Lifelong Christmas Gifts

12/26/2024

Written By: Frieda Dowler

“If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones.” Luke 16:10a.

I grew up in the 1960s. Those were my formable years. It was a different world, culturally and morally, from today. People were more compatible because most everyone had similar views of patriotism, traditions, and God’s moral code. Good manners were expected and there was trust among neighbors. We knew when we had stepped across the line, because the lines were clear. They were simpler times.

A fond memory from those days was the Christmas savings club the bank offered. My mom worked at a bank and one day she brought the pamphlet home for my brother and me to consider. If you paid fifty cents into the weekly plan beginning the first week in January, you would have twenty-five dollars to spend at Christmas. You could withdraw your money from the club two weeks prior to Christmas and go on a shopping spree for presents to give. That was a lot of money in the year that milk was forty-two cents a gallon and bread was twenty cents a loaf.

Fifty cents was also a lot of money to give up from our weekly allowance of two dollars and fifty cents. That meant we would only have two dollars to waste on candy and comic books. The caveat was you had to deposit weekly or risk paying a penalty. Then there would be no shopping spree for presents.

Each year that we joined the club, I labored over the decision to do it. But come Christmas, I never regretted the weekly fifty cent reduction. My excitement grew the closer we came to the big payout. I would start making my shopping list of gifts to buy and anticipate the shopping trip. We would catch the city bus from Beech Grove to downtown Indianapolis and shop at the big department stores around the circle. They were extravagantly decorated, and as kids, this was part of the reward. What excitement this day brought us! Our parents trusted us to go on our own as young teenagers. We were expected to behave and always carry a dime to make an emergency call home from the telephone booth if necessary.

We felt empowered. We felt trusted. We had saved our money faithfully over the year, and this was reward time. And the reward continued when we watched as loved ones opened the presents we had purchased with our own money, wrapped ourselves, and put under the Christmas tree.

I wonder if my parents knew the lifelong gifts they gave by encouraging us to join the Christmas club. But that repeated experience over a few years instilled a lot of life principles in us.

Tithing - We were learning to live on 90% of our allowance, and that principle later translated into tithing 10% to our local church throughout the years.

Commitment - We learned that making an initial decision to do something is the turning point for any successful outcome. A commitment to follow Jesus came early in life for my brother and me, and we have kept that commitment throughout our lives.

Discipline - The risk of paying a penalty kept us on track for the final outcome. We learned the discipline of righteous living is the thing that keeps us on track toward our ultimate destiny of heaven.

Sacrifice -The weekly commitment was a sacrifice, but the sacrifice of fifty cents a week was always worth it. There is always a sacrifice when living a Christian life, as a spouse, a parent, a church member, and as a peacekeeper.

Faithfulness - We were faithful in the small thing of saving fifty cents weekly, and it grew into a bigger thing at the end of the year, twenty-five dollars. Throughout life, when we are faithful to small things, God will trust us with bigger things.

Patience - The consistency of saving the fifty cents each week caused us to learn to live without it. It created contentment in a natural sort of way with our remaining two dollars a week, although that didn’t come quickly.

Reward - We were rewarded for our faithfulness of saving the weekly amount when we received the payout at the end of the year. As faithful Christians, we are rewarded with God’s peace in all circumstances, but we look forward to the reward of heaven in the future.

Generosity - We learned to be generous with Christmas gifts for others, which brought us satisfaction. A most satisfying part of Christian living is generosity, to live with open arms and to provide blessings to others in times of need.

Trust - We learned the value of gaining trust from our parents as we went downtown by ourselves at a young age. We can gain relational trust with family and friends over time through our faithfulness.

Joy - Our joy came at the end of the year when we learned our faithfulness to the small commitment of fifty cents a week meant our parents trusted us with the trip to the big city. And the generosity we were able to share in the form of gifts brought the ultimate Christmas joy.