A lesson in receiving gifts graciously

We had our Christmas celebration with my family today. My 6yo son received a rock from his cousin. He said thank you, tucked it into his pocket, and we all cooed over how cute their little exchange was.

Fast forward an hour and a half. My sister noticed that my little guy was sitting by himself and mentioned to me that he looked sad, so I went to sit by him. This was our conversation:

What's up?

I got a rock for Christmas.

Your cousin thought that was a really special rock and he gave it to you because he wanted to make you happy.

I know. It's just ... well ... nothing. It's a nice rock.

It is and I'm sure he would be glad to play with you. Why don't you go over and show him what you got from Nana. Hey, what did you get from Nana?

Nothing. I just got the rock.

You didn't get anything else? Are you sure?

I'm sure. This is all I got.

Really? Didn't you get another gift?

No, but, well, (big breath) that's okay. It's a nice rock.

I hugged my boy tight and quickly excused myself to go chat with Nana. Forgetting a child is Not something my mom would ever do. In fact, she is the person that we have to encourage to let go because she is so very concerned that things come out fair for all 12 kids. It took a bit of investigation, here's what we figured out -

Our family has 20 members, 12 of which are children, and we open gifts VERY slowly. Somehow one of the babies got into my son's gift, opened it and left the contents in the middle of the room. Everyone assumed that the toy belonged to someone else and by the time we got to the end of the gift exchange it felt as if we had been opening gifts for hours, so we thought we were all done.

He didn't say one negative thing. No complaints, no crying, not even a whispered "where's my gift?" Not a word. I wonder if I would have handled the situation that nicely.

Nana quickly figured out the mystery, tossed DS's gift back into a bag, and handed it to him.

You have NEVER EVER seen such a happy little boy, or a prouder momma.

I think I'm going to hang that rock on my Christmas tree. It taught me a pretty big lesson.

James 1:12