Salameander.com

We had a fun little family gift exchange last weekend. I was told that this was the first time ever that the Ngeow household has ever had such an event, thanks to Su Fei. 🙂 Everyone had a gift ready for each person who was there, hence the abundance of loot under the tree.

All the presents were so well...presented. :p Giving gifts was so enjoyable because everyone seemed to truly appreciate whatever they received. Anyway, all of us were laden with goodies by the end of the night. Wrappers, ribbons and other little decorative pieces that could be saved were neatly stashed away, gifts carefully gathered up and inspected more closely. Wu Han got a car sticker from Su Fei with something about there being kids on board, and a polo shirt from Benny. I got a nifty tall green tumbler from Su An, an eye-catching red sling bag from Su Fei, a little black drawstring evening bag from Benny, and a box full of Crabtree & Evelyn products from mom and dad.

I felt a bit overwhelmed actually. My own family doesn't usually practise gift-giving at Christmas, strangely enough...which makes this experience just as fresh to me as it is to my in-laws. I know that physical gifts shouldn't be the central focus of Christmas, but it still serves as a reminder about the ultimate Gift that the world received from God. I don't know if my in-laws attached any spiritual teachings with what transpired that evening, and I didn't mention anything of my own beliefs. I was just thankful that God gave us each other to share our lives with--that I was right there, at that moment.