Christmastime and Giving

This Christmas Elijah would be three and was beginning to understand the concept of presents. We knew this because after his third birthday party he asked for “mas regalos?”
A note of explanation here. Rey and I share the view that wealth and materialism and toys and things provide dangerous possibilities of entrapment. And greed (although one of the more popular cardinal sins) is actually idolatry. This being said, it was time to take radical action in Elijah’s development.

As presents began to accumulate under our plastic Christmas tree, Elijah began to get more and more excited. So one day I took him into his room and I said, “Elijah, look at all of your stuffed animals in your toy hammock. Look at all of your cars, books, trains, and action figures on your shelf. You know Yoli, Eibyn, Daniel and Jimmy at AFE? They don’t have any of those things. They don’t have any toys in their house. They don’t have a Christmas tree. They are not going to receive presents for Christmas.

"How about you give each of them one of your toys, since you have so many?”

A light dawned in his eyes. He promptly presented me with Bob (his favorite stuffed animal heasleeps with every night) and said: “Yoli.” Tears leaped into my eyes. I didn’t expect Elijah to understand this concept let alone display such generosity. So I did what many mothers would do. As Elijah was sorting through his toys, deciding which ones to give away, I snuck Bob underneath his bed instead of into the “AFE” box. Generosity should only go so far, right?

At AFE’s Christmas party Elijah handed out his toys to his friends. And came home with a new toy himself. Denis, (who most will know at AFE as “sweet little voice”) gave Elijah the one Christmas toy he received (from a donor), a “Mater” toy truck. And so the cycle goes. Generosity begets generosity. And we can’t out give God. And it sounds like I need to learn this lesson even more than Elijah.