The Present of Presence

One of my favorite children's books is "The Gift of Nothing," by Patrick McDonnell. As Marinne Saccardi summarizes on Amazon.com:

This story features characters from McDonnell's comic strip Mutts. Mooch (a cat) wants to give Earl (a dog) a gift, but he already has a bowl, a bed, and even a chewy toy. In fact, he [has] it ALL. In a flash of inspiration, Mooch decides to give him nothing, and sets out to find it. Though the kids say there is nothing to do, they always seem to be doing something. And even though Millie says there [is] nothing to buy, Mooch finds plenty in the stores. In the end, he wraps a big box with nothing in it and presents it to his friend. There's nothing here, says Earl. Nothing…but me and you, Mooch replies. And that's the point. The text is minimal and the small cartoon drawings are executed in black and white with touches of red and surrounded by plenty of white space. As Mooch ponders over his dilemma, he is engulfed by question marks. The picture of the two friends sitting wrapped paw-in-paw as they enjoy nothing and everything is charming. A fine vehicle for a one-on-one discussion of the meaning of friendship and gift-giving.

As Christmas approaches and gift-buying abounds, my hope for you is that you will remember the point of this book:

It's not the money spent on gifts that matters the most in life (although gifts ARE very important to some people because receiving gifts is how they most feel loved) rather it is the gifts of presence and intentionality that make the most impact on those around you. You can spend hundreds of dollars on a nice gift for someone but have the gift mean little to person receiving it because the gift is distant and cold. On the contrary, you can spend just a few dollars on a gift that will mean the world to the receiver because the gift has significance to him/her and/or your relationship to him/her.

One of the nicest gifts I have ever received was a collage of words and magazine pictures that described me and the gift giver's impression of how I impacted the world. The gift cost little, but the meaning was deep. A gift that I give my grandmother each year is the gift of cards and stamps because writing her friends and family members is very important to her. I also go to Florida to see her. The gift may not seem like much, but to her it is very special.

So this Christmas, regardless of the amount of money that you do or do not have to spend, I challenge you to give the present of presence and to know that your presence in people's lives is a free, rich blessing--especially to the elders in your life. You might not have worldly riches to give--or the person to whom you're giving may seem to already have everything you can think of to give--yet you still have SOMETHING...and that something is the sometimes "nothing" of "me and you."