For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for December 15, 2016

touché

Ooo! Excellent observation, Lynn!

Wow! “Out of the mouths of babes…”

Don’t be so ungrateful, Michael. All that matters is that it comes from the heart.

The first Christmas that I bought presents for others (I might have been 4 or 5), I had a budget of $5 and managed to get everyone something worth having.

Just like giving . . . if counts more when it comes out of one’s want rather than one’s surplus. ;-)

What a profound statement! How many ways can you think of it?

Please tell me that’s a Garfield bank.

OK it is a Garfield bank.

I’m not especially religious, but…

[Luke 21:1] As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. 2 He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. 3 “I tell you the truth,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. 4 All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”

Lizzie truly has the Christmas spirit.

The widows mite.

.

\\//_

I think that with Michael’s attitude he doesn’t deserve a gift. He would just say it was cheap. The one gift I remember of my childhood was a pencil eraser topper in the shape of Santa that my grandmother gave me…….she had about 10 grandchildren and she got these at Ben Franklin for a penny a piece. The most precious gift was her love.

Is it just me or does her bank look like Garfield?

Ouch!!

At our small school, they take in donations of stuff for all age groups, and the grade school kids “shop” with play money (a teaching moment) to ’buy" their gifts for their family members. Makes everyone happy. Kids who have the gifts wrapped that they pick out, the teachers who teach, the people who donate their extra bits.

TRUE!

In our family we didn’t buy for the grandparents, just the immediate family and that cost enough of my allowance. So in Lizzy’s case she only needs gifts for her parents and Michael. And now she can strike Michael off her list for his lack of gratitude, and spend more on mom and dad.

I remember giving mousetrap paper holders to my aunts and uncles (combined gift one per couple). At least fifty years later, I saw the gift on my uncles desk. It brought tears to my eyes and it reminded me that sometimes it really is the thought that counts>

Shop at the dollar store!!

I wonder how much Mike has to spend?

So very true…

Not if it costs all the money someone else has.

It’s not how much a gift costs; it’s the love behind it. Looks like Lizzie learned that lesson before Michael.