The Christmas Present

The pressure’s on.  There’s less than a week until Christmas, and I haven’t bought a single present, other than a few stocking stuffers. In fact, I haven’t even gone into a store, opened a catalog or looked on the Internet.

I’m sunk.

Christmas is supposed to be a merry old time, a celebration of the birth of you-know-who. Yet here I am without a single charge on my credit cards and not one splurge to my name.

No big-screen television, no iPhone, no trip to Mexico.

You see, I don’t have a lot of money. What I do have goes in one hand and out the other. And I’m one of those oddballs who refuses to run up the credit cards for a temporary thrill.

What’s that old saying? “I refuse to buy things I can’t afford to impress people I don’t like.”

Oh, we got a kicker check from the state. It’ll go toward paying the property taxes on our “humble commode.” Isn’t it interesting that anything we get back in the form of a kicker or tax refund goes toward — paying taxes?

It seems to me that the local, state and federal governments keep a pretty close eye on me so they get whatever loose cash they can. Thanks for that.

No, I’m not buying a lot of expensive presents this year for Christmas, except one. I’m buying a plane ticket. It’s so Paul, our oldest son, can come home for the holidays. You see, he’s been at college the past four months, and my wife and I and his three brothers haven’t seen him that entire time. It seems like it’s been forever.

Oh, he’s doing fine, getting good grades and meeting new friends.

But we’ve missed him, a lot. He’s one of those people whose presence fills a room. He’s smart, funny and an absolute pleasure to be around. Ever since he was a baby — it seems like yesterday — we’ve cherished every minute he’s been around us.

You can see why we have missed him so.

He’ll get home in a few days, and we’ll all meet him at the airport. Like most families in the same position, we’ve all been looking forward to it.

It’ll be fun to hear of his exploits, of what he’s been learning and the people he’s met. It’ll be fun to see how he’s grown, not so much physically — at 6-foot-3 he’s got to stop growing some time soon — but how he’s matured and developed his judgment and maybe even gained a little wisdom.

Then, after a few short weeks, we’ll put him back on another airplane, to head back to college, and we’ll wish him the best and pray for him.

And then he’ll be gone, again finding his way in a world much larger than the one we had for him.

Those few weeks will be the best present ever.