The holiday season can get a little chaotic at times, but if you surround yourself with the people who care about you most, even the craziest of situations can be turned into great memories. I learned that firsthand as a young kid on one crazy Christmas Eve with my family that I'll never forget.
As a preacher, my dad always looked for interesting ways to teach my brother, Blake, and me valuable lessons. On this particular occasion, the lesson was that it is much better to give than to receive. We made a family trip to Walmart, along with at least a thousand others, and my brother and I were given $100 apiece — which felt more like $1,000 to me as a 10-year-old — to buy gifts for each other and our parents. The fun part was that we weren't supposed to let the others see what we were buying for them, which added even more excitement to a night that was already filled with anticipation.
So, off we went. As soon as we entered the store, we went our separate ways, and the hunt was on. We didn't really know what we were looking for, but we felt like we had an endless budget to buy gifts that would excite one another when opened the next morning. Each time we'd round a corner and spot each other, we'd frantically run away (don't tell the Walmart employees) to keep them from discovering what we were buying for them.
To this day, I still remember the gifts I picked out. For my dad, I bought a sausage kit, likely because I knew he'd be willing to share it with me. For my mom, I bought a set of dishes, some of which still reside in the cabinets of my childhood home. For my brother, I bought a Disney Christmas CD. It wasn't my best round of Christmas shopping, but give me a break. I was only 10.
Then, things got even more exciting. As we headed out the door to load up in an old silver Ford Explorer, we were asked if we wanted to ride around town and see Christmas lights on our way back home. All seemed to be going perfectly until we reached the Explorer to discover that the keys had been locked inside.
We waited for what felt like forever to find a solution. Back then, phones weren't quite as "smart" as they are now, so it wasn't as easy to reach people within a short period of time. It was also Christmas Eve, which made the task of finding someone to help us all the more challenging. Eventually, after a few more phone calls and a few more prayers, we found the assistance we needed and headed home at a much later hour than we'd expected.
I'm not sure if I ever got the chance to tell this to my parents, but despite all the chaos that might've made that night seem like a great idea gone terribly wrong, it's still to this day one of my favorite Christmas memories. We didn't care about the wait, nor did we care about the inconvenience of things not going quite the way we'd planned. We were just thrilled that we got to spend Christmas Eve on an adventure with our family.
That said, as December arrives and the mad dash to buy gifts begins, keep in mind what truly matters. The greatest gift you give to someone is your time, regardless of how picture-perfect that time ends up being, and even the craziest of days can turn into great memories when they're spent with the people who make the holiday season worth celebrating. -
Brad Crowe is sports editor of The Columbian-Progress. He may be reached at (601) 736-2611 or sports@columbianprogress.com.
