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Sunday, December 18, 2005
Magsaysay: Gifts not found under the Christmas tree
By Jo Magsaysay
Ligth Sunday
Our Christmas tree is up with twinkling colorful lights and adorned with red, white and gold tinsels. The carefully wrapped gifts are now in place under the Christmas tree. On the piano is the Christmas wreath with the four candles. The mistletoe is above the door.
Everyone is ready for Christmas day to come, especially our grandchildren.
They’ve told and retold us a thousand times what they want Santa to bring them and in the past few days they have been exceptionally well-behaved. What a blessing for their parents.
For us older folks, the feeling of being able to please so many people is a gift, which cannot be found under the tree. One has to care, to prepare, to painstakingly look for the exact gift a loved one desires. When that particular gift is found, that feeling of satisfaction and joy can only come from within. No one else can give it to us.
Love, as expressed in “material things” and given on Christmas day, can be found under the Christmas tree. However, the day-to-day care and loving one rarely gets from a husband or wife (who is ready to serve, above his comfort, his rest, his financial means) are heaven-sent. The tenderness, the kindness, the keen anticipation for the needs of a spouse and the readiness to give without counting the cost are gifts one does not find under the Christmas tree.
A mother’s sacrifice, her total outpouring of love to the point of hunger for herself just so her kids can eat is a gift unparalleled in cost. A father’s backbreaking toil just so his family can live in comfort is his gift, sometimes even taken for granted.
Some families have found this elusive gift of peace in the home. Most houses are fret with tension, with bickering, with loud quarrels that the house remains a structure of expensive items or collected material decorative treasures, or a lot of modern appliances, etc., but the warmth of love, the serenity of peace and the stillness of kindness and understanding are absent.
One is extremely blessed when this gift of peace resides in one’s home.
Contentment in one’s lot is another gift from the grace of God, when one sees a big screen TV set, one is not filled with the desire to own that big, slim entertainment appliance costing P125,000 or P195,000. When there is no envy in one’s heart because one does not own a Lexus, a Sorento, or a Mercedes Benz, then this simplicity of thought is a gift that is rare to find.
Some people find contentment in a cup of coffee while spending time with friends at a coffee shop and talking over trivial things while waiting for dear wife to finish her shopping. Some husbands enjoy pottering around the garden or going about the house fixing a faucet here or a loose hinge there with no thought of: “God! Today is my rest day. Why on earth am I doing this!”
Some wives enjoy making baby blankets for grandchildren, sweaters for relatives or painting for the sheer joy of seeing beauty come alive on the canvas.
I once met an old woman selling cigarettes at the corner of J. Llorente and M. Roa. She had a stool on which she sat while she cradled her wares consisting of cigarettes and candies. Since I live near this corner, she became a friend. I asked her why she was selling cigarettes at her age. She answered with a twinkle in her eye, “”Malingaw man ko ani day, daghan ko ug makita unya makakwarta pa jud ko.” (I’m happy this way. I enjoy what I do. I see so many things and I make money.)
My answer was a confirmation of what she said. “Tinuod sad.” (How true!) Perhaps this Christmas we can concentrate on the gifts not found under the Christmas tree.
Have we appreciated the things our spouses have done for us? Have we told them so and shown that we treasure what they do for us?
Have we cuddled our parents and our children alike? Have we told them how much we bask in their love and care?
There are plenty of people who ask, who crave for the love, care, peace, contentment etc, all gifts that cannot be found under the glittering Christmas tree.
The song Give love on Christmas Day must have been heaven inspired as the songwriter wrote his lyrics. May I add this rider to his song by saying, “Why not?”
(December 18, 2005 issue)
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