The best gift you've ever given or received

It’s the weather that sets you in the mood; it’s the food that makes you be comfortable and you feel like it’s already here, yes, it´s ¨Christmas¨. This is the time of year when you realize another year went by; you get to pick gifts for your loved ones. For me the best gift I ever received was the understanding of the value in life.

Gifts, friends, jingles, prayers, food, and Santa, all this makes Christmas so amazing. But what if you couldn’t have all of these things for this Christmas? Like all the material gifts, the newest computer, the fastest cell phone. Some people need more than this, because not every season gets to be the best of our seasons. When your life feels like it has no goal or final destination, you need hope, faith, and some need fulfillment. But sometimes our journey in life doesn’t allow us to watch but see, it doesn’t allow us to listen but hear, and we don’t speak we talk.

I learned this year that the best gift is when you can take a peek at the world around you, like when you are walking in the street and you look at an old lady that needs a hand going to the other side of the street, or a young man that is being led by his dog because he has no sight.

Your eyes can let you view not only watch; a story doesn’t have a prize. Like when you are just waiting for the next stop and the look on a person´s face when they miss the bus it’s like they were missing their reason in life, they kick the air, they yell at the wind, and they curse their world, like it has no end.

Gifts are over rated, they could be material ones, but they don’t always make you feel happy. Material life doesn’t mean you will feel fulfilled. Your life can only be completed by little details. Your family, what your parents do every morning or when you get to see them that annoys you but when you are by yourself you just can’t stop laughing by remembering those moments, or the special way they have to treat you in front of others, even though you are no longer a kid. What your siblings do that make you feel so special, and it brings back old memories which make you feel like a child all over again. Prayers every day, or that special someone that is starting to make you feel loved in a way that you´ve never felt before in your life, or when you are holding hands and it makes your heart beat fast.

For me Christmas is more about those things that make you feel alive, because the best part of life is not only to view but to enjoy the ride. Like when your arms want to hold someone in the countdown... Three, two, one. These moments are my special gifts in life.

Written by: Stephanie Escriu