Today's gift is a balloon - and almost all the bags contain 'Christmas' balloons with a cheery design printed on them... I ran out, so some bags have slightly more expensive plain coloured balloons!

Preachers often use balloons when they talk about God's Spirit breathing new life into the disicples at Pentecost, or alongside the story of the valley of dry bones.  This reduction of us to floppy bits of rubber - maybe with a face printed on - isn't entriely helpful in my view!  As God's beloved children, we already have the Spirit's breath of life in us.

So maybe, instead we could see the balloon, filled with our own breath, as a simple symbol of joy, of fun, of divine mischief even - as God's untameable Spirit tops us up yet again...

Mischievous thought... does this blown up balloon infer that Santa has gone all charismatic on us?!

[Safety note - be careful with balloons, especially if your have pets or small children.  If/when the balloons burst, be sure to get all the bits to avoid risk of choking due to accidental ingestion]