Joseph Lost His Head 10 Days Before Christmas

Friday, I went to school and helped Sadie build a Polar Express train out of candy. I think she (we) ate as much as we used. The cafeteria was filled with parents helping their first and second graders make the train. That is what I love about the school and that is the great teachers and parent involvement and the special events. 

Sadie built her own train and winter scene, but the dad next to us made his daughter's train and ate candy while she watched. He was so delighted and oblivious that his daughter should be making the train I couldn't help but chuckle. 

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Thanks to my royalty check, I bought Sadie a new velveteen purple, her favorite color, dress with sparkly ruffles at Walmart for her Sunday duet at church and singing with the children's choir for the congregation. I made a lavender ribbon rose and sewed it onto the bow at the hipline and made her a matching ribbon barrette. 

Friday was also the last day of school, and our grand girls, Sierra, 10; Sadie, 8; and Delaney, 7, were revved up and ready to rocket  off to Christmas. I had the girls draw names for a gift exchange, and then I took them to the dollar store to pick out five things. They haggled and changed their minds about what to buy. Delaney picked out pretty nail polish for Sadie, who promptly told her she didn't want polish. Delaney was crushed, and I lectured Sadie about her need to be kind and appreciate what Delaney had picked out. 

I had just heard a radio DJ talking about Christmas and re-gifting who said that in a study it was discovered it was not the "thought" that counted but rather the "gift" counted the most, so I suggested to Delaney that she pick something else out for Sadie.  

At home, the girls spread a flurry of paper across the floor. Arguments arose over scotch tape and scissor usage. After all the gifts were wrapped and snug in their Christmas stockings, the grand girls began begging to open just one present. Wide-eyed and beggar mouthed, they plagued me with their pleas. 

Waiting to open gifts is so hard. I remember that I felt the same way as a child, and it was not easy, but I didn't give in to the girls pleas and put the gifts out of sight. 

As they were flailing and jumping around throwing a ball it hit Joseph, an irreplaceable ceramic figurine, my mother had made as part of a nativity set for me years ago. His head broke off; it was a clean break. Sadie, her face hung low, as she held out the two pieces of Joseph in her hands. 

I took the pieces and laid them on my desk and pulled her up onto my lap and told her I wasn't mad at her. She was relieved and so was I, because I knew she felt bad enough and did not need to be in any more trouble than she already had been that day. 

Joseph, the figurine, was not important I was reminded that very afternoon when I heard about the massacre of 20 children in Connecticut. 

Our children are more precious than irreplacable things because they cannot be replaced. 

"How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings" (Psalm 36:7, ESV).