There's a lot of sadness that the true meaning of Christmas seems less and less evident in the rush and bustle and stress and shopping. As I previously posted - it is hard to find any Nativity scenes but Santa is everywhere.
There's sadness too as I hear from quite a few people that Christmas is time of negotiating difficult family relationships - or the loneliness of having no-one at all with whom to share the day.
Mary and Joseph didn't have it easy on the first Christmas day either! It doesn't sound as though there was a warm family welcome for the unmarried teenager and her "badly timed" delivery"
Then there's the newsworthy(!) reality of the many unwanted gifts that are for sale on TradeMe by Boxing day. By the way - I doubt if many people know the original meaning of "Boxing" day.
Boxing Day is an old custom going back to the Middle Ages. The main feature is the giving of gifts to workers or to poor people. The name has many different histories. The term might have started in England. There, servants would get money or gifts on the day after Christmas. These gifts were called "Christmas boxes". (Wikipedia)
I'm delighted that the trend towards giving "Good Gifts" or "Gifts that last" is growing. Many charities both within NZ and overseas advertise that they have a range of gift cards that represent a donation the buyer has made to someone in true need of practical help. This is precisely the spirit of "boxing day".
In our family we buy one gift for one other person and this year we decided it would be "Good gift". There were sixteen of us so that's sixteen needy people/families who received a gift that will enhance their life (and not end up on TradeMe or in the landfill!) I don't have a list of all the gifts that were given but here are some of those I gave or received from family or friends this year:
- A drought tolerant tree which grows quickly and provides nutrition for a family in Kenya.
- A pair of glasses for a young boy after cataract surgery.
- Reading tuition for a girl in Nepal
- Books for children in Liberia.
- A reading light for a child to do homework in a home with no electricity.
- A goat to help a family start a self sustaining lifestyle.
- Training for a trauma counsellor working with Rohingya refugees.
- A multi purpose generator for a family to use a water pump, plough and truck.
