Gift Giving #1

     I was in Wal-Mart and noticed a line of about 30 people waiting to exchange items.  On the days immediately following Christmas that single line will turn into multiple lines as people bring back carefully selected gifts and exchange them for the right size, another color, or something completely different. 

     I watched a report on the news that indicated that the increase in giving ‘gift cards’ is phenomenal!  In 2003, consumers purchased 45 billion dollars worth of gift certificates or gift cards;  that number is expected to escalate to over 124 billion dollars this year!  The message of this increase is obvious:  What better gift can I give you than the resources to buy the gift that you really want for yourself! 

     We all have traditions that we maintain in our various homes and families.  I have chosen to continue a tradition that originated two generations before my arrival.  My father was raised in a very common home with a caring, loving mother, five sisters, and a drunken father.  Grandma Haire had very meager resources to use to provide a nice Christmas for her family.  She was raising her children through the years of the ‘Great Depression’, which made it all-the-more difficult.  She would splurge every Christmas and place in her six children’s stockings an apple, an orange, and some walnuts.  Consequently, when I was growing up, [and by-the-way, my Christmases were not meager;  my parents used Christmas to buy me almost everything I would need to get me through the next year] my stocking also included an apple, an orange, and some walnuts.  To maintain a tradition, I faithfully placed these items in my kids’ stockings every year (along with lots of other goodies)!  Today, Tracie does the same with her children - that's four generations!  Now the further this practice gets away from its source in the depression, the less meaning it has – however, the intent is to remind us that there was a time in our family’s history when the receiving of an apple, an orange, and some walnuts was a noteworthy and even exciting thing!

     Gift-giving is an interesting thing.  For younger, and even many older folks, receiving gifts is a big deal.  We all probably look forward to Christmas Day with some anticipation of what we might receive.  However, the greater joy is really when you’re on the gift-giving side.   Almost all of us have purchased or made something special for someone.  The excitement and anticipation of seeing their joy is almost more than we can take!  That joy was magnified in my growing-up-home by having to go on a search for gifts that might be hidden almost anywhere in the house! 

     The concept of gift-giving comes under intense pressure, however, at this time of year.  We are occasionally put into circumstances that make us feel that we have to give gifts to others.  Obligatory gift exchanges take the joy and surprise out of gift-giving.  There’s an episode of Seinfeld where George is required to exchange gifts with his co-workers,  In his typically unscrupulous way, George gives out gift cards falsely indicating that he has made a contribution in the name of his co-workers to the ‘Human Fund’.  Most of us have received gifts along the way that left us confused or even unimpressed!  

So, how do we go about giving good gifts this year for Christmas?

How would you describe a good gift?

·      Something that uniquely suits me

·      Something that will save me time or make my work easier

·      Something that is home-made

·      Something that is expensive

·      Something I wouldn’t buy myself

·      Something I can really use or that I really need or want

·      Something that someone sacrificed to give

·      Something that has special meaning behind it

·      Something that was difficult to find, make, or get

·      Something that is an expression of someone’s creativity

How can we give gifts this year that will keep our friends and loved ones out of those long exchange lines?  Maybe the above list is a starting point...