Presents and Presence

Monday, December 22, 2025

Happy Monday, my friends! Have you read or watched O. Henry’s classic story “The Gift of the Magi?” A married couple, husband and wife, each decide to buy a special gift for the other for Christmas. The husband sells his pocket watch to buy decorative combs for his wife’s hair. The wife sells her hair in order to buy a proper watch chain for her husband’s watch. The moral of the story is that they each cared so much for the other as to sell their most prized possession to buy a gift for the other. Sure, the story’s a bit quaint (it was written in 1905 after all), but it still has something to say for us.

The winter holiday season is stressful and can be a minefield of family drama and other forms of trauma. While the situation doesn’t happen as much anymore, can you remember when adults would fight each other for Tickle Me Elmo, the latest Power Ranger, or whatever the hottest toy was that year? Those were strange times, but they also spoke (speak) to our need for more “stuff.” We or our children had to have the best thing or the coolest toy even if it only gave us a fleeting minute of joy. My nephew has reached the age where he will be over any gift I get him before I’ve figured out how it works. So, I listen to his mom and buy him whatever he’s been talking about lately. I can put effort into his gifts again in 10 to 15 years.

As adults we know now that Christmas and other holidays aren’t about the presents, but the presence we have with each other. Yes, the food and the presents can be fun, but we remember and we treasure the moments watching it snow from inside a warm home or times watching classic holiday movies with our loved ones. And when the kids look back they, like us, won’t remember the toys, but the people and the places.

How can you be more present this holiday season? How do you demonstrate the meaning of the presence, not the presents?

Let us pray: God, help us be present with our families and friends this holiday. Grant us the grace to look past the food, desserts, presents, and the trappings of the season to the faces, smiles, and presence of the people we love. Amen.

Blessings on your weeks and your holidays, my friends! Please let me know if there is anything I can do for you.

Faithfully,

Ben +