A popular Christmas tradition with its roots in antiquity is the exchanging of gifts. Even though trends and tastes in gifts may change, the gesture of acquiring, preparing, and bestowing something of value to friends and family is a time-honoured tradition in celebration of the festive period and has been for thousands of years.
Today, the giving of presents to one another continues to form a central part of the Christmas experience. For children, and many adults, the chance of getting presents is often the highlight of the festive season.
Christmas gift-giving generates billions of dollars, demonstrating just how big the tradition of purchasing gifts at Christmas has become, with gifts exchanged with an expanded social circle of family, friends, co-workers and more.
Today, online shopping plays a large role in Christmas shopping, the more tried and tested method of shopping on ‘Main Street’ playing an ever-smaller role.
Modern Christmas usually arrives with the same lineup of gifts: the big-ticket items that you thought you really wanted, some poorly constructed but none-the-less heartfelt crafts made by friends and family perhaps random pairs of socks or a toque. Occasionally, there’s that one gift you will never forget. It might have made you laugh or perhaps even cry. Whether you still physically have it or not, it’s never ever left your mind.
When I was a child, we were poor by any standard. I would be encouraged to write my Christmas list to Santa but who were they kidding, most if not all the items on my list were far beyond our means.
I remember I wanted a bike, a two-wheeler for Christmas in the worst way. I knew the cost of bikes and so I was less than sure that I may get one.
On Christmas Day, I ran downstairs expecting underwear or socks. To my surprise, I saw this bike, it must have been 20 years old and weighed twice my weight. It was navy blue and had obviously been freshly painted by hand. I was delighted that I now had a bike and, boy, was it unique.
I was to learn later that my mom and dad had bought it at a sale of old things, rusty and broken, and had worked on it to get it to work with lots of WD-40 and a fresh coat of paint. Even after I had managed to buy a new bike at Canadian Tire with my money from my Toronto Star route, I kept that old bike. It remained in my basement until after I returned from university. No one I knew had a bike like that one.
My grandfather was the owner of Luesby Memorial and a master mason. What he could do with a chunk of stone was amazing. One Christmas he carved for me a tiny heart from marble. My grandma had told me that he was working on something special for me for Christmas but not what it was. I still have that heart to this day. Every time I look at it and hold it in my hands, it is if he is still sitting there with me, explaining all about marble and his craft. Many a tear there.
One year he built me a sleigh out of scrap wood. Painted red, it had ‘Ricky’ written underneath. My Grandpa would have been in his mid-70s by then and yet he produced this sleigh with his own hands and personalized it for me.
I was blessed to have got quite a few homemade gifts for Christmas as a child. When I would eventually run over to the neighbour children’s homes to see what they got, few of them got something as special as my gifts. Believe it or not, they were a little jealous.
Over the last 70 years, there have been so many gifts for Christmas but none as memorable as the homemade gifts of my youth.
Since this is my last article before the New Year, I want to take this opportunity to extend my heart-felt wishes for a loving Christmas and a 2024 filled with prosperity, love and fulfillment.
See you all in the New Year with more articles about our past.
Newmarket resident Richard MacLeod, the History Hound, has been a local historian for more than 40 years. He writes a weekly feature about our town’s history in partnership with Newmarket Today, conducts heritage lectures and walking tours of local interest, and leads local oral history interviews.
