Blessings

After the traditional Noche Buena, my four-year old nephew helped distribute each Christmas gift to family. It was amusing to see the delight in his face as he was prompted to read and call out our names. Ever since he was able to, he was always tasked to help unwrap each gift with the recipient. His energetic and purposeful excitement was very contagious. It seemed that the giving and unwrapping excited him the most than the gift item itself, until it was his turn to receive, open, and discover his gifts. And for those that he received this year, especially the specific ones which the family coordinated to give him, he was generously thrilled and ecstatic! My brother and sister-in-law captured the moment on video as my nephew was heard saying, "I'm on fire!"

As we later cleaned away the torn boxes and wrappers, we held on to our gifts that are not merely material tokens but deeper expressions, each in our own way, of our prayers, thoughts, appreciation, and wishes for each other for many more blessings and togetherness.