the joy of giving?

Today in Sunday school, Campbell received a Boo Bag.  It is a cute little treat bag that you take home and give to one of your friends or neighbors to invite them to Trunk or Treat.  He automatically assumed that the treat was for him, so the ride home was spent convincing him that he was supposed to give the bag to someone else.  Finally we settled on our neighbor Ledger to give the bag to.

After naps we went for a walk, and on the way home I decided it was time to give the bag up.  Here's how our conversation went:

"Will Ledger eat the candy, Mommy?"  

"Yes, Campbell."

"But why, Mommy?"

"Because that's the point of giving it to him."

"Will he eat ALL of it?"

"Yes, Campbell, he will."

"Mommy, how about I SHARE it with Ledger?  Is that a good idea?"

"No, Campbell, we are GIVING the WHOLE bag to Ledger!"

It went on like this all the way up to Ledger's house where Campbell stopped dead in his tracks refusing to go up the front steps.  I had to threaten him to get him up the stairs.  Finally we rang the doorbell and Ledger's daddy came to the door.  Campbell reluctantly handed him the bag and then hid behind me to pout while I explained it.  Then he pouted all the way home.  He even brought it up again at dinner tonight.  Yep, we've got that joy of giving thing down!  Christmas ought to be really fun.

But actually, Campbell is usually very good at sharing.  He even offered to give me his last graham cracker one day.  I don't know what it was about this bag that he just didn't want to give up.  I couldn't decide if I wished he hadn't gotten the bag in the first place or if it was a good lesson for him to learn.  Only time will tell, I guess.