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Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Free gifts to give on Christmas
By Henrylito D. Tacio
Regarding Henry
TWO nights ago, I was watching my favorite television show when my seven-year-old nephew came to me. "Any problem?" I inquired.
"I'm just wondering," he said in our dialect. "For the past two Christmases, you were in the United States. This year, you are spending your Christmas with us here in the Philippines."
I turned off the television immediately. I want to give my undivided attention to him. It seemed he has a very important message he wanted me to know. "So?" I asked.
"What can I give you this Christmas?" he replied, while looking around. "You have everything."
If you were like my nephew who is having a problem with what to give special people this season, then it can be a challenge. More so, if you want something fitting and needed and meaningful. Look no further, here are some suggestions:
1. The gift of listening. Why not give this valuable gift to someone who lives alone? And you must really listen! No interrupting, no daydreaming, no planning your responses. Just be there and just listen.
C. Neil Strait reminds: "Everyone needs someone who feels really listens to him." And Plutarch adds, "Know how to listen, and you will profit even from those who talk badly."
2. The gift of note. It can be as simple as "I love you" or as a creative as a sonnet. Put your notes where they will surprise your loved ones. One of the famous sonnets I knew was written by Elizabeth B. Browning for her husband: "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. / I love thee with a love I seemed to lose / With my lost saints, - I love thee with the breath, / Smiles, tears, of all my life! - If God choose, / I shall but love thee better after death."
3. The gift of laughter. Just cut out a cartoon, save a clever article Your gift will say, "I love to laugh with you." Besides, scientists have been studying the effect of laughter on human beings and have found, among other things, that laughter has a profound and instantaneous effect on virtually every important organ in the human body. Laughter reduces health-sapping tensions and relaxes the tissues as well as exercising the most vital organs.
4. The gift of a compliment. A simple "You look good in blue," or "I like your hair," or "Good dinner, honey," can be of greatest value to those who may feel they are being taken for granted.
Even in the workplace, compliments may do the trick. Arthur Fettig points out: "It takes courage to speak a sincere compliment. It is easy to complain and criticize because you are upset and your anger motivates you, but to stand up and call a good job a 'good job', is a truly rewarding thing. You cannot possibly make another person as happy as you make yourself."
5. The gift of favor. When was the last time you help your son in making a lantern for the church. Have you ever tried to help a co-worker in editing his annual report? Husbands, help your spouse in cleaning the dishes. Clean out the garage, fix the light and water faucet.
6. The gift of leaving alone. Remember the famous line of Swedish actress Greta Garbo ("I want to be left alone!")? There are times in our lives when we want nothing better than to be left alone. "Unfortunately, the world today does not seem to understand, in either man or woman, the need to be alone," Anne Morrow Lindbergh argues.
William A. Ward offers this explanation: "Practice the art of 'aloneness' and you will discover the treasure of tranquility. Develop the art of solitude and you will unearth the gift of serenity."
7. The gift of advice. Oftentimes, we have worries, problems, and hassles in life. As Robert Orben puts it: "The world now has so many problems that if Moses had come down from Mount Sinai today the two tablets he carried would be aspirin."
Yes, people out there may be looking for a piece of advice. Do what you need to do. Josh Billings advices: "When a man comes to me for advice, I find out the kind of advice he wants, and I give it to him." American president Harry S Truman has the same view: "I have found the best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it."
8. The gift of prayer. Pray for those on your Christmas list and let them know that you pray for them. Praying for someone is a way of saying, "You are so special to me that I talk to God about you." Remember, what is impossible to man is possible to Him. As the saying goes, "It is better to give than to receive."
Happy holidays!
For comments, write me at tasyo2002@yahoo.com
(December 6, 2005 issue)
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