Has anyone ever asked you, “What is the most memorable Christmas gift you have received?”
Over the years, whenever someone asked me that question, I instantly knew the answer.
I still remember the special gift my mama gave me on Christmas when I was 11, even though it was decades ago. There is a story behind it, which is what truly makes the gift special, not the gift itself.
A few weeks before Christmas that year, my family and I visited a local place called Christmas City. It was filled with Christmas lights, scenes, and various activities for visitors to enjoy, along with several stores selling Christmas treasures.
I remember going into one store that sold handmade crafts. In one section, they displayed a beautiful carousel horse mounted on a large stand, making it look as if they had taken it from an actual carousel ride. The stand was painted gold, and the horse was black with gold ribbons and flowers on it.
I fell in love with it and told my mama I wished I had that.
So, she turned over the price tag, which read $300. My heart sank. I knew that was a lot for my family to spend on me for Christmas. I remember Mama putting her arm around my shoulders and apologizing, telling me it was just too much. I recall replying to her by repeating something I’d often heard her say when she came across something she thought was pretty but too expensive.
“It’s pretty, Mama, but it’s not that pretty,” I said.
I didn’t whine or complain about it. We just went on about the rest of the night, enjoying everything else.
Fast-forward a few weeks, on Christmas morning, as we opened all our gifts, I noticed a card on the Christmas tree addressed to me. When I opened it, it said:
Someone Is Waiting To See You On The Front Porch.
My only thought was that maybe it was my childhood friend who had moved away a few months before. So, I went and opened the front door, and there on the porch was a carousel horse.
It wasn’t the carousel horse I had seen and wanted at the Christmas village. This horse was about the same height as the other and sat on a gold stand, but it was cream-colored, with a saddle painted pink, blue, and gold, along with matching ribbons and small roses. It was beautiful, even more beautiful than the one I initially wanted. I could tell it was handmade, and then my mama told me she made it and shared the story of how she had created it.
She said a couple of days after we went to the Christmas village, she was at work taking out the trash—she worked in a school cafeteria—and she saw a broken flagpole in the garbage. It was like a flagpole stand used in classrooms, with the pole partly broken but the stand still attached. She was good at crafting, and she immediately envisioned using it to make a stand for a carousel horse if she could find a horse from an old bouncing toy.
She spread the word to everyone she knew to keep an eye out for one of those horses. She was about to give up hope, but one of my sister’s friends was coming down the road and saw somebody had thrown out one of those bouncy rocking horses. Over the next few days, Mama worked secretly, making me that beautiful carousel horse.
It was a focal point of my bedroom for years, but as with most things, times changed. As I grew older and changed rooms, the horse no longer “matched,” and it went into storage. But I’m happy to say that one of my nephews recently took it out of storage to use in his little girl’s room. Her mama, who is also crafty, refurbished it. That means the gift lives on and, more importantly, the loving story behind it.
From a Carousel Horse to a Cradle in Bethlehem
I’m sharing this not just to talk about my most memorable Christmas gift, but also because reflecting on the story of that special gift always makes me think more about the greatest gift of all that I—and all of God’s children—have received.
Our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ.
The King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
The Wise Counselor.
The Prince of Peace.
The Messiah.
The Good Shepherd.
No matter how many Christmas gifts we have ever unwrapped or will unwrap, they will never be more meaningful or worth more than the gift from God that Mary wrapped in swaddling cloths all those thousands of nights ago.
Jesus is the best gift we have ever and will ever receive. He’s the greatest gift of love ever given.
The carousel horse is precious to me because of the love, creativity, and sacrifice that went into it. Mama saw something broken in the trash and envisioned something beautiful. She searched, waited, worked in secret, and gave me a gift that showed her heart.
In a far greater, holier, and more eternal way, God looked at our brokenness and did something far more amazing. He took what sin had shattered and sent His Son to make us new.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16, KJV)
So, my Christmas wish for you and me is that we remember Christmas is more than decorations, songs, and wrapped boxes under a beautifully lit tree. It is the greatest story of love, which led to the greatest sacrifice of love and the greatest gift of love: eternal life through Jesus Christ, which is available to us all to unwrap and hold dear.
Lord, I thank you for the greatest gift humanity has ever received—your Son, Jesus. Please help me to always remember how precious this gift is and to strive to live my life in honor of it, not only during the Christmas season but every day. Amen.
What about you? Do you have a Christmas gift that still stands out in your mind? And most of all, have you received the best gift of all—Jesus as your Savior? I would love to hear from you in the comments.
If you’re facing struggles that leave you feeling hopeless and make it hard to see God’s great gift, my devotional, Persevering by Faith: 10 Devotions to Give Hope During Hard Times might encourage you. Just sign up for my newsletter at the bottom of the page, and I will send you the devotional as a free gift.