Any Gift Is Beautiful Because It is Given
Ms. Jessica’s class read the book The Legend of the Poinsettia by Tomie DePaola. It tells of a little girl who lived in a small village in the mountains of Mexico. When Lucida’s mama becomes ill a few days before Christmas Eve, they are unable to finish weaving the beautiful blanket they were making as a gift to cover the baby Jesus figure in the Christmas procession. She tried to finish the blanket on her own. But the yarn got horribly tangled, and the blanket was ruined. Lucida felt awful that her family wouldn’t have a gift to place at the manger of the Baby Jesus. A kind old woman reassures Lucida by telling her, “Any gift is beautiful because it is given.” Looking around, Lucida picked an armful of tall green weeds to place as a gift at the manger. To everyone’s surprise, when Lucida lowered her head to pray, all of the weeds began to grow a “flaming red star” at their tip. And every Christmas to this day, the red stars shine on the top of green branches in Mexico. The people call the plants the Flower of the Holy Night—the poinsettia.
This story reminded us of the joy we find in giving to others. Students were asked to choose one person and tell what gift they would like to give them on Christmas.
Hensley wants to get her baby sister a little toy from Target to chew on because she loves to chew on stuff.
Brielle wants to give her sister a doll that is riding on a rainbow unicorn for her to play with.
Hudson wants to give his dad an “exercise thing” because he works very hard to get his muscles big.
William wants to give his mom a big train so that she can love it.
Mackenzie wants to give her little brother a Santa Claus lovey because she loves him so much, and it is Christmas!
Abby wants to give her mom a green dinosaur robot stuffy because her mom told her she loves them. But her mom actually likes the color pink the most, so she thinks she might try to find a pink one for her instead.
Emily wants to make her mommy pumpkin bread because her mom LOVES pumpkin bread!
Laurel wants to give her mama a weenie dog because hers died, and she needs a new one. However, she doesn’t know where the pound is, so she will need someone to take her there to get one.
Foster will give his mama lots of kisses because she loves them.
Andrew wants to give his dad a coffee cup so that he can have another one when his needs to be washed.
Everly wants to give her daddy a candy cane because she knows he will want to eat it.
Natalia wants to give her mommy new make-up because she loves make-up.
Alice wants to give her baby Elle a necklace and a bracelet because her sister loves jewelry.
Sutton R. will share his candy canes with his mommy because she doesn’t really like him eating too much candy. His mom told him candy has A LOT of sugar!
Adoniah wants to get her mom a red flower from the store. She knows it will make her so proud.
Sutton T. wants to give her baby, Pickle, a Cocomelon microphone because she knows she would love it.
“Any gift is beautiful because it is given.”
