The Joy Of Giving

After a somber story, I do have a happy one to tell, that includes a great teaching moment with Coqui.

So Monday, December the 19th, Coqui tells me that he doesn't want it to be Hanukkah tomorrow. I was very surprised and asked him, why. His explanation was something along the line of "wanting it to be Christmas already". So I asked him why he doesn't want to wait, it was only five more days. So he tells me that he was ready to receive his gifts.

Oh, all the red flags went up and I knew this was the moment to bring out my teaching tools...

So I told him that Christmas is not only about receiving gifts, but foremost to give gifts and joy. (Besides that it is about Jesus anyways, but he knows that part very well - we had been working on the nativity story half the month of December.) We had talked about the 'joy of giving' before, especially when it comes to someone else's birthday and Coqui doesn't get a gift but has to buy one for the friend. The sound of those 'greedy' words scared me enough to want to make this one stick... until next year.

When I asked him if he has brought any gifts for the family, he had to deny. I told him that he needed to give, too, not just expect gifts. I made him pull out his piggy bank and told him that I would take him shopping the very next day to buy a gift for each family member.

Tuesday came and he was actually very excited to go on a 'Mami-date', buying gifts for the people he loves. Leaving the house, he actually already told me that he had an idea for his Mema (grandma) and Buelo (grandpa) - which made me happy, because I knew then that he had actually thought about what I had told him.

We left the house and went to the first store where he found easily what he wanted for the two mentioned-above family members. Standing at the cash register, he put the two items on the counter and asked how much it was. He then pulled out his money. It was about $9, 86 (or something close to it) - and we started counting his pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters. Yes, only coins! It was a Christian store, so I loved that the lady working there was very supportive and asked Coqui lots of questions. He made him feel proud and it was worth every penny that was counted - which took about two minutes to count those nine dollars and some change.

By now, he was so psyched. He told me where he needed to go next and I brought him there. There, we looked around quite a long time. It was hard to find something suitable for Daddy, but at last he made a decision. Finding something for his sister was so much easier - I think it was hardest to make a wise decision, money-wise. Again, I helped him pay for the items purchased. He was so excited - it was contagious for me.


Now, I told him, he had to find someone else to take him shopping, because, obviously, I couldn't be around when he was buying me a present. So a few days later, Daddy went out and got him something for me - but he took Coqui's money.

Arriving home, Coqui yelled into the house for everyone to hide, so we could carry in our 'loot' and bring it upstairs, where we went to work on wrapping it right away. He did this mostly himself as well. Then we made name tags and he wrote out each name all by himself. It was so cute. All four presents were wrapped in four different papers, that were then hidden in our bedroom.

On Christmas morning, he brought them out and watched all of us unwrapping his presents - it was beautiful to see him so joyful. Mema cried when she opened hers, but that was a giving.....

I am so glad that this happened - what a great way to teach my boy about the joy of giving.