The Season of Giving

Each morning I receive a quick thought from the folks at iMom.com, via email. Today’s “Espresso Minute” was titled “The Value of Generosity” and referred to portions of text from “Say Goodbye to Whining, Complaining, and Bad Attitudes… in You and Your Kids!” by Dr. Scott Turansky and Joanne Miller, R.N., B.S.N.

It is this time of year when the concept of giving is forefront in our minds. As parents, it can be particularly tough to get our kids to focus more on the giving and less on the getting that seems so prevalent at Christmas. This is one of the reasons my husband and I chose to become foster parents: to instill in our own children the value of generosity.

Most days, however, when we’re caught up in the piles of laundry, loads of homework, and mouthfuls of bickering, that lesson seems intangible. But today, I was blessed to catch a glimpse of the fruits of our labor.

We currently have two sisters, ages 12 and 15, staying with us. Since their arrival in July, our lives have been turned upside down, and we’ve learned a lot about raising teenagers (our own biological children are just 7 and 10). It’s been a fun adventure, even though life with four girls is a bit of an emotional roller coaster (just ask my husband).

Today, the two younger sisters (ages 4 and 8 ) of our foster daughters came to stay for Christmas week (if you’re counting that brings us to 6 girls between the ages of 4 and 16!). After becoming acclimated to our home, they were drawn to the lit Christmas tree, surrounded by dozens of wrapped packages. They quickly found those with their names, and those of their siblings. Then they turned their attention to learning about my daughters.

One of the girls commented how much she loved the poster on my 10-year-old’s bedroom door. Another one reveled in the scent given off by my 7-year-old’s favorite body lotion. One after the other, my 10-year-old and 7-year-old each secretly brought the cherished items into the office and asked for wrapping paper, tape, and scissors. I watched in awe as my daughters placed those wrapped items under the tree with tags bearing our new houseguests’ names. If you have kids, you can imagine this was a major proud mommy moment!

Then it hit me: this is the season of giving. It’s not just Christmastime that is for giving. It’s our whole lives, and our whole childrens’ lives. It’s teaching them from the moment they can say “mine” that it’s better to say “yours.” It’s providing them with opportunities to share what they have – and what they love – then smiling tears of joy as they take that lesson and run with it.

Tomorrow will still have lots of laundry (but no homework because of Christmas break!) and plenty of bickering, but through it all is the undercurrent of something bigger… something better. I’m so blessed to be a part of it.