What is the Best Christmas Gift You Have Ever Received?

    Last Sunday at church our Middle School leader asked the kids to name the best gift they have ever gotten for Christmas.  I was surprised by how difficult it was for the kids to answer this question.  I had assumed it they would come up with some new electronic device or big thing like a bike, but for most of the best gift was something small.  "A blanket with beavers on it that my grandma made."  "Slippers because that year all the grandkids got matching slippers."  The list went on but the common theme was that the best gifts were those that created memories.
    As a parent, I want to give my kids all the cool stuff for Christmas.  But I think it is more the memory of seeing their faces light up when they open the box that drives this desire.  When I think back over the 37 Christmas' of my life and the hundreds of gifts I have received, I have trouble naming more than a dozen or so.  I think it is important to remember that the gift will never be as important as the memory it creates for both the giver and the receiver.  As anyone with a small child can tell you, they would rather play with the box anyway.