Ralph’s retirement ramblings: Christmas in retirement

Posted December 3, 2009 at 4:56 pm and filed under Opinion.

By Ralph Cwik
Citizen Journalist

Christmas is only three weeks away — can you believe it? The meaning of Christmas and the celebrating of Christmas sure change after retirement. Once a day of gift-receiving, Christmas has now changed to a day of gift-giving.

Ralph Cwik

Ralph Cwik

This year is different for our family. My mother is no longer with us, but we have a new granddaughter, who was born in November, to help us celebrate.

As we busy ourselves by helping with the new baby, we are also shopping for presents for the remainder of our friends and family. At least this year, Christmas decorations did not start to appear until the first of November.

Each year it becomes more difficult to shop for the adult members of our family and friends. Some presents to consider are gift subscriptions to a magazine, season passes to the Garner Towne Players or possibly a membership to a discount store. The children are always easier to buy for; there always seems to be an abundance of new games, toys or clothes appearing right before Christmas.

As mentioned in earlier articles, our family and friends are spread throughout the country. So with this in mind, we have to shop and buy early, so that we can ship or mail the gifts early enough to arrive for Christmas.

The big question about gift-giving is this: How much do you spend and to whom do you give gifts (and to whom do you not)? The second question: Why do we give gifts at this time of year in the first place? If you answer the second question, the first question becomes easier to understand.

The original gift-giving started with the birth of Christ and the wise men’s bringing gifts to the new king. They wanted to honor this newborn and venerate him. If you use this meaning, you can determine recipients of your gifts: Gift-giving at Christmas can be used for the people you honor and respect and want to thank for their close friendship or love.

Your family should come first; this is a special way to give them something that they would not normally purchase for themselves. It could be a needed item, which they have put off, or something of desire they thought they could not afford. If you take some time and think about their lives, hobbies and likes, you can usually come up with the perfect gift. During the year, you can make mental notes of items they have seen or talked about and just never got around to purchasing.

The same goes with your friends. As you enjoy their company, take notice of their decorating style, music, DVDs or cooking. You can then find a gift that would complement their likes.

I know as I do my Christmas gift-buying this year, there will be a lot more thought put into present-purchasing. With the new family member celebrating her first Christmas and with the thoughts of everyone who has helped us throughout the year, gift-giving has a special meaning to me. They were there in our sorrow when my mom died and again in our joy when my granddaughter was born.

These are true friends, and they help represent the true meaning of Christmas. There is a special place in my heart for my family and friends. I would like to wish everyone a blessed and Merry Christmas and welcome your comments.

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