Gift Received

I love Christmas time because I get to give gifts to those I love and I try to put time into my gifts so there are personal and the recipient knows of my love for them. This is the ultimate goal, yet like everything else in life it doesn't always get done. This year was like many others I put a lot a thought into what I would get each person. The best one I gave this year was to my four year old nephew.  For his birthday he was given the game ‘Minecraft’ and how he loves it! He could do things very successfully and create fun things. This game we played as a family and over Thanksgiving I played with this nephew it was enjoyable. On a regular basis he would ask him how to build something in fact every time he would want to build even the same object that I showed me moments before he would ask again. This is when the idea was planted. He need something visual so he could figure out it for himself. They have recipes online and even in books but they are all directed to older children/adults. I therefore made one with my knowledge of both the game and child development studies I created a small book that had big pictures and words so that he could look up for himself what he wanted to make.  When he opened it and immediately flipped through the pages and declared, “This is how you make a pickaxe” and so on through each page. He was so excited he went around showing each member of the family. He did not put down the book for a long time afterward.

How it soothes the heart to know that your gift has been gratefully received. My nephew gave me the best gift I could have asked for he gave me the gift of gratitude and love. It is such a simple gift yet has such a power. Let us all also share this gift of gratitude genuinely with those around us. I received a gift that I did not ask for but how I needed it! Thank you little man of mine.