sees for a couple of classes during the day).  She said that she knew exactly what she wanted to do -- she wanted to make him a pie.  Apparently, whenever she is late turning in an assignment, he jokingly tells her that she 'owes him a piece of pie.'

And that both melted my heart and brought a small tear to my eye.

She gets the true meaning of Christmas -- putting the thought and effort into celebrating someone else that is special to you.

So we set to work on Sunday, gathering ingredients and making a cherry pie for Mr. Balow.  (I think that she must have casually asked him what his favorite kind of pie was).  Samantha helped from start to finish and we had the best time doing this together.

And then when it was cooled, we boxed it up, wrapped it with her choice of paper and ribbon and planned to give it to him at school on Monday.

That night though, Samantha came down with the worst stomach bug ever -- I changed her bedding four times before morning.  In the middle of the night, both Steve and I agreed that it wouldn't be the best idea to give that pie to Mr. Balow.  We couldn't be sure what Samantha had and considering that she was the one that primarily made the pie ... well, we would just need to make another one.

And so, we will. 

We have plenty of time before the holiday and it will only further enforce the true meaning of Christmas -- especially because Sophia wants to be a part of the next pie-making session with us.  The more, the merrier ...