WE have a tradition, as do most of you, of putting up the Christmas tree and packing underneath it with as many presents as we can fit.
Serious gifts, funny gifts, gag gifts, just lots of gifts. On Christmas day, we enjoy a homemade Christmas breakfast together, then we spend a long time just opening presents. But in the Ramsundar’s household this year, there will be no presents under the Christmas tree.
No, we aren’t being Ebenezer Scrooges. Opening up presents is very cool! But we have no little ones in our home and being all adults, we decided there is more to Christmas than unwrapping a bunch of usually unnecessary gifts come Christmas morn.
We decided, together, as a family, that gift-giving is not essential to our happiness. Especially now, with our precious country going through its worst-ever wave of Covid-19 infections. I’m sure, like us, every day you’re hearing news of people you know and care about getting sick and some are losing their lives.
Consumerism and materialism will take a back seat this year. Physically shopping at this time is scary, because of the fear of contracting Covis-19, particularly the dreaded Delta and now Omicron strains. Online shopping this year has been very disappointing, due to the doubling (sometimes tripling) of the time it takes to get our orders and the escalating costs.
Having a consensus that there will be no presents this year means no one in our family feels obligated to venture out of the safety of our homes to buy gifts for each other or needlessly go through the frustration of online shopping.
What this pandemic has highlighted for my household is how precious FAMILY is. It’s a bond that should be treasured immensely because there is absolutely no guarantee of having life tomorrow. Just being together, sharing this special time with each other, laughing, dancing and reminiscing have been placed really high on the agenda.
This doesn’t make us depressed or feel any emptiness. We focus on all that we are grateful for and be content with our blessings. There will come a time when life will return to some semblance of normalcy, and we can make different decisions then.
This doesn’t mean though that we aren’t sharing any holiday cheer with others, as is usual during this time of year. But the cost of living is escalating fast and furious. For many, it’s getting tough to make ends meet. Survival mode has been switched on. It’s no surprise then that there is a general understanding that when it comes to gifting this year, focus should be placed on the essentials, like cash, groceries or satisfying a particular need someone may have.
Retailers are not going to be happy reading this article, but that’s just how life is right now. I hope the true spirit of Christmas finds its way into every home and heart, and that we can all find a way to be merry during this very challenging period in our country’s history. Be safe Trinidad and Tobago and Happy Holidays!
Copyright © 2021 Neela Ramsundar, LL.B (HONS), L.E.C is a Civil Litigation Attorney at Law & Certified Mediator.
Disclaimer: The contents of this article are for general informative purposes only and/or contain the opinions and/or thoughts of the writer only. It does not provide legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship with any reader. For legal advice on your specific situation, please contact an attorney of your choosing directly. Liability for any loss or damage of any kind whatsoever allegedly incurred a consequence of relying on content in this article is thus hereby excluded to the fullest extent permitted by law.
