{"id":599,"date":"2021-01-01T09:19:02","date_gmt":"2021-01-01T08:19:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/?p=599"},"modified":"2026-05-12T02:01:51","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T00:01:51","slug":"599","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/?p=599","title":{"rendered":"Giving and receiving"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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How was\nyour holiday? Ours what unusual and unexpected. We planned to spend Christmas\nin London, where our first son lives. In mid-December, London was on tier\/level\n4 lockdown (residents were strictly housebound); therefore, we thought of\ntaking the train or bus to Oxford where it was level 2 (restaurants and shops\nwere opened). We would then meet up with our second son, who lives in Canley in\nthe southwest of Coventry near Warwick University. It was a blessing in\ndisguise that our flight was cancelled the night before our scheduled departure\nbecause the next day the British Government included Oxford on its tier 4 list.\nWe would have been stuck in London quarantined in a low-budget hotel without\nthe certainty of returning to France by the first week of January 2021. Instead,\nwe had a virtual family Christmas party on the 25th with carols and quizzes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re still\nin the period of giving and receiving gifts. So far, what have you given and\/or\nreceived? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My husband\nis a football enthusiast and enjoys watching the English Premier and European\nLeague; a ticket to one of their matches would have been an easy choice. As sports\nwere televised only due to COVID-19 restrictions, it was more realistic to accompany\nhim in our attic and watch from our bedroom\u2019s skylight the pigeons compete over\ngrains and worms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What’s the\nperfect gift for me from him? I wanted to see purple (my favourite colour) candles\non the hallway leading up to our bedroom and find our bed covered with red roses\nand heart-shaped white chocolates. After all, red and white were the colour\nmotifs during our church wedding. Everyone was in red and white apparel,\nincluding the pastor. There was a five-layer white cake with red cupcakes as\ngiveaways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I appreciate any gift from friends. If I don’t fancy it, I’ll pass this on to my family who wants it or to my favourite charity. Such action is good for my pockets and planet. Unwanted gifts that are not regifted or do not end up in charity shops find a home in landfills and tips that contributes to environmental problems. In developing countries, regifting is a welcomed necessity; of course, it has nay-sayers. Some people think that those who regift are stingy and disrespectful. Charities sell donated items, and the money is used to help the needy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gift-giving\nduring the December-January period is cultural. It can be a way of showing\naffection, fondness or gratefulness. It does not need to involve a big amount. Research\nstudies and surveys show that expensive gifts are not always appreciated; for\ninstance, many receivers associate handmade items with kindness and positivism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a social pressure to reciprocate; when we receive a gift, we give one in return. Does this equate with happiness? What is the best present? Isn\u2019t it time that family and friends spend with us (talking on the phone or online when it is impossible to do so physically)? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2020, we lurched from pandemic and insecurity to division and isolation. In 2021, let us take stock of our lives and find the gift of wonder and joy in our personal, social and professional relationships safely. Happy New Year!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How was your holiday? Ours what unusual and unexpected. We planned to spend Christmas in London, where our first son lives. In mid-December, London was on tier\/level 4 lockdown (residents were strictly housebound); therefore, we thought of taking the train or bus to Oxford where it was level 2 (restaurants and shops were opened). We […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[134],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-personal-social-development"],"blocksy_meta":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=599"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":601,"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599\/revisions\/601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}