When you ask a child what Christmas is all about, many times you’ll get an answer of “Presents!“  I think presents play an important role, but I’ll be more specific and say gifts.  To me, a present is store bought, but a gift is something that can be bought or made using your talents (or “gifts”).  To be even more specific, it’s not necessarily the gifts, but the act of giving.  Of being unselfish.  Of focusing on someone else.

But looking back on a day earlier this week, I don’t think the act of giving is what made that day so joyous.  It was the surprises created by those gifts.  There’s something very powerful about this season that lends itself to surprise:

• Finding out my parents, who normally aren’t big on inviting people over, inviting my friends for a party at their house.
• Getting a present that’s just right for you even though the giver had no idea it’s what you needed.
• Opening the door to see my girlfriend cut her hair just the way I like it.
• Being able to run all your errands and still make it to the party on time.
• Borrowing something to make your week run a little smoother.
• Having someone make you smile when you’re thinking about how stressful the day was earlier.

If you let it, the holiday season can be filled with stress and chaos.  I think that makes it easier to see these occurrences of surprise,  esepcially the “what a coincidence that all worked out so smoothly” ones.  It’s the surprise of things being better than you thought.  Of things working out.  Of things going better than the way they should.  Of things being better than what we deserve.  So perhaps it’s not the surprises that made this day so joyful, but the grace that was in them.  Grace.  That’s what’s Christmas is all about.

What do you think Christmas is all about?  What sort of gifts do you like to recieve?  To give?

This entry was posted on Friday, December 19th, 2008 at 7:29 pm and is filed under Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.