I was thinking about my mom on her birthday, and realized that there was something very special about my childhood--the times we spent together. More specifically, I was thinking about the Christmases we had shared. The thing that made each memory special wasn't the number or value of the gifts we received or the Christmas parties we attended. Rather, it was the simple things.

First there was the Christmas that we made an extra effort to do things together as a family, when we made a manger scene in our living room out of an old board topped with miniature pine trees and figurines that we made and dressed ourselves.

The cold little house we lived in another year was warmed by a cassette tape of Christmas carols--a first for us children--and the joy of finding oranges in the stockings we hung out, and nuts and raisins wrapped in foil. That year we also had a Christmas tree with homemade ornaments depicting the gifts of the Holy Spirit--love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance (Galatians 5:22-23, KJV).

Then there was the Christmas when I was smaller still. We strung popcorn and hung it on the tree. There was hardly any left by the end of December, for a certain little girl nibbled away whenever no one was looking.

There was also the Christmas when I was nine, when we six kids awoke to a surprise--a line of white shoe boxes, each clearly marked with our names and each containing something special that we needed or could play with--skipping ropes, socks, etc. What treats those were for us children of full-time Christian volunteers!

Thinking about those special occasions caused me to want to give my own two children that same love, excitement, and warmth this Christmas. I want them to have happy memories to look back on. That's when I realized what it was that made those moments so special: It was my parents' love and the time they gave us, which demonstrated that love. It was also our parents' faith in Jesus and the Word that gave us what we needed--His love and salvation and a purpose in life-reaching and winning others with the Lord's love.

No, we didn't have a lot, but we had the Lord and each other--and that's what made those the happiest Christmases I can imagine.