Christmas: Unique Gifts

This Christmas was a Christmas of unique and special gifts.  If I were Ellie C., I would have taken creative pictures of those unique gifts and posted them here on my blog.  But I didn't.  Those gifts are in Colorado and I'm in Georgia and I should be home to take those pictures in February.  But I just had to share a few stories...

Some of the gifts were related to the miscarriages we've gone through this year.  My sister had our babies' names engraved on angel ornaments for us.  A "Baby's First Christmas - 2011" ornament was added by my mother.  And Mr. Amazing gifted me with a beautiful "Mother and Child" necklace.  (This I wear all the time.  I'll have to take it off long enough to snap an Ellie-picture...)  Each of those gifts was enough to make me tear up as they reminded me of our two little ones already waiting for their mother and father in heaven.

Some gifts were just fun.  My older sister and brother-in-law dropped a couple crates in our laps. The contents? Rappelling/climbing harnesses and equipment!  Wow - talk about a fun loan!  Oh, and a gift that caused me the most laughter was the baby "owner's manual" from my other brother-in-law.  "This baby is surprisingly similar to other appliances you may already own.  Like a video-cassette recorder, the baby's head will require frequent cleanings for optimum performance..."  And my sister-in-law gave me chocolate syrup and peanut butter.  That's perfect!

And my brother's gift to me?  My foley fork.  For those people who don't know, a Foley Fork is a kitchen utensil from years gone by.  I loved mine - handed down from my grandmother. But when I lost it 18 months ago at a rented beach house in North Carolina, I was devastated.  So... when my brother presented me with a Foley Fork at Christmas this year - I was thrilled.  But I was even more thrilled to realize that it was not just A Foley Fork.  It was MY Foley Fork.  My Foley Fork that was lost in NC.  My brother and his (now) fianceé had stopped by that beach house a year later, knocked on the door, talked to the current renters, went through the kitchen drawers, and manged to find my foley fork.  And then saved it until Christmas. :)

Now I realize that this post "should" be about God.  About God's gift to us of Jesus Christ.  About how Christmas is not about gifts.  And if you read the surface, you may think it's all about my gifts and what I got.  But these gifts and their givers have really been a reminder to me of who God is.  That He knows my innermost secrets, my longings, my hurts.  He remembers what I talked to him about ten months ago and He cherishes my heart. He knows my pain and reaches out to touch it.  He redeems lost situations. He likes to make me smile. God knows me - more intimately and permanently than I can ever comprehend.

Thank you, God.  And thank you, family, for reminding me of those things.