Unexpected Gifts After A Year Nobody Expected
By: David Benjamin Goldberg
Tags: Memories, Family, Essay, Christmas, Nostalgia

We probably won’t see my parents for Christmas. So is life in the time of COVID. Yeah we’ll definitely FaceTime. We’ll tell each other that “we’ll do it for real next year, don’t worry” but I know December 25th will feel empty.

Or at least that’s how I felt until I decided to search my own life for some special gifts that really don’t cost anything. It sounds cheesy I know, but listen closely, because It might be the cheer you need in a year that begs to be forgotten.

The realization hit me on a particularly chilly Sunday afternoon inside our cozy home. My wife and daughter were sitting on the living room rug pulling toys from an old box of my childhood things. There were Star Wars ships, Matchbox cars and a lot of stuffed animals.

My toddler, Grace, can’t talk yet, but I know she’s excited about the new toys. Each discovery from the box is greeted with a zealous “OO!” or “BAH!”

Very quickly, the rug was littered with everything including plush bears, dogs, frogs and dragons.

They looked unaffected by the passage of time. They were perfectly preserved by my dad’s meticulous packing, having spent the last 20 years of their lives hibernating inside a black garbage bag in my parents’ basement.

I picked up a stuffed dog, a replica of Wishbone, the four-legged star of a 90s kids show. The spry Jack Russell Terrier had a nose for sniffing out mysteries and a fond love of classic books.

I stared at his smile made from thin yarn and his faux leather collar with the metal buckle.

I felt bad for a minute as I thought about how he used to sleep with me every night. I told him all about my scary dreams, long forgotten secrets and that I loved him. Then, one day, my imagination was gone. So I tossed him into a garbage bag with the other exiled stuffed animals and forgot about him for two decades.

However, I felt Wishbone’s forgiveness almost instantly when Grace plucked him from my grasp. She swung him around in her arms and planted a big wet kiss on his snout, the same one I had kissed many years ago.

That’s gift number one.

Later that day, we called up my 93-year-old grandmother. It’s been a rough year for her.

COVID-19 has stolen her once vibrant social life. No more sketch club, No more book club. She doesn’t leave the house except for the occasional doctor’s appointment or daily lap around the driveway behind a walker.

I try to do a video chat with her so she can see Grace on a regular basis, but I never do it as much as I should. She deserves better.

“Hi Grandma!” I shout into my phone with Grace perched on my arm as she grins wildly at her great-grandmother.

“Hello Sweetie,” she coos into her laptop camera. “How are you?!”

Grace is the star of the show. I accept this.

We only talk for five minutes about the weather and the upcoming holidays and perhaps her latest artwork, nothing heavy, but she loves it.

“I love you both very much. This made my day, you don’t even know.” she says.

My eyes start to water a bit whenever she says this stuff. I manage to get out an “I love you too” before we hang up.

I don’t know how many more calls we’ll have so I really need to start making more of them.

That’s gift number two.

Later that night, we read Grace eight different books (some of them more than once) before finally getting her to bed.

I retreated to my home office to work on some freelance assignments.

While I’m toiling away on my laptop, my wife is tackling a mountain of laundry and trying to scrub Grace’s food-based art from the grout between the kitchen tiles.

Our plan is to meet up in two hours to watch half a TV show before bed.

I emerge from my workspace to a sparkling clean house and my wife is curled up in a blanket on the couch waiting for our Netflix session to begin.

We start watching something but we always end up looking at pictures of Grace on our phones and showing them to each other.

“Have you seen this one yet? Isn’t she the cutest?”

I cherish these times together more than she knows and I realize that even if it’s just me, her and Grace on this couch on Christmas Day, I have no reason to feel empty and every reason to feel immense joy and thankfulness.

That’s gift number three.

Full disclaimer: Despite this holiday gift guide featuring non-material items, I still got Grace a bunch of brand new toys because I love her so much and I can’t wait to see her rip the paper from the boxes on Christmas morning, no matter where we are celebrating.

I still plan to surprise her with some additional mementos from my childhood. It’s a real nostalgia trip. Plus, I only have limited time before she doesn’t think second-hand items make awesome presents.

But I truly believe this Christmas will be special and will give us time to reflect on life’s most important gifts that you can’t find unless we take a moment from the daily buzz to truly appreciate what we have.