Christmas Presents: To Give of Myself

When a disabling car accident had robbed me of the ability to buy presents, I found a meaningful way of giving of myself to enrich the lives of others at Christmas time. I gave the one thing of which no one could rob me, my mother tongue. Singing German carols with shut-ins was my Christmas present to the community. Note: Click on the "Merry Christmas" graphic at the bottom of this article to see Christmas and New Year's wishes in 325 languages.

Christmas, a German Celebration

At least it is for me. Christmas is filled with childhood memories and those memories all speak German. Even though I now am active in a neighborhood church with no German whatsoever, I always excuse myself on Christmas Eve to attend a German church which keeps alive the traditions with which I grew up. I have written about a Christmas Eve experience at that church in the article, "Christmas Presents: to Give or to Get." It is linked below. Now let me share with you how the experience in that article inspired me to give of myself the following day, Christmas Day 1986.

The Power of a Mother Tongue

As I have pointed out in the above linked article, our family Christmas takes place on Christmas Eve. After the young man in the story showed me that Christmas is all about giving, I knew that I had to do something to give of myself to the community this Christmas. I had recently been disabled in a motor vehicle accident and had lost my career as well as the contact with most of my friends, including many of the members of my own family. I had no income and could not substitute money for the giving of myself. To whom could I give this Christmas to make a meaningful impact on the lives of others? I knew exactly what I could do. There was one thing I still had, and that was my mother tongue, and that to me and to countless other Germans in this province is the essense of Christmas celebrations. The trauma of the disabling accident had robbed me of my fluency in French. It even impeded my ability to speak English, the language in which I had been communicating for 30 years. But no one was able to rob me of my mother tongue, and I knew that I could bless others with it. My father had just passed away a few weeks ago, and the nursing home in which he had last lived was filled with seniors whose mother tongue was German. Like me, these seniors considered the language as an integral part of Christmas celebrations. Most of these seniors would be spending Christmas day with their children. Many of them, however, had no children in Winnipeg. They would be alone in the nursing home with no one to help them to celebrate.

The copyright of the article Christmas Presents: To Give of Myself in Natural Health is owned by Traute Klein, biogardener. Permission to republish Christmas Presents: To Give of Myself in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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