Christmas is About Giving…And Receiving!
Christmas is a time of Giving!
I recently attended our “2nd Annual Cousins’ Holiday Party.” We instituted this event last year and all us “cousins” had such a good time together we decided to make it an annual affair and each year a different cousin hosts The Party. Now that we are all older we’ve all let go of any competitiveness or animosity that may have existed years ago. I am very grateful to have a family who not only gets along, but who actually like each other!
One of the new traditions for our Annual Party is a Holiday Grab Bag with a specified value and suitable for either male or female. This turned out to be a lot harder than I first expected…at least for me. Each person chooses a gift from the pile, then everyone can “steal” gifts from each other until we all have the one we want…this is great FUN and inspires lots of joking and rivalry!
However, this year’s hostess gave everyone additional gifts, in which she put a lot of thought, effort and time to prepare for everyone. But the moment she started handing her gifts out we were all telling her things like, Oh, you shouldn’t have spent all that money! and Oh No…now I don’t have anything for you! But instead of providing the recipients an excuse for not having a reciprocal gift, their protests just tend to make the giver feel uncomfortable or even defensive about their giving. It seems very common in our society that we feel guilty about getting a gift without having something to give in return.
Listening to all these comments, it suddenly hit me that we were actually negating her gifting with all our remarks…making her feel badly just so we could feel better about not having a gift in return. So I spoke up – as I often am want to do – stating we should all stop our protests and just accept our gifts graciously…giving our Gift of Receiving to the hostess. She in turn was very grateful for our reciprocal gifts to her of Receiving!
This experience taught me that our lessons can come anytime, anywhere, from any situation, if we just remain open to seeing and hearing them. A gift can be anything…it need not have a dollar value!
God gave us the gift of His Son – do we tell God “no, thanks” – or do we accept this Greatest Gift of all with Gratitude and just ‘Receive’?
During this busy Holiday time as we plan our gifts to others…things, cooking meals, baking cookies and breads or just “BEING” with family and friends…remember to accept graciously – without protest – and give the gift of RECEIVING. It shows the giver you appreciate their thoughtfulness and generosity – no matter the gift you‘ve received.
Who knows…it could be the MOST valuable of all the gifts you give this Holiday!
I am giving myself the gift of time off for the rest of this year to rest, regroup, and plan for what is going to be a very busy “1 Year – New Beginnings” for me. May you all have a Blessed and Joyous Holiday Season! I will be back in 2010 – a New Year and a New Decade!
MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!!
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