The Wonder of Christmas: Experiencing Joy, Anticipation and Giving this Holiday Season at Robyn’s Nest of Hope

01 Jan The Wonder of Christmas: Experiencing Joy, Anticipation and Giving this Holiday Season at Robyn’s Nest of Hope

The Christmas season brought joy and anticipation. Prior to Christmas Day, our boys asked numerous times, “How many more days until Christmas?” We have a countdown calendar and they rotated the wheel to indicate how many days until Christmas Day. I smiled at times because the days would sometimes be off track and we would have to recount the correct number of days repeatedly.

As children, they sense the wonder of the season and feel the anticipation of gifts to be opened. They wrote their Santa letters and wanted to mail them. We drove to a nearby post office and let them drop their letters in the box. You could sense their excitement as they dropped their letters into the box.

On Christmas Eve, the boys were getting the milk and cookies ready. Luke said, “I don’t want the milk to spoil, so I am putting a note that there’s cold milk in the fridge.” He ran and got the cookies to put out. Luke is always sneaking cookies out of our pantry. We call him the cookie man. He has always liked cookies. Sometimes we find cookies in his pockets! He said leading up to Christmas, “I have been doing good not eating the cookies. I am saving them for Santa.” The whole week approaching Christmas there was a full package of cookies and that is not the norm.

The songs of Christmas make me fill with emotion. “O Holy Night”, “Silent Night” and “O Come Emmanuel” are a few songs that have lyrics that have so much meaning. One of my favorite memories as a child, was attending Christmas Eve service. At the conclusion of the service, our pastor would give the kids a bag of fruit as a gift. It was a simple gift and all of the kids at church would get excited to get their bag of fruit each year. I still recall those Christmas memories of hearing the songs of the season and the gift of giving.

Every year we hang our stockings on the mantel as a family. Our new tradition started last year, which included myself writing a letter to Hope. It is something that I will continue each year. Last year, my letter was filled with so much sadness. This year, I wrote another letter and put it into Hope’s stocking. The letter still spoke of sadness, but also mentioned how we honor him by talking about him as a family. We honor him by including him in our traditions.

Christmas morning the kids were up at 6 am. We talked the night before we were not going to to get up until 6. At 6 am, Luke was up first and proceeded to get Drew. When they walked down the stairs, you could sense their happiness of presents.

We instill in our boys a spirit of gratitude while giving to others. The past week we have made donations to our local little food pantries. We have given hot chocolate packets, individual brownie mixes and soap to the food pantry boxes. The kids enjoy giving to others in need and we are glad that find joy in helping others.

As the New Year starts, may we find the joy in each day. May we celebrate the excitement of little things. May we give to others and find joy through giving. What are some traditions you share as family? How do you share the spirit of giving to others?