My Grandson Waited at the Window All Christmas Eve. His Mommy Never Came.
He's six. I've been raising him and his little brother since he was two, because my daughter isn't well. She's getting help. I pray for her every single night.
Last Christmas she promised she'd come. At four o'clock he put on his good shirt, knelt on the couch, and pressed his face against the glass. At nine I carried him to bed.
He didn't cry. That was the worst part. My baby has learned not to expect people.
If you're raising your grandbabies, you know that night. More than 2.5 million of us grandparents are raising our grandkids in this country. And for a lot of our children, Christmas is the hardest day of the whole year.
I can't make their mother show up. I can't buy enough presents to fill that empty chair. But I found the one promise I can keep for them. Here's what happened in our house in 25 nights.
1. Every Night, He'll Talk to Someone Who Has Never Once Missed
Kids' Bibles tell him stories about God. He's heard plenty of grown-ups tell him things. What he needed was Someone he could talk to. Someone who'd be there every single night, no matter what.
Every one of these 25 nights has a short prayer written in a child's own voice, talking straight to Jesus. Same time, every night, from December 1st to Christmas morning. Night 2 tells him, "You are not a faraway God."
For a little boy who has learned that people don't always come, a promise that keeps, every single night, is everything.
The first time he said it by himself, he looked up at me and said, "He was here again, Grandma."
2. He'll Finally Have Somewhere to Put "Why Didn't Mommy Come?"
You know the questions. They come at bedtime, when the lights go off. "Does Mommy still love me?" "Why didn't she call?" And you lie there with no good answer, because there isn't one.
This book doesn't promise to fix Mommy. It gives him a place to say it. Night 8 says "Nothing can separate us from God's love." Night 21, they play hide-and-seek, and learn that "Jesus never really hides from us."
One night my grandson added his own words at the end of the prayer. He prayed for his mom. Then he said, "And tell Grandma she's not by herself either."
I had to walk out of the room.
3. Ten Minutes. In Bed. No Prep. Even on the Nights You Can Barely Stand Up.
You didn't plan to be doing homework and school pickup again at this age. Some nights you're so tired you can barely get through bath time. The last thing you need is one more project.
This isn't one. One page, one short prayer, one verse, one little activity. You just open to tonight's page in bed. Night 9 talks about "the kind of king who gets down on the floor and sits with me." Night 16 they build a blanket nest and read it inside, "Safe in Your Arms."
Ten minutes, and he falls asleep after talking to Jesus instead of waiting for a phone that won't ring.
See What's Inside4. This Christmas Morning, the Empty Chair Won't Be the Biggest Thing in the Room
Did you ever notice who God told first? Not kings. Shepherds working the night shift, out in the cold, the people nobody showed up for. On Night 1 he goes outside and draws what they saw that night.
Night 24, every light goes off except the tree, and you read him the real Christmas story from Luke 2. Night 25, Christmas morning, before every present, he stops and says "Thank You, Jesus."
The chair might still be empty. But this year he knows Who came. And it's His birthday, not a day about who did or didn't show up.
Get Yours Before They're Gone5. You Can't Promise You'll Always Be Here. He Can.
This is the one that wakes me up at 3 a.m. I'm 63. I'm the only one he's got. Who does he talk to when I'm gone?
I can't promise him forever. Nobody can. But I can make sure that before I go, he knows the One who never leaves. That he's said "In Your Name, Jesus, Amen" in his own little voice so many nights in a row that it's his, not mine.
That's the one thing I can give him that nobody can ever take away.
It sold out before Thanksgiving last year. Grandmas who waited spent another Christmas Eve watching their babies at the window. Don't let that be this year.
Give Him the One Who Always Shows UpWhat Grandmas Raising Grandkids Are Saying
"Their dad didn't call on Christmas again. I found my granddaughter in her room with this book, saying the prayer all by herself. She looked up and told me 'Jesus came.' I sat down on the stairs and bawled."
— Brenda K., raising 2 grandkids
"I'm 67 with a five and an eight year old. I'm tired. This is the one thing in December I didn't have to plan. One page in bed, and they fall asleep after talking to Jesus."
— Gloria J., raising 2 grandkids
"My grandson asks why his mom doesn't come and I never know what to say. Night 8 says nothing can separate us from God's love. He made me read it to him three times and then he said it himself."
— Maria L., raising her grandson
"I'm 72 and raising my great-grandson. I lie awake worrying about who he'll have after me. Now he has Someone. That's all I wanted for Christmas."
— Dorothy P., raising her great-grandson
You Can't Make Their Parent Show Up This Christmas. You Can Make Sure They Know the One Who Never Misses a Night.
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