First Christmas in America
By: Est Maria
Tags: Honesty And Positivity, Educate Within, Christmas Gifts, Learning, Gifts

On the eve of a very special holiday around the world, I recall a period of my life that I didn’t know of this holiday called “Christmas”. The first 10 years of my life in another country, I didn’t celebrate this very exquisite holiday. The culture of this country didn’t celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Can you imagine that? Reflecting back to my first Christmas in America in 1998, I can still remember oh so clearly..my mom and dad putting up the Christmas trees. The house smelled so scrumptious because my momma sure knows how to whip up a delicious meal. The sausage gravy dish that was so foreign for us to taste. Where’s the rice? I said to my mom. Rice is such a stable for us all. That one grain of rice that has kept us together after all these years.

Reflecting back on the gifts that we received were from an ornament that hung on a Christmas tree at our Sacred Heart church. Oh the beautiful boxes covered in fancy wrapping with a label of “To: Maria From:???” From who you may ask?? I still don’t know to this day. I hope they know that the gift they gave to me on the very first Christmas in America has resonated with me after all these years. They gifted the gift of necessities and not the extra fluffs. From jackets to shirts that still had the tags on it “which must mean..is it new?” They gifted me the gift of essential items to help me feel warm during the cold winter days. The gift that was gifted to me to help me see that I don’t have to feel like a foreigner in this country after all. The gift of belonging or so I thought at that time was hidden inside each fancy wrapped gift. Oh yet life had a different path from that first Christmas in America.

My father is a hard worker through and through. His world was disrupted from being a father with family lived on the other side of the continent to a father with 3 children and a wife that doesn’t know the country that celebrate Christmas. A hard worker he was to provide for our family a cozy home with love that paved the road of fulfilling the REAL American dreams. A life filled with endless possibilities. The best gift that he gifted to my brothers and I was the gift of a life long education because no one can take that learning away from you.

As you wrap up the last details on this Christmas eve, take time to reflect what truly matters in the gift under the Christmas tree? Are you giving gifts because that’s just want the world said to do? Or are you giving gifts that impact lives for the long haul. Which is the best gift of all?

I took the picture of the gift in this picture. This gift is a tradition our family started a couple years ago. This gift is not meant to be wrapped in fancy paper because it’s a gift that reminds us to take time to realized that the best gift of all doesn’t come wrapped in fancy paper with fancy bows. The best GIFT of all comes in plastic wrapping because momma wants her babies to work at the opening of this special gift. The gift of determination and hard working is the gift that lead to a remarkable journey called gift of life on earth.