Continuing Christmas Giving – All Year Long

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”  John 15:12

Somewhere between youth and golden years, I began spending more than I could afford around the holidays. I thought that was the way my gifts would reflect my love and care for the recipients. Then, over ten years ago, a few months before Christmas, I announced that there would be no “presents.” After reading about creating memories rather than accumulating possessions, I yearned for a return to simplicity, sharing more time together and remembering God’s true Christmas gift, His love manifested through Jesus. I promised my family the gift of a book, Journey to Love.

As has happened so many times, God gave me words to share. Journey to Love began as a collection of my poems from childhood through marriage, but while transferring them from tattered notebooks and paper scraps, I remembered the circumstances surrounding the poems and added personal reflections. I often typed after long work days, late at night and into the early hours of morning, but the Holy Spirit saw me through. I kept up the hectic schedule for three months – just in time to self-publish the book.

I realized then the true Christmas Gift – Christ and his love – is meant to be celebrated all year long. We are meant to love one another, give of ourselves, and strive every day to love as Christ did. That was it! Love one another – and I am blessed to have a family that tries to do exactly that.

For instance, my Persian family doesn’t celebrate Christmas, but they know what it is, and they understand the gift of love. My sister-in-law lived with us many years, caring for her son with special needs. She practiced Christmas giving every day. She came to Mass with me on Sundays because she wanted to be in “God’s house”. She would touch our picture of the Sacred Heart and ask for his help.  And, every day, she cared for us – baking bread, keeping the house in order while we worked and loving each of us even when it was tiring for her. That’s Christmas love.

But it really began with my parents, whom I wrote about last month. They also practiced Christmas giving daily. Daddy loved gardening and brought my mum a fragrant rose every day, which she placed on the ledge above the kitchen sink or at the little altar beneath the picture of the Sacred Heart.

When we were teens, Daddy always listened to us, waited for us to come home from dates and prepared us before Mass to receive the Eucharist. My mother faithfully cared for us. Even when tired, Mum made our home pleasant and sparkling, so that after work my father could spend time in his garden. In the years before he died, he called her his “guardian angel.” Daddy’s doctor remarked, if not for my mother’s care, he would not have survived for as long as he did; that’s Christmas giving.

Every shred of faith I have is a gift from God, and my parents first shared their gift as loving role models. Their daily Christmas giving permeated my life. I didn’t know then, but I saw it when I wrote Journey to Love – they infused in me a natural sense of Christmas love.

When I was fourteen and money was tight for our family, I did something which seemed ordinary to me, but which was really a result of my parents’ example. I had just received two dollars for a four-hour babysitting job. My parents rarely went out, reserving every spare penny to provide Catholic schooling for my sisters and me.

It was Saturday after chores when I saw an old Indian proverb while flipping through the “Reader’s Digest”: “If of thy mortal goods thou art bereft, and to thee alone two loaves of bread are left; take one, and sell it – and with the dole, buy hyacinths to feed the soul.” After reading the accompanying short story, I knew what I wanted to do with my two dollars. Putting them in an envelope with the words of the proverb, I penned a note to my parents to enjoy an evening at the movie theater a few blocks away.

I share this memory to tell you why – over a decade ago – I rediscovered God’s Christmas love. I had lost that insight during my materialistic years. Looking back at my parents, remembering simpler times, and family life, I know for sure God’s love, through Christ, is ours to give each other every day; Christmas giving – all year long.

Copyright 2023, Paula Veloso Babadi