I have seen numerous post-Christmas morning reflections on the booty that folks have received. I always find such reflections a strange mis-direction of the meaning of Christmas. It is as if leading up to the day it is about awaiting the coming of Christ. But immediately after that day it turns into a number of reflections on "stuff". So, what "stuff" did my wife and I receive today? Nothing. Literally no things at all. Not a thing from each other and not a thing from another family member. Not even a card.
Since we have been married we have never exchanged gifts as a matter of principle. Neither of us feel especially attached to cards since we find it odd to say "I love you" with the words and pictures someone else crafted who could care less about us. We literally view ourselves as so joined that our life together is the gift and we are but mere participants in it. What we give to each other is each other – literally. Since we have been married, since our very first Christmas ten years ago, we have given each other time. We do something special together. We have never purchased any "thing", but will do something together to make a memory that lasts. Our first Christmas was doing absolutely nothing but staying in our humble first apartment in seminary housing. We watched a couple of movies (one of them was PCU) and went for a long walk on a very cold day. There were very few people out. The world was ours. It was the first time that time itself was something that we owned.
Today marked the first year our oldest son was old enough to enjoy the experience of receiving gifts. Our youngest was pretty happy too. The entire day was about spending time with our boys and each other. We did nothing else. They did nothing else. We played with their new trains. With the exception of a short movie (standard fare for afternoon "down time") we did not flip on a TV. The greatest gift that any human being can give or receive is the unconditional love and embrace of another human being. It is even more pronounced inside the sacred boundaries of the family.
So that is what we gave each other today. We gave each other the gift of time made sacred. What better gift to give each other in remembrance of a day in which the eternal crossed the fragile plane of the temporal and in an instant made that which was profane, perfect. We gave and received the gift of grace this Christmas as we have the previous nine together. What better gift is there to give than the gift humanity itself was given on Christmas day? Christ redeemed time for us that we may give time for grace to each other.
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