Advent Calendar:Mon 22 Dec- Do You Give the Gift of Gratitude?

During Christmas time many people exchange gifts. Some of us will exchange gifts with our immediate family, some with our extended family too while others with friends as well and some of us will even receive the good ole corporate gifts. Cause even if it is a time of global recession a mug and a calendar won't stretch the company budget too far perhaps?! However how many of us will give or receive the gift of gratitude?

When I decided to ask you if you would be giving the gift of gratitude as my Advent gift to you today...my gift being to spur you to reflect on this...I decided to look up 'the gift of gratitude' on the web as it is the first thing that came to my head when I thought of gratitude...giving it as a gift...and in doing so I found this site The Gift of Gratitude where it seems a couple of ladies have made the whole thing into a creative business...and good for them! :)

But really you can't go to a website to give the gift of gratitude...true, honest to goodness gratitude can only be found in one place within...the heart. True gratitude can only be given and received from there. Luckily today in the mail I got a letter and Christmas card from a friend...I would have liked to say hand written but suffice to say she couldn't go so far but I still felt the gratitude. What she did I realized after calling her up on the phone when I received the mail is...she typed up these templates to friends and then personalized them and printed out letters and posted them to various friends...it was one notch short of the hand written letter but the thought behind it was very lovely...and the point here isn't to argue for or against the snail mail letter, the email, the handwritten or the printer inked letter...but to talk about the gratitude shown. I knew my friend's gesture and words however they were displayed before me did come from a place of true gratitude and it made me feel good...it made me feel good to receive it along with my other mail of bills...and it so happened two cards came on the same day...one from a friend sending just a card but she usually buys a card that helps some charity or cause so that in its own way is already something wonderful and this one that was a normal card with a letter of gratitude...

What made the letter of gratitude feel even more wonderful is that I knew the things she was being grateful to me for when they were given from me to her over the last year they were also given truly and from the heart...

It made me think today about gratitude...and really how many times over my lifetime thus far I have also give the occasional gift or card for Christmas...to show gratitude for something that person did for me in the year that had past...my project supervisor for my research project...people who helped me in industry when I was doing my first research project whilst still at uni. The kind people who transported me to and from my workstations when I yet did not own a car. I remembered today how about ten years ago when I now started off in the world of industry I used to buy those cards and attached tiny Santa chocolates and things like that! :) Now I receive corporate gifts and swim in so many things...Surely some of these gifts when given are by people who are truly grateful for my assistance and good workmanship with them all year true since apart from the working relationships I've grown to be friends with many of them. But let's face it the majority of them are just given me the necessary... And what have I been giving?...and what have I to be grateful for? And have I been losing Grace or fallen out of Grace?

According to The Free Dictionary 'Grace is defined as follows:
noun
1. Seemingly effortless beauty or charm of movement, form, or proportion.
2. A characteristic or quality pleasing for its charm or refinement.
3. A sense of fitness or propriety.
4.
a. A disposition to be generous or helpful; goodwill.
b. Mercy; clemency.
5. A favor rendered by one who need not do so; indulgence.
6. A temporary immunity or exemption; a reprieve.
7. Graces Greek & Roman Mythology Three sister goddesses, known in Greek mythology as Aglaia, Euphrosyne, and Thalia, who dispense charm and beauty.
8.
a. Divine love and protection bestowed freely on people.
b. The state of being protected or sanctified by the favor of God.
c. An excellence or power granted by God.
9. A short prayer of blessing or thanksgiving said before or after a meal.
10. Grace Used with His, Her, or Your as a title and form of address for a duke, duchess, or archbishop.
11. Music An appoggiatura, trill, or other musical ornanment in the music of 16th and 17th century England.
tr.v. graced, grac·ing, grac·es
1. To honor or favor: You grace our table with your presence.
2. To give beauty, elegance, or charm to.
3. Music To embellish with grace notes.
Idioms:
in the bad graces of
Out of favor with.
in the good graces of
In favor with.
with bad grace
In a grudging manner.
with good grace
In a willing manner.'

As much as the idea of me losing Grace or falling out of it is subjective and dependent on who is the judge and who my Grace is in relation to...I'd say No...by and large I've luckily managed to save Grace and hopefully remain in Good Graces with the Universe thus far...

I do however think I and many others perhaps have been forgetting at times or even losing the ability to show true Gratitude ...true Grace...be Thankful and say Thank You! With all the hype this past year with US President elect only saying Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! I look within and not on a pulpit or stage but yes a blog and so a public place but from my heart anyways when I say Thank You!

I know Americans had their Thanksgiving a couple weeks ago but perhaps for many it is now just a Turkey Fest...as I call it and so if True Thanks was not given then it can be given now...

And I guess I will again post the Alanis song (but a different performance of it)which I shared a few weeks ago in relation to the Mumbai Attacks since she thanked India and I found the song was a bit prophetic especially as on top of it the attacks happened on the eve of Thanksgiving in the US....but it is also about what this blog post is about ....saying Thank You! from a place or honesty...Thank You Alanis for it! And THANK YOU! THIS IS TODAY'S ADVENT GIFT TO YOU!