Christmas Gifts – The Best and the Worst

Here we are, on Christmas morning, and I’m looking back and thinking about the gifts I’ve received. To be sure, there have been some great ones; and to be very sure, there have been some clunkers. Like most of you, I’ve seen my share of socks, ties, and other articles of clothing. There were bikes, Legos, and video games; Christmases remembered, and Christmases forgotten. Let’s start with the worst of the worst, and that wasn’t really even about the gift itself. It was more about the circumstances surrounding the opening of the gift.

I don’t really remember when the skill developed; I was probably around 11 or 12, and following the family tradition of “present peeking.” We didn’t actually open anything: but we did everything short of that. Almost nothing was out of bounds. You could shake it, squeeze it, turn it, weigh it, even smell it if you thought that would help. And then, after all that, you would make your guess. “Is it…?” My mother’s response was always the same: “yes.”

In my teen years, though, the affirmative responses turned out to be true! Year after year, I began to be more accurate and consequently more confident – okay, more cocky – about my guesses. In one way you could attribute it to the fact that I was growing more specific in my Christmas requests, and my parents generally got me the things I asked for. In quite another, though, I could simply make the guess even when the gift was not something I’d asked for – or even had been disguised.

Then it happened. I’d been wanting a Cross pen and pencil set for some time, and had even mentioned it to my parents in passing. Christmas was here, and it was time to open the gifts. I pulled out gifts and passes them to the appropriate family member. As I dug deeper into the pile, there was one – unusually large and decidedly heavy – under the tree. I pulled it out and looked at the name; it was for me. As I lifted it to put it with the rest of my gifts, I (probably rather smugly) said “That’s my Cross pen and pencil set. I’ll open that last.”

Then I looked up. My mother had a strange, upset look on her face. Was she… crying? We went round and round, opening our gifts in turn, and it came time to open the big box. I don’t remember for sure, but it occurs to me that I didn’t really believe that it was the pen and pencil set, but when I opened it, I found that though the box had been weighted, it did in fact contain my Cross pen and pencil set. I looked up. I hadn’t been mistaken; my mother was clearly crying now, upset that my guess had ruined her surprise.  Right then and there I made a vow to myself that I would never guess another present, and over 45 years later I have kept that vow.

Two gifts stand out in the positive column, and neither of them was especially expensive! The first was a handmade afghan throw. I’ve been a Star Trek fan for decades, and four years ago my wife gave me a token. She was working on a crochet project made up of squares depicting various aspects of Star Trek – symbols, crew members, and so on. It took her a solid year to finish, but I’ve showed that thing off repeatedly! It’s beautiful, it’s warm, and I use it all the time. It’s a treasure to me, as much for the love and effort that went into it as for its functionality.

Then there was a surprise gift that you’ll recognize from an earlier post. Remember the Coffee Cup Catastrophe? I had a cup that held my morning coffee for years, until I dropped and broke it. This Sunday at church one of the other families in our congregation placed a gift bag next to me on the chair. I didn’t get to open it right away as there was much to be done after church, but when my wife opened it at home this afternoon, I was flabbergasted! These lovely people had found my broken cup’s twin! And I don’t mean that it was similar – it’s EXACTLY the same as the one I broke! Wow!

No matter what gifts you opened this morning, my prayer is that you’ve received the Greatest Gift of All into your heart – the reason we even celebrate this day: Jesus. 

Until the next turn, 

Gordon