Merry Christmas everyone! :-) I do hope you've enjoyed this season, especially the gifts, hehe.  This morning I would like to talk with you about one of my most favorite stories.  Charles Dickens' A CHRISTMAS CAROL. And of course, about the most remarkable character in the story, SCROOGE.

By the way, if you would like to download a FREE COPY of the story, CLICK HERE.  For a FREE audio book of the story, CLICK HERE.

The jocund travellers came on; and as they came, Scrooge
knew and named them every one. Why was he rejoiced beyond
all bounds to see them! Why did his cold eye glisten, and
his heart leap up as they went past! Why was he filled
with gladness when he heard them give each other Merry
Christmas, as they parted at cross-roads and bye-ways, for
their several homes! What was merry Christmas to Scrooge?
Out upon merry Christmas! What good had it ever done
to him?

Scrooge was the fellow who doesn't believe in Christmas, who considers it a "humbug!" and a waste of his hardly earned money.  There wasn't much to be liked about him, being the old grouch and all.  And because of that, he was visited by the ghosts of Christmas for him to change his ways.

He did change his ways in the end, and became this generous and happy person everybody really liked. Happy ending and quite predictable, wasn't it?  But what struck me most was this.  The ghosts of christmas did not visit him only for the sake of making him a pleasant guy, or for the sake of the other people who were annoyed of him.  The ghosts of christmas visited him because they saw through him, they saw the person behind the mask, behind the pretense of being strong.

The ghosts of christmas saw a lonely person, one who was burdened by his past and cannot enjoy his present christmas, nor the future ones.

There are many times when we tend to judge an unpleasant person.  We scoff at him and treat him as an outcast and think of ourselves as righteous and better people.  We think that people would prefer to be evil rather than be good if they can help it.  But the truth is, people often can't help themselves.  People put up all these defense mechanisms so people won't see how afraid they really are, and how sad they are inside.  They cannot reach out to other people.  And people don't reach out to them.

Is this the meaning of Christmas? Not at all.  Christmas is that sacred and most blessed hour when God came down to live amongst men, to become human and frail as we are, so that He can reach out to us and save us.  God knew all along that no matter how hard we try, we can't help ourselves, we can't save our souls.

Saving souls is much like saving Scrooge. It is putting Christmas back into our hearts.  It is being a child again, believing in our dreams again and knowing that with God's help, our dreams could still be ours  :-)

© Jocelyn Soriano for I Take Off The MASK!, 2008. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
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1. Buy early and avoid the Christmas rush. As early as November, you can already do some window shopping so you'd know which gifts to buy when your paycheck comes!

2. Go personalized. There are lots of stores offering personalized gift items – personalized mugs, personalized shirts, personalized keychains. You can even make one yourself, save some money and yet be able to give something that has far more sentimental value than gifts you've put no effort into. If you know how to use Windows Moviemaker, then you could make a personalized MTV for that special person in your life. Just drag and drop her photos and then choose a background music that will render her speechless while watching it.

3. Buy a gift the person would not have bought for himself but would appreciate it much if someone bought it for him. Have you ever wished to buy yourself something, say a rather costly comic book, a make-up kit, a cute stuff toy or a bag, but you've felt so guilty in buying it for yourself? How would you feel if someone bought it for you?

4. Consolidate. If you are short in cash and yet desire to give a person something he would really like to have, you can pull your resources and be able to buy that gift for the person. Instead of giving many small gifts, you buy this gift the person would never have expected to receive.

5. Buy a gift according to the taste of the person receiving it. Consider his hobbies, his likes and dislikes, his personality. Think of something he would really appreciate if you were in his shoes.

6. Buy a gift according to your taste as well, leaving a reminder of the person who gave the gift. People often say that we should buy gifts not according to our wants, but according to the wants of the person receiving it. This is not totally correct. It's true that we must consider the desires of the recipient, but we should never forget the desires of the giver as well. Gifts are tokens of love, a manifestation of the overflowing affection of the giver and should carry with it a sign of this love that will forever be a reminder to the one receiving your gift.

7. Make a list. From this list, check the ones you're able to buy from time to time.

8. Buy the important gifts first. Let's face it, there would always be gifts to give and people we wish we could give them to. (Given that we have the money of course, haha). Prioritize and consider the most important people you wouldn't want to disappoint, people you love deeply and wouldn't want to think you've forgotten. Buy these gifts first.

9. Enjoy the Christmas rush by buying the less important gifts. When I mentioned that we must avoid the Christams rush, I was referring to just that, a “rush” in buying so many gifts while having no more time to spare, a rush that's almost like a “panic”, an emergency or obligation we should perform in the last minute, instead of a ritual we can enjoy during the season. If you've already bought the important gifts first, then you can join people buying in the last minutes of the season. It wouldn't be so nice to just sit at home at this time, would it?

10. Avoid buying gifts in just one shopping. If you have a spare time during lunch break, you might peek in at the nearest store and do some window shopping. Who knows? You might be able to buy gifts as well.

11. Make a wishlist. We often find it hard to think which gifts would be appreciated by our loved ones. We also don't want to give duplicate gifts. A wishlist is one solution for this. You may write down under the Christmas tree a list of the gifts each person wishes to have for Christmas. Start from there and then improvise.

12. Buy a gift for yourself. Christmas after all, is a time for love, even of loving yourself. Why not be like a child again and buy the gifts you want?

13. Have a reserve of gifts. This is a remedy for all the gifts we always seem to forget. Buy gifts with no particular person in mind, so you could always give something when you later on come up with names you shouldn't have forgotten in the first place!

14. Give surprise gifts on Christmas Day. In order to avoid overlooking any gift, I usually have the habit of giving gifts in advance, say one week before Christmas, before everybody becomes busy or takes a vacation elsewhere. But what happens now when Christmas Day comes? Surely, there would be people around you that day, people you'd celebrate that special day with. Give them small tokens that will surprise them. These are not like the main gifts they've already received, just small ones reminding them Christmas has indeed arrived. You'd be surprised how much appreciation these small tokens would receive.

© Jocelyn Soriano for I Take Off The MASK!, 2008. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: buying gifts, christmas gifts, christmas rush, gift giving, gifts, practical tips in buying gifts this christmas, wishlist

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