My Accidental Holiday Hack

“Did you get this snowflake one for me? Thank you!”

“Oh Grandma you’ll love this!”

“What the…?”

“I got a car! I can’t believe it!”

“That Nana!”

“Do you love it, Lucy?”

“I got this one for you!”

I heard all of these sweet exclamations the other day in my living room. From my five year old grandson.

Was he opening gifts? Nope. He and his two year old sister were happily opening and closing a pile of decorative gift boxes that I had on my coffee table and under the Christmas tree.

A couple of years ago, I accidentally stumbled on an amazing holiday game that continues to surprise me. I had saved a stack of pretty boxes that came with popcorn, candy and nuts in them from Sam’s Club or Costco. They were gifts to us and since I love containers of all kinds, I saved the pretty boxes.

When my grandson was 3, I let him play with them as long as I was near, because I did not want them broken and ruined. He happily stacked, unstacked, nested and lined them up  for days. Then he started putting random toys in them and presenting them to me with a twinkle in his eye.

Now, as a five year old big brother he has introduced them to Little Sis and it is hysterical to me. The conversation is so funny and so full of heartfelt gratitude and joy!

They are enjoying the boxes so much! Brilliant, right? It is also distracting them from the ornaments a bit too.

Seriously, I think this could be a powerful “Christmas Hack” for young families to try. They are using their imagination and it is good for the small motor development to open and close the boxes and learn which size fits inside another size.

Pass it on…

You are welcome.

Susie

The Problem With Faith

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               I’ve been feeling down. Not down enough to stay in bed all day. Just enough to sigh and mutter, “Oh well.” to myself a lot. You know how you look in the mirror for a while as you try this and try that and then you say, “Oh I don’t care!” and walk into your day? But you do care. I care.

This really isn’t about my looks, or how I feel about my looks. But that kind of mirror moment is a small symptom of my days when I feel down. It’s always about more than what I look like.

This morning I had my first cup of coffee while still in bed. This has been a new and quite lovely little habit that began while my kids and their kids were living with us. I like a quiet morning, so I usually stayed put until they finished their family breakfast time. I also felt like it was important for them to have at least one meal a day with just them around the table.

Anyway, after my bed-coffee this morning, I began the day puttering around the kitchen and a few sad sighs escaped my lips. I decided to take a faith step and turn on some uplifting music. Some Jesus-loving music.

Even as I asked Google for my song choice, I thought it was probably a wasted effort.

This is the problem with faith. Faith requires faith. Faith takes faith.

At least a tiny bit anyway.

Something inside me had to know that choosing uplifting music could make a difference. Right? Even though a very big part of my mind told me it was a futile effort. Things are still what they are. My issues will still be my issues. The facts will still be the facts.

AND THEN the words floated above me and tried hard to get past my mind and into my heart. I almost batted them away. I nearly grumbled back at them as I sometimes do when a song says that I am loved and treasured by God.

But I did not bat the simple words away this time. I did not fully embrace them either.

I asked myself if I had enough faith to have faith. If I had just enough faith to be open to faith. The Bible talks about how teeny, tiny faith, even as small as a mustard seed is enough. But I’ve had huge faith in the past that did not end well. So…

Faith takes faith. I am not a big fan of this. I am a planner. A precise, meticulous planner. If I have to drive somewhere new, I not only look it up on mapquest, but I also look at the route on satellite-mode so I can actually see the landmarks, intersections and any possible barriers. I PRINT out the directions because I do not trust my gps. GPS only tells me one turn at a time. I like the whole picture, thank you very much!

This morning I had just enough faith to ask Google to play Steffany Gretzinger instead of Frank Sinatra for a change. Nothing wrong with Frank. Both can be heartwarming and soothing. Both make me smile.

Faith takes faith. Or it can take a small step of “whatever, let’s give it a go..”

And it helped. My sighing turned to a soft humming. God knows me. He gets my quirks, my weird requirements. He loves me, even when I don’t. That’s pretty cool.

Susie