Marriage

Looking for a way to save a few dollars this year?  And make a lasting impression on your loved ones?

This year, my family is trying something new.

It doesn’t make a mess.

It doesn’t cost a dime.

It won’t keep us up late Christmas Eve night with exasperating instructions.

It’s small enough that it’s not hard to hide… but big enough that my guess is, they’ll want to keep it forever.

This year, the stockings we’ve hung will be light… but still filled with care.

We’re calling them “love-note stockings,” and even my four year-old is excited about it.

We’ve all decided to write special notes for each other, to fill our stockings with.  It might be a simple “I love you” or a longer note for my six year-old.  It might be a funny rhyme or a drawing of the two of us.  Pens and crayons may scrawl across an actual card, or maybe just the back of an envelope, or even a scrap piece of construction paper.  Whatever it looks like my dear, it is from my heart to yours, and it will be special.

Oh, it’s not that we’re anti-gift giving, no, not at all.  We’ve planned a few special gifts that will be wrapped and lovingly placed under the tree.  And I can’t say that a teddy bear or two won’t sneak its way into my children’s stockings.

But I have to be honest… in recent years, I’ve remembered the “big” presents, but at the last moment floundered to try and find things to fill the stockings with.  Things that, though they were small, they added up to a good chunk of hard-earned dollars… things that the kiddos didn’t really need, maybe they didn’t even want.  And, just like you, we’re a family that hopes to bring home the true meaning of Christmas (in the midst of, and through, all the fun).  So I invented “love-note stockings” as a way to prepare and make sure the stockings have something in them ahead of time; to save a dollar or two; and to give a gift that means real love, a gift that may be tucked away in a shoebox under a bed for years to come, a gift that my loved ones can return to again and again if they have a hard day and they need to remember how loved they are.

A gift that doesn’t cost you anything

But shows the receiver what they mean to you.

A gift that doesn’t buzz, whistle or light up

But just might light up a child’s heart.

A gift that might be forgotten… it might be crumpled up with the wrapping paper accidentally… it might be only glanced over.

But maybe it won’t.  Maybe he’ll keep it in his wallet to turn to in the middle of a hard day at work.  Maybe his weathered hands will feel the warmth of my love when he reads words of truth, encouragement, and hope.

Maybe she’ll keep it under her pillow, like she did with the little heart-shaped card from Valentine’s Day, the one that prompted her to say, “Mommy, hold my heart.”

Maybe the words will lift her up and bring a smile to her face… the face of the one with the big worries and the bigger heart, the one who told me not so long ago, “Mommy, I think when you say something good, the sun gets happy and rises.”  (For that whole story, see here: http://www.howtobless.com/?p=219 )

Maybe I’ll get some love notes in my stocking too.  I’ll know it’s from my curly-haired girl by the stickers.  I’ll know it’s from my creative girl by the scrawling, curly letters.  I’ll know it’s from my soon-to-be two year-old boy by the bite marks.  You see, this special gift will definitely have their unique signature on it.

And maybe… just maybe… these little words of life could point the way to something bigger.

To Someone who gave it all

Whose love costs us nothing, but paid for everything,

Someone who healed broken limbs and broken hearts with the words from His mouth

Who Himself was called “The Word.”

Maybe in some small way… our little words of love can remind us of the Greatest Love that ever was.

Friends, will you join me in trying “Love-Note Stockings” this year?  (It doesn’t mean you can’t put other things in your stockings… just that you’ll try this too… and, no one’s looking, anywayJ  ) If you do decide to try it, I would love to hear your stories!  What do love-note stockings look like for you?  You can get your kids into it with sparkly pens and glitter, or you can be the sole “love-note author” and surprise them with it on Christmas Day!  Whatever it looks like for you, I would love love love to hear about your experience with it.  So if you join in the fun, be sure to come back after Christmas and let me know how it went for you!  Thank you!

 

Celebrating the Greatest Love Together,

Laura Jane