How I Taught My Children the True Meaning of Christmas

I have three teenagers, actually four if you want to count my 39 year old husband. Every year they start in around the month of August preaching to me what they want for Christmas. It is never just a small inexpensive item, it is usually a $200 Ipod or a XBox 360 something or other. Anything over $50 has a homing device that attracts my teens.

Last year wasn't too bad of a year for us financially, even though my husband had lost his job, we had money in savings and I was able to provide a decent Christmas for the family. I decided after careful thinking that too many years had gone by that my children just expected all the finer things under the tree at Christmas time. It was time for a change, I knew before I could blink these children would be adults out in the real world stamping their own mark on society and I really never taught them the true meaning of giving and what Christmas is all about.

Christmas means so many different things to so many humans around the globe. Religiously, Christmas is the sign and celebration of the birth of Christ. Also Religiously for some it means nothing, and they do not in any way acknowledge the birth of Christ. Either way every human no matter what religion knows that it is Christmas, whether they choose to celebrate or not.

One thing most people can attribute Christmas to is a time to be thankful for what you have and what you can give to help others in need who don't have as much as you are blessed to have had.

It is also a time for those who are alone and unable to be with loved ones that they care about the most, whether they are home for Christmas, living far away or unfortunately no longer living. Either way most humans feel the compassion that Christmas can bring and what it does to touch our hearts.

I took the kid's Christmas list and asked them all to pick one gift that they had asked for and told them after they had picked out the gift they had chosen that those particular gifts were going to another child their age who wasn't going to have a Christmas this year.

To their surprise they were quite uneasy and at first upset about losing something that they each had really wanted all year long.

I decided to take my teens and their wrapped gifts to our local Domestic Violence shelter on Christmas Eve.

This subject rings very strong in my heart, as I lost a dear friend seven years ago to Domestic Violence. The pain the children go through after seeing their mother hurt or even killed stamps a lasting mark in the essence of their innocent childhoods.

When we arrived, and after I introduced myself and my children, the coordinator at the shelter gladly led us to a small tree in the lobby where she asked us to set the gifts down.

We then made our long walk back to the dining area. On the way there my children and I glanced through the open doors as we strolled down the hallway. There were plain white walls lined with small bunk beds, suitcases and dressers that were overstuffed with clothes. The rooms looked temporary and hopefully the occupants were too. I asked the coordinator if this is where the women and their children stayed and she said that "Yes they do, in fact sometimes there is more than 6 people in each small room, and some families have stayed in the shelter for as long as 8 months until they could find adequate housing placement."

This particular shelter is run off of small funding from the State and by the help of local donations to keep food on the table and the electricity on.

For a safe haven it isn't a very homey place, especially for women and children to go into after being in a violent situation. Being torn away from your home and all your personal belongings is scary for anyone at any age, including a child who didn't deserve it, and most especially on Christmas Eve.

We made our way to the kitchen were the food was already being cooked. 3 Hams, 2 Turkeys, 10 pounds of mashed Potatoes, and several cans of Corn all had to be served hot and ready for eight hungry families.

My kids each had duties, my oldest daughter served up the Turkey and Ham, my son had to make sure everyone was handed clean plates and silverware, and my youngest daughter was responsible for cutting the Pumpkin Pie.

I know as each of my three children were dishing up food for these kids who wouldn't get much this Christmas, that they stared each one in the eye and tried to imagine which one would get their Sansa 4MB MP3 player, their PSP gaming system and their 14 karat gold necklace and basketball charm as their very own Christmas gifts.

Each of them cried and talked all the way home about how thankful they were to have a house to go home to, a room to call their own and most of all a family.

It was a humble experience for all of them and myself included. It was my wish that it had taught them that the true meaning of Christmas is not what you get for yourself but what you can give of yourself to others.