Are Gifts Truly Gifts Around the Holidays?

I’m not a huge fan of wrapping gifts when it comes to exchanging them with others around birthdays and holidays because, well, I can be lazy and searching for some old shipping boxes to wrap the items in can be time-consuming. And half the time, I can’t even find old shipping boxes to use.

Or really, that’s just my excuse to throw things in a bag and call it an effort. And I certainly realize how lazy and just uninspired that truly is. But it doesn’t exactly stop me from doing it in the first place.

And part of that reason is because gifts, in my opinion, are quite odd when you really think about the concept.

Think about it: a gift is given on major holidays and times of the year like Valentine’s Day because it’s expected. But really, when you really dive into the meaning of the word gift, it’s something to be given away for free because the giver wants to. Well, that would then mean that most traditional “gifts” aren’t really gifts because they’re given around expected days, times, and done in obligation.

The real gifts out there, then, are those out of the blue. When a friend surprises you with something small, that’s a true gift. When your significant other springs a pair of tickets on you for no reason at all, that’s a real gift.

Now, all of this isn’t to say that people don’t really have good intentions when giving a gift around the holidays or during birthdays. Of course they want to get you something you would like. Something novel, useful, and just worth enjoying. What I am getting at, however, is that these are social obligations, days of the year we observe by gifting something to a loved one.

So it’s not really in the meaning or nature of a true gift, then, is it? Real gifts are given with zero expectations of anything in return. That’s when you know someone is a real friend. That’s when you can really feel good about giving a gift.

But if there’s some sort of transaction involved or expected, the entire idea of gift giving is warped. It’s gift exchanging. It’s item exchanging, at its core.

No matter what I say, though, this all wouldn’t sit well with most people as they enjoy the idea of giving and receiving gifts. But like I said, it’s all an exchange where no one comes out “ahead.” So I guess it’s not harmful or beneficial in the grand scheme of things (other than children who get heaps of gifts growing up).

My brother and I seem to get it, though. Rather than ask what the other wants for Christmas and spend a certain dollar amount, we don’t exchange at all. Because then it’s like buying the item for yourself.