Giving a meaningful gift

By Willie Jose
November 3, 2015



One  afternoon before my wife Lilia and I went to the supermarket to do some grocery shopping, I told her out of the blue that: I want to buy a tablet for  our daughter Mao.

Lilia hastily responded, “ why don’t you ask  her first if she wants  a tablet? “ My wife reacted that way because Mao, our  44-year-old, eldest daughter, though not rich, has a stable job as a registered nurse  in one of the biggest hospitals in Toronto; being a widow, she  lives independently in a condo -- by all measure, she can very well afford to buy the tablet herself.

On disagreeing with her opinion, I said, “ What kind of gift giving is that when I have to ask her OK before I could buy it ?” Anyway, I just told her to come with me at Wal-Mart and we would  buy it together. We chose the 7-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab with an orange back cover; upon paying it, using my  card, a sales associate  simply wrapped it up in a plastic bag.

 That gift is not a Christmas present to her--- we as a family, we don’t celebrate Christmas and why we don’t celebrate it, honestly, I think, I’ll be needing another  piece of article to explain the unscriptural  origin of X’mas.

Well, let me go on with my story, so while we were going around the supermarket, buying all the items on my wife’s list, Lilia got my phone and texted  Mao. Here’s how their  text exchanges went:

 “ Just text me, your Dad has a surprise for you”.
 “What? Is it Chock-nuts?
“ No. It’s better than that”.
 “Maybe it’s for pampapayat”.

Then, a few minutes later, Mao met us at the supermarket and helped assist us in packing our  grocery stuff. She just came from work, telling us that she was very tired. Once we were inside her car, that was the time I handed over to her the bag with  the tablet, and on seeing my gift, her eyes were glistening with joy .

She said, “ but Dad, you don’t need to do this, don’t you know that the money you spent for this gift could mean many cups of coffee for you? ”

 Well, she knew that the money I used in buying that tablet came from my SSS  monthly pension. And I  told her not to mind the cost because I really wanted to give her something—maybe that‘s how many parents really feel when giving gifts to their children; and certainly, the very essence of giving is that the more it hurts, the more it becomes meaningful.

She  said, “you know Dad, I can very well afford to buy this, but you know too that it’s not my priority”.

I really know that she could buy it herself because the past months, she has done a  lot of travelling. But I’ve often noticed too that every time she would visit us in our home , she would busily watch movies on her phone.

Mao said, “Well, anyway, Dad, thanks , now I can go to the library and download movies using this tablet and in return, I would just give my E-reader to Passion”. She’s our  16-year-old granddaughter who’s fond of reading a lot.

The motivation to present  a gift to our loved one  must come from the heart; we don’t have to wait for some special occasions to do it. Every day that we live is special.

If it’s within our capability to do it now, don’t  ever  delay  in doing it; surely, both of you will be happy—you  as the giver, and your loved one, as the receiver of your gift.

When I saw Mao’s  joy on seeing my simple gift and showing her appreciation by kissing me on my cheeks —well, that is enough gesture to bring immense happiness to a parent like me.

 After dining with us at home, she opened the box and said, “ thank you Dad “--and she immediately tinkered the tablet and asked me, “Dad, what’s the password of  your Wi-Fi?