The feel-good feelings of Christmas are in the air!  I forced myself to wait until after Thanksgiving before giving Christmas a thought.  Hubby decorated the house and its surroundings, enjoying the colorful, eight-foot tall, blow-up Santa in a grass skirt doing the hula while perky Christmas music played.  Ah, if only the weather matched that of Hawaii instead of being so cold!

Christmas shopping was great fun!  Instead of perusing the malls, I let my fingers do the walking online, checking and rechecking the prices to make sure my purchases were the most economical.  Gifts were thoughtfully bought with each special recipient in mind.  For my three-year-old grandson who lives in California, Francis’ son, I searched high and low to find a children’s toy telephone where I could record my voice to which he could listen.  Francis had told me that one of his favorite self-initiated play activities was to pretend to call me on his little, plastic telephone. Honored that he not only knew who I was from 3,000 miles away, but that he seemed to get enjoyment out of pretending to talk to me, I wanted to reinforce this relationship by purchasing a gift I could personalize just for him. When I do call in person, he gets excited, waving his arms excitedly and saying “Mi! Mi!”   He joyfully brings toys over to the phone to show me, and I “Oooooooh!”  and “Ahhhhhhh!” appropriately. 

 Steven’s daughter, Rosie, is also very excited to see me.  She runs and jumps into my arms without restraint, sometimes almost knocking me over.  It is great to be welcomed with such love, albeit from a nine-year-old who will someday be a teenager who has outgrown her demonstrative affection for me.  The perfect gift for her is a stuffed animal that can hug back, wearing a scarf that says, “I love you to the moon and back!” 

 I love shopping for meaningful gifts.  For one of my many nieces who is soon to turn 18, graduate from high school and embark on a summer work program in Ireland, I was lucky to find an Alex and Ani bracelet with an Irish Claddagh on it. Being of Irish heritage, I am sure she will appreciate the thought.  My teenage grandchildren prefer gift cards, which is fine as long as they also accept a more personalized, tangible gift. A stylish teenager’s purse (do they even call it a purse?) will hold the aforementioned gift card to Amazon. Last year she was gifted with a similar item and has used it all year long.   For my grandson, an up-and-coming high school wrestler, his Amazon gift card will sit in the box along with a Saint Sebastian medal, the patron saint of wrestlers.

  Purchasing gifts for Hubby’s mother, who, at the age of 92  has everything, takes more thought.  Rather than give her a gift card to Chili’s or Applebee’s, we take her out to dinner.  It costs the same but gives us the experience of spending some additional quality time with her.

 It also hits me that there are many people who do not have family with which to celebrate Christmas, especially people who are homeless. I like to make up little Christmas bags for them which include regular toiletries, (toothbrush, toothpaste, and deodorant,) as well as cute, frivolous items such as joke books, search and find puzzles, pens with colorful puff balls on the end of them, gum that crackles in the mouth, and key chains with inspirational sayings are included in the bag.  They only cost about $5.00 each and will be dispensed at the Christmas service of the Church Beyond Walls in Kennedy Plaza, where participants are also served a hot meal. In reality, these gift bags are a gift for me, a gift that makes my heart joyful, and worth more than any gift someone could give to me.

 Yes, Christmas is a wonderful time of the year!