The Gift of Giving

Gifts aren’t al­ways bought in stores or cov­ered in shiny pa­per! The best gifts aren’t actually “stuff” at all.

Photo by Sandra Grünewald on Unsplash

Have you ever given a gift be­cause you felt ob­lig­ated?

We live with so many ex­pec­ta­tions, both our own and from oth­ers. Yet, if you have ever re­ceived a gift that touched your heart, you know how de­li­cious that feels.

Years ago, on the first va­ca­tion I ever took with my hus­band, we trav­eled to Cal­i­for­nia. We set out to have an ad­ven­ture, to ex­plore, and while we were there, meet up with one of my best friends from my youth.

Her fam­ily moved from the town we grew up in Canada part way through high school, in search of the Amer­i­can dream.

We had a great va­ca­tion but the high­light re­ally was vis­it­ing my friend Anita. We took her to Dis­neyland be­cause she’d never been — even though she lived in the same state.

I re­ally don’t re­mem­ber a lot from that trip — it was a long time ago, but I have a mem­ory etched in my mind of my friend’s face, beam­ing with joy as we went round and round on Dis­ney’s ride, It’s a Small World.

Dolls from every coun­try danc­ing to the lyrics, “it’s a small world af­ter all… it’s a small world af­ter all…”