Christmas gifts

Christmas is almost here. And I don’t want to buy anything still, either on Black Fridays or for a quick fix of instant happiness and inner peace.

I spent the weekend reading, baking ginger biscuits, decorating the house and Christmas tree with the kids, and thinking about the upcoming gift marathon. We have not been buying gift items for some years now – this is our agreement. Children give us tickets to performances or concerts, we give our daughter a beauty procedure at the Spa, and to son – subscription to sports gym. 

When all the storefronts around shout “Buy, buy, buy!”, my inner reaction is not to buy anything. This does not mean that I do not want to show my loved ones how much I love and cherish them. But let’s say if I could spend another Christmas with my much-loved and, unfortunately, dead grandmother, I wouldn’t think of giving her any item. I would run to my grandmother, learn her recipes, and just talk a lot together at the kitchen table or go out for a walk. Of course, I’d love to have a treat so I’d invite her to dinner at her favorite restaurant or for cake at the cafe. I would share with her my own reality as she shared stories and recipes from her youth, creating memories.

God, how precious they are now! This is the way I think today about Christmas and gifts – even the most expensive things we buy will never make memories. Uses and gets discarded – both to trash and oblivion. It’s not that easy to make those memories, though.