Christmas Presents...

I just love giving Christmas presents. Even more than getting presents, I love giving the presents. You may say, "No, receiving a good present is WAY more exciting than giving a present to someone..."

However, just think about that dichotomy for a second. What I mean by that is this: giving or getting presents, both involve presents, but having a present and giving it way or opening up a present and then owning it... Here's the part where I've asked you to think about it. No, not by just using the word "dichotomy" in the sentence... You're not done thinking.

You all know the simplistic statement, "It is better to give than to receive..." Have you ever thought of it from the point of view of the giver though and admitted that when you get a present and open it, the excitement is pretty much over (that is, unless you fall asleep with the present and are woken only to relive the excitement of it again. But, that hasn't really happened since I was 5 or so...).

When you are giving a present though, you have all the excitement of thinking of the gift (and depending on how far in advance you've thought of this present, this could last for months even...), and then you make or buy the gift and keep it in your "secret hiding place". Now you've got the time from when you get the gift or make it until the day that you give the gift.

Now we come to the day of the actual giving the gift... Just stop again and think of how much you've already enjoyed the whole gift-giving-scenario. Comparatively speaking, you've already far out-enjoyed the "gift getting" probability.

We've now come to grand finale of it all though... The opening of the gift(s). Even if you've never thought of this before, you actually are just as anxious when you're watching someone open YOUR present as you are when opening your own...

So, now we can clearly see that GIVING is better than GETTING... No question really (and I didn't even bring up the whole Christian arguments)

JPS