A FAMILY TRADITION

By: Joseph J. Mazzella

 

     It was mid-October when I first spotted them. They were nestled in next to the candy and Halloween costumes as I walked through the store. They were the first Christmas decorations of the year. It was the beginning of the 10 week period when the stores do all they can to get us to buy all we can. It was the great Christmas shopping rush and the bigger the gifts the better. I shook my head sadly and walked on, but then a wonderful memory came back into my mind.

     It was late-November from several years earlier. I was shopping alone trying to pick up some thick Winter socks to warm my frozen feet. As I rounded the corner in the store I saw a Christmas tree full of paper angels. On each angel was the name of a needy child whose familycouldn’t afford to buy them a gift that year. Shoppers who picked an angel could buy a simple toy or gift and the store would wrap it and send it to the child that Christmas.

     Around the tree I saw a teenage boy and girl picking out several angels apiece. Their mother was smiling while she watched them. I walked up next to her and started talking with her. She told me that her children started this several years ago when she first explained to them what the Charity Angel tree was for. Each offered to give up one of their toys that year so that a needy child could have one.

     It didn’t stop then, though. Each year since the kids had saved money they earned

throughout the year and bought more and more children the gifts they wouldn’t have otherwise. It had become a family tradition. I smiled when she finished, walked over to the tree, and picked out a few angels too. I left the store feeling in touch with God, Christmas, and life once again.

     May we always remember that life is about the love you share not the money you have. Life is about the people you help not the things you own. And may we also see that it is never too late to start a family tradition that makes the Father of us all smile.

 

 

 

A Christmas Prayer for the Home

By Henry Van Dyke*

 

Father of all men, look upon our family,

Kneeling together before Thee,

And grant us a true Christmas.

 

With loving hearts we bless Thee:

For the gift of Thy dear Son Jesus Christ,

For the peace He brings to human homes,

For the good-will He teaches to sinful men,

For the glory of Thy goodness shining in His face.

 

With joyful voice we praise Thee:

For His lowly birth and His rest in the manager,

For the pure tenderness of His mother Mary,

For the fatherly care that protected Him,

For the providence that saved the Holy Child,

To be the Savior of the world. 

 

With deep desire we beseech Thee:

Help us to keep His birthday truly,

Help us to offer, in His name, our Christmas prayer.

From the sickness of sin and the darkness of doubt,

From the selfish pleasures and sullen pains,

God save us everyone, through the blessing of Jesus.

 

In the health of purity and the calm of mutual trust,

In the sharing of joy and the bearing of trouble,

In the steady glow of love and the clear light of hope,

God keep us every one, by the blessing of Jesus.

 

In praying and praising, in giving and receiving,

In eating and drinking, in singing and making merry,

In parents' gladness and in children's mirth,

In dear memories of those who have departed,

In good comradeship with those who are here,

In kind wishes for those who are away,

In patient waiting, sweet contentment, generous cheer,

God bless us every one, with the blessing of Jesus.

 

By remembering our kinship with all men,

By well-wishing, friendly speaking and kindly doing,

By cheering the downcast and adding sunshine to the daylight,

By welcoming strangers (poor shepherds or wise men),

By keeping the music of the angels' song on this home.

God help us every one to share the blessing of Jesus.

 

In whose name we keep Christmas.

 

 

* Taken from The Book of Jesus, edited by Calvin Miller.

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Recommendation: A Jesse Tree Journey by Ann Voskamp, which can be found at www.aholyexperience.com.