A few years ago I went to the Amazon website and saw that I had 334 items in my ‘cart’.

What?!

I clicked my computer mouse over the image of the grocery cart in the far right corner to see how I could possibly have that many items.  As I began to read all that was in my cart, I laughed.

Scroll after scroll, page after page, I saw a certain theme and knew who did it. It was all things Barbie, My Little Pony and even a pink Power Wheels electric car!

“Oh I see Sarah really wanted the Holiday Barbie. She has 3 of that doll in the cart.” I said laughing to Kendall as we viewed Sarah’s wish list.

I deleted everything in the cart and was very thankful that I do not store my credit card on my account. I was telling my friend and fellow mom on this Autism journey what Sarah did and she shared with me her story.

Her son, Jonathan, is a friend of Sarah’s at her school and he, too, saw a few things on Amazon that he liked. Jonathan clicked away and then found my friend’s credit card to finalize his purchases. He said nothing to his mom about it but was very excited when the deliveries began to come to the door.

She knew something was up based on Jonathan’s reaction.

As she opened one of the boxes she saw the packing list she knew what Jonathan had done. When she began to pull the items out of the box, all of them were individually gift wrapped! After all, in Jonathan’s mind they were gifts to himself!

His birthday was coming up so my friend gave him some of the items for his birthday and saved the rest for Christmas–after she told him to never do that again!

At Christmastime, I look back at this past year and am so thankful for the family and friends that have prayed so faithfully for Sarah. I am humbled and in awe of the power of prayer in her life! While she still has some issues and struggles, she is doing so much better!

It is also during this time I think of the best gift that I and the entire world has ever received was not gift wrapped in wrapping paper and a bow, but rather was wrapped in swaddling clothes and found lying in a manger. Jesus, our Savior and the promise of God’s redemptive story, is the best gift! When I think about how I am ‘making it’ on this Autism journey it is because Jesus is my source of hope, joy and peace.

Hope, joy and peace; the very things we hear around Christmastime because they reflect the One we celebrate!

Merry Christmas!

“Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Luke 2:11-12