Dear Sisters,
The two of us stood staring at the spectacle under the Christmas tree. Some Christmas mornings, my sister and I would sneak out of our bedroom around 4:00 a.m. to privately see what Santa had left us. It was fun to see everything before everyone else got up. I don't know about how things were at your house on Christmas, but Santa always wrapped some things and some gifts he left unwrapped. On this particular Christmas, the two of us were stunned at what Santa left revealed. We wiped our sleepy eyes, not believing what the man in red left behind. Standing in our pajamas with our "bed-head" hair, we stood wide-eyed for a bit and then we had to kneel down to get a closer look at this amazing spread.
Santa had left an entire Fischer Price Little People Play Family Village. I can still remember the details of the colorful plastic village. On one corner of the town was a police station. The policeman was dressed in typical blue and black police attire. He would patrol the town and if anyone disobeyed the law, he or she would find themselves in a jail cell just inside the police station. On the other corner of town, there was a service station. Anyone who had car trouble could have their car towed in for repair. This was an up scale station, because our village mechanic could work on two cars at a time. He just turned a crank and little lifts circled around so he could do multiple repairs right there in the shop. There was a gas pump outside as well, you could simply wheel in for a tank of gas, or get an oil change or both! We are talking "full service" here.
The town had a post office, complete with a mailman in his mail truck. He carried small parcels and letters in the back of his truck. If you needed to mail a letter personally, the post office had a convenient post office slip where you could slide in your mail. Our mail man checked the post office slot several times a day to make sure your mail got sent on time. The fire station had a magnificent fire truck. Should a fire break out, and it did on many occasions in our village, our fireman had the ability to use his handy, dandy extended ladder off the back of the truck. He saved many damsels in distress who couldn't get down from the upstairs village apartment.
The barber shop could seat two people at a time. One mean little boy in the town always threw a fit when his mom took him to get a hair cut. Our village barber was always patient and loving, no matter how bad little "Billy" acted. The dentist office would only seat one person at a time. Our village dentist wanted to make sure that everyone got special, individual attention. He made everyone feel at ease. After each cleaning, he would recommend to his patients, NOT to make a trip next door to the general store's candy counter. "Sweets were not good for your teeth," he would say. The town had a stop light, a phone booth and much more.
On the outskirts of town was the school house. The inside had little desks set up in typical classroom style. The teacher was a brunette, who wore her hair in a bun and wore a blue dress. The school bus would be filled with children, most had smiles on their faces except for one little boy. You guessed it, "Billy", our class bully, the one who always gave our barber a hard time. He always had a scowl on his face. He was a little read-headed boy with freckles, an orange ball cap and he was always lookin' for trouble. The bus would stop each morning in front of the school. The kids would jump out and head for the playground. The swings, slide and merry-go-round were available for a short period of time until the teacher called everyone in for school to start.
The family home was also on the outskirts of town. It was the typical home with bedrooms, a living room, dining room and kitchen. A family of four came with the house - mom, dad, brother and sister. The family also had a pet, a dog we named "Fido."
We took some time to play quietly under the Christmas tree with our new wonderland. We had no idea how many weeks, months and even years we would entertain ourselves with our Village. Later as the town upgraded and decided to implement franchises, we even got our own McDonald's. We slipped back in bed and fell asleep for a few hours until we heard the excited voice of our mother saying, "Girls, wake up! Santa came, come and see!"
In a recent visit to mom's attic, we found the entire village stored neatly on the shelves. It took me back to that Christmas morning and to a time in my life when my sister and I played life in the midst of that little plastic town. In our village world, no one was from a broken home. We could write our own script, one that would be very different from our real lives.
Everyone in the town was friendly and loved each other. There was very little crime. In fact, we would only lock people up for short periods of time and their crimes were petty at best. Everyone in the town had a name and everyone but "Billy" had huge smiles painted on their faces. We gave each figure a unique personality. As life played out in the little Fischer Price Village, we controlled the story day after day. Each day was a new adventure. In our make-believe world there was peace and contentment and everyday was filled with fun and joy. The only real problem in the town was "Billy", but he could be handled easy enough.
It's interesting to me that God wanted us to have a perfect world, one even better than our Fischer Price world. God never intended to move us around like little Fischer Price people. Instead, he gave us free will. God allows us to make our own decisions in this game of life. We all sin and so in this game of life we play we make decisions and choices that affect us and those around us. And so, it's not a perfect world.
As you and your family open gifts this Christmas morning, the little children gathered around your Christmas tree may be in awe of what they find. They too may find that Santa left behind an amazing gift. Don't forget why we celebrate Christmas. It's not about the gifts under the tree. It's about the gift of a baby and not just any baby. It's about God himself wrapped in flesh. In Him we find the true meaning of Christmas. In Him we find the real meaning of life. In Him we find comfort from a hurting world. And those who accept Him will not receive a perfect, trouble-free life, but a promise that God has overcome the world and so in Him we are more than conquerors. For the believer, we have the promise of a new heaven and a new earth. Revelation 21 tells us that God will live with his people and he will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All of these things are gone forever. That kind of world puts our Fischer Price world to shame. Heaven, no that's an address worth hanging your eternal hat.