The true meaning of Christmas

Question: Is Christmas really just for children? Asked at “Ask a Friend, Ask Efren” free service at www.personalfinance.ph, SMS and Facebook

Answer: Christmas is a magical time. And who better to enjoy magic than children. Everything with Christmas seems to just sparkle with the orchestration of bright shades of red mixed with shiny silver and gold on deep, dark green.

Stores blare a cacophony of holiday sounds to spread the cheer, catch the ear and add a convincing “buy” to whatever has caught the eye. And a peddler for sure knows that a way to the stomach is through the nose. So, with deft, the aroma is fanned to bystanders who dislike bland. Taste will succumb to the pleasure to have a moment to treasure. Then there is gift-giving where Christmas is brought to the touch; just imagine the magic you can clutch.

Children are simply left defenseless against such an onslaught to their five senses.

It is said that gift-giving is a reflection of the gifts the Three Wise Men brought to the infant Jesus. But according to Stephen Nissenbaum, author of “The Battle for Christmas,” gift-giving started from Christmas begging by bands of poor, young men who would go from home to home to demand handouts from the gentry.

But in the 1800s in the United States, Christmas gift-giving shifted from the lower classes to children and was “given” by Santa Claus. By the way, it was also then that the opportunity to make money during the holidays emerged.

Unfortunately, this tradition of gift-giving has the potential of making children enjoy the gift just for themselves when the true meaning is to share blessings with others. I am not asking parents to deprive their child of the toy that he had been pining for the whole year. But an alternative would be to give the child two gifts, one for him and one that he can share with others.

Parents can even be creative by allowing their children to feel the love flow from their hearts by letting the children choose gifts from previous years to wrap and give to others. By doing so, it will also teach them to take good care of their gifts so that others may still enjoy such items later on.

As children get older and mature, they will begin to spread the meaning of Christmas all throughout the year and to more people. They will eventually drop the word gift and just give in good measure, pressed down and shaken together. When this happens, people will be giving of themselves, a truly irreplaceable gift. It can be likened to—but not match—the greatest gift that has ever been given in human history, the gift of an only Son.

Christmas is not only for children. Christmas is for the childlike who initially enjoys the presentation and presents but, as if not being able to contain the emotion, bursts into the desire of wanting others to enjoy the same.

And to the childlike, Christmas is a never-ending act of sharing because Christmas is every day of the year, an eternal today. Quoting from Master Oogway in the movie Kung Fu Panda, “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the ‘present’.”

Merry Christmas and Happy 2020!!! INQ

Efren Ll. Cruz is a Registered Financial Planner of RFP Philippines, seasoned investment adviser, bestselling author of personal finance books in the Philippines. Questions about the article can be sent through the “Ask a Friend, Ask Efren” service at www.personalfinance.ph, +63917-5050709 and https://www.facebook.com/personalfinanceadvisers/. To learn more about personal financial planning, attend the 81st RFP Program this January 2020. To inquire, e-mail [email protected] or text at 0917-9689774.)