My Favorite Christmas Memory: My Girls Love Cheerios.

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I know that Christmas is when believers in Jesus Christ get together and celebrate the gift of God’s Son to this world. It’s a gift God made visible in the form of a child who grew up, engaged in the ministry of loving God and others, and then demonstrated it in dying for us. We didn’t deserve the gift He gave and we needed to be taught His message so that we could experience life in all its fullness. Those who believe in Christ as God’s Son celebrate this at Christmas.

Even though this is what Christmas is about, allow me to digress from what Christmas is about to relate to you one of my most favorite or memorable Christmases. Yeah, it wasn’t exactly about celebrating Christ. Nevertheless, memories are what they are. They happen, Christmas or not. This just happens to be a memory that happened on Christmas. It might not have happened though, if it weren’t Christmas, simply because when families get together for things like Christmas, things like this happen. It also happened in part because of the chaos of the day, getting things in order and coming together with family. The Christmas of my memory occurred in 2006.

In this case, a couple of cousins (my granddaughters were 17 months and 21 months old) wandered quietly off into the kitchen. They found a big plastic box of Cheerios. Maybe they wanted a snack and some spilled on the floor. I don’t know, but the adults in the other room weren’t paying attention to these eager, inquisitive toddlers. We were exchanging gifts, laughing and enjoying one another’s company. I can’t say how long they were gone, but at some point, someone heard some curious sounds. They were very strange crackling noises. Finally, someone asks, “What’s that sound?” I don’t remember who asked, probably a mother. We tried to sort it out. It was coming from the kitchen. Who is in the Kitchen? I turn my head toward the opening into the room and see two little girls. They seem to be jumping and walking around something on the floor. One has a plastic container in her hand. I recognize it. It’s what we keep Cheerios in. Others are getting curious and join in my view. We have two girls stomping and walking on cheerios as they poured them out on the floor.

You know, I’m a grandparent, so I’ve seen a lot in my life, but I had never seen kids pouring Cheerios out on the floor to stomp on them. They were cute “little destroyers.” I guess I could have gotten upset, but what was the big deal? My son and daughter and their spouses realized no one was going to get hurt and we all began laughing. “Quick, get a camera.”

Someone asks, “What’s going on in here?” The response was classic. They hadn’t been reprimanded, but they seemed to know they probably shouldn’t be doing what they were doing.

The younger of the two little girls responded by pointing to her cousin. Now look at the photos of these two innocents.

It appears they might have been aware of some wrong-doing. What do you think?
When I think about it, this was a meaningful lesson. It was the epitome of Christmas.

Scripture:
Genesis 3.12 - The woman you put here with me, she gave me some and I
          ate it.
Matthew 1.23 – Mary gave birth to a son, whom would be called
          ‘Immanuel,’ which means ‘God with us.’
John 3.16-17 – God loved the world and sent His Son into the world,
          not to condemn the world, but to save the world.
John 10.10 – I (Jesus) came into the world that men might have life
          to the full. The thief (Satan) desires only to steal it from you.

Faces in a Christmas Parade, Leiper’s Fork, TN

My place along the parade route wasn’t perfect, behind some lawn chairs and people, on the wrong side of the route. I just couldn’t get a full frame photo of a float, wagon, marching band or even sleigh. Then it hit me, focus on the faces. In them would be crowd expectation, participant excitement, friends recognizing friends, and more. And there would be Santa Claus near the end of the parade. He is near the end of almost all Christmas Parades. He is really the star of the entire procession. But there is so much see before he even shows. Then, I thought about the Shepherds at the birth of Jesus. Did they have smiles? Did they even know what their expectations were? Were there any surprises? That is a parade. Expectation. Excitement. Emotion. 

I’ve been to a Leiper’s Fork Christmas Parade before. I knew what to expect. Revisit them If you like:

December 26, 2012 – Nothing Like a Leiper’s Fork Parade (http://followinglee.blogspot.com/2012/12/a-parade-they-are-about-special-people.html)

 December20, 2013 – A Leiper’s Fork Christmas Parade with a Squeal (http://followinglee.blogspot.com/2013/12/a-leipers-fork-christmas-parade-with.html)

 or December 16, 2016 – Leiper’s Fork Does a Christmas Parade Like No One Else (http://followinglee.blogspot.com/2016/12/leipers-fork-does-christmas-parade-like.html)

 From these past posts you will see some old friends and faces.

Now, enjoy this post.

 Scripture:

God’s sign to you will be a son, born of a virgin. Isaiah 7.14

And there were shepherds living out in the field nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  …The Shepherds said to one another, ‘Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this things that has happened. And so they hurried off.” Luke 2.8-18