Giving and receiving gifts can be challenging for me at any time of the year for a variety of reasons, but that stress is on steroids at the grand finale in December. To lighten the mood as we approach this climax once again, I wanted to share 7 awkward Christmas gift moments I have survived.

1. One year I gave my husband a French press…and he gave me one.
2. One year I gave my mom a box of chocolate covered cherries, which she loves. She then opened a gift from my one and only sibling, which contained many boxes of chocolate covered cherries.
3. (Same year as previous awkward moment.) I gave my dad a Starbucks Frappuccino (glass bottle variety), which he loves. He then opened a gift from my one and only sibling, which contained many Starbucks Frappuccinos.
4. My husband gave me a huge, gigantic hardback book about a founding father of our country. I love books and have a ton on my wishlist constantly but couldn’t recall ever putting this on my list – nor wanting it on my list ever – and felt my face was quickly revealing these thoughts. Thankfully, he then added that the book represented the real gift, which were two tickets to a musical about that same founding father. Now that I wanted! (That was Christmas 2019. Ironically, we never made it to Hamilton, and the book became my go-to in the pandemic and is now one of my favorites as well as highlighted in this blogpost and this one.)
5. I have been giving a wall calendar to each of my kids year after year, which they hang in their rooms and write something they are thankful for on each day’s box. I try to find a calendar that matches their interests. One of my children who had been perhaps most ecstatic about Christmas opened her first gift, which was the expected calendar. Unfortunately, her reaction was not expected. Greece, where her best friend had moved that year, was not a comforting subject matter but caused grief – immediately.
6. I had my first engaged child. Thinking through the stockings, I decided I would stick with six and let my firstborn and his fiancé share his. Days before we would all be celebrating Christmas, my son innocently asked – in front of her – about me having seven stockings.
7. I gave an out of town relative a gift card for a familiar chain restaurant…that I unfortunately then discovered did not exist in his hometown.

We humans might bungle as we attempt to be thoughtful gift givers, but God never does. Despite all the stress that surrounds Christmas, it is the time of year we pause and consider the perfect gift God gave to mankind: His perfect Son who lived a perfect life so He could be the perfect sacrifice for you and for me.

James 1:17, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”