Three wise men gave a young Jesus gifts. From this, we have managed to extrapolate Black Friday.
I like getting surprises. I like getting a gift. It’s best when you don’t expect it. I received some books in the mail a few days ago, and I’m having a blast reading the cookbook. It made the day fun. Didn’t need the books, but I’m enjoying them very much anyway.
Sometimes people give me a gift because they just want me to know they care about me or are thinking of me and maybe don’t know how else to go about it and want to do more than just say it. I appreciate it, and these are the gifts that I treasure. Big or small, whether I’d have picked them or not, I become attached to them because of what motivated them. I have trinkets and odd jewelry and stinky perfumes and fabulous cookbooks and things I’d never pick for myself that I adore not because of the actual thing, but because of who gave it and why.
The idea of a gift receipt is bothersome, that I give a gift and also say “if you don’t like my gift or you want something else, please take it back.” I understand the usefulness of the concept, but when it comes right down to it…no.
I love giving gifts. One Christmas, when I was a child, I wrapped up everything in mom’s sewing and craft room that wasn’t nailed down. It was a Christmas of “So That’s Where That Went” for my parents. For me, it was “The Year I Gave and Gave and Gave.”
Giving is more fun than getting if it’s done purely. As in, not giving to get. Not giving for any reason than just to give and expect nothing in return. Taking joy in someone else’s pleasure in the gift.
I don’t think I’d ever advocate no gifts at Christmas because for a true giver, that is a punishment. For those buying out of obligation and dread and over-spending and checking names off of lists and going into debt and hating every minute of it and buying for every random person in their life, though, there’s just nothing more to be said beyond “why?”
The lasting gift that we can give anyone is our time. We only have so much time on this earth, so any portion of it that we don’t spend on ourselves but spend on someone else necessarily speaks of love.
Giving time comes out in strange ways. I like to translate it into making something or writing letters. These things take time, and if I can’t be with the person, I want to let him or her know they were worth my time to do something for them. Listening to a friend talk is a gift without price.
Giving and receiving are difficult to do with a correct heart. Giving isn’t obligatory by nature, and receiving shouldn’t carry a gift receipt.
Are we wise enough to be giving, or are we going about it stupidly?
What I take from the Christmas story is that it is a wise man (or woman) who should be giving, because giving requires nothing less than wisdom.
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