According to "Sleepless In Singapore" (he left no name in his blog and I'm tempted to call him "insomniac" or "zombie", hee), Christmas is NOT about giving; but about receiving.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” - John 3:16
I've never seen Christmas in that light. To me, Christmas is a day to honour the birth of Jesus Christ and on this day, we should perhaps act like He did, being kind, generous and forgiving. Out of this spirit perhaps sprung the custom of giving gifts to our loved ones, but the custom soon evolved into exchanging presents.
Of course, buying presents for our family members is a must. But when it comes to friends and colleagues, we only buy to those whom we care and love. Colleagues who are left out of the list may construe that we obviously do not love them, which may not necessary be the case. Sadly, political correctness has crept into this simple act of gift-giving which has become a tool to measure one's level of friendship to another.
But it doesn't have to be this way. For instance Victor and myself. We both agreed not to start this tradition of exchanging presents. Once started, it's difficult to break. But that doesn't mean we aren't good pals.
Then there are times we received gifts from colleagues whom we think are mere acquaintance. We always feel obligated to reciprocate with a gift, don't we?
3 comments:
uncle victor, i stalk blogs at the wee hours of the morning, including yours! haha!
uncle chris, i definitely agree on the last part of your entry. these days, im super broke lah (no job ma) and yet there are so many meet ups with friends, etc. i felt the stress on me, but i really wish to see my friends. on the other hand, i cant go to my friends house empty handed..
of course they will be happier to see ME in person than MY presents (hehe).. but i just felt weird not to bring something along.. especially when their birthdays are on.. 19th, 23rd, 24th, 25th... -_-"
but its ok! because mine's on 29th! whahaha.. then again, i did tell them im broke and told them NOT to get anything for me, but they still did.. sigh. so i got them something too.
i guess its more of a chinese tradition that we actually receive & reciprocate gifts on special ocassions.
anyway, merry christmas to you, uncle victor and uncle lam!
p.s. i stalk blogs at 8am too :D hehe..
- EteL
Hello Chris,
Thank you for visiting my blog. As you probably are aware, I was deliberately being provocative. I wanted the reader to ponder, what is Christmas all about?
If you were to go the the heart of the matter, it is essentially about the relationship between God and man, between the Creator and the creature, between the Saviour and the lost. God gave man a priceless gift 2 millenia ago. What can man give in return? Nothing. What does God expect in return? Nothing. Just enjoy the gift and be thankful.
As a father, do you expect your children to give you anything in return when you buy him a present. Of course not. Just that he appreciates and enjoys it.
That's why I say Christmas is about receiving not giving.
Chris, I totally agree with you. For us, we should never start exchanging gifts with each other, regardless of whether for our birthdays or for Chrismas. Year after year, I have serious problem getting a meaningful gift for a friend who started this habit of 'birthday gift exchanging' years ago. I'm sure that he felt the same way too. But both of us are just too diplomatic to voice this out. So the habit continues. I know that you've taught me how to broach the subject discreetly but I just can't bring myself to do it. (That's one thing which I can't just 'get out and do'.)
IMO, it more than suffices for us to exchange comments (insults are acceptable too) on each other's blog. Isn't this more meaningful than exchanging gifts?
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