Gift #2: Enthusiasm

Last week, the gift was SIMPLICITY. Having had no time to gather as Elledges, we gathered! The gift was a day of baking Christmas cookies, eating a fun lunch together, watching Polar Express, celebrating Advent and drinking hot cocoa. Simple.

The biggest surprise of the day was my Chris being a creative genius! Who knew! I got to be honest. I’m the creative one … he’s all the other things. Yet, we caught him kneading the cookie dough and cutting out the shapes with such passion … we nearly flipped our Elledge girl lids. Then, if that wasn’t enough, he took such painstaking detail with his gingerbread man you would have thought him to be Michael Angelo painting his fancy roof! But, don’t take my word for it … take a gander at these photos! We just love this man!

This week, the gift was ENTHUSIAM. Before we left the house, Chris pointed out to the girls something he had read the previous day. Paul is writing and telling about the enthusiasm of Timothy … the real joy and enthusiasm he had to share the good news of the truth of Jesus Christ. He pointed out that enthusiasm isn’t a fake joy we try to muster up but rather a deep and deliberate choice to choose to be enthusiastic about the gift we have living inside of us. More on that later …

We presented the girls with an “instruction manual” that led them every step of the way to our final destination … a Weihnachts Dorf (Christmas Village).



As we arrived, they read the last instruction on the manual, the opening of an envelope that contained 10 euro for them to “enthusiastically” spend on the dinner of their choice. Should I tell you that Libby ate potato wedges, a coke and cotton candy for her dinner?

Actually, there we plenty of gifts bestowed on us that we were quite “enthusiastic” about: Addison getting to collect her first Weihnachts (Christmas) mug of the season,


Chris discovering live music,



Parker tasting her first Langos of the winter (Langos is a fried bread dripped with garlic butter …),



me tasting my first Krapfen pretzel … and the weather was unusually warm (38)!



Enthusiasm is something I could use a lot more of … truly. I’ve been reading through the events that led up to the birth of Jesus. I do this every year, trusting that God has something new and fresh for me to hang my hat on during the Christmas season. This year, I’m struck by Mary’s enthusiasm. What did she have to be enthusiastic about? Poor girl … pregnant and not married, misunderstood, almost abandoned by her soon to be hubby … yet … enthusiastic. Wow. Not only “wow” … but why?

Look at her response: “Oh how my soul praises the Lord! For the mighty One is holy and he has done great things for me.” Yes, she says so much more, but these sentences sum up her heart attitude: enthusiasm. It wasn’t based on her circumstances … it was based on a promise!



I’m gonna try to be more enthusiastic … and the only way that is gonna happen is by a deliberate choice to focus on the promises of God … and not my circumstances. Circumstances will always lie … circumstances will always bring me to doubt … circumstances will always steal my joy … and …enthusiasm! Not any more … this girls gonna make a choice … to be … enthusiastic! Enthusiasm defined: it isn’t a fake joy we try to muster up but rather a deep and deliberate choice to choose to be enthusiastic about the gift we have living inside of us.