GIFTS

No matter what your culture, religion or geographic location, you can count on receiving some gifts around this time each year.

The reasons for your strange acquisitions are manifold.  Some people want to buy you something but don’t want to spend much money, and don’t know anything about you. The practice of re-gifting sees presents do long circuits through families and companies, until they sometime end up with the original gifter.

On some occasions people want to impress you with their sophistication and buy you avant garde gifts.  I have seen people not know which end of a gift is up. The giver is always incensed.

Some gifts are thoughtful and touching.  A woman who was from a tiny town, Minnedosa in Manitoba began an annual celebration of this burgh.  The reason?  Her ailing friend could not return home for Christmas, so she brought the town to Vancouver. The Minedossa homecoming was a present without a bow.

After the second world war, a young refugee leaving Eastern Europe for Canada last saw his relatives during Hannukah.  Each one of them game him their best item of clothing, and his brother gave him his only possession, a watch.  Their gifts were priceless to him.

An Indian family who emigrated from Bangalore had four small children.  Their grandmother put tiny change purses around each of their wrists that contained a prayer, some money and a picture of their family together. They are adults, and have these remembrances to this day.

Sometimes a gift can be a funny caprice.  A relative whose wife perpetually complained about her lack of significant jewellry gave her  a portion of a Pepsi bottle tied with wire as a present under the tree. It was later replaced with real chachka. The best gifts are what we give of ourselves, and the worst gifts are dictated by ritual or habit. Be original. That is the thrill.