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A lot of people laugh at using the comic section as wrapping paper, but I just love that idea!

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My secret … I only buy from stores that gift-wrap. I know they’ll make it look a lot better than I could!

___

And think about it – where does the wrapping paper end up anyway?

We think everything needs to be perfect or we’ll disappoint people. But will we?

We found a true story of a little girl who felt that same pressure. She was a third-grader in rural Central Kentucky. This story was originally published on Christmas Day of 1987. It happened the week before. The teacher told the story with the understanding that her name, the name of the school, and the name of the student would not be revealed.

The classroom was full of excitement as the teacher opened her gifts. She thanked each student by name as she admired their exquisitely wrapped presents. One of the students mentioned that someone was crying in the cloakroom.

The teacher went to the cloakroom and discovered a girl holding a gift. She asked, “Don't you want to give me your gift?"

The child was sobbing as she said, “Mine's not pretty."

"Well, now, why don't you let me be the judge of that," the teacher responded.

The little girl, still crying, handed her teacher the present, which was wrapped in pink wallpaper. Instead of ribbon, there were flowers.

As she looked at the present, the teacher was so touched that she began to cry. This little girl had tried so hard to make her present pretty. But after she saw her classmates’ gifts, she was too ashamed to put it under the tree with theirs.

A few days before, the class went to a local nursing home with presents for the residents. The teacher recalled that the little girl’s gift was a bar of motel soap, wrapped in notebook paper. On it was written, “To a friend with love”.

The teacher realized that day how special this little girl was. She came from a very poor family, but she had so much to give. For instance, she saw a woman sitting alone crying. The little girl left her group to visit with the woman.

“It doesn’t matter what’s in a package,” the teacher said. “All I ask of you for Christmas is your love, and you’ve already given me that. So if you didn’t give me anything else, that would be enough.”

At that moment, the little girl grabbed the teacher around the neck, gave her a big hug, and cried and cried.

The teacher pulled the pink wallpaper off the gift. She found a box that had originally held Lipton tea bags. She opened the box to discover a small blue towel, which was wrapped around two little glass votive cups – complete with dust around the candles. The child had brought these candles from home.

“I thought you would like these,” the little girl said. “Mama wrapped them up in the towel to keep them from breaking."

As the teacher fought the tears forming in her eyes, she thanked the child and told her that this was the perfect gift. A little girl, who had no money to buy a gift, and no wrapping paper or ribbon, had reminded her once again that a gift of love is the best present of all, no matter how it’s wrapped.

___

We thank you for reading our post today. Join us next time when we’ll find out how the angel ended up on top of the tree. Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. 

Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed.

Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file:
http://media.libsyn.com/media/biggsuccess/00292-122308.mp3

Related posts

Wealth is in the Eyes of the Beholder

(Images in today's post by mai05)

___

___

___

A lot of people laugh at using the comic section as wrapping paper, but I just love that idea!

___

___

My secret … I only buy from stores that gift-wrap. I know they’ll make it look a lot better than I could!

___

And think about it – where does the wrapping paper end up anyway?

We think everything needs to be perfect or we’ll disappoint people. But will we?

We found a true story of a little girl who felt that same pressure. She was a third-grader in rural Central Kentucky. This story was originally published on Christmas Day of 1987. It happened the week before. The teacher told the story with the understanding that her name, the name of the school, and the name of the student would not be revealed.

The classroom was full of excitement as the teacher opened her gifts. She thanked each student by name as she admired their exquisitely wrapped presents. One of the students mentioned that someone was crying in the cloakroom.

The teacher went to the cloakroom and discovered a girl holding a gift. She asked, “Don't you want to give me your gift?"

The child was sobbing as she said, “Mine's not pretty."

"Well, now, why don't you let me be the judge of that," the teacher responded.

The little girl, still crying, handed her teacher the present, which was wrapped in pink wallpaper. Instead of ribbon, there were flowers.

As she looked at the present, the teacher was so touched that she began to cry. This little girl had tried so hard to make her present pretty. But after she saw her classmates’ gifts, she was too ashamed to put it under the tree with theirs.

A few days before, the class went to a local nursing home with presents for the residents. The teacher recalled that the little girl’s gift was a bar of motel soap, wrapped in notebook paper. On it was written, “To a friend with love”.

The teacher realized that day how special this little girl was. She came from a very poor family, but she had so much to give. For instance, she saw a woman sitting alone crying. The little girl left her group to visit with the woman.

“It doesn’t matter what’s in a package,” the teacher said. “All I ask of you for Christmas is your love, and you’ve already given me that. So if you didn’t give me anything else, that would be enough.”

At that moment, the little girl grabbed the teacher around the neck, gave her a big hug, and cried and cried.

The teacher pulled the pink wallpaper off the gift. She found a box that had originally held Lipton tea bags. She opened the box to discover a small blue towel, which was wrapped around two little glass votive cups – complete with dust around the candles. The child had brought these candles from home.

“I thought you would like these,” the little girl said. “Mama wrapped them up in the towel to keep them from breaking."

As the teacher fought the tears forming in her eyes, she thanked the child and told her that this was the perfect gift. A little girl, who had no money to buy a gift, and no wrapping paper or ribbon, had reminded her once again that a gift of love is the best present of all, no matter how it’s wrapped.

___

We thank you for reading our post today. Join us next time when we’ll find out how the angel ended up on top of the tree. Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. 

Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed.

Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file:
http://media.libsyn.com/media/biggsuccess/00292-122308.mp3

Related posts

Wealth is in the Eyes of the Beholder

(Images in today's post by mai05)

___

The calendars of kids today are as busy as ours. Between school and all their extracurricular activities, they’re too busy to really play.

___

I saw an interview with a little girl awhile back. She was brilliant, doing well in school and excelling at everything she did. Her one wish was that she could just have some time to play.

___

Isn’t that sad?

Play pays

Don’t get us wrong – extracurricular activities are great, but it’s good to also have time to engage in activities that don’t have a goal with performance stress attached.

It’s good for kids to just play. It’s good for them physically, socially, and mentally. Play helps them develop their imagination and creativity as well as socially – all important skills in the years ahead.

Turning back the clock

Dr. Robyn cites a growing trend of kids having fitness club memberships. How many of us just love going to the gym? Do you remember playing … just good old fashioned play?  It was fun. Something you couldn’t wait to do. You got some great exercise, but you didn’t watch the clock like you do when you’re working out at the club. 

Speaking of clocks, the sad part is that we seem to be turning back the clock. Dr. Robyn’s article includes a quote that says kids are about two years behind in their development compared to sixty years ago. It seems we’re not evolving; we’re going backwards.

We need to do a 180

So let’s let the kids be kids. In fact, let’s take it a step further. Let’s do a 180 degree turn – instead of trying to turn kids into little adults, let’s become bigg kids.

Not in an immature way … just for fun and all the benefits that come with it.

We need to be more child-like. Do you remember being fascinated by bugs? Of course, we’re not talking about bugs inside the house. But isn’t it fascinating to just watch a praying mantis? How relaxing is it to see butterflies fluttering around?

___

That’s one of the reasons I love going for walks. I just love seeing all the cool plants. There’s a lake close to our house so I can watch the fish. It sure beats going to the fitness center and watching TV!

___

We get so busy working that we don’t have a second to spare. Sometimes we even block people out so we can get all of our work done. That’s when play time is especially important. Play time is social time. You can relax and talk with people.

And you learn … things that you might not learn any other way. Because other people have different interests. By playing – socializing – you expand our interests. That helps you look at old problems in new ways. You find solutions that you may not find if you don’t get out of your routine.

Play expands our imaginations. Our imagination leads us to be more creative, more innovative. Which is how we find those bigg ideas that lead to bigg success!

___

___

Next time, we’ll take on Washington and Wall Street. Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. 

Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed.

Related posts

A Wii Bit of Fun

Backyard Bliss

(Image by mommyof9)

___

The calendars of kids today are as busy as ours. Between school and all their extracurricular activities, they’re too busy to really play.

___

I saw an interview with a little girl awhile back. She was brilliant, doing well in school and excelling at everything she did. Her one wish was that she could just have some time to play.

___

Isn’t that sad?

Play pays

Don’t get us wrong – extracurricular activities are great, but it’s good to also have time to engage in activities that don’t have a goal with performance stress attached.

It’s good for kids to just play. It’s good for them physically, socially, and mentally. Play helps them develop their imagination and creativity as well as socially – all important skills in the years ahead.

Turning back the clock

Dr. Robyn cites a growing trend of kids having fitness club memberships. How many of us just love going to the gym? Do you remember playing … just good old fashioned play?  It was fun. Something you couldn’t wait to do. You got some great exercise, but you didn’t watch the clock like you do when you’re working out at the club. 

Speaking of clocks, the sad part is that we seem to be turning back the clock. Dr. Robyn’s article includes a quote that says kids are about two years behind in their development compared to sixty years ago. It seems we’re not evolving; we’re going backwards.

We need to do a 180

So let’s let the kids be kids. In fact, let’s take it a step further. Let’s do a 180 degree turn – instead of trying to turn kids into little adults, let’s become bigg kids.

Not in an immature way … just for fun and all the benefits that come with it.

We need to be more child-like. Do you remember being fascinated by bugs? Of course, we’re not talking about bugs inside the house. But isn’t it fascinating to just watch a praying mantis? How relaxing is it to see butterflies fluttering around?

___

That’s one of the reasons I love going for walks. I just love seeing all the cool plants. There’s a lake close to our house so I can watch the fish. It sure beats going to the fitness center and watching TV!

___

We get so busy working that we don’t have a second to spare. Sometimes we even block people out so we can get all of our work done. That’s when play time is especially important. Play time is social time. You can relax and talk with people.

And you learn … things that you might not learn any other way. Because other people have different interests. By playing – socializing – you expand our interests. That helps you look at old problems in new ways. You find solutions that you may not find if you don’t get out of your routine.

Play expands our imaginations. Our imagination leads us to be more creative, more innovative. Which is how we find those bigg ideas that lead to bigg success!

___

___

Next time, we’ll take on Washington and Wall Street. Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. 

Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed.

Related posts

A Wii Bit of Fun

Backyard Bliss

(Image by mommyof9)