Best Gifts of 2013...

Do you remember when Oprah started airing her December Favorite Things show? The audience was ecstatic as they hugged each other, jumping up and down and screaming like crazy as gift after gift was bestowed upon them. I don't think I was alone in wishing I could have been one of them and had the worry of how to get all that stuff home. Is it that we just don't have enough stuff /are these really the things we can't live without?  It was so easy to get 'wrapped' up in the excitement and think these gifts would make life amazing.

Anita, a friend of mine from college days found the following article, author unknown, a while back. Anita writes - it laid out eight gifts for Chanukah, none of which cost a thing either. Her children have heard one of these every night during Chanukah, in no particular order for the past decade.  Sometimes it was the only gift they got, but even if there was something to unwrap, they got these gifts first.

I think you'll agree with me all households should make these part of their 'holiday' celebrations too! :)

1st night, the gift of LOVE

Pretty self explanatory and unselfish as you expect nothing in return if you give love.

2nd night, the gift of KNOWLEDGE

This year night 2 was a 70,000 year occurrence of both Chanukah and Thanksgiving…Thanksgivukkah.   In the middle of Chanukah joy, remember to be grateful.  In the middle of your Thanksgiving happiness, remember to look out for miracles everywhere.

Knowledge includes both schooling and street smarts.  This house is full of books, and the give and take of active debate.  We read. You read.  You take classes, so do we.  But it also includes the music, the museums, theater, the family trips and religious events.  It’s the richness of every experience, from scouting , baking, doing your own laundry, giving charity and studying Bible.  We are filling your minds all the time, even when you don’t know it, even when we don’t know it.  This gift you can keep giving yourself all the rest of your life.

3rd night, the gift of FAMILY

This is the other part of your roots, the groundedness you get when you know who you are and whose example you can follow.  This is what can make you feel suffocated and free, alone and never alone.  This is your blessing.  This is your four beloved grandparents, whether alive or not.  This is the aunts and uncles and cousins that seem endless, but are so dear to us, that every chance we get, we gather together.  This is the other departed members of our family that you hear us talk about.  This is what you will be to your children.  This is the crowd around the menorah and the table on Shabbat.  This is growing up in a setting where we try hard every day to show you how a husband and wife, a grandparent and a parent and a child should treat each other.

4th night, the gift of JUDAISM ( /your religion)

We give you Judaism, your own personal connection with the Source and Spirit of the World.  This great gift includes spiritual strength, heritage, a strong moral code, and an incredible gift for survival.  Judaism gives you inspiration, scholarship, protection, compassion, a way to live, and a people to belong to, wherever life takes you. We give you this gift, hoping like us, you will unwrap it throughout your life,  and fine new joys and questions, new ideas and old friends.

5th night, the gift of HOME

As in, you can always come home.  As in, you can bring your friends home.  As in, this is your home.  You have a place in the world, with us, a shelter, both physical and psychological.  It looks just like any other home, maybe more chaotic than some, but it is your home, your safe place, where you started and where you can always come back to.

6th night, the gift of FREEDOM

Freedom within boundaries that stretch as you’ve gotten older.  Freedom within guidelines you can keep using as you’ve matured.  This gift seemed to have come in painfully measured doses.  But by the time you have become an adult, or close to it, and out in the world of unlimited independence, you will know how to use it, and how to be true to your own standards.

7th night, the gift of SECURITY

Well, at least as much as we can.  Your true, long range security has to come from within yourselves, from being and becoming trustworthy.  Meanwhile, we will do all we can to give you the foundation of composure, of knowing without question that you are capable and competent, able to do good things in the world.  We are proud of your innate abilities, your goodness, and your good sense, and of your willingness to try.  You do not need to compete, or to follow the crowd to gain self-esteem, because you already have, from us, and from within yourself, the seeds of true confidence.  Just nurture them.

8th night, the gift of OPTIMISM

This includes both a sense of perspective and a sense of joy.  Life will be hard enough, so relish the good moments.  Our other gifts will help you stay strong in the face of adversity.  This one will help you savor its absence.  Focus on hope, equanimity, and a positive outlook, instead of on worry and pessimism.  Be a joyous presence in the world.  Count your blessings. Have fun.

Priceless... yes, these are the 'Best Gifts' no matter which year it is.

From our house in the End of the Rainbow Valley come wishes for a wonderful holiday season.