Christmas Gifting that Gift

December is a time when everyone goes out shopping, fighting the crowd and making a last-minute dash to get things wrapped. I had at first opted to skip the present giving tradition this year but due to office peeps scrambling to buy & pass around gifts, I decided to make an exception. Made some simple hand written cards, and bought some chocolates and small gifts for the people in my team. Aside from this office gift exchange, I shied away from prepping presents this year.

Christmas gifts have evolved over the years, from the toys we loved unwrapping as a kid to the clothes you get as a teenager, and then somehow without us even realizing when, it became Ang Baos (red packets) once they couldn’t figure out what to get anymore. The excitement over receiving the gifts also declined with those changes over the years. Hidden somewhere in the corners of my memory, I still remember when we all took turns sitting in the special chair, and everyone would come to pass you their gift while it was your turn on the chair/sofa. I would tear away wrappers eagerly, with tons of anticipation for what I would receive. Somehow the tradition slowly faded away, everyone just scrambled around the room passing wrapped boxes to each other. The change was perhaps good – a more efficient way to settle the gift-giving procedures of the evening, but for me it was a shift away from enjoying the process of giving and watching people’s faces light up when they unwrapped each item. It took away the fun of receiving just as it took away the creativity in giving. Perhaps with the pressures to get gifts for everyone and anyone, it takes a toll and people stop putting too much effort into creating the gift someone would love, it’s much more economical to give what something they could use, or something they said they wanted, or just something we think might be suitable for someone.

“I’ve given you something, I’ve done my part” – I’m not saying everyone does it with that intention, but as we grow up that kind of feels the way it is. I’m perhaps guilty of that too, giving several Christmas gifts that were just a matter of fulfilling my “duty” some years ago. Of course, for most other years I had also spent plenty of time thinking of gifts as I tend to do for people closer to me, and I have also customized gifts for majority of my church friends. I guess the beauty of gifting is creating something that brings a smile to a special someone and watching the reactions. Has Christmas giving become just a routine for you?

*This year, Sarah’s home-made Tiramisu was a lovely surprise, and represented the simple yet most meaningful ways to give. Even though she made a huge tub of it for the Christmas party, it was this little customized jar that she set aside specially for me. Going through the trouble of making something and then the extra mile. It doesn’t change the already awesome friendship that we have, but it just makes Christmas a little sweeter.