{"id":2337,"date":"2011-12-23T01:20:30","date_gmt":"2011-12-23T06:20:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/?p=2337"},"modified":"2011-12-22T07:29:06","modified_gmt":"2011-12-22T12:29:06","slug":"opening-gifts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/12\/opening-gifts.html","title":{"rendered":"Opening gifts"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I am a real believer in delayed gratification.\u00a0 In fact, as much as I love gifts, I love the anticipation even more.\u00a0 As a child, I gave up the Christmas gift hunt.\u00a0 The annual childhood adventure wasn\u2019t hard in our house, because\u00a0our home\u00a0was small and there weren\u2019t many hiding places.\u00a0 But I loved the wait.<\/p>\n

Daddy always locked the cellar where he spent hours working on new toys and refurbishing old favorites until they were like new.\u00a0 Mother\u2019s hiding job was harder because her sewing machine was in clear view.\u00a0 We usually shopped with her when she bought the material for the\u00a0mountains of\u00a0new clothes she would make for us.<\/p>\n

My last Christmas at home, Mother made me a wonderful new coat.\u00a0 It was red with gusset sleeves and I thought it was the most beautiful coat I\u2019d ever seen.\u00a0 The fact that she made it added to its value for me.\u00a0 I was married two weeks after Christmas that year so she spent added hours\u00a0that fall\u00a0working on my wedding dress and my trousseau.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve always felt sorry for people who had to have Christmas or to get married without my mother.\u00a0 She made all our clothes, working endless hours sewing and fixing and shopping.\u00a0 That year, she planned the wedding, made my dress and my going-away suit.\u00a0 She\u00a0made the food for the reception\u00a0and shopped for the cake.\u00a0 My job was to pick out the bride\u2019s maid dress patterns and materials, design my wedding dress and stand for hours for fittings.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>After Mother died, I found that the gifts didn\u2019t end.\u00a0 At last I had the money to purchase the garden furniture that I\u2019d been\u00a0eyeing for about four years.\u00a0 I took a small part of my inheritance and went to the store to buy the chairs, tables and couch.<\/p>\n

Before I purchased them, I walked out of the store.\u00a0 I knew that an era was over.\u00a0 Thanks to mother\u2019s careful savings, I wouldn\u2019t be searching and saving for the perfect combo for my backyard garden.\u00a0 I would have them.<\/p>\n

I also knew that Mother\u2019s gifts to me were almost complete.\u00a0 I went to my closet and felt one more time my lace wedding dress, now faded with age.\u00a0 The next day I returned to the store.\u00a0 Over night, the set I wanted had gone on sale.\u00a0 I was able to buy it at a huge savings.<\/p>\n

I giggled as I purchased my garden set.\u00a0 Mother\u2019s gift giving wasn\u2019t over.\u00a0 When I sat on them perched perfectly under the shade of the gazebo.\u00a0 I cried and laughed and thanked God for a wonderful mother who helped her children understand and cherish the wonder of His love.\u00a0 I silently praised him for a mother who made\u00a0elegant wedding gowns and who taught me to wait for better gifts and to love sales.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am a real believer in delayed gratification.\u00a0 In fact, as much as I love gifts, I love the anticipation even more.\u00a0 As a child, I gave up the Christmas gift hunt.\u00a0 The annual childhood adventure wasn\u2019t hard in our house, because\u00a0our home\u00a0was small and there weren\u2019t many hiding places.\u00a0 But I loved the wait.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":387,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,334,20,40,287,186,49,215],"tags":[21,688,739,696,699,715,701,694,57,6],"class_list":["post-2337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-christmas","category-church","category-faith","category-faiths","category-hope","category-inspiration","category-love","tag-christian","tag-christianity","tag-christmas","tag-church","tag-faith","tag-hope","tag-inspiration","tag-intellectual-disability","tag-prayer","tag-simple-scriptural-truths"],"yoast_head":"\nOpening gifts - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/12\/opening-gifts.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Opening gifts - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I am a real believer in delayed gratification.\u00a0 In fact, as much as I love gifts, I love the anticipation even more.\u00a0 As a child, I gave up the Christmas gift hunt.\u00a0 The annual childhood adventure wasn\u2019t hard in our house, because\u00a0our home\u00a0was small and there weren\u2019t many hiding places.\u00a0 But I loved the wait.…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/12\/opening-gifts.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-12-23T06:20:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-12-22T12:29:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/files\/2011\/12\/young_girl_opening_christmas_presents-150x150.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Linda G. Howard\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Opening gifts - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/12\/opening-gifts.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Opening gifts - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","og_description":"I am a real believer in delayed gratification.\u00a0 In fact, as much as I love gifts, I love the anticipation even more.\u00a0 As a child, I gave up the Christmas gift hunt.\u00a0 The annual childhood adventure wasn\u2019t hard in our house, because\u00a0our home\u00a0was small and there weren\u2019t many hiding places.\u00a0 But I loved the wait.…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/12\/opening-gifts.html","og_site_name":"A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","article_published_time":"2011-12-23T06:20:30+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-12-22T12:29:06+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/files\/2011\/12\/young_girl_opening_christmas_presents-150x150.jpg"}],"author":"Linda G. 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