THE CHRISTMAS PRESENT
I kicked open the back door, walked into the kitchen and dumped my school satchel on the floor. Then I saw it! My Auntie’s Christmas present had arrived in the mail. It was on the table. We had an estrangement in our family and we did not see Auntie very often, but she always remembered my birthday and Christmas. She had wrapped my present in brown paper and tied it meticulously with string and many knots. My insides jittered as one by one I picked at the knots and loops until they began to give. I teased each one loose with a fingernail, and unravelled them until I could roll the long piece of string into a ball. Then I unwrapped and neatly folded the brown paper, anticipation building in my unhurried exercise.
I unwrapped a plastic plate with plastic food molded onto it. The colours were quite realistic. I was a confusion of emotions. My internal jitters settled into heavy mud. What can you do with plastic food embedded onto a plastic plate? It was stupid! Roast beef, mashed potatoes, peas and carrots you couldn’t eat, didn’t smell right and couldn’t even be rearranged! I should be grateful. I should be delighted. I was disappointed. I felt guilty. What a mixture of emotions I wished I didn’t feel!
That is the drawback with presents. They may delight. They may disappoint. You may have to “fake it”.
I loved Auntie. She always meant well. She always cared for me. Although relationships in the family had broken down, she was warm and loving towards me. I was grateful to her for being who she was. She was a good “presence” in my life, even if the present she chose for me did not please me.
Some gifts are more delightful than the ones wrapped in silvery paper, topped with a flamboyant bow. It may be difficult to come up with the “perfect gift”, but maybe that does not matter as much as we think it does. Auntie was “present” in my life, even though circumstances made it difficult for her. She greeted me with a smile. She asked about my life. She accepted me. Love is the greater gift.
by Andrea Kidd
