Christmases the Grinch Should Have Stolen (And Other Thoughts)

We have this image—the Currier and Ives Christmas. The gently falling snow. Children making snow angels. The aroma of Grandmother’s pudding with rum sauce.

Yet Christmastime is actually the season when many struggle with loneliness, and sales of anti-depressants and anti-anxiety agents go up. There’s the ideal... and then what often actually happens. This year our family plans to have a large gathering, and with an eleven-year-old in the house full of cousins, it promises to be a great time. Yet eleven and twelve years ago, we had adoptions fall through—both times on December 22.

Just about everybody we know has had at least one Christmas fiasco. Consider some of our friends’ stories:

* A little girl is so excited on Christmas morning that she gets sick. She watches from the couch, holding her stomach, while her parents open her presents for her.

* Two brothers shoot their new guns inside the house and knock over the Christmas tree. Big trouble.

* A little boy sneaks and finds the gift his parents have bought for him. He is thrilled out of his mind—until he watches his brother open it on Christmas morning.

* A brother and sister get into a pecan-throwing fight inside the house, break a bunch of glass ornaments, and get spankings.

* A new husband gives his bride a personal heater for Christmas. She cries because she thought he was giving her the leather coat she’d been hinting that she wanted.

What Christmas fiascos or disappointments have you had?

Thank God our own Christmases for the past ten years have been much different from some previous ones. Ten years ago when we finalized our daughter’s adoption, the attorney and judge involved actually moved up the date from mid-January to December 20 to add to our Christmas celebration.

What Christmas joys have you experienced?