would read a series of the cutest, silliest poems that would first reveal the recipient, and then take that lucky one on a scavenger hunt to find clues, parts of the gift, or more poems. It was a blast! In the end it was the adventure in the hunt, and all the time and love that had gone into writing all of those poems that was the real gift.
So as hostess, I assumed that the Poem Time responsibility now fell on me. I bought the gift of a new swing for my children, bought my own yard stick and poster board, made my own Poem Time sign, and set out to write the poems. About that time, my mom called and said, “Do you know where Nannie’s Poem Time sign is? I can’t find it and I need it.” Come to find out, Mom had her own Poem Time plan for my dad, which included a camera we were all pitching in on. The biggest problem was that of all the jewelry, furniture, and dishes we inherited after Nannie died, what we both desperately wanted was her Poem Time sign. And it was missing! At one point my mother even said, “Maybe she took it with her to heaven!”
Christmas morning came. The silly song was sung. The gifts were opened. The oil for the beignets was heating up, and I slipped away to get my sign. We read the poems as we traveled around the house and yard and my children gleefully ended up on their new swing. My mom then took my sign and we had ANOTHER Poem Time in honor of my dad, giving him the camera he had wanted for years. And then it was over, or so we thought. Mom and I headed to the kitchen to start on those beautiful French treats when Dad proudly walked out displaying Nannie’s original Poem Time sign!!! Well, he could have stopped right there. Mom and I were just so happy to see the ratty old poster with her handwriting on it, it was a gift enough. But he didn’t. It turned out that my dad and my husband had gone in together to get my mom and I a little girl’s getaway and they had written their own set of rhymes and clues for us! Oh how we laughed about 3 Poem Times in one year! In her wake, my Nannie not only left us this precious tradition, she left the desire in each of us to be the giver!
It reminds me of Romans 12:10 which, in the ESV reads, “Love each other with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.” Outdo one another in showing honor. What a beautiful command. Christmas is certainly a time in which our culture seeks to outdo one another, isn’t it? Who has the most lights on their house, the most gifts under their tree, the most beautiful table set, the most parties to attend, the most Christmas cards sent or received, or the most likes on Instagram for perfectly posed family photos… Or perhaps it’s the most harried schedule, the most to get done, the most exhausted… and on and on we could go. We are prone to the tendency to want to one-up each other, to out-do each other, and our modern world of social media has just given us a wider playing field in this destructive game.