The Gift of Giving… getting the Christmas day feeling over and over again

Even as a child I took great pleasure in preparing gifts for my love ones especially for Christmas. Unlike other children, we never had money as “baon” so saving up for gifts was not really much of an option. We had to be creative and resourceful.

I was lucky to live with my cousins in a compound of 5 houses. We had a simple, carefree and sheltered life. When we needed “funds” for Christmas we would do Christmas carolling. And since we were too young to go out at night, we did it before lunch! So after doing a few rounds around the 5 houses of captured clients, i.e. uncles and aunts, we had our few centavos. (In those days, it was enough to get a treat for 4 children… actually a bag of Chippy… the best!)After several sessions, we would have enough money to divide amongst ourselves.

And one of the gifts I remember buying from that venture is a bottle of beer for my father. Hahaha, not the most ideal gift I know, but my sister and I carefully wrapped it to make it a bit more special than what it was. I still remember carefully planning when to buy it, how to wrap it and to keep it secret until Christmas!
For me, the anticipation for Christmas was not just about what gifts I was going to receive but how my love ones would feel receiving theirs. I hardly remembered the gifts I received, except for a few, but I will always remember how I felt on Christmas Day.

That feeling has stayed on with me ever since. I found myself enjoying the whole process of it. The gift may not be that special but if I made it so, it became so, not only for the person who received it but also for me. So that meant wrapping presents a little more intricately, doing boxes from scratch and now actually making gifts for my children, this goes for Christmas, birthdays, anniversaries and what-have-you’s in between. If it’s special enough to celebrate then it is special enough.

Maybe that is the reason why I came to be in this business. I always find myself sharing the happiness people feel when they are really planning what to give to the special people in their lives. Hearing the disguised and not so disguised excitement in their voices, makes me relive that special feeling over and over, these are the perks of my job.

I’m sure you have heard the adage of “it’s the thought that counts”. Some take it to mean that any gift will do as long as there is a gift. For me, it means the effort of thinking what would please the recipient that gives it the importance and the gift is secondary. Of course, to receive gifts is always nice, especially when it is really nice, but it takes a whole new meaning when there is meaning to the gift.

One of my favourite Christmas stories, “The Gift of the Magi” by O Henry, says it all. It’s about this poor couple with very little money for Christmas so they traded what they treasured the most to give the best they could to their sweethearts, long hair was traded for a chain of an heirloom watch and the watch was traded for a pair of beautiful combs.

(For the full story, please read The Gift of the Magi, it’s a nice one)

Very few of us, if ever, would ever experience something close to that, after all it is just a story, albeit a beautiful one. However, we can all experience a little of that happiness.
Do take time and care when choosing gifts, be a little more conscious of it and you will be surprised that you will feel a bit happier when you do.