During December we have many opportunities to celebrate cultural, spiritual or religious holidays in our own unique and thoughtful ways. Just a few examples are Sinterklaas, or St. Nicholas Day, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa and New Year’s Eve.
How do you enjoy celebrating your special holidays?
If your special holiday tradition requires the purchase of material gifts, I understand such traditions and partake in such customs as well, like I talk about in Decorating a Christmas Tree with a Disability.
I have found the simpler, non-material gifts have more meaning and are just as valuable as anything that can be purchased, in my opinion.
In Special Thoughts During Holidays I talk about the gratitude and joy that can be experienced from non-material gifts, as I laid in a hospital bed for 7 months.
In Holiday Traditions I talk about how after I went completely blind I am still able to experience my enjoyable traditions that include family and friends.
It is far more important to be grateful and find meaning in simple meaningful gifts of human companionship and helping others when we celebrate our traditions. With the global instability in the world we are experiencing, these attitudes and actions are even more important to help us enjoy the holidays and others during this time of joyful and caring celebrations.
Even a simple gift of a glass of lemonade can be cherished with extreme joy! To learn how and why a glass of lemonade can taste so good and be the best gift of all, if this was your first drink of cool liquid in many months, listen to Lemonade on the Road to Recovery on Podcasts at the Global Dialogue Center.
My Thoughts Of Valuable Simple Gifts Of Appreciation
• Give the gift of your personal companionship by spending time with others.
• Offer your expertise to others to help them. In return, you will find the person you help can help you equally and mutualisticly.
• Work to help the less fortunate, or those who are in need.
• Offer some of your time and energy to help others in your community and in the world.
• If you are in a position to give, give to others and organizations that can use your aid.
• Teach, mentor and give guidance to people in your personal and professional life.
• If in your professional life you are in direct contact with customers, treat them with respect and caring, like you should do for other co-workers.
• If you are working, educate yourself for innovation and leadership thinking, even if you’re in an individual contributor role.
These gifts I list are equally reciprocal as gifts to yourself. When you give the gift of oneself, there are others that receive your gifts through the people you touch you will never know benefited from your generosity. These gifts of ones self spread from person to person like wild flower seeds blowing through the wind and sowing an open field of dry grasses with the seeds of life. With kindness and gratitude and helping to create a better place for all I picture the gifts of California Poppy, Purple and pink Lupine seeds covering the hillsides for miles and miles. Soon a field of beautiful bright orange, vivid purple and vibrant pink flowers cover the fields where once only dry grasses, rocks and dirt in a variety of brown and tan hues existed.
During this holiday season, let’s plant some wild flowers of joy for others by giving the unselfish gift of our self.
How do you like to celebrate your special holidays? How might you celebrate this year? Will you be the one who gives the gift of a drink of lemonade to a person who was not able to drink any cool liquids for many months and make their day? We all look forward to hearing from you, so we can celebrate this enjoyable season together.
Bill Tipton
Contributing Author
Global Dialogue Center
http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/
Hi Bill,
This time of the year is very special to me, I love to share the family togetherness , that my parents started over 50 years ago. All family members come home for Christmas to share the gift of giving Love and support to each other. We always invite a family that is not our relative and share with them which has been given to us. This year we have a friend who has had major medical problems, gone through a divorce and has two great kids. She gladly accepted the invite and I hope we can share some cheer in their lives for this Christmas.
Bill i must say you inspire me and when ever I read your weblogs, I look into the mirror of my life and say Thank God for your drive and inspriation.
May you and Kathy have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Posted by: Cathy Stewart | December 16, 2008 at 02:41 PM
Hello Cathy and all,
Cathy I can tell you have the true meaning of this holiday season in your heart. You and your family are truly gracious and have a great attitude in taking in others for the holidays.
This is exactly one of the gifts I talked about when you share your love and compassion within your family with others. Your friend and their family will be able to share some cheer all because of you and your family’s unselfishness.
Besides celebrating the holidays this month, my wife and I both celebrate our birthdays during this special month.
Does anyone else have examples of simple gifts that have true meaning? Any other traditions you like to participate in during the holidays? Any other thoughts? We all want to hear from you.
Bill Tipton
Posted by: Bill Tipton | December 19, 2008 at 07:33 AM