News-Record.com

Anyone who knows me at all will tell you I love presents. Big or small, cheap or pricey, for occasions or no reason at all, I don't care; I just love presents. I often feel greedy about this, and as a seminarian, I feel like greed is a less-than-ministerial quality I should try to rid from my life as much as possible. (Greed is, after all, no. 3 on ye olde list of seven deadly sins.)

Before I lay eyes on a gift, I grill the giver: Bigger than a breadbox? Smaller? Is it alive? Have I shown it to you in a store? When I invariably get nowhere with my questioning, I examine the wrapped presents. I turn them over carefully, shake them to hear if anything moves, sniff them to see if there's a telltale odor. Again, I always strike out. But that's fun: To me, it isn't about greed, about having that one more thing; It's about the fun of anticipation, wondering what will be there when I tear off that paper.

The other day as I was wrapping presents, and again today as I was doing more shopping, I was reminded of something important: I don't just love getting presents; I love giving them, too, almost as much as I love getting them.

Giving presents is great because you pick out something special for someone you care about, and you get to anticipate their delight at receiving it; that's why I rail against the pervasiveness of registries for every bloody occasion these days. If you're buying for charity, you wrap the gift knowing that you're providing a present to someone who might not have many -- or any -- others.

For me, there's something fun about simply wrapping gifts, whether in the comics section (save the planet!) or by reusing a froofy gift bag I've gotten something in previously. And, of course, there's the joy of what my husband's family refers to as "rip-and-shred": the Christmas-morning orgy of present-opening to reveal what lies beneath the pretty paper and bows.

So, next time you're standing in line to check out and everyone around you is grumpy, and you aren't in such great emotional shape, either, I say stop feeling crabby about spending money and instead think of the joy that getting gifts brings -- and know that you give the gift of joy with every present you buy.