Christmas Remembered

The excitement is over. The Christmas Eve service at church is done. The food eaten. The gifts all unwrapped. The trash has been carried out. The dishes done. All that remain are decorated trees and memories. And both are beautiful. We had several gifts for our granddaughter to unwrap. Her mission was to unwrap the gifts regardless of what was in the box. When she unwrapped the 4-cup coffee maker, she excitedly said, "I have my own coffee pot." Then she quickly went on to the next gift, not saying anything like, "I don't drink coffee." For all we know, she will awaken one of these mornings and wonder where her coffee pot is! Hubby and I came up with an idea of giving gag gifts with redeemable-for-cash coupons attached. The only stipulation was that the gifts had to be accepted and taken home. Instead of spending more money on "stuff " we found our kids' treasures that they have left behind when they moved out. I never heard them laugh so hard when the gifts revealed used make-up from the early 90s, expired food that the child purchased many years ago and left behind, or a college textbook that seemed untouched. We found these treasures in their old rooms. I think hubby and I had as much fun as they did as we carefully made our selections from the vast array of treasures. One of our children tried to trash one of the items saying that it was so old and not of use any more. We suggested that they come one day and help go through the treasures/trash and dispose of it properly. We were careful not to promise that they would see them as gifts next year.