{"id":13746,"date":"2012-12-15T21:32:34","date_gmt":"2012-12-16T02:32:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/?p=13746"},"modified":"2012-12-15T21:32:34","modified_gmt":"2012-12-16T02:32:34","slug":"12-pearls-of-christmas-day-2-an-inexpensive-new-christmas-tradition-by-christy-fitzwater","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/?p=13746","title":{"rendered":"12 Pearls of Christmas | Day 2 – An Inexpensive New Christmas Tradition by Christy Fitzwater"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"12PearlsOfChristmas\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Welcome to the\u00a012 Pearls of Christmas blog series!<\/b><\/p>\n

Merry Christmas from\u00a0Pearl Girls\u2122<\/a>! We hope you enjoy these Christmas \u201cPearls of Wisdom\u201d from the authors who were so kind to donate their time and talents! If you miss a few posts, you\u2019ll be able go back through and read them on this blog throughout the next few days.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re giving away a pearl necklace in celebration of the holidays, as well as some items (books, a gift pack, music CDs) from the contributors!\u00a0<\/b>Enter now on Facebook<\/a>\u00a0or at the\u00a0Pearl Girls blog<\/a>.\u00a0<\/b>The\u00a0winner will announced on January 2, 2013 at the\u00a0Pearl Girls blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you are unfamiliar with Pearl Girls\u2122, please visit\u00a0www.pearlgirls.info<\/a>\u00a0and see what we\u2019re all about. In short, we exist to support the work of charities that help women and children in the US and around the globe. Consider purchasing a copy of\u00a0Mother of Pearl<\/i><\/a>,<\/i>\u00a0\u00a0Pearl Girls: Encountering Grit, Experiencing Grace<\/i><\/a>\u00a0or one of the\u00a0Pearl Girls products<\/a>\u00a0(all GREAT gifts!) to help support Pearl Girls.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

An Inexpensive New Christmas Tradition<\/b><\/p>\n

By: Christy Fitzwater<\/b><\/p>\n

I was invited to play some Christmas carols on the piano for a senior-adult luncheon, but before I got up to play they had a time for the seniors to share what they remembered as their favorite Christmas gifts.<\/p>\n

There was talk of new bicycles, a pony, and a new dress.<\/p>\n

Then one elderly man took the microphone and said, \u201cAn orange.\u201d When he was young, an orange was a rare treat. As he spoke, he got choked up and had to stop talking to collect himself. He explained that his Sunday School was giving an orange for anyone who memorized a Bible verse. He tearfully described earning that delicious orange and slowly savoring every bite. When he was done eating the orange, he put the peel on the furnace so it would dry, and then he chewed on the peel.<\/p>\n

He said with conviction, \u201cWe just don\u2019t know\u00a0how rich we are<\/i><\/b>\u00a0in this country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Christmas is usually the time when I feel broke. I tuck away money for gifts all year long, but money doesn\u2019t go very far these days. My husband and I love to spoil our kids and try to scheme how to get them a big-ticket item. We\u2019ve enjoyed the Christmas mornings when we\u2019ve been able to enjoy watching our kids open such gifts as an electric guitar or an iPad.<\/p>\n

I stopped to imagine how our whole family would feel if, on Christmas morning, the only gift under the tree was a small basket cradling an orange for each of us. I think we would feel disappointment and great loss. What would we do the rest of the morning if not consumed by opening gift after gift?\u00a0 Where would the focus be?<\/p>\n

Our years of wealth make thankfulness for an orange seem ludicrous.<\/p>\n

As I processed this man\u2019s story, I decided what we lack at Christmas isn\u2019t money to buy nice gifts\u2014it\u2019s gratitude to relish the simple treasures we enjoy every day.<\/p>\n

This Christmas I am going to begin\u00a0a new tradition<\/i><\/b>\u00a0for my family, and I would invite your family to do the same. I am going to place a small basket with four oranges under the tree, along with a printed copy of the man\u2019s story of the orange. We\u2019re going to pause at some point in the morning and each hold an orange while we read the story. And then we\u2019re going to hold those oranges up to our noses and breathe in the fragrance God built into it, peel it slowly, and enjoy each juicy bite. And while we eat it, we\u2019ll each speak thankfulness to the Lord for the grace He has poured into our lives.<\/p>\n

In that moment, we\u2019ll know how rich we are.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Christy Fitzwater is a writer and pastor\u2019s wife living in Kalispell, Montana. She is the mother of a daughter in college and a high-school boy. Read her personal blog at\u00a0<\/i><\/b>christyfitzwater.com<\/i><\/b><\/a>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome to the\u00a012 Pearls of Christmas blog series! Merry Christmas from\u00a0Pearl Girls\u2122! We hope you enjoy these Christmas \u201cPearls of Wisdom\u201d from the authors who were so kind to donate their time and talents! If you miss a few posts, you\u2019ll be able go back through and read them on this blog throughout the next […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christmas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13746"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13746\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13749,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13746\/revisions\/13749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}