Happy Birthday To You, Button | Flash Post 341

Did you like the way you spent your birthday yesterday, Button?

I had a fabulous time. What about you?

I too had a lovely time and this birthday was unique for me.

I get the lovely bit. How was it unique?

Think. Think back. Were you not present when the family took a call not to exchange gifts?

Yes, of course I was very much there and it was wise to have taken that call.

How many people make use of gifts they receive? I’d like to tell you a story on this entire industry about gifts and gifting and how ludicrous it is.

Another story. That’s a super way to start the new year.

The story was related to us by a couple just recently. On the occasion of their wedding anniversary, the couple invited a group of friends and relatives who presented beautifully wrapped gifts to them. When they went through the gifts they had received, they found that a lot of them were things like crockery, cutlery and kitchenware they already had or gifts they would never use.

What did they do?

Instead of hoarding the unwanted gifts, the couple decided to wrap them up in equally exquisite wrapping paper to be gifted to their common friends and relatives in the future.

Did they do that?

They did. At least some of them

Is there more to this story?

On their next wedding anniversary, the couple invited many of the same group of friends and relatives who carried gifts to be given to them. When they unwrapped the gifts they had received, they found a lot of the stuff they had gifted their friends and relatives had returned to them as gifts.

This is hilarious. What did the couple do next?

To play a return joke, they wrapped up a few of those gifts to gift to their friends and relatives again!

So the gifts we’re going back and forth?

Yes! Now what would you say is the moral of the story?

The moral of the story is that gifting loved ones or family or friends is not a chore. Yes, if you really find something the person will appreciate and find useful, go ahead and buy it. Because only then will it be worth the purchase.

Again, there is no hard and fast rule that you must hand over a gift to a friend or relative on his birthday or any such similar occasion. It could be anytime of the year or even in the future.

It’s a story worth learning from.

The family has, therefore, taken the decision from the beginning of this year to not buy for the sake of buying but buy if one sees something beautiful to gift to a particular person. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a material thing. You could gift a person a holiday or hand over some money for donating to an animal shelter or an old peoples’ home. I can think of hundreds of such options. Despite not receiving beautifully wrapped-up gifts, we had a fun time yesterday; did we not, Button?

I certainly did. The bombil fry at Gajalee was to die for.