The best Christmas gift I ever got you can give too

This year I would like to share something personal with all my connections.

My mom taught me that when someone gives you a gift you should keep it forever. I’m really sentimental about that even though it doesn't hurt my feelings that most people don’t care about it as much as I do. Just looking around my office right now there are at least 10 things that came from people who I haven’t hung out with in years but I think about often. Coincidentally, three of the items were from office party Christmas gift exchanges. A little wood carved Tuscan with a magnet and a Hot Wheel that I know came in a personalized Christmas stocking made by Kelly’s daughter Kiersten. There is a Alvin and the Chipmunk’s musical novelty item Kate gave me. There also is this great little glass Rhino Judy gave me although that was just a random middle of the year gift but worth mentioning since I was listing stuff from old coworkers.

Amazingly, the best Christmas gift I ever got was given to me by an x-coworker one year prior to Christmas while I was dreading the upcoming shopping madness. We worked at the same company but in different departments. We recognized each other as working at the same company but never conversed prior to this day. To say we were even acquaintances would be a bit of a stretch although like the other gifts I will cherish what he gave me forever.  We ran into each other at the local dog park one day and had a brief conversation about the commercialism of the upcoming holidays. That is when I received what I’m about to pass on to you. So let me just say I hope you and your family have a “Merry Christmas” and enjoy this as much as I have.

Regardless of your beliefs about Jesus and what Christmas is suppose to be about, you can’t go wrong with this. Personally though, I believe that this is a gift that would make Jesus himself very happy.

As a bonus this gift could be great for the local economy and can’t be made in China. But that is just a bonus.  

The gift is the gift of our most precious commodity combined with our need for real connectivity especially in this age of electronic socialization. The gift is “time together”. What I was given was the consciousness of how valuable time together really is and how it’s something that can’t be store bought.

Yep, it turns out that the super stores could move all their #Black Friday, #SuperSaturday and #CyberMonday deals to July for all I care. Actually that would be fine, I’d be happy to take advantage of that to buy myself stuff, however, for me Christmas isn't about buying presents anymore.  Christmas is about seeing the smiles on everyone’s faces and hearing the buzz as we talk about doing something together later in the year. That is right. Instead of the mad dash to get great discounts on cheep items for Christmas, I spend my time thinking about what we can do together during the coming year as a family and make the announcement on Christmas.

Oh you should have heard the shockwaves of confusion running through my family that first Christmas when instead of a Christmas present from Walmart or some other major store chain they got a card that said, “this year we are all going to the San Francisco Zoo”.

Sure there was some disappointment about not getting the latest video game, a cute dress or whatever on Christmas morning. But you should have seen the looks on their faces and heard the excitement later that year as we squeezed my whole family, sisters, daughter, nieces, nephew, great nieces and nephews, everyone who wanted to go…we squeezed them into my good old 1977 Dodge Dreamer motor home and took the trip to San Francisco Zoo. So instead of a few minutes of excitement over some silly little gift we all had a day full of memories that will last a lifetime.

The next year, we went to the San Jose Tech Museum and before checking out all the exhibits we watched The Lion King on their huge IMAX Dome screen.  I’ll never forget seeing my mom’s smile as we took a few minutes to enjoy seeing the jaw dropped expressions on the faces of her kids, grandkids, and great grand kids watching the movie. Mom has passed on now but that moment will live forever.  Since then there was a Whale Watching trip on the Monterey Bay, a Beach Bonfire, Ice Skating and a sleepover. 

I need to acknowledge that getting everyone together and coordinating these events isn't always easy, nor is it cheaper than picking up some made in China trinket. But one year, worried about money and not knowing what the future had in store I decided that maybe it would be best to just give the kids a few bucks to spend on whatever. Later, my great nephew came to me asking in confidence, “are we still going to do something together as a family?” Thank you Mario for reminding me that this gift isn't just for me and that it’s less important what we do, but more important that we do stuff together as a family.

Best wishes for you to have memories that will last a lifetime,

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Alvin Cordeiro