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According to Wikipedia, Boxing Day dates back to past centuries when it was the custom for the wealthy to give gifts to employees or to people in a lower social class, most especially to household servants and other service personnel…. however in present times, Boxing Day have became  a day for giving gifts to any people…

And on this year Boxing Day, I did give gifts to other people, or rather it was we did.

26th Dec 2008  at 10.00am, was the day that my first ever participation in giving gift on Boxing Day in my life and the recipients were a bunch of special people.

The gifts were really simple stuffs that includes cakes, cookies and a Christmas song, despite that, the gifts were still specials as it was  presented with lots of care and loves.

As you see, I was with my group of friends on that day, we had gathered together to give a gift of love and care for strangers that we didn’t know.  This group of strangers were patients of Singapore General Hospital,SGH.

We were there, to sing them a Christmas Song and at the same time giving out some brownies and cookies. The aim of the day was simple, it was to bring love, joy and care to another human being. 

So, with about 30 of us, we splitted into 2 groups and we went to ward by ward, greeting the nurses and patients, singing our heart up to them. It was really a great feeling, despite the husky voice, Igot after the session, the gifts that I received for myself, were plenty of sincere thanks you, genuine smiles and even tears from the patients.

The constant “Thank you,Thank you”  from the patients really warms my heart, by what touches me more was this auntie that held my hands and said “Thanks you so much for making my Christmas season so special, I almost forget how Christmas feels like after spending 7 days here, thank you for being here…’ 

Well, frankly speaking, to me, I just felt that I’m just doing my part and doing some volunteer work, and I am prepared to receive the two words, “Thank You”, and the effort I put in was not a big deal. But I was wrong, as I never expected to receive a string of appreciation, that auntie just let me realised that, our action in singing and giving might seems small but to them, the auntie it was a big deal.

That Boxing Day morning, the group had created a memorable Christmasand hospital stay for them. For that short 2 hours, the hospital was no longer a chilly place filled with sick people and cold medical machine, it was filled with Songs of love,  voices of care and feeling of warmth.

And on that day, the group and that auntie reminded, me that no matter who we are we can still make a difference to another person and that every contribution counts, whether it is small or big, the contribution still matters…..

Ah… time really flies man, and soon in less than 10 days, it will be Chirstmas Eve! Yeah!  Sing with me!! “We wish you a MERRY CHRISTMAS,  We wish you a MERRY CHRISTMAS, We wish you a MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!” ha!

Hmmm well, to be honest, Christmas to me is just another Holiday to me, I don’t really celebrate Christmas. Never really have the habit to do so. I mean I do go to Christmas Party and stuff, but it’s more for a gathering and having fun rather than really really celebrating Christmas. Nevertheless, I still like this season as we can see that everyone is more or less in a relaxing mood, wanting to be at ease and enjoy the holiday period and of course another ”PLUS” point I like about Christmas is that I  get to receive presents!! HA!

Well,  received a gift, I did. The first Christmas gift I received really came from an unexpected source. Ha just last week, when I was still busy with work, I received a call from a  number unknown to me.  Without thinking much, I answered the phone, and from the other end it said” Hello!, are you Jones?” “Ya” I replied,”HELLO JONES!!! IS US! CHOPSTICKS HERE!!! Do you still remember us!!” 

HA! Chopsticks! Of course I remembered them. Chopsticks were a group of my participants in a Overseas leadership camp that I was facilitating in. I was their facilitator for 4 days 3 nights and that was more than a month ago. It had been like about 30 plus days ago since I heard from them. In that period, our company had a policy that we were not allowed to exchange any form of personal contacts be it email or phone. The purpose was to prevent any emotional attachment between the facilitator and the participants straight after a training, 30 days was deems long enough for that attachment to die down and if after 30 days, they still want to contact, means it is cleared that they understand that it is because of sincerity and respect that the participants want to contact us and is not based on emotional attachment. Hence I was touched that the students upheld the rule and then made the effort to contact me after 30 days.

The phone call from them was to ask me out for a gathering on, Saturday(yesterday) which I happily agreed. It was great fun meeting up with them, we had Sakea Sushi for lunch and went to catch a movie.

It was really great to see this batch of teens behaving so differently since the first day I saw them. They are full of energy, hope and their sense of bonding was so strong, that you couldn’t help but to feel happy for them. It was pleasing to hear from them of how well they were coping school and family as well as listen to their plans about the new year. They have so much to look forward to ha. They were totally behaving like a sensible young adults that ready to take the world on.

So the gathering went on and we were all chatting and laughing and it was soon to say goodbye, and I thanked them for organising the gathering and that was when they stopped me, and said “No need to thanks us, CurryPuff(oh that’s was my nickname in the camp), is us that we want to thank you, thanking for being our facilitator and letting us learnt so much from you, this is a gift from us, hope you like it and Merry Christmas!” 

Ha, and guessed what, that last statement from them was one of the sweetest thing I ever heard, and after so long(closed to 40days), they still remembered me and I do feel honoured and pleased that I had played a part in their growing process.

And maybe that’s what kept me going on to do the work that I’m doing and I am not talking about the words or gift that I received but the purpose and the mission to make a positive difference to another person’s life.

Last but not least, Yes, I do Like the gift, so Thank you, Chopsticks!!