Memory of Best Worst Christmas Might Make Yours Better, Too

The story you’re reading right now is about Christmas, specifically my best Christmas ever.

You will have to keep reading to learn the how and the why, and also when and where, but I guess it’s okay to give the reason for writing it. The reason is for you to have your best Christmas ever, too.

Back in 2012, the Davis family included myself, my wife Shannon, and our son Jackson. He was just 5 years old at the time when Mama was carrying a future little sister, Addison, in her belly. We lived in Panola County, Miss. where I was a reporter for the Batesville newspaper there, The Panolian.

That year was a terrible one for The Panolian’s owners, the Howell family. That was the year they were forced to cut employee hours to meet payroll, to keep the lights on, and to pay for the big rolls of newspaper print when they arrived on the semi-truck. Their decision also meant, during Christmas time, my annual salary that hovered at $29,000 was chopped to 32 hours a week.

In our little home, with three people under the roof and a baby on the way, that salary cut hit hard. The groceries Shannon bought were a bare minimum, because she cried at the grocery store. I’m not sure if all the bills got paid that year.

Then it hit me: Christmas was coming. There was no money to put presents under the tree for little Jackson, and buying just one present for Shannon was out of the question. That reality hit me hard, let me tell you.

What happened for the next few weeks was a terrible Christmas experience for me. I felt like a failure. I felt like a sorry dad and a broke, useless husband. My emotions drifted back and forth, from being mad dad to sad dad, over several weeks as Christmas Day approached.

That’s when Shannon, six months pregnant, understood the assignment. With no money to buy Christmas presents, she baked Christmas cookies for us to share. Somehow, with Addison bouncing around in there, she strung Christmas lights and surprised me when I came home from work.

We put up the Christmas tree anyway, and decorated it, with no presents to put underneath it.

Years later, at some point, I realized 2012 was the best Christmas season ever for this husband and dad. It was the best one I remember because difficult times forced me to strip it down to the simplest things, like cookies and Christmas lights.

I didn’t see that life lesson coming, honestly. But it’s true.

It’s not much of a leap, I don’t think, to go back in time to that first Christmas in a tiny village called Bethlehem. Instead of a Heaven-sent King descending to lead an army to save Israel from the Romans, the Creator planned a more simple entrance. He put the Heaven-sent King in a feed trough, with a plan to save us all.

“Experience over presents. Memories over money,” Shannon, now 13 years later, says of those few weeks in Davis family history.

If your December calendar is crammed full, and you feel tired when you look at it, cut back and stay home.

If that long, long list of Christmas presents feels overwhelming, and thinking about all that shopping and spending makes you feel like you’re drowning, it might be time for a family talk. The topic could be something like memories matter more than presents and money.

Drive around town and admire the Christmas lights.

Bake some cookies and watch a Christmas movie, and then make some reindeer chow and find another movie.

It really can be that simple, if you let it, and you didn’t even do it because you had to.

(Editor's Note: This article was posted first at American Family News HERE.)

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