Time Is The Best Gift

The day after Christmas, 2018

The gifts have been exchanged. The pretty paper has been ripped apart then discarded into a pile on the floor. Things that were needed were received. Things that were wanted were probably obtained. For so many of us, it is a time when we can realize, if we try, how blessed we truly are, at least materially.

Prior to the holiday, Jennifer asked me what I really wanted for Christmas. There was really nothing I desperately needed or wanted so I provided one of those answers we all wish could be fulfilled. “Time. What I really would like is more time.” Admittedly, when I gave that answer it came from my selfish side. I thought how I would like that time to just sit and chill out, maybe watch a football game from start to finish or get swallowed up in the endless rabbit-hole of watching old music videos on YouTube.

Time, though, is what it is. It is always present but since it always moves, it is elusive. It can be frittered away as if it were nothing of value by binging hour after hour of a TV show with little redeeming value or by glaring at a tiny screen an arm's length away in the palm of a hand while deep down knowing that time holds worth that cannot be measured. While I wished for more time, I knew I wouldn't get it as a gift sitting wrapped under our tree. Somehow though, time, as a gift, is one thing I received in another form during this season of giving and receiving.

The holiday season finds us on a very different schedule than most of the rest of the year. Hannah’s school will be closed for several days past the New Year. I return to work in a week then Jennifer will take some time off from her work to spend some time with Hannah. When all that falls back into place, the routine we have carved into our life as a family will return, two parents working outside the home and a student charging her way through first grade.

Between now and then we are left with some time to fill that we normally don’t have. A day earlier, we opened presents becoming overwhelmed with all the new stuff now at our fingertips. Now, with time to spend, we delve into these gifts.

One of our day-to-day routines that has come into place is how after Jennifer cooks our supper, we then sit together to eat the meal. Afterward, it is my responsibility to clean the dishes and kitchen. No, it is not how I would like to spend a half hour or so of my day each day, but I understand this is how it works and I am okay with that.

This part of my routine is important to know because one of my gifts this year was a case full of plastic containers and lids. That said, know I do not enjoy scrubbing on a frying pan. I blanche at the whiff of leftover ketchup on a plate as I scrape it into the no-longer-edible food pile. I hold my temper when I think I have finished for the evening but then locate a big spoon or small plate that somehow hid when I was washing all the other items. None of those though compare with attempting to store the leftovers from supper into some container when I can find a container but cannot locate a matching lid. Simply said, it drives me bananas.

So, this Christmas, as I unwrapped my gifts, Jennifer carefully watched for me to tear into one particular package. I let out a hearty laugh and maybe even gave a fist pump when this gift, one she had spotted weeks earlier, and a gift I almost asked for, that set of matching containers and lids, was revealed.

A day later, Hannah and I are home. While we play with some of her new toys and even a few older ones, I can’t help but think about some of the things I know need to be done. One of those things was to clean out the container cabinet then wash and dry the new containers and lids for their new home.

I looked at the case full of containers and lids. I sized up the approximate time it would take for me to accomplish this task. I stopped though to ask Hannah if she would like to help me. Without hesitation and with plenty of enthusiasm, she said she would help. And, so for the next hour and a half, Hannah and I filled up one side of the sink with soap and water. We used the other sink to wash off the soap before handing it off to be towel dried.

We got wet. We splashed water all over the sink and even to the floor. We probably took more time to complete this task together than if I had decided to do it on my own. Nonetheless, we washed then dried each container and each lid. We then stored away our work in the ready-made case before placing it into the cabinet.

I admit I am a bit excited how I will soon use these gifts to make my daily kitchen clean-up a bit easier. That realization isn't the thing that will remain with me though. What I will recall is the time Hannah and I spent laughing and joking and sharing time with each other. It is also in some way, an understanding that holiday gifts or really any other gifts that we give and receive to celebrate important times are just material things that we desire or that we believe can make life easier. Such things just seem to be substitutes for the things we really want or need that we can’t purchase online or from a business, things like someone's time, happiness from shared laughter and memories made that will last beyond a limited sixty-day guarantee.

While I would love more time to do things I enjoy, it is nice yet sobering, to be reminded from time-to-time, that the value of time is often more important when invested on others rather than self. Even then, it seems to find it's way back as a gift all it's own.