Presents

Christmas is coming up. I am going home to celebrate this lovely holiday. This tradition entails good food, lots of sweets singing, dancing and not to forget presents. It is a very special time for me. I love the food in the Christmas dinner takes hours. To me this time of the year i so happy, and one of the main reasons that i am going home. Why is it so special though? I would like to think it because the whole family is gathered, having a good time and all the traditions. In fact my best memory from Christmas is when we go to church on Christmas day, or when we dance around the tree. But maybe it is just because right after dancing around the tree, the presents will come. In Denmark we call Christmas the holiday of consumption and with good reason. Everyone gives each other presents and a lot of them. So I begin to wonder if it is only because of all this materialism that I find Christmas so magical. I have tried to distance myself from the whole present thing and with age(yes my old age) it is not the most important thing to me anymore. But why do I still give present? What is my motivation other than the fact that it is expected of me?

My initial belief is that is do it to make other people happy. And i do, but why do i want to make other people happy? Because I am a loving person that cares about other people or because i want other people to like me? I keep telling myself that is the first option, but even if it is so, i still do it for my own gain i belief. That is why i want to see people when they open my present, so i can see their reaction and feel good about myself. I was looking for a time where we give presents without this expectation of getting some emotion or liking in return. Our Christmas Buddy tradition might be an example, but then again we still check with friends of your buddy to see how good a buddy you are being and you do expect a hug from the person in the end. Even if you didn’t reveal yourself in the end, your motivation would still be your own pursuance of self-satisfaction, not satisfying the buddy. Is see this as the same reason that people like their CI’s. We believe that we are saving the world and helping the villagers which I am not questioning in this piece, but we are not doing it for them. We are doing it for us.