On the first morning of what was going to be one of the most important years of his childhood (loose teeth, bike rides, First Eucharist, cursive handwriting, acting classes), Collin woke up with a bad case of the greedy gimmes.
He woke up begging me to open his gifts. With Patrick’s permission, I presented Collin with the three small gifts we had picked out for him: a paint-your-own mini tile set, an Apples-to-Apples photo edition game, and a hardcover Lego book. We couldn’t afford much, as we were hosting a small party for him at the local miniature golf course later that day, were going on vacation the following week, and were getting used to being a family of six since his sister had arrived two weeks earlier.
“Where are my other presents?” Collin asked on the morning of his 7th birthday.
“Maybe you’ll get some from your friends at your party later on today,” I said.
“Birthdays aren’t about eating cake with your friends,” he said. “It’s about getting lots of presents.”
“It’s important to be with the people you love on your birthday,” I told him. “Whether they give you presents or not. When they do, you should always thank them for taking the time to think of you and pick out something they thought you’d like to have. If you don’t, you could really hurt their feelings. They might think you don’t like their gift. They might think you don’t like them.
So, here are the rules:
If they give you something you like, you say, ‘thank you.’
If they give you something you don’t like, you say, ‘thank you.’
If they give you something you already have, you say, ‘thank you.’
It’s called gratitude. The more you show, the more you will receive. People are more likely to give you something if you show that you appreciate it. Even God likes it when we say ‘thanks’ for the blessings he’s given us.”
At his birthday party, Collin acted like the good friend I knew he was. He introduced his friends to his new sister, spent a little bit of time with everyone and demonstrated some genuine enthusiasm every time he opened a gift. I tried to encourage him to thank each of his friends personally for their gifts, but for added measure, we will spend tomorrow afternoon writing notes of gratitude on a stack of comic-style thank you cards, which Collin selected himself. After all, he has a lot to be grateful for.
