Christmas Elves - December 30, 2017
If you were to pick two people NOT to do your Christmas shopping for you, who might you pick? Me, I would pick / not-pick Laurence and myself. There are a variety of reasons for this – the two main ones being that I really don’t like Christmas – I find it depressing. And neither of us can stand shopping – especially when the stores are packed and there is revolting Christmas music playing. (I do like some Christmas music – but it’s not particularly perky.)
We were so lucky when our kids were little. My parents came up almost every Christmas and Mom shopped her heart out (and Dad’s wallet) buying them gifts and helping them to buy gifts. When traveling North for Christmas became too much for them, I resorted to gift cards. Now I just send our kids a small cheque and a large Christmas letter. On Christmas Day, Laurence and I head for the hills. Literally. This year and last year we hiked Wasson Peak.
So, it must have been God’s sense of humour that caused our Pastor at our AZ church to ask us – just over a week before Christmas – to head up gift buying and giving for a family of five that our church is helping to support. I assured Randy that we were happy to serve in any way possible – with the advisement that I am a good worker, but not a good leader. And, I wasn’t planning a Christmas dinner.
The info sheet arrived by email. It was so well organized. It named everyone in the family and gave their ages and clothing sizes and had about eight lines under each person where people could sign up to buy gifts and clothing. Obviously, someone who cared very deeply had spent a lot of time drafting this up and then – I expect due to a health problem – was unable to see it through.
It made my eyes cross. I emailed Pastor Randy back. How about Option B? We just ask for money and buy them gift cards? What choice did Randy have at that point? So, on the Sunday before Christmas Eve Sunday (Advent 3,) Laur and I stood in the narthex with a table, the sheets the woman had created, some pens and a bucket for money.
Laur is excellent at being a midway barker. Comes of years of selling his small press’s books at fairs and markets. Me, I’m too embarrassed.
Anyway, people gave generously, and some signed up to buy presents too. Which created a problem. One of the kids had two gifts coming; two of the kids and the mom did not have an actual present on the way. And someone had donated a $25 gift card. What to do?
A wise man from Lively, Ontario once said, “If you want to find an easy way to get a job done, get a lazy man to do it.” In this case the lazy man was a distracted woman. “Think, Jan, think!” And then “Ah ha!” I phoned one of the people giving a second gift to the one child and asked if she could instead give a gift to the mother. No problem! (I found out later she had to return the toy. The plight of the highly organized when they work alongside the lowly confused.) And I could give the Subway gift card to the one no-gift-yet child, and Laur and I could buy a Subway gift card for the second.
The following Wednesday, our awesome church secretary cut us a cheque for the money donated and we went to the bank and deposited it and were now carrying around bills. Laur said, “You know, we could have bought the gift cards with Mastercard and deposited the cheque later.” I replied, “Laur, I cannot entertain even one more option.”
On our way to W*lmart, to buy gift cards, Laur thought he’d heard a funny sound in the car and decided to drop me off at the store while he got our mechanic to check the car out. Not a wise move, unleashing a forgetful person into a superstore with a purse full of money.
First stop was Subway, to buy a second gift card. And I snagged two large Subway bags to wraps these in. Clever me! Once inside the W*lmart, I got this great idea. What is Christmas without socks and chocolate bars? Over to the candy section. How does one choose from over a hundred options? I stood there and examined the various selections and eventually just picked the one I saw first.
Then to the sock aisle. Turns out I had to go to four different locations to buy socks for five people. Not only that, the selection was once again enormous. Crew? Ankle? Knee? Foot? I decided to go for the socks that were the most decorative. I’m not sure how the teenage boy will feel about these. Oh well.
Laur had expected to find me finished and waiting for him at the front of the store. Nope, I was wandering around the Christmas cards. The gift cards would need a Christmas card to put them in, and I would need five different ones. Gah! Then to the checkout where some poor cashier had to count out $75 times five to make out the gift cards.
When I got home I laid everything out in columns – minus the gifts being bought by others – and created five bags of Christmas presents. I put everything into a larger bag and called it a day.
Things went off smoothly. After church (Advent 4) I got to meet the kids who would be receiving the gifts – their mom was working at whatever job she could find. And I located the additional gifts that other folks had bought. Laur and I followed the person who was driving the youth to their apartment. We gave the gifts, wished them all a Merry Christmas, and came home and went “Phew!”
Would I do this again? Heck, yeah! I’ve already told Pastor Randy I’d love to. And I’ve already bought the Christmas bags – on special at the 99 Cent Store.
Whether or not he’d want to let me, might be a whole different story.
We were so lucky when our kids were little. My parents came up almost every Christmas and Mom shopped her heart out (and Dad’s wallet) buying them gifts and helping them to buy gifts. When traveling North for Christmas became too much for them, I resorted to gift cards. Now I just send our kids a small cheque and a large Christmas letter. On Christmas Day, Laurence and I head for the hills. Literally. This year and last year we hiked Wasson Peak.
So, it must have been God’s sense of humour that caused our Pastor at our AZ church to ask us – just over a week before Christmas – to head up gift buying and giving for a family of five that our church is helping to support. I assured Randy that we were happy to serve in any way possible – with the advisement that I am a good worker, but not a good leader. And, I wasn’t planning a Christmas dinner.
The info sheet arrived by email. It was so well organized. It named everyone in the family and gave their ages and clothing sizes and had about eight lines under each person where people could sign up to buy gifts and clothing. Obviously, someone who cared very deeply had spent a lot of time drafting this up and then – I expect due to a health problem – was unable to see it through.
It made my eyes cross. I emailed Pastor Randy back. How about Option B? We just ask for money and buy them gift cards? What choice did Randy have at that point? So, on the Sunday before Christmas Eve Sunday (Advent 3,) Laur and I stood in the narthex with a table, the sheets the woman had created, some pens and a bucket for money.
Laur is excellent at being a midway barker. Comes of years of selling his small press’s books at fairs and markets. Me, I’m too embarrassed.
Anyway, people gave generously, and some signed up to buy presents too. Which created a problem. One of the kids had two gifts coming; two of the kids and the mom did not have an actual present on the way. And someone had donated a $25 gift card. What to do?
A wise man from Lively, Ontario once said, “If you want to find an easy way to get a job done, get a lazy man to do it.” In this case the lazy man was a distracted woman. “Think, Jan, think!” And then “Ah ha!” I phoned one of the people giving a second gift to the one child and asked if she could instead give a gift to the mother. No problem! (I found out later she had to return the toy. The plight of the highly organized when they work alongside the lowly confused.) And I could give the Subway gift card to the one no-gift-yet child, and Laur and I could buy a Subway gift card for the second.
The following Wednesday, our awesome church secretary cut us a cheque for the money donated and we went to the bank and deposited it and were now carrying around bills. Laur said, “You know, we could have bought the gift cards with Mastercard and deposited the cheque later.” I replied, “Laur, I cannot entertain even one more option.”
On our way to W*lmart, to buy gift cards, Laur thought he’d heard a funny sound in the car and decided to drop me off at the store while he got our mechanic to check the car out. Not a wise move, unleashing a forgetful person into a superstore with a purse full of money.
First stop was Subway, to buy a second gift card. And I snagged two large Subway bags to wraps these in. Clever me! Once inside the W*lmart, I got this great idea. What is Christmas without socks and chocolate bars? Over to the candy section. How does one choose from over a hundred options? I stood there and examined the various selections and eventually just picked the one I saw first.
Then to the sock aisle. Turns out I had to go to four different locations to buy socks for five people. Not only that, the selection was once again enormous. Crew? Ankle? Knee? Foot? I decided to go for the socks that were the most decorative. I’m not sure how the teenage boy will feel about these. Oh well.
Laur had expected to find me finished and waiting for him at the front of the store. Nope, I was wandering around the Christmas cards. The gift cards would need a Christmas card to put them in, and I would need five different ones. Gah! Then to the checkout where some poor cashier had to count out $75 times five to make out the gift cards.
When I got home I laid everything out in columns – minus the gifts being bought by others – and created five bags of Christmas presents. I put everything into a larger bag and called it a day.
Things went off smoothly. After church (Advent 4) I got to meet the kids who would be receiving the gifts – their mom was working at whatever job she could find. And I located the additional gifts that other folks had bought. Laur and I followed the person who was driving the youth to their apartment. We gave the gifts, wished them all a Merry Christmas, and came home and went “Phew!”
Would I do this again? Heck, yeah! I’ve already told Pastor Randy I’d love to. And I’ve already bought the Christmas bags – on special at the 99 Cent Store.
Whether or not he’d want to let me, might be a whole different story.