My riddles guide with frosty rhyme,
To find the presents, one at a time.
So listen closely, children dear,
My whispers fill the atmosphere.
Unravel riddles, solve the quest,
And find the gifts, put to the test!
When I was a kid, I always looked forward to Christmas morning. I couldn’t wait to see what my parents had gotten from my carefully crafted Christmas wishlist and what off-the-menu items they also selected. In our house, we’d sometimes open a singular, small gift on Christmas Eve, but the big gifts… those had to sit and ripen overnight. They wouldn’t be fully enjoyed until Christmas Day proper.
However, one year, my mother decided to implement a brand-new tradition without consulting us. Under normal circumstances, it was already near impossible to fall asleep on Christmas Eve. I would lay in bed and try to prime my dreams by focusing on what could possibly be in the boxes that were under the tree. I carefully considered what might be inside each package based on the size, weight, and sound of each gently-shaken box. This was the fodder that I needed to visualize the possible contents of each package. Which gifts were just for me? Which gifts would I have to share with my brothers? My imagination ran wild. Normal Christmas Eve fare for Jason.
But as I laid down and did my best to dream/manifest the perfect Christmas morning, I heard something. Click, clack, click, clack… ding! What could that noise be? I was “trying” to fall asleep… but my excitement was denying me the chance to time travel to the promised perfect Christmas morning. And now, random clicking and clacking emanating from across the house? Something sounded fishy. What was going on? Seemed like a good reason to start sleuthing and wander into the living room to check things out. I could just blame it on drinking too much eggnog.
As I peered around the corner, I saw my mom sitting at our electric typewriter typing away furiously. She had a pair of scissors and already had a few strips of paper cut out. Each strip had a couple of lines typed on them.
“What are you up to, mom?”
“Go back to bed, son.”
“But why are you typing right now?”
“Don’t worry about it! You’ll find out tomorrow morning. Go to sleep and you’ll see soon enough.”
GO TO SLEEP? It was hard enough to try to fall asleep being that it was CHRISTMAS EVE, but now you want me to drift peacefully to unconscious bliss despite this SUSPICIOUS and MYSTERIOUS RACKET?
“Okay, mom. Goodnight.”
I knew better than to push her tonight. Any curiosity I had would be resolved soon enough and the look my mom shot me led me to believe that a quick retreat would be the most effective tactic available.
What could she be up to? I wonder… I wonder… I…
I woke up with a start. What was my mom up to last night? No worries, my brothers were already awake… time for gifts! I raced into the living room and saw my mom standing by the mantle with my brother standing in front of her, as if awaiting instructions.
“Good morning! Last night I thought of trying something new this year. Instead of just giving you your gifts this morning, I wanted to introduce a new tradition. Part of what makes Christmas fun is the anticipation. We’re going to prolong the anticipation a little bit this year. In each of your stockings, you’ll find a strip of paper with a clue about where you’ll find your first present. When you find it, you’ll find the clue for your next gift, and so on. Happy hunting!”
Wait. WHAT? Are you telling me that I had waited patiently for 364 days, through an excruciatingly slow Christmas Eve, battled against my Christmas Eve adrenaline and late-night sugar consumption to achieve a hard-fought several hours of slumber, and now I’ve got to WAIT SOME MORE? Not just that, but I have to WORK to get these gifts? Fine. Let’s do this.
I started quickly. First gift: in the side table. Second gift: in the grandfather clock. Child’s play for this child. Third gift: wait… where is it? What was the clue saying? I couldn’t figure it out. I enlisted my older brother’s help. He couldn’t figure it out either. I was stuck. “Mom, I can’t figure this one out. Can you please give me another hint?”
Eventually we found all of the gifts and we settled into the expected Christmas rhythm. However, I learned something profound that Christmas. The new tradition that my mom implemented that year introduced the wrinkle of a bit of effort on my part. The act of decoding the riddles and searching for the gifts involved my brothers and me in the final step of bringing the gifts into our world to be enjoyed and fully realized.
God has good gifts for us, God’s children, and we have an opportunity to join God by participating in God’s work of bringing those gifts to our siblings here on earth. I’ve noticed that these gifts look like love, joy, and peace (and other gifts that strangely resemble fruit). Advent is about Christ coming into the world. I’ve discovered that Advent can be far more participatory than I thought possible.
Look high and low, beneath and above,
For hidden treasures wrapped in love.
With laughter, joy, and Christmas cheer,
Unlock the mystery, year after year!
Jason Decena is the lead chaplain at La Sierra University. He enjoys celebrating the season with his wife, Heidi, their two boys, Luke and Aidan, and their two cats, Koko and Appa.