A simple gift
“…But what would you like for Christmas?”
It is always a difficult thing to decide what to give sons who are grown with lives they have filled with things you no longer know, especially on a tight budget. As children you are aware of their needs as well as their changing tastes, as men they have huge chunks of life you are no longer intimately acquainted with. You may know the ‘bigger’ needs and dreams, but that doesn’t mean you can still provide them in the way you did when they were small. Or can you?
“A home-cooked Christmas dinner. It’s all I want.” Well… that one was easy to provide… and a joy, as it meant I got Christmas with my eldest son. It was one of those invisible gifts for me too… I love cooking, love feeding people…and it was good to set a pretty table with glass and candles and a shared meal. There is something magical in that.
His gift to me was also magical… a moment of adventure earlier in the month, his awe at the landscape I was able to share with him in the northern hills that I love. Then Christmas morning out together taking photographs in a sunny world.
My younger son has been adopted into his partner’s delightful family … he was made for the big, close family we do not have and he has blossomed in that warmth. He was made for the kind of celebration that spans the generations in laughter and it is a joy for me to see that. Yet he and his Laura are always on my doorstep on Christmas Day and that is a gift in itself.
They came, as always, bearing gifts… the cosiest slippers and something special they had made themselves… a miniature bottle of their ‘Christmas pudding vodka’ and handmade chocolates, beautifully done with ribbons and a gift tag Laura had embroidered herself.
I remember vividly the years of making hand dipped chocolates, decorating boxes and painting cards as a young wife. I often wondered back then if people were just being polite in their thanks. To have someone do that for me now tells me they were not… for what you are being given here is time, love and care and that is priceless.
The other gifts I was given show the same loving thought… and it is that intangible gift that truly matters. The warm fleece that shows a very practical care that arrives with the little luxuries a friend knows you would not buy for yourself… a sparkling bit of beauty… the gifted words of books specially chosen… messages that are gifts of time and thought; the knowledge that you are held in the heart and mind of those far away.
These are symbols of a deeper gift. Warmth and friendship, care and kindness cannot be wrapped and tagged. They are the true gifts behind the presents, and all are faces of a simple gift that cannot be bought, cannot be held and which can wear many faces … and one. What is truly given is a priceless gift we can all afford … the gift of Love.
And today I am a rich woman.
It is always a difficult thing to decide what to give sons who are grown with lives they have filled with things you no longer know, especially on a tight budget. As children you are aware of their needs as well as their changing tastes, as men they have huge chunks of life you are no longer intimately acquainted with. You may know the ‘bigger’ needs and dreams, but that doesn’t mean you can still provide them in the way you did when they were small. Or can you?
“A home-cooked Christmas dinner. It’s all I want.” Well… that one was easy to provide… and a joy, as it meant I got Christmas with my eldest son. It was one of those invisible gifts for me too… I love cooking, love feeding people…and it was good to set a pretty table with glass and candles and a shared meal. There is something magical in that.
His gift to me was also magical… a moment of adventure earlier in the month, his awe at the landscape I was able to share with him in the northern hills that I love. Then Christmas morning out together taking photographs in a sunny world.
My younger son has been adopted into his partner’s delightful family … he was made for the big, close family we do not have and he has blossomed in that warmth. He was made for the kind of celebration that spans the generations in laughter and it is a joy for me to see that. Yet he and his Laura are always on my doorstep on Christmas Day and that is a gift in itself.
They came, as always, bearing gifts… the cosiest slippers and something special they had made themselves… a miniature bottle of their ‘Christmas pudding vodka’ and handmade chocolates, beautifully done with ribbons and a gift tag Laura had embroidered herself.
I remember vividly the years of making hand dipped chocolates, decorating boxes and painting cards as a young wife. I often wondered back then if people were just being polite in their thanks. To have someone do that for me now tells me they were not… for what you are being given here is time, love and care and that is priceless.
The other gifts I was given show the same loving thought… and it is that intangible gift that truly matters. The warm fleece that shows a very practical care that arrives with the little luxuries a friend knows you would not buy for yourself… a sparkling bit of beauty… the gifted words of books specially chosen… messages that are gifts of time and thought; the knowledge that you are held in the heart and mind of those far away.
These are symbols of a deeper gift. Warmth and friendship, care and kindness cannot be wrapped and tagged. They are the true gifts behind the presents, and all are faces of a simple gift that cannot be bought, cannot be held and which can wear many faces … and one. What is truly given is a priceless gift we can all afford … the gift of Love.
And today I am a rich woman.
No comments have been added yet.
