Give gifts this Christmas

I love the Christmas season! It’s my favorite time of the year. There’s just something about the cold breeze and the twinkling lights that always seems so magical to me. But, Christmas isn’t about the decorations, or the chilly air, or even about the extra income one gets from their workplaces. Today, after mass, I realized that Christmas is all about the GIFTS.

Now, before you chastise me, and tell me how superficial I am, indulge me a bit and reflect on this. The celebration of Christmas is a commemoration of the birth of Jesus Christ. And his birth is a gift from the Father, so that Christ may save us from sin. This has been the greatest gift of all, to give up one’s life so that others may be saved. In turn, it is our responsibility to keep this spirit of Christmas alive. And it is in the giving of gifts that we are best able to share the blessings we have.

I hope, of course, you didn’t expect me to talk about sharing your material wealth. The cost of an item is of little concern when the thought is sincere. We could give the littlest of gifts and still be able to make other people feel loved. But especially this year, I hope we share with each other the gift of time, presence, and of service.

I have gone to so many Christmas parties, each with their own theme, and with varying levels of grandeur. Somehow, though, every party I attend finds some way to share the Christmas spirit with someone in need. One celebration I attended honored their security and maintenance staff, thanking them for their silent but hard work. Another one donated a huge amount of money to the troops in Marawi. Still, another cut down on their expenses so they could have enough money to buy and pack relief goods to calamity-stricken areas. And my favorite one had everyone pool their resources together to buy plane tickets for the families of some of their people who haven’t seen each other in so long. See, something happens during Christmas. Everyone seems to be in the mood for sharing.

But then we all go home, and shout at our parents, and ignore the neighborhood street urchin, and avoid answering the calls of relatives we know are just out to ask for their aguinaldos. We turn a blind eye from the house-helper who has done nothing each day except to serve us. We shut out our friends who we have lent money to in the past. And we nod profusely, but shudder internally, when the priest at church says, “forgive your enemies this Christmas.” It’s a shame that we think about the season in big gestures. We believe that God sending His only begotten Son to us is such a big event that our celebration of Christmas must be worthy of this grand sacrifice. We, therefore, are generous collectively, but selfish individually. But, we are gravely mistaken.

Jesus came to us in the quiet of the night, in a humble stable in the town of Bethlehem, surrounded only by barn animals and His parents. His gift to us was the simplest of things – the gift of presence. And all throughout His life, He gave nothing more than His time, His service, and His life.

If we ever had a notion of what the Christmas season is about, we are probably right in believing it is about gifts. But, maybe, this Christmas, let’s think less about the big gifts, and more about the simple things that make others happy – like presence, like time, like service.

Happy Christmas, everyone! May your days be merry and bright!

Here is my favorite new Christmas song this year, from ABS-CBN, entitled, “Just Love Ngayong Christmas”