The Wrapping Department at the North Pole is working at top speed this very hour even though Christmas is still several weeks away. The entire basement of the workshop is filled with supplies, storage and merry elves that all work to wrap presents for Santa. It operates 24 hours a day, six days a week. (Closed on Sundays). Now, wrapped presents are hardly the most interesting part of Christmas. But an email sent to Santa this week raised the question of just why bows are important on presents and just what they mean. Santa thought it was a good question that needed to be answered. So here goes:
The wrapping of presents is a tradition in several world cultures that goes back many centuries. In terms of Christmas, wrapping of presents is symbolically linked to the wrapping of the Baby Jesus in swaddling clothes.
As the sacred story is told in the Bible, Mary and Joseph had little to offer the Christ child in regards to worldly comforts. His was a most humble birth. But the gift of love and life as only a mother can give was snuggled by the meager cloths wrapped around the Babe of Bethlehem. The wrapping of presents is symbolic of this event.
The additions of bows to presents are symbolic of the greater gift that was contained within the tiny bundle held by Mary and Joseph that first Christmas day. A bow on a present is bright, maybe shiny, a thing a beauty and a wonder in and of itself, regardless of what may be contained in the package it surrounds. It symbolizes the fact that the true gift is the gift of thought and love and remembrance and selflessness not of toys or things or neat stuff. In reality, it is not the gift itself but the love behind it that is most important.
Santa encourages you to look at the bows on your presents this year and think about that. Be especially mindful of the bows you put on gifts you give. You will find that both the giver and the receiver gain by contemplating the bow. It is what Christ is all about. It is what love is all about. And it is what Santa loves the most about Christmas.
VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!
May God bless you all!!!
