Thinking About Gifts Over the Year

The Christmas season is traditionally a time of giving. Commercials are reminding us – some might say bombarding us – with the message that now is the time to give. Peppered in there, if you care to look, is the Good News of why we celebrate this season, that we have already received the greatest gift of all.

I typically get sucked into the holiday hype and feel the stress to buy in order to give. Though I don’t like the stress, I do get a kick out of finding a really great gift that I know the recipient will like. But now that the kids are adults, I don’t feel the need to fill the skirt of the tree with just anything in order to have presents waiting on Christmas morning, though that feeling is something I’m trying to get used to.

I was actually pondering this newfound freedom that comes from not buying for the sake of purchasing. Mentally, I understand that Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Christ; emotionally I feel I’m cheating because I’m not caught up in the consumption that the holiday has come to represent. I haven’t stood in one line, haven’t had palpitations because I don’t have enough under the tree.

Thinking of giving and receiving gifts, I remembered the gifts that have been received by the Goldsworthys over the course of the year.

As many of you know, there have been relationship changes in our family resulting in pain, loss and upheaval. One of the results has been a weekly trek to Riverside County by one of my sons. It’s a long haul and he’s been worried about the wear and tear on his vehicle. Then, out of nowhere, he was offered the use of a Toyota Corolla for those treks. His main vehicle will no longer have those miles put on it nor will he have to plunk down big bucks for gas.

What a gift.

Again, as many of you know, the Crescenta Valley Weekly is fully funded by the Robin’s Kitchen Fund. (Yes, my kitchen is still the ugliest in La Crescenta.) The Kitchen Fund wasn’t that big to begin with, so we haven’t had much extra money the last few years. Consequently, some home maintenance projects were postponed including replacing our garage doors.

Most of my neighbors were too kind to tell me that our garage doors were ratty – old, holey and battered. Big and bulky, these wooden doors probably dated back to when the house was built in 1977. Our neighbor down the street, Ed, got new gorgeous wood doors. (Ah, garage door envy.) Rather than throw his old ones out, Ed – whose house is the same blueprint as ours – offered to give them to us. For free.

Another amazing gift.

Two wonderful, unexpected gifts – a thought that when carried forward made me realize that is truly the meaning of Christmas. We’ve received a wonderful, totally unexpected gift in the form of the savior.

How cool is that?

  robin goldsworthy