I frequently feel sorry for children today who are never truly introduced to the real message of Christmas in this over-commercialised world that exists in westernised society. Far too many children spoiled by too many presents of consumption at Christmas will never know what their grandparents knew, even in far poorer times. Few children in 2018 will never know how beautiful a day December 25th can be when kindness touches it and love wraps itself all around the people of good heart.
Parents of old gave with a simplicity and beauty that I will never forget. When I received apples and oranges in a stocking on Christmas morning, which was then too baggy to wear on my feet for the rest of the day, my Christmas stocking wasn’t accompanied with an apologetic look from my mum as I opened my only gift (as if to say, ‘I’m so sorry, Billy, that it’s so little and not the car or train you would dearly have loved had we not been poor’) but instead, a smile that communicated (‘Enjoy the fruit, Billy. It’s good for you and was bought fresh from the market yesterday. A Merry Christmas, son. I love you’). My mother taught me that the greatest gift she could ever give me was her love. In her heart, she made every day Christmas Day. She also taught me that the best gift that a person could give a stranger was their 'friendship' and that we owed ‘respect’ to everyone even before they earned it; tramp and vagabond included.
When I come to think about it, my greatest of gifts were, life from God, love from my parents, a gentle but ever so reluctant deference by my younger siblings as to my wiser nature than they, acceptance from my children, tolerance and patience from my teachers the more I questioned their suppositions, a healthy respect from my enemies; and eternal love, patience and understanding from my wife, Sheila, with whom I share a physical, mental, emotional and spiritual relationship. It was Sheila who was prepared to unravel my maze of experiences in order to better understand my strange ways.
Such were gifts that I have received throughout my life that no amount of material wealth could ever purchase and which sadly, most children born into a more materialistic world might never know.
Love and peace. Bill xxx