Bubba had given me a beautiful 24K plated silverware for the dining table, a pair of Springfield slippers, some boxer underwear, and of course Strivectin for my wrinkles.
Mom had given me a Billabong surfer shorts, Oakley surfer shorts and a shirt from FCUK.
My sister and the kids had given me a Billabong shorts and a new gym bag.
All together, these were the gifts I got from my family and my partner.
More than the gifts, however, is the giver.
Which goes to the essence of Christmas. After all the gift giving and receiving, we wonder how this tradition of "exchanging" gifts actually started. As tradition has it, and as we celebrate Christmas, it's rites actually started at the birth of Jesus Christ over two millenia ago.
Christmas day was celebrated quietly over mass and dinner later that day. Over dinner we discussed why there was an "exchange" of gifts as a ritual for the Christmas season. It turns out that Christmas day is, after all, our other birthday. It's the day when Christ the Lord was born, symbolically as a human being - who had to grow up, live, suffer and die like many of us. In more ways than one, our God had sent His only son to become one of us. To be like us in all ways, except being sinful. And so the tradition lives on that we celebrate each Christmas day as the day when we were all born into this world sans all sins, like the child in the manger, innocent.
We exchange gifts to commemorate our birth into this world. At times good to us. At time being cruel. And beyond the gifts we receive is the giver of the gift. How much meaning we place into these, it is after all a season of giving. God so loved the world that He had given His only son to us. That some day, we may remember in our hearts the true meaning of Christmas.
Happy holidays everyone!
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