Day 8: An Eight Dollar Tree and a Nativity

With­out a job at Christ­mas, Lynn put up an $8 Christ­mas tree and a nativ­ity, and called it good. I admire her pluck, along with a lot of other peo­ple, forced to look at Christ­mas in a dif­fer­ent light because of eco­nomic strug­gle and uncer­tainty. These women are mak­ing the best of things.

From JBM in Ari­zona:
Dear Shawna,
This year, after many hard months with lit­tle to no pay­checks, we have decided to do as much of our giv­ing as pos­si­ble, with the least amount of money. It really makes one think…what is their favorite color, what sport do they like, what is their favorite hobby, can I give a gift of ser­vice to them? How can I LOVE them better.…as the Sav­ior would love them? It has made a pro­found dif­fer­ence in the way I, as a mother, lis­ten, and in the ways that I know I can give and serve my loved ones. Thank good­ness for savings.…we have more than most of the world and are very blessed at this time. To have our Sav­ior as the focus of our Christ­mas sea­son is the most impor­tant part of our hol­i­day traditions.…

And from Lynn:
I first lis­tened to your song in [church] and it was very touch­ing. This hol­i­day had been dif­fi­cult due to employ­ment prob­lems for my hus­band. The Christ­mas spirit had just not found a place here because it was so dis­cour­ag­ing. After hear­ing your song, I went and got a lit­tle $8 dol­lar tree and put my lights on it and part of my nativ­ity set beside it with one dove hung on the branches and a star on the top. As I sat there, try­ing to decide what to do next, the sim­ple mes­sage of your song made me real­ize that this was suf­fi­cient. A sim­ple tree with a sim­ple mes­sage, just like your song. Then after my husband’s job dis­in­te­grated 3 days before Christ­mas, your song…buoyed me up. Thank you. It has helped me remem­ber not to focus on my dif­fi­cul­ties and to focus on others.