What gifts will you unwrap?

It’s that time of year when everyone’s pockets feel a bit lighter after their Christmas shopping, any diets tend to go out the window as the mince pies, chocolate and panettone roll in. I can’t think of a better get out clause for diets than Christmas.

After the end of a very unexpected year with Covid, the Christmas break approaching feels like a light at the end of the tunnel. Christmas decorations, adverts and gifts deck the stores and homes. Trees fully decorated with lots of ornaments and Christmas music playing in the stores. Apologies to all the scrooges out there that may be wincing at this right now.

Just a few days ago I was racing frantically through online stores to order presents before they ran out, I gathered it all in my virtual basket and bought it. Phew. As I looked back through the site at a considerably slower pace, the coloured wrapping paper, bright string lights and festive decorations, it made me feel joy in my heart. It felt like a wave of happiness and it all comes down to the joy of giving and receiving gifts. So what exactly can we learn from this?

Wrapped up
Sparkly, coloured paper and a little red bow tied neatly on top, all stuck together with tiny equally sized sellotape pieces. Much pride is taken in wrapping gifts to make sure that the receiver has no idea what’s inside. The idea of giving something which is unknown or unexpected is what makes the festive period so exciting. Similar to our lives, we sometimes have our most biggest gifts and blessings wrapped in unexpected situations. The gift is often hidden from our eyes until revealed at the most perfect time for us.

Patience
It’s Christmas Eve and everyone’s gifts have been placed under the tree. Then it’s the waiting game. I remember when I was small I would be anxiously shaking all the gifts with my name written on them guessing what they’d be. Resisting the temptation to open them was difficult and both the younger and current me finds it difficult sometimes. Similar to life, we often have this same waiting game to see the gifts and blessings hidden within our situations. No matter how much we try to rush it, we end up seeing those gifts at the most perfect time which enables us to reflect and appreciate the situation it was wrapped in.

The season of gifts is not only in December, but in every season of your life depending on how you look at it. When we figuratively view our situations as the wrapping paper masking the gifts and blessings waiting for us, it brings excitement and joy all year around. We can look at all things in our lives, no matter the situation it’s wrapped in, as a pending gift waiting to be revealed at the perfect, allotted time.