The Gift Exchange

“Our heritage and ideals, our code and standards – the things we live by and teach our children – are preserved or diminished by how freely we exchange ideas and feelings.”~ Walt Disney

And I’m back. In not any moment too soon before the Christmas holiday & break .

But I knew that I would be back today here when I woke up this morning as today was our grand ole fun-filled Holiday Party. A party in which no neighbor has referred to it as such in over five years. With the kinda of neighbors that I have now, political correctness can sit on it!

Our usual gathering took place with snacks and drinks and other deliciousness. As much as you had wished to stack onto a plate.

But the one part that would make you run and get the popcorn from home, would be ……. the gift exchange.

Allow me to explain why this is entertaining.

First off, there is a $10 limit on gifts. Of course, you must give a gift to receive a gift. Even though other people have attempted to lie and falsify that they gave, just to get something more… it never worked out well for them. But instead of doing something about it, they get passed off as “old and confused.” It doesn’t make sense to me either.

But one year after the gift exchange had been announced that it had come to an end. Everyone looked at what they had RANDOMLY SELECTED and nobody was happy or satisfied with what they received.

One woman who has been a rather frequent topic of conversation in this blog stood right up and announced a proposition for other neighbors if they had the desire to “SWAP” what they had with hers. Within one hour, I watched that one gift get traded and swapped through a total of four separate people.

The gift in question you may wonder? A two-cup coffee maker.

Another year, an old bitty was so greedy about receiving something through the gift exchange, that she had let it slip her mind until that very day. So just hours ahead of the party, she dumped out the contents of her own personal wallet and threw it in a box and then put it under the tree.

I can still see the look on the person’s face who had randomly selected that wallet. It wasn’t new. It was old and falling apart. And there was nothing inside of it either. All in the name of getting something more.

For the past couple of years, after the gift exchange had come to an end, it was an automatic thing that people would swap and switch their gifts. For as long as they were not receiving the same gift that they gave for the exchange.

So in 2015, I chose emphatically not to participate in the gift exchange. But rather sit back like a boss and watch the people trip and drown in their own selfishness and avarice.

I was not disappointed. The gifts that were under the tree this year were horrible. And I think the thought behind them were even worse. A person can do a lot with a ten dollar limit. This group of participating hoarders simply chose not to go that far in their exchange. A lot of thoughtless gifts, and even more bullshit ideas that would be considered as a present…. in the minds of simple children. 

So we pass another holiday season here. Christmas is just a few days away. And sadly for me, it will be just another day of the week as my sister already made her plans for the holiday elsewhere and out of town. I’ll probably get a few text messages and a couple of telephone calls of family and friends wishing me a Merry Christmas. And that will be the extent of it.

Stay tuned. 2016 is going to be packed full of surprises. I PROMISE YOU! Just be patient……………….

A Story Of True Christmas Charity

“Lots of people think they’re charitable if they give away their old clothes and things they don’t want.”~ Myrtle Reed

As Christmas Day is now a few days passed us, I’m still thinking about one story that I heard about via Facebook, that just blew me away to the point of my heart just melting and tears forming in the corners of my eyes.

It was a true story of charity that happened. I will however for this blog’s sake paraphrase and hope that in my telling of this story, I get it accurate.

When I heard about what had happened, I sent a message to the person today, to see if I could have her tell the story of her charitable deed done on Christmas Day.

A woman in North Carolina was getting gasoline just shortly before the Thanksgiving holiday when she was having a conversation with a sweet elderly woman who was working at the gas station/store.

The woman had asked the employee what her plans for Christmas were. And the elderly employee had replied that she had nobody to celebrate either holiday with and she had no remaining family left and therefore she would be working on both holidays, that way she could allow for others to spend time with their own families.

It was a sad moment for the woman getting gasoline to the point she mentioned that it broke her heart.

On Christmas Day, the same woman from North Carolina had stopped on the way back from a Christmas family dinner and stopped at a different location and found the woman to be working there. Surprisingly enough, the amount of Christmas gifts that she had in her vehicle was one too many for her family and friends, so she ended up finding the elderly woman and giving her that gift so that she could say that she shared in just that brief moment, some kindness and love on Christmas Day.

This random act of kindness, or RAK, was just the thing that I was most happy to see come across Facebook on Christmas Day this year.  With the previous days of post after post after post after post of people sharing what they had received, in a sense of “LOOK WHAT I GOT!”– this was more of a post of “Look at what has been done.”

This story is inspirational, heart warming and breaking at the same time, and true. I told the woman who explained it that I had wished I lived closer so that I could hug her because it was the most awesome thing I had heard that happened this Christmas. Instead of watching people post about their fancy-dancy and expensive Christmas gifts, a post was displayed from one person’s act of charity and love.

I just wished that there were more stories like this on the Internet. But there isn’t. The tale of charity had actually lifted away the depressing feelings for myself as I sat here at home all alone with nobody to share with. I received a telephone call from various family members but that was about it. That was my Christmas this year.

Hearing about this story, really got me to think though. It really began to change how I feel about people and society in general. Even though I’ve had some difficult times recently, there are some people out there who are full of love and acts of selflessness rather than hatred and violence.

What do you think about this story? What kinds of charitable things have you done recently?

 

 

Ye Olde Christmas Traditions

“We’re kicking off our fun old fashion family Christmas by heading out into the country in the old front-wheel drive sleigh to embrace the frosty majesty of the winter landscape and select that most important of Christmas symbols.”~ Chevy Chase as ‘Clark’ in “Christmas Vacation” [1989]

It’s Christmas Eve. At least for most. Christmas Day is several hours away and we gather with family and friends to celebrate in love and harmony, not to mention in pride and avarice (for others).

Each family who celebrates Christmas throughout the world has their own holiday traditions. I know that growing up, my family sure did. But after having those traditions for many, many years- it is sometimes difficult to realize that others do not do the same thing as I have done for most of my life.

Growing up, my family did our Christmas celebrating and the opening of gifts and presents on the evening of Christmas Eve. For many years I just thought that was how it was done. Until I was much older and realized that the only reason why my parents decided to open presents on Christmas Eve, was because of the fact that my sister’s birthday is the 26th of December.

So many Decembers gone by, and I could never figure out why other neighborhood children had only had their toys and gifts for an hour or so when me and my siblings had ours freshly unwrapped overnight. I would learn after the age of ten or so why that was.

Most of my life though, and even into adulthood, I would open up Christmas presents on the 24th of December………. except for one year.

On the 24th of December in the year of 1982, our family stayed at home instead of attending Christmas Eve services. My father would go on without us and then return home. Meanwhile, a thunderstorm came through and by the time we had heard the garage door opening, signifying that my father was home and “Christmas” would begin, my younger sibling ran out the front door to greet him in the pouring rain. At that moment when the front door was opening, the tornado sirens began to wail.

Christmas was not going to happen for several hours later as the F4 tornado ripped through in the middle of the night. Two days later (on my sister’s birthday that year) we had twelve inches of snow. Go figure.

That year, so memorable. Opening gifts and drinking tiny glasses of egg nog well after midnight and practically falling asleep on the floor amongst the disaster area of torn and shredded Christmas wrapping paper and emptied out toy boxes and packages.

Christmas traditions vary worldwide as well. Not just from American family to family. Some have already opened gifts and presents. When I was studying German in school, we learned about something called “Saint Nikolas Tag” (St. Nicholas Day). That was the time when many children would open gifts and presents. Of course in Germany, they do celebrate Christmas on the traditional days of 24th and 25th, and even on the 26th. But what we learned, Saint Nikolas Tag was the day that the German version of Santa Claus would visit and bring gifts for the children.

Now as an adult, now that I am an uncle; things have changed a little bit. My niece and nephews will most likely be opening gifts tomorrow morning as many children will in this country.

But I really don’t believe that it matters all that much on WHAT DAY we open our gifts and presents for the Christmas holiday. It’s more towards what the real meaning of Christmas is about. And being with family and loved ones.

And that’s just me.

For those of you reading this blog post, and celebrate Christmas– MERRY CHRISTMAS. May your holidays be full of love & joy.