Christmas this year was a ton of fun. All five months of it.
During too many of the 37 years I’ve been living with my lady, I’ve spent the weeks before Christmas sweating it. Wondering what in the world would be “the” gift that would catch her fancy and warm her heart.
Gift selection is not my greatest art. To be honest, as a gift buyer, I’m a klutz. And that’s a shame, because I learned a long time ago that gifts seem to mean more to my wife than they do to lots of people.
But this year I hit a homerun. Not because I’ve suddenly acquired new skills as a present picker. I’m probably not exaggerating if I explain this year’s unequaled success by saying, “The Lord provided.”
Here’s how it happened.
Early in 1994 my wife began making healthy layaway payments on an emerald ring she knew we could not afford. She had it two-thirds paid for when frugality won over frivolity.
“I’ve got to go to Barnes Jewelry and pick up a check,” she announced one evening over dinner.
“A check for what?” I queried.
With disappointment etched on her face, she explained that she had cancelled her purchase of the ring. Our good friends at the store graciously were refunding her money.
Voila! I could not believe my good fortune. Knowing how much she had dreamed of wearing that ring, I knew it was the perfect gift for Christmas. No doubt about it. Of course, it also cost about eight times the amount I had budgeted for her Christmas present.
That very fact was what made this Christmas so grand. For almost five months I got to savor the surprise and elation that would light up her face when she opened a gift so extravagant she had given up dreaming it could possibly be hers.
I learned something from all this. Now I think I know just a little more about how God must have felt about the priceless gift he gave to save us. “God so loved the world that he gave his Son,” the Bible tells us.
Sometimes extravagance is the finest way to say, “I love you.”