It’s said that Bernard Shaw has relatively divided all existing on the living and inanimate. To the living, he included people, animals, nature and… the gifts. Sure thing! People insert souls in them! Well, unfortunately, not everyone and not every time but at least I want to believe… Yet, the gifts are given to please, to guess, to make the dream come true, to bring a festive mood to a person’s life. But it should be done with brains. And soul. And better – both of these. Not just your wallet matters.
Oh, how difficult it was with presents in the period of total Soviet shortages! It wasn’t enough to come up with your present idea, but it had to be dug from the ground… The generation who listen to the tales about “coupons”, “shoes sold under the counter”, “sausage through the side door” had already grown up. And it giggles at parent’s memories about spitting-mascara for “brows and lashes” in a paper box, sugar, teapot, new iron (bottle of cologne, panties, socks, handkerchief, razor) that were really taken as a standard sign of respect and a serious present for a holiday.
And once in the middle of the nineties, the familiar Frenchmen brought me to a cute store full of various curiosities, saying that this is a “shop of useless things”. I wondered, there were so many pretty things and… really not of the first need. But in the period of empty shelves in the shops, nothing could be useless, it was “WOW!”. To my amazement, they explained that they bought presents there for those who already had everything. Well, something just for fun. That is, for emotions, not for utility purposes.
Now, it seems easier because we have a fantastic choice, but only for money. And try to please now! A woman can easily get offended at the given household appliances: “Why are you giving some toaster for MY birthday? Is it for me? It’s for the whole family! Am I not a woman for you?!”. And she will be right. And how many of those appliances do we need? Men can also react differently at another bottle of some alcohol, let it be expensive or at another Parker or even at the pompous bouquet of sausages and peppers, even if it’s given with humor.
Today, we have everything in abundance, it’s hard to surprise someone in the era of consumption and it could be even heard: “Oh, just don’t give anything great! I have no place to put it!”, “Oh, it’s better not to give anything at all, because I don’t know what I need!”, “Oh, trouble with these holidays, everything is in abundance, but who knows what they are missing!”. Of course, you can ask straightly what your soul wants (a letter to Santa as a variant). Or to bug out the trouble with an envelope. “Envelope” is a good thing, useful and will be used as the gifted wishes but such an equivalent isn’t appropriate in every situation. A pragmatic attitude ruins that romantic anticipation of a little miracle. When you yourself don’t expect that someone will guess your secret dreams but it happens… your joy is genuine and the holiday is successful and remembered more for impressions than for that item.
Because if the thing is needed, it can be bought at any time. But the holiday is about emotions. And the alternatives for the gift item have already bloomed. The gift-emotion, the gift-memory, the gift-unforgettable communication and experience. A touristic trip, a ticket to a dreamed concert, a horseback riding, a season ticket to the pool, a spa visit, a certificate for a master class of painting/pottery/ confectionery, a professional photo session, a quest room, a bowling, a strike ball, a parachute jumping – these all can be bought-booked now. And you can completely avoid the commercialization of the holiday, arranging the holiday by yourself. The sea of unusual emotions, the decrease of risks not to please with gift item, and the minimizing of problem where these items to put later…
Bernard Show included the gifts to the living because we nestle our souls in them. In search, in choice, in the emotions. And the most soul-containing gifts are made by your hands. Let it be children’s handicrafts for their parents, which are kept in the family archives later or a shirt embroidered by your mother or socks woven by your grandmother or a bookshelf made by your father – with soul, with the thought of your closest people, with good wishes for them… There is something that is impossible to buy.
We celebrated Saint Nicholas Day, two Christmases and the New Year. We asked the Lord and Santa. We rejoiced Tomos, sang carols and ate kutya. And to be continued. We will again give presents to our loved ones. But there are people for whom all written above is kind of problems from another world. Someone in an orphanage dreams about the family, someone about warm, though not new, shoes, someone – to recover from severe disease and someone bravely defends the boundaries between war and peace for us to carelessly enjoy the holidays. Let’s remember about them. We’re all in the same boat. And the more there is light, the less will be darkness.
Mila Ivantsova