\u201cThree thousand feet up! Up the side of Mt. Crumpit,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He rode with his load to the tiptop to dump it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPooh-Pooh to the Whos!\u201d he was grinch-ish-ly humming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey\u2019re finding out now that no Christmas is coming!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey\u2019re just waking up! I know just what they\u2019ll do!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTheir mouths will hang open a minute or two<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThen the Whos down in Who-ville will all cry Boo-Hoo!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a noise, \u201cgrinned the Grinch,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat I simply MUST hear!\u201d \nSo he paused. And the Grinch put his hand to his ear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And he did hear a sound rising over the snow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It started in low. Then it started to grow \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the sound wasn\u2019t sad!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why, this sound sounded merry!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It couldn\u2019t be so!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But it WAS merry! VERY!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He stared down at Who-ville!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Grinch popped his eyes!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then he shook!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What he saw was a shocking surprise!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Every Who down in Who-ville, the tall and the small,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Was singing! Without any presents at all!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He HADN\u2018T stopped Christmas from coming!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
IT CAME!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Somehow or other, it came just the same!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And the Grinch, with his grinch-feet ice-cold in the snow,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stood puzzling and puzzling: \u201cHow could it be so?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt came without ribbons! It came without tags!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt came without packages, boxes or bags!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And he puzzled three hours, till his puzzler was sore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn\u2019t before!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMaybe Christmas,\u201d he thought,\u201c doesn\u2019t come from a store.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maybe Christmas \u2026 perhaps \u2026 means a little bit more!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
-(Excerpt from Dr Seuss, How the Grinch Who Stole Christmas)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As I was looking over some letters to Santa that my children had\nwritten in the form of an excel spreadsheet listing each of the items they want\nSanta to bring them this year along with the description of each item, a link\nto purchase it online, and the purchase price for each\u2026 I found myself\nstruggling with how much this Christmas feeling far too much about all the ribbons,\ntags, packages, boxes, and bags\u2026. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then I realized that it only becomes about those kinds of things\nif I allow it to. It\u2019s normal for kids to get excited to write their letters to\nSanta with every item they could possibly wish for (admittedly an entire excel\nspreadsheet may be a bit over the top)\u2026but that\u2019s all part of the fun as kids to\nget to dream about things you\u2019d love Santa to bring you. But just like Ralphy\u2019s parents told him in\nthe movie A Christmas Story\u2026some gifts we are better off not getting\u2026after all,\nthey could shoot an eye out \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve decided this year I am committed to making sure Christmas at\nour house doesn\u2019t just come from a store. \nThis year I want to make sure Christmas means a little bit more\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Plan now to make this Christmas season about loving and serving others and enjoying time with family and loved ones – laughing together, playing together, and making new memories together.\u00a0 Maybe your children didn\u2019t list those as things they want in their letters to Santa, but without a doubt they will be the gifts they will one day treasure the most.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n