Moments at Christmas make for some of the best memories. Our family has many of them, and one of my favorites is the year I outwitted my youngest son. Yes, the one who always snooped for his Christmas presents.
Jason has always loved every aspect of Christmas–from reading the Christmas story on Christmas Eve, to making sugar cookies together as a family, to decorating the house.
However, the curiosity of unopened Christmas presents has always just about sent him over the edge with excitement.
Weeks before Christmas, he’d begin approaching family members to see if they knew what the others were buying for his gifts. His brothers loved torturing him with outlandish suggestions that we had purchased things like boring textbooks or a girl bicycle.
Jason inspected and shook the gifts under the Christmas tree so often that it’s amazing any of them survived without breakage.
I even found him asleep under the Christmas tree one time, his head cradled on one of the gifts. I guess all that hunting for presents can be tiring.
I once heard him whisper to his dad, “I know what Mama bought for you. I’ll tell you what she got you if you’ll tell me what she bought for me.”
Knowing that my husband is almost as bad as our son when it comes to presents, I gave him a steely-eyed glare and said, “Don’t you even think about it. I can take all your gifts back, you know.”
When all else failed, Jason resorted to snooping–and he was good at it. He looked through closets and cabinets so carefully he could have done inventory for our house. He searched every inch of the basement and made regular inspections in the trunk of our car.
Jason was good–but I was determined that he’d be surprised at Christmas. It became a challenge to out-do the Christmas snoop, but the year he turned 11, I finally won the contest.
Jason had requested an electronic game for one of his gifts, and I made up my mind that he was not going to find it before Christmas.
I was giddy with excitement when I thought of the perfect hiding place. It was so obvious. He’d never think to look there, and I knew without a doubt he wouldn’t clean there.
When our family finally opened presents, he was excited about his gift. “But where did you hide it? I looked everywhere.”
Oh my word, I was gleeful! Winning point to Mama! I had outwitted the Christmas snoop by hiding his present in the one place he didn’t think to look–under his own bed.
You know what I’m grateful for today? I’m grateful that God wrapped a special gift–one in swaddling clothes–for me…and for you.
And we don’t have to worry that we won’t find that gift because He promises in Jeremiah 29:13, “And you will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.”
Friends, have you found that gift yet? It’s freely given and is just waiting for you to take it. I can promise you that finding Jesus is the best gift you’ll ever receive.
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)
